proposal hysteria
Mar
25
7.23pm

PROPOSAL // On A Road To Everywhere


Proposal vocalist Damian Ciric hilariously forgot his band was about to drop a new EP.

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After their last single dropped, Ciric admits, with a hearty chuckle not unlike that of The Simpsons’ Dr. Hibbert, it completely slipped his mind. Endearing scattiness aside, Proposal’s second EP, Kingdom, is here – and it’s merciless to say the least.


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The Wollongong post-hardcore outfit have stepped up their game in this one. Compared with their debut, 2019’s Captivate, the quartet have amped up the intensity of their music—and they have their reasons for that. “We’ve all come from pretty heavy backgrounds,” says Ciric. “We love super heavy music. We wanted to ramp up the intensity for live shows, as well, bring a little bit more energy.

“We always try to keep a little more high-end energy in our shows. We had a really good response in Southeast Asia, and we were like, ‘How do we get more of that?’”

 Proposal have wrapped up a lot of other elements of heavy and alternative culture within Kingdom – the metalcore scene, the tattoo industry, among other things – this many elements not so easily morphed into sound, yet somehow, these guys did it. “As kids we were into heavy metal and have grown up with those influences,” says Ciric, “getting into Metallica from an early age because of our dads, stuff like that.

“I think we were all like the outcasts of the kids as well, so we all just built upon that. We’ve always tried ourselves with tattooing, that whole alternative culture and it’s been our whole lives, basically.”

With highs and lows, tumultuous imagery and considered reflections on life delivered on a self-styled platter dubbed “emoviolence”, Kingdom is a push and pull between two extremes. “We were trying to stay super conscious of not losing our sound, because melodic hardcore is where out hearts lie,” says Ciric.

A lot of the imagery and themes, like, the name Kingdom comes from an abandoned theme park I went to in Hokkaido in Japan – I took the photos for the EP in a place called Gluck Kingdom. I thought the cover art suited what we were about to release. Literally this EP has been influenced by the world around me.
[Damian Ciric]

“We wanted to capture that, I guess, heavy sort of persona while still sticking to our sound. I guess It’s still our personalised sort of thing, but also add that little bit extra to it. Just pushing but trying not to push it so far that we lose our individuality.”

Ciric’s response to questions regarding the EP’s thematic interest draws a very weighted sort of grunt. Pointing out his seemingly uncomfortable response elicits that belly laugh again. “I’m just trying to think,” Ciric says. “Lyrics-wise, I wrote [them] down over quite a long period.

“I personally, I think I was going through like a… not like a midlife crisis, but I just needed a break. When I wrote [single] Wilted, I was overseas. I’d spent two and half months in Japan and America. I was going through a phase where I needed change.

“A lot of the imagery and themes, like, the name Kingdom comes from an abandoned theme park I went to in Hokkaido in Japan – I took the photos for the EP in a place called Gluck Kingdom. I thought the cover art suited what we were about to release. Literally this EP has been influenced by the world around me.”

Ciric’s multicultural, multifaceted experiences that would then influence the theme of Kingdom. Proposal’s “emoviolence” sound was a natural occurrence in their attempt to best to relay those experiences. “I think we thought it was fun – this is what we enjoy playing,” says Ciric. “At the end of the day, after we wrote our first EP we were basically like, ‘Alright, we know what sort of sound we’re going for, let’s just write something that we’re going to have fun playing – we don’t want to get sick of playing it live. We don’t want to get sick of hearing it.’

“We just want to enjoy what we do, because when you don’t enjoy it, it starts becoming a chore, and you don’t want that with music. You then start lacking enthusiasm and it goes downhill!” Another Dr. Hibbert chuckle.

With shows coming up, including an EP launch show, Proposal has a great chance to show off just how much they enjoy, and are confident in, playing Kingdom. “There’s going to be a local show, and then we’ve got another local show with another local band called Nosedive, I think they’re doing their new single [Bad Mood]. We’re playing with Babaroose in Sydney at the end of April… I think there’s one more show I’m missing as well,” Ciric finishes with that hearty laugh.


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