1. Mafafi - Perth HC nutcases - give us a brief history so far!

MAFAFI formed in late 2005, me and James (gtr) were still in our old pop punk band but had been listening to a lot of hardcore for a while, James and Moffat (former bassist) started writing a few short hardcore songs and wanted to try them out, originally it was me on guitar and James on vocals but at the first practice he didn’t know any of the words to Straight Edge by Minor Threat so he decided to play guitar and I gave vocals a bash (although at the time he'd only been playing guitar for a few months). Basically we were four guys who didn’t know how to play our instruments but wanted to make a lot of noise.....and quickly.

2. Describe your fellow band members in 5 words apiece one of which must be food related?

Judge - Vegetables, steaming, blasts, 3rd, person

James - Stoned, passive, clean, bacon, veggie

Ben -Young, meat, captain, likes adidas

3. Tell us about Perth HC and what it entails and the bands and people involved!

For a start we don’t really have a hardcore scene so I guess we're liars. I personally like to think of Perth Hardcore consisting of a lot of open minded bands who can get into each others different styles of music, and that goes as far as the people who come to the shows as well as you hardly ever see an all hardcore bill so people dance for many different styles of music and luckily we have a venue that supports all the different styles of music called Mucky Mulligans. Its crazy how many good bands there are in Perth at the moment because its such a small city, check out Friday First, Triangle Theory, Joey Terrifying, Sunset Squad, Black Channels and Torturo Nervosa.

4. Cecil Spugmata has starting growing his own xylophones. Amazing really and the way he does it is this - he plays a xylophone and catches the notes as they float away with a pink butterfly net. He keeps the notes in a room that has a static temperature of 43.3 degrees centigrade. He then rattles a bag of walnuts over each note and recites the works of Wordsmith. 6 months later he has an affair with a torpedo salesman and secretly plants the notes in his rear end. By eating nothing only back issues of the radio times and soiled underpants the notes produce fruit from his bumhole within 4 weeks. The problem is that the xylophones need weaning on a semi-breve diet and as you know this isn't the easiest of foods to buy. The question is - would you eat the buttocks of Kenny Dalgleish for a free can of sexual sardines?

Yes...Yes I would

5. Best Mafafi song, best gig and best drinking session - explain all?

Hmmm my personal favourite live has to be 'I Thought So He Was Trying To Steal My Brick', I like to see people connecting with the songs we play and that seems to be one people really get into, plus I like to see Judge singing. The gig that sticks most in my mind was when we played at an Arts Institute outside Perth to loads of kids, there’s no underage shows in Perth anymore and they used to be the best cos everyone would go crazy. Anyway our set got cut but we got to go back on and play and it was just crazy, our friend Euan broke his leg. I like shows with injuries it makes it more intense, in my mind, if I'm bleeding afterwards I must of gave it everything I had so I don’t have to feel bad. You may remember a great show of yours we had in Bolton which ended with glass, mushy peas, chips and beer all over the floor; needless to say I came away from that gig feeling like it went well. The best MAFAFI drinking sesh's involve 'Gay Chicken' tournaments, it’s a fun game I want to invent a version that can be played as a drinking game.

6. Heroes and zeroes in life and music mate - go for it!

Heroes are mostly just people I think are genuine, if we're talking bout reaaaal heroes I'd say Kurt Angle, Darren Osbourne, Spiderman, Louis Theroux, Will Smith (independence day era). Zeroes, hmmmmm bands that play to get drunk and for the socialising then play weak as fuck tunes and spout cliched stage banter. Punks that try and tell me I'm not punk because I don’t dress like them and talk about how shit the government is then proceed to get fucked up, pass out and contribute nothing to the scene annnnnnnnnd junkies!

7. What are your feelings on the current scene - good, bad, indifferent?

Things are getting better in our area as we now have a venue supporting all the great bands popping up at the moment. I still can't help getting the feeling a lot of the bands around our area don’t talk to each other and get behind each other enough but I think that will change now there’s more gigs in the area we live. We’ve played a lot down your way lately and we always have an awesome time and meet so many nice people to remember. I think you guys seem to have a much better DIY scene down there.

8. Walnut war - a good thing or potentially a threat to pickle farmers the world over. Please explain your thoughts on this and have Mafafi got a walnut song in the pipeline?

I’m all up for it, as a pretty skint vegetarian I imagine I could eat quite heartily from all the discarded walnut bullets and shrapnel and stuff, I fuckin hate pickle anyway, fuck it.

9. Best and worst CD's in your collection as well as the most embarrassing?

The best CD I have in my collection is 'Broken Van' by The Broadways. I bought it maybe 5 years ago and I still think its great, every single song crams in so many great facts, ideas and opinions, I wish I could write like that. The worst CD I own is 'Massacre Divine' by Discharge. Fuck knows I'm not a huge fan although they were heavy live but this album really is fucking stupid, saying that though, 'Sexplosion' was a total tune. Most embarrassing. The only time I'd be embarrassed by a CD in my collection would be if I owned a Beatles CD, how clique!

10. Tell us the MAFAFI mission statement - one or two lines that sum up the ethos of the band?

Play Hard or Get Out

11. What's your fave drink, fave food, fave TV show and most importantly favourite type of nut? Also was Jamie Moffatt really an extra-terrestrial with a fetish for stealing yoghurt pots!

Minute Maid, Trailer Park Boys, Pizza, Cashew, Nah just to put the rumours to rest Moffat was indeed the head of that International ring of BBQ stealers you might of read about in the Sun, it was in the column next to that picture of Tanya, 19, from Scunthorpe.

12. Finally push the cause - tell us why Mafafi are the band to see and where do we contact you?

Come see us cos sometimes we give away free cookies and stuff, on the nights we're not giving away baked goods we try and put on a no frills, no bullshit, super energetic live show, you can contact us here www.myspace.com/mafafi and you can get yourself snazzy downloads here www.last.fm/music/mafafi

 

BACK