Interview with Wadzy from the Burial/Damaged

Can you please introduce yourself,and tell us which bands you have been a part of?

I am Matt Wadsworth, I have played in a bunch of bands between 2000 - 2011 such as Promise of Bloodshed, Misled by Lies, Evil Priest (guitar in those bands) Damaged and The Burial (vocals in those bands).

These days I am not actively involved In the hardcore scene but love hardcore as much as I ever have... I live in West Auckland with my partner and two kids and am a civil engineer for the railways!

How did you discover hardcore and what bands were around at the time?

I discovered hardcore through a friend who I went to school with - Henry Oliver who later went on to be in so to speak.  Henry had a great connection through his cousin Nick Melchior and introduced me to punk then HC... that’s how I found out about stuff like Minor Threat, Youth of Today, Judge etc... 

When I started going to shows in Wellington they were really punk shows with the odd HC band that came down.  Local Wellington bands at the time were Fatal Error, Malakrinate and other real crusty stuff!  Other bands that played a lot were Motorsheep from Palmerston North, Slugfarm from Levin then the bands from Auckland and Hamilton - Balance, Sommerset, Shinkasta.  Those last three bands were very inspiring..

 Balance were amazing and super cool.  I have a distinct memory of their guitarist Rhys giving me a free copy of their ‘straight away’ demo after a show at thistle hall and that was amazing!  I was a little ‘star struck’ and that was something that really stuck with me.

Anyway, after being introduced to hardcore I then went down the route of most kids in the 90’s and that was to study liner notes, Check thanks lists, observe T-shirts worn by bands and then check out all the bands I could!  That’s how it was back then and to be honest, it was a wholesome and fulfilling way to discover the music.  When you would discover a great new band it was like a vindication of the effort put in... although the convenience of discovering new music these days on the Internet is hard to deny it doesn’t hold the same fulfilment as digging through used CD or record bins and finding that ‘gem’ you have been searching for.

You have been doing bands up until recent years,what era of nzhc was your favourite and why? 

The first band I did was in 2000 but my favourite era was when I first started going to shows In Wellington in 96... simple times - no Internet, lots of innocent discovery of music and shows were just punks, skaters, hc kids etc... moshing and stage diving off the little thistle hall stage!!  Great bands came to Wellington and inspired me and my young friends.  Those were great times and upon reflection probably the most fun I had at shows.  In saying this, there was a period of time in the early 2000’s when there Were some great bands such as daredevil, evil priest, POB and others playing and Dave from DSM was putting in serious work bringing bands over from the USA... there were top quality internationals and local shows happening often.

I also have a lot of fondness for the period of time that I moved back to Wellington around 04-07 when Damaged would play with Guest Stabs Host, First-Person Shooter, Tried for Treason and other Wellington bands at small venues... those were great shows.

I hear rumours of a project band a year or two back and you recently featured live with the Bleeders,do you think you will ever do another band?

I have done a couple of what you might call ‘project bands’ where we recorded some stuff but never played, those were really just opportunistic things where me and my friends probably had some riffs and some spare time and had a couple of jams but nothing more...  One project was with Jamie and Mike from ulcerated back in 2004 and another was with boozy and Dan Brendorfer back in maybe 2015?  Both bands were just studio and never played.  There are recordings around but I don’t have copies!  

I played a show with the Bleeders earlier in the year which was cool, one of their guitarists couldn’t make the show and they asked me which I was super happy to do, I have known those guys for years and am very good friends with Angelo so it was a cool experience... it did reinvigorate a passion for playing music which had been dormant since I started a family... in terms of doing another band,  I have something I am working on but it won’t be a full on/full time thing as all participants Are busy with life but it’s fun to create and make some noise so we will see what happens.

Do you think New Zealand has a unique sound of hardcore and what makes us stand out from the rest of the world?

I don’t think that New Zealand has a unique style of hardcore, I think that stylistically most bands follow paths that have already been established by bands from overseas I.e. USA.  Obviously some bands have had unique elements but I don’t think that there is a NZ ‘sound’... 

What international bands have you had the privilege to play shows with over the years?

Throughout the bands I have been in I have been privileged to pay with some of my favourite bands and meet the guys in them.  Some of my favourites that I have played with include Hatebreed ( POB and Evil Priest opened for them at Kings Arms the first time they came to New Zealand in 2002 and I still remember arriving at the Kingie and there being a line out the door and around the corner!  It was a great show). Madball (Damaged played several shows with them in 06, cool dudes and they really killed it!), Terror (Evil Priest played with them for a few shows in 01 And also 03 and that was a lot of fun.  Cool dudes and Killed it live... those dudes really Brought it).  Another favourite was Ringworm... I played with them in damaged in 06 which was actually a pretty weird show with a poor turnout on a Sunday night at An old hip hop club called 420 (show was weird, ringworm was awesome) and then the burial played three shows with them and that was really cool.  Ringworm has always been a favourite of mine so that was a cool honour... really humble dudes and super tight live.

There are lots of others but those were my favourites.

If there was one New Zealand band you wish you had of seen live who would have it been?

I would have loved to have seen Logan’s run.  I had a dubbed tape of their three song demo and it is awesome...Unfortunately it is long lost but I still have their split with jaded... some of the best songs I have heard from an NZ band!  

How long have you been straight edge for and would you say it has been a blessing on your life in a positive way, especially now you are a father?

I have been straight edge since approximately when I turned 16...I am now 39 so that’s 23 years.  I don’t like the word blessing but I would say that it has been a positive influence on my life in the sense that it has helped me stay focused on goals and keeping In control Of my behaviour - plus saving money...alcohol is expensive!! As far as being a father,  I think that above anything else being drug and alcohol-free shows my kids that you don’t need intoxication to be sociable or to deal with certain situations in life... if they decide to drink or whatever when they get old enough then that’s their choice and as long as they do it in moderation then that’s cool with me but hopefully growing up with a dad that doesn’t do that stuff they can see that there are different paths they can take and they don’t have to partake if they don’t want to.

Which are your top 5 bands or albums that influenced you the most over the years and are there any new bands you are currently listening to?

Hard to do a top 5... so many bands and albums that have helped to shape my way of thinking or got me through challenging times... here are a few off top of my head...there are many more!

International bands:

Dead Kennedy's - in god we trust inc. :  first hc/punk band I heard when it was dubbed onto the end of a dubbed copy of primus ‘frizzle fry’ that one of my skater mates gave me at 14... the first song - religious vomit was so fast I thought my Walkman had sped up!  Classic band,  classic album

AF - victim in pain:  hard as hell,  raw as fuck.  Primal NYHC!  Love every song on this one

Minor threat - out of step:  amazing music and lyrics,  progressive songwriting and ideas.  Total classic and still bang this one on the reg.

Black flag - damaged:  a huge ball of frustration and angst coming at you from some Lo-Fi dungeon recording studio... first listened to this at age 15 and became an instant favourite

Bad brains - ROIR cassette.  The blueprint!

NZ bands:

Balance:  Hugely influential band,  first saw them at thistle hall in Wellington when I was 15 (so must have been 1996) and they were great.  Seeing them open for SOIA in ‘98 was unbelievable!

Shinkasta: Amazing band,  heavy, angry but also introspective and intelligent lyrics.  Saw them in thistle hall in 97 and they were amazing.  Shout out to my big bro Boldis!!

Diecast - Amazing band from Lower Hutt.  Influenced me in a huge way, their shows were big mosh Pits of. Sweaty skaters and punks all stage diving and having fun.  They were heavy and political... With a skate vibe.  

Sommerset:  saw some amazing shows of these guys in the mid to late 90’s at thistle hall in Wellington... they were one of the first bands to play Wellington often and their shows always went off.  Their first EP is a classic record

Any last words or advice for the up and coming youth currently doing bands in nz?

Don’t get caught up in social media and the Internet hype in general.  Fundamentally, this is about music, going against the grain. and finding like-minded people Who share the same passion as you... how many ‘streams’, ‘likes’ or ‘views’ doesn’t mean shit if your lyrics suck or you can’t bring it live and create An atmosphere that makes people forget their troubles for an hour and let themselves go... there is way too much focus on Internet image and creating an big hype when the real focus should be on the music and lyrics.  

Any Shout outs before we end the interview?

Shout out to all the bands and people who inspired me and put in work for the nzhc scene over the years... Special shout out to the homies Boldis,Angelo,Boozy,Hugill,Lindsay...

Peace and thanks for the interview