Geld is one of the bands I discovered in peoples end of year lists. They did release an LP and an EP this year filled with a crazy mixture of hardcore, punk, grind and 70’s rock topped off with some noise. Very powerful stuff. Check out this short interview and go see them on their upcoming European tour.
Can you introduce the band. What are the band members up to when not playing in Geld?
Sure thing. I’m Tom. I work in an S&M store making leather goods and try and sell paintings in my spare time. Cormy plays guitar and slings cannabis related products, Al sings and slings beer related products. They’re both gonna write the great Australian novel. Pete plays bass, surveys things and stays up nights at a time writing amphetamine-fuelled erotica.
Is there a deeper meaning behind choosing the band name Geld?
The fact of the matter is we were struggling to come up with a name and just throwing anything out there. At one point Cormy said ‘why don’t we just call the band MONEY?’. Me being a man of the world and an absolute genius said ‘Whoa now, why not give it a German edge and call it MONEY in German?’ GELD! Everyone thinks it’s about lobbing dicks off but really we are just about that sweet, sweet currency.
I hear a lot of diverse influences in your music. How would you describe Geld if you were a reviewer?
Tom: Poison Idea railing speed off Hawkwind’s dick.
Pete: Not d-beat.
You’re from Melbourne, Australia. How is life over there. Any other bands from around there we need to check?
Tom: I definitely enjoyed growing up here. There is a lot of opportunity for creativity and a lot to do. You can basically find whatever you need in a place like this. The flip side to that is people are spoiled for choice. Whereas in a smaller city punk bands will all just play together no matter what genre there can be a lot of segregation here. Sometimes I’ll see bands I’ve never heard of and find out they’ve existed for two years. As far as like hardcore and punk kinda bands from around here? I really like Sistema En Decandencia, Execution, Priors. They all have the same drummer so maybe I just love him actually
You did release 3 records this year. 2 new ones and a rerelease of your first EP. Are you writing music that quickly?
Pete: We do write fairly quickly but that’s because everyone contributes, we don’t have a main songwriter so anytime one of us has an idea we will jam it and record it then revisit it to see whether it’s good enough to develop further.
Tom: It was kinda easy as ‘Perfect Texture’ had been written and recorded over a year and a half and was sitting on the back burner ready for release for quite some time. ‘Soft Power’ was basically written and recorded during the waiting period for that to be released so it may seem that we’re more prolific than we are. That said we probably have at least half a new LP written so maybe we are after all?
Last year you had releases on Iron lung and Static shock. How did you get in contact with these labels? How were the reactions on these records?
Pete: When it came time to record the LP we discussed who would be our ideal labels to release it, Iron Lung and Static Shock were at the top of our list so we just got in touch and sent them the files and luckily Jensen from Iron Lung liked what he heard so they were onboard first, Static Shock happened a few months later and they were kind enough to do a Euro version of the LP plus a co-release of the EP with Iron Lung. We’ve been very fortunate.
You are about to tour Europe shortly. Is this your first trip to Europe. What are your expectations? Can you also describe what we Europeans can expect from a Geld live show.
Tom: I’ve been to Europe before but never toured there. It’s exciting. I hear it’s a lot more hospitable than other places in the world so I’m looking forward to a shower.
Pete: Cormac has toured Europe with NDT and Krömosom before but for the rest of us it’ll be the first time touring, individually we have all visited various EU countries. We don’t have any expectations as it’s the first Geld Euro tour, we just hope some people show up. As far as what you can expect from us would be not your run-of-the-mill hardcore.
You already toured the states. What were the main differences between playing Australia and playing the States.
Pete: I don’t think there’s that much difference aside from the amount of great bands to play with and also the distances between cities are shorter which makes it easier to cover more ground. Australia only has about 6 – 7 cities you can play and it’s a 10 hour drive to everywhere.
The sound on the soft power EP is a lot dirtier and noisier then on the Perfect Texture LP. Was this intentionally? Is this the direction you see Geld evolve?
Pete: In my opinion the EP sounds cleaner and a little more produced than the LP, I guess going into recording for the LP we had little expectations on how it should sound or be presented, everything came together organically whereas the EP had different instrumentations added and also flowed a little more. In terms of the sound the EP has more clarity but I think that’s because of how the songs were written, expect total chaos on the next record.
What are the plans after the European tour?
Tom: Probably come home, kiss our loved ones and then finish the new album.
Prophecy 