THE WOLSTON BUTCHERS // You Bring The Meat, They’ll Bring The Tunes

Is there anything better than punk-rock? We think not! Brisbane’s The Wolston Butchers are flying the flag for the genre, while still keeping it fresh with the addition of their own brand of hardcore.

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It’s a soundscape that made for one massive EP, their recently released Third Time Lucky. We caught up with the band and got chatting about it, their history and their upcoming plans for 2021.

Hysteria: Tell us about the band and how it got started.

The Wolston Butchers: We started The Wolston Butchers about two years ago, most of us had played together in bands anyway. We’ve had some lineup changes over the years, but now it’s full steam ahead.

Congratulations on the release of Third Time Lucky. Tell us about the process of putting it together and any standout moments you had.

Our last EP was home-recorded. It wasn’t professional, but it sounded alright. Our next step was working with Troy Brady, we had a bunch of songs that we thought were good so we brought them to him. When COVID hit, we had to put off recording for four months. It ended up being a good thing; we got to sit down with these songs that we thought we’d finished and make them everything they could be.

When we eventually did go into record, we thought we were ready. Troy knew what was going to work; he guided us to get the most out of the tracks. The biggest thing was hearing how good we sound professionally recorded. It was mind-blowing; we didn’t realise it would turn out as good as it did. We’ve never had any singing training or anything like that, so Troy telling us we came together and sounded good was a real highlight. He reassured us, we loved working with him and we learnt a lot, it was unreal.

When we eventually did go into record, we thought we were ready. Troy knew what was going to work; he guided us to get the most out of the tracks.
[ The Wolston Butchers ]

Going back to the point you made there about recording delays, was there anything you cut back on?

We originally planned to do a full-length. When we got in with Troy he said let’s put more into less; pick the six best songs and just do them. We all like our songs; so cutting some was difficult but it did work out for the better. It’s not like those songs will go away; they just get put on the backburner for a bit.

You’ve dropped music videos for two tracks from the EP, looks like putting them together was a lot of fun!

We did them both on the same day; it was a lot of fun! Michael Bissell filmed and produced them, so he organised everything but ultimately, he planned to get us wasted. Blokes of the World is a before and after view of a party. You can’t really fake that so we really had one, Bring the Meat is like the second episode to that. We want to thank everyone who helped out on both; it was an absolute mess to clean up!

Who are some of the bands biggest influences?

90s-2000s punk really influences us; we’re all into bands like NOFX, The Offspring and Green Day. Growing up in Brisbane, there were a lot of hardcore bands but not many punk ones. We ended up playing in hardcore bands because that’s what everyone else was doing. We didn’t want to lose that, so our sound became what it is.

What else will we see from The Wolston Butchers this year?

You’ll see another release, whether it be an EP or a full-length. We’re also planning to film a music video for Plastic Should Be Your Middle Name, it’ll be the third episode of the series.

Any last words before I let you head off?

We’d just like to thank everyone that’s helped us out; came to our shows or supported us in any way. We’d also like to thank Troy, Michael from Evergreen Artists, Sacred Rose Tattoo and James from Dead Creepy. There are people we’re forgetting; we tag everyone on Instagram, so check them out there.