DIAMOND CONSTRUCT

Answered by Kynan Groundwater

Q1. First off, thank you for being the first band to interview with The Angels’ Share! Can you give the readers who might not be familiar with you a little background on the band and its sound, when you formed, where you’re from, that kind of thing?

Thanks for having us! For anyone who hasn’t heard of us before - we like to blend genres and make music that we love to hear. Our music consists mostly of metal, rap and edm. We formed right at the end of 2014 as kids in high school in a small town called Taree which is on the Mid North Coast of NSW.

Q2. I first became aware of you guys when YouTube recommended the video for “Hit It Back” not long after it was released. I was like “What is this!?” I couldn’t decide how I felt about it at first to be honest, and yet I kept coming back to it. By the third listen I was all in—the song goes so hard and the music video is really interesting and fits the song perfectly. I appreciated how the vibe wasn’t all doom-and-gloom and showed that this kind of music can be fun, something I think a lot of bands have forgotten. What went into making the video and how did you arrive at the concept?

Even though we were just babies when Nu-metal was a thing, our parents played a lot of those bands in the car on CD so we were brought up on those bands. Bands like Korn, Linkin Park, Limp Bizkit etc. For the most part they are heavy but every now and then they do something fun and out there. Especially Limp Bizkit. It was during covid lockdown so we were essentially down to 2 members and a music video director in the same town. So we came up with this super fun out there music video that kind of ended up being iconic in its own way from people either loving or hating it. It’s definitely the song that goes off hardest live.

Q3. What was your headspace when you wrote the actual song “Hit It Back”? I don’t actually see it as that radical a departure from your earlier material, but it seems to lean into the nu metal more. It really feels like a true single, which is to say that it’s super catchy and has high re-playability. In fact, it’s a staple on my gym playlists.

My brother Braden who is the guitarist in the band actually wrote this song way way back in 2017 and had it in the archives. He came to me and showed me the song years later and I flipped over on the intro riff. It was something I’ve never heard before so we just rolled with it. And before long we had this unique song that still had elements of the band that we wanted to include at the time. The rest is history with it.

Q4. Can you talk a little more about your influences in terms of both sound and aesthetic?

With the fact that we grew up on the 90’s bands way after they’d been popular and then not popular we were always kind of segregated from what was popping. In a small town with little to no scene there’s not a lot that becomes fashionable. It’s just what you like that determines who you are.

We listened to a lot of mathcore and heavier stuff too like Danza, Dillinger etc so we had a taste for the heavier stuff. But aesthetically we loved the uniqueness of the 90’s scene so we push to have a throwback to that but also draw from the aesthetic you’d see at a Ghostemane or Scarlxrd show.

Q5. What’s the scene like in Australia? From the outside, it looks pretty vibrant!

Yeah we are all aware here in Australia that a lot of other countries and scenes hold the Aussie scene in pretty high regard which is awesome. We have so many great up and coming bands along with a handful of mega bands that have made it big time so the scene is doing well for the population and the fact our touring route is usually only 5-6 shows compared to 30 or so.

Q6. Talk to us a little about the new single “Jynx”—the song itself but also the music video, which is really interesting with its animation and cyberpunk elements.

With Jynx being one of our heaviest written songs to date, we wanted the music video to be fast paced and have a narrative that matches the song. We went with a sci-fi anime crossover that we are all fans of and have been growing up. That style of video also goes well with the sound of the analogue pedal work in the guitar riffs and the hard hitting lyrical content. The story explores themes of dissociation from reality that stems from childhood trauma. The lead character in the music video (played by Bri Cassin) has recurring dreams of becoming an Angel but the dreams always take a dark turn. In her waking life she seeks out help in the not so distant future by a digitally run AI psychic.

Q7. You have a new label home, is that correct? How did that come about?

Yeah! We’ve freshly signed with Pale Chord who have Spiritbox, Thousand Below etc on their roster.

We are so stoked to be a part of the team along with our long term label Greyscale Records.   When we were finished recording the album and we were just chatting on the phone to Josh from Greyscale, he mentioned the label to us knowing that we wanted to expand to the US market. He said that they were keen to work with them and I guess they liked our single Jynx so it all unfolded from there.

Q8. So, what does the immediate future look like for Diamond Construct? Tours, festivals, a full-length?

 We’ll push this single hard for a while considering it’s going so well and the fact it’s the first song since ‘21 for us. Roll it over into the next phase of things which will be hopefully more touring and more music which is what we love doing.

Q9. How about longer-term?

For us we try not to think about getting ahead of ourselves too much. It’s always good to have goals and aspirations but you can find yourself chasing smoke if you don’t take in the wins after each game so to speak. So we’ll keep pushing like always and trying to be the best version of ourselves for now.