Winning a band competition is an age-old means of giving your garage-honed band a nice little leg-up, and these days there’s still plenty of chances to boost yourself up the career path with pub Battle of the Bands comps and online song contests offering maybe the opening slot at a local festival or heck, even a nice meat tray.
And then there’s Triple M’s Mötley Crüe support competition offering the chance to open for one of the world’s longest-running, biggest rock bands, which kinda shits all over those other ones, in terms of sheer scale alone.
Central Coastians Smokin’ Mirrors are the Sydney winners of such an insane promotion and we caught up with the bassist of the self-described “fun-loving, high energy, female fronted hard rock ban” Matt Coleman to see how the mid-evolution group are dealing with this oppurtunity of a lifetime.
Watch – Smokin’ Mirrors – Set To Ignite
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YmurrB4FE80
Music Feeds: Congrats on the Motley support slot win! Run us through where you were when you first heard the news? Who was the first person you told?
Matt Coleman: Thank you! That whole morning was insane, it was incredibly unexpected! I think the first person I told was my dad, as lame as that might sound – he was the biggest reason I got into music in the first place. My first memories of life as a kid were touring with my old man, watching him tear up the stage in his band Junk Male (who apparently at one point were the biggest thing in Tasmania since apples), so I shirked primary school education in favour of pubs from an early age.
I was actually in bed when we first got the news, when I heard our singer Emmy, who I live with, shouting and yelling on the balcony outside of my bedroom door – naturally my first reaction was “Goddammit, Em, shut the hell up, I’m trying to sleep!”, but after realising who she was talking to and what she was talking about, I almost shat the bed. I don’t think I’ve ever had a more pleasant PG wake up in my life.
MF: Whose idea was it to enter the comp? Is it part and parcel of getting your band out there to go nuts with entering initiatives like this?
MC: As with everything we do, it was a band decision – there’s always this lingering feeling going into competitions where we think to ourselves “man, are people going to get sick of being asked to vote or seeing posts about voting for this and that”, but it’s definitely a different ballgame when it’s Triple M, Motley Crüe and Alice Cooper – it really was a no-brainier.
MF: Motley Crue and Alice Cooper are obviously musical idols to most people with guitars, but how much did these veterans of rock influence you both growing up and today?
MC: I think if you’re any fan of rock and haven’t been at least somewhat influenced by either one of those bands at some stage in your life, then you’re doing it wrong. I think for me personally, Motley Crüe and Nikki Sixx have had a huge influence, not necessarily as musicians or as a bassist, but more in terms of songwriting, and even just as a person. I mean, Nikki Sixx has continued to overcome adversity and defy the odds, despite his numerous personal demons. He died and came back to life, twice. The guy literally one-upped Jesus.
MF: Whats the one thing you’d like to get from Motley Crue and Alice Cooper if you get the chance to chat with them?
MC: Hopefully not pregnant. Haha na, I’m actually going to have to be lame and say knowledge. I mean, it would be awesome enough to just hang out with them and shoot the shit, but gun to my head, if I had to walk away with one thing, it’d be insight into how they navigated the music industry, how they think the industry is different now compared to years gone by, what they think it takes to make it. Maybe some tips from Tommy Lee on how to shoot a really successful home video.
Watch – Smokin’ Mirrors – State of Mind
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vU-k3ho0Z8
MF: Motley Crue have been killing it as a band for over 30 years, do you see yourselves sticking around with the same approach to your sound for as long or do you wish to explore the wider realms of music over the years?
MC: I haven’t even been alive 30 years, so I have literally no scope of understanding there! I guess it’s hard because we don’t really approach songwriting thinking “it’s gotta sound like this” or “this is the style we’re going for”. We have a general idea you know, we’re not going to write an indie pop tune or a death metal song full of blast beats and guttural pig growls, but we just generally try to write songs that have a bit of grit and a bit of an edge and that just sound good. So who knows? Maybe in 30 years time we’ll write an indie pop tune or a death metal song full of blast beats and guttural pig growls if we think that sounds good? But for now, we’re just going to stick to writing the kind of music we like to listen to.
MF: What would you say has been the biggest gig for you guys up until now?
MC: Emmy and I once played our mate’s sister’s 21st for a couple of bottles of Jäger, and there was like 20 people, that was pretty hectic! As for Smokin’ Mirrors, we played a homecoming show at The Entrance Leagues Club on the Central Coast last year for our EP launch tour that packed out the 700 cap room. But we are actually just about to rebrand and relaunch under a whole brand new name with brand new members, so technically Motley Crue and Alice will be our first ever show together! In fact, one of our guitarists has never played a full band gig ever, he’s only like 10 years old or something, so we all kind of hate him because this humongous show and incredible opportunity will be his first ever gig. What a dick!
MF: What do you hope to achieve from the support performance in terms of experiential terms and exposure for the band?
MC: I think the opportunity to play on such a big stage in front of so many people will just be an invaluable experience in and of itself. Aside from that, it’s going to be a gigantic learning curve. Almost as big as Tomm… nevermind.
The point is we can’t even quantify it at this stage. With the rebrand, we just want to get out there and show people that this is who we are, this is what we do, and that this is only the beginning. We’re transforming, and what better place for that transformation to occur than on a freaking arena stage in front of tens of thousands of people, supporting two of rock and roll’s biggest legends.
MF: Be honest, what’s the ratio of shitting yourself versus excitement ahead of the big gig?
MC: I have literally not stopped shitting myself, it’s incredibly messy. I don’t know… can you shit yourself with excitement? Can you be excited and shit yourself? Por que no los dos?
MF: What can you tell us about the next iteration of Smokin’ Mirrors? Can you give us a hint of a change in sound or even the new band name?
MC: Officially from the Motley Crue gig onwards, we are RedHook. We’re getting a little heavier, edgier, slicker – less classic rock and more alternative, without losing the things that make us who we are. We’ve spit-shined and polished up what we do, but we’re still just a bunch of clowns who run around tripping over our leads and headbutting each other on stage by accident. Regardless of where we end up, it’ll be a shit-ton o’ fun, I can guarantee that.
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Smokin’ Mirrors/RedHook will perform at the Sydney Motley Crue show, this Saturday. Deets below!
Watch: Mötley Crüe – All Bad Things
Mötley Crüe – The Final Tour Australian Dates
With Alice Cooper
Tuesday, 12th May
Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne
Tickets: Live Nation
Wednesday, 13th May
Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne
Tickets: Live Nation
Saturday, 16th May
Allphones Arena, Sydney
Tickets: Live Nation
Tuesday, 19th May
Brisbane Entertainment Centre, Brisbane
Tickets: Live Nation
Thursday, 21st May
Adelaide Entertainment Centre, Adelaide
Tickets: Live Nation
Saturday, 23rd May
Perth Arena, Perth
Tickets: Live Nation
