Musical success can be measured in a number of ways.

Firstly there is personlised success which is as straightforward as it sounds.

That sort of success can’t be measured or debated, and is constrained by perception only as far as the person or persons involved can gauge.

Then there is local success.

That form of success whereby a group of people who may or may not be involved otherwise in your life become interested by virtue of your performances and ability.

The ultimate level of success can be garnered by commercial interest, a point where the years of blood sweat and toil align and enable the aspiring musician to break free from the shackles of a regulated working life and survive financially on the art which is called music.

Somewhere between steps two and three a band has to make several choices and sacrifices. Is it enough to taste local success and be happy within your local scene, or try to take that giant leap from hometown heroes to national and international adulation?

Over the years many bands from the Far North have chosen to embark on that journey, attempting to build on the platform built through local networks and contacts and take their music to the masses. First stop South East Queensland.

Unfortunately, a large proportion of those bands have not had the timing or fortune to progress from there, but it is better to try and not succeed than to always wonder what if.

This weekend local metal tyros Salacious embark on that journey with a three date mini tour of the Sunshine Coast, Gold Coast, and Brisbane on their ‘Mouth of Madness’ tour.

While excited about the unknowns that lay ahead, guitarist Daniel McMahon says the boys are not pinning their hopes and fortunes on the outcome of the tour.

“We just want to get down there and play to as many people as we can,” he said.

“There are no expectations or delusions of grandeur, quite the opposite actually.”

“We have been going hard at it up here for a few years now and although we know we still have a lot to do, we feel the time is right to try and take things to the next level and what better way to do that than to test ourselves on the open market so to speak!” he laughed.

The tour has been planned since mid way through the year, but was in danger of being cancelled only a matter of weeks ago when the major Brisbane band they were supposed to be playing with had to pull out for personal reasons.

“Yeah that was a bit scary there for a while,” Daniel agreed. “We already had a show booked in Maroochydore for the Friday night but were relying on the Brisbane band for the Saturday and Sunday and when that fell through we didn’t really have a back – up plan. None of us really knew anyone in any of the venues down there and going from a place like Cairns where you have the personal number of most of the local music promoters in your phone, to having to chase managers down and try to book a gig with someone who doesn’t know you or your music and probably doesn’t really care about it either way – it was a bit daunting.”

But after many hours on the phone and a lot of back and forthing between venues the two days were covered, with the Shark Bar at the Miami Tavern on the Gold Coast and the New Globe Theatre in Brisbane’s Fortitude Valley agreeing to allow Salacious to play – provided they find three to four other bands to round at the bill at each venue.

“So then we had to start the whole process again pretty much,” Daniel continued.

“We had the gigs but had to find more bands to play with us but as we found out quickly the rules of playing in an original band in Brisbane are way different to up here.”

“Apparently it is frowned upon to play at a different local venue within two weeks of playing at that place. So a band couldn’t play with us if they had played or were planning to play somewhere else in that period. To make it harder there is a major Brisbane metal festival on on the Saturday night with about 20 bands playing so none of them were eligible to play with us because of that for fear of being ‘blacklisted’ by other venues.”

The band put out a call to arms on facebook and between the response to that plus a bit of help from some of the band members friends, the final pieces fell into place only mid last week so now the onus is on the band to deliver.

“We’re pretty confident we can win over some new fans while we are down there,” Daniel said.
“All we can do really is to get up there and play to our best and have a good time and hopefully everything will fall into place from there. It’s a very exciting time for us musically, but going away with your best mates and doing what you love is reward enough. And the best thing is none of us really know what to expect. We’re just throwing ourselves and our music out there and rolling with the punches I guess.”

Kris Peters

© Copyright 2024 | NQ Music Press