1. Growing Up

I started playing guitar after seeing a really young guitarist called Nathan Cavaleri playing on Telethon. He had leukaemia and started playing guitar to take his mind off it. My parents thought he was amazing – they were into Pink Floyd, Genesis, Led Zep, et cetera (also my dad can play a bit), so I said, “I can do that too,” and in turn it led to me saving my pocket money and buying a classical guitar. So Nathan, I thank you!

2. Inspirations

My first album I ever bought was Ugly Kid Joe – America’s Least Wanted. I also loved Nirvana early on as well; they were kind of the first band I remember where I would learn their songs cause they weren’t technically that hard. I’m a huge Deftones fan too, but it was Alice In Chains that really shaped the way I played – Jerry Cantrell inspires me so much!

3. Your Band

We’ve got myself on vocals and guitar, Vas Shevtsov on drums, Mick Quee on bass and Paul Cush on lead guitar and backing vocals. We all have different bands we love but collectively we like a lot of the same stuff. We’ve been really fortunate to work Jeff Tomei in the USA (Smashing Pumpkins, Jerry Cantrell, Skid Row, Matchbox 20) on our last couple of releases; he has really helped us a lot in terms of songwriting and production.

4. The Music You Make

We are at the root a hard rock band – a lot of guitar riffs and melody. We get pigeonholed into the grunge category quite a bit but I think that’s a bit lazy. There are a lot of different elements that make up the sound. We have one full-length album and three EPs; the last three releases with Jeff Tomei involved in the mixing and production. On the live front we get out there and have fun and play with a sense of energy. If you want to get your face melted with riffs, we are your band.

5. Music, Right Here, Right Now

The music scene is at a really funny point at the moment. I think rock music is like the underground now; the people who go to shows are super supportive, but there is bugger all commercial support radio-wise in Australia for this style, which makes it harder. There are so many great bands out there, you just have to look a little harder and not expect it to come to you.

Hailmary play Wallapalooza at Frankie’s Pizza with RedHook, These Four Walls and Smoking Martha on Sunday June 14.