Interview – Endless Grin. August 2022

Greetings Endless Grin from Canberra Australia. Welcome to Metal Health and thanks for being here.

Congratulations on two brilliant releases. The newly released single ‘The Shadows’ and ‘Decode’ released on 31 st December 2021. They are both brutal onslaughts of pure sonic power and invention. Strong energetic performances and great audio production. The sound is passionate and massive.

Hey Greg, massive thank you for having us on and for your kind words, we’re beyond stoked that you’ve enjoyed our songs and I’m looking forward to diving in with this interview!

What does good mental health mean to you?

As you know Greg, I work in the field of mental health and I think this is a great question. I’ll try and answer it without sounding too clinical. All of us go through parts of life that cause, sadness, anxiety and stress, and some of us may even go through it more than others. I think good mental health begins by building a certain degree of self-esteem and self-confidence. I don’t mean thinking that you are top shit at everything, but knowing in yourself that you are enough and then learning to trust yourself to navigate the world because it is essentially innate that we are wired for survival. Remember that your self-worth should never be dictated by anyone but you. I believe the next step is learning ways to deal with stress and coping with adversity in a healthy and positive way.

Life is fucking hard and the obstacles are going to be there
whether we like it or not, but we can control how we let them shape us. There’s tons of resources out there that detail how people have overcome some of the worst situations in their lives. Talk to people, share your experiences and be open and flexible to change. I’m a big fan of Stoicism and I recommend reading “The Obstacle is the Way”. Be present in the moment. This sounds cliché as fuck but think about it. How many of us are stuck ruminating over the past or feeling anxious and planning for the future that we do not stop to just enjoy the present. Try it. Just actually stop what you’re doing right now and notice the smell in the air, the ground beneath your feet, or how your breathing sounds. That’s the thing I love about playing live because I get to immerse myself in everything that is going on around me at that point in time.

Do not be afraid to seek purpose. I believe having purpose in our lives, whatever that purpose may look like gives us a focal point, so that no matter what we encounter we know that we have something we are striving for. I also believe that your purpose whatever that may be should only be defined by you. Finally I think good mental health means taking care of your sleep. I say this but I’m probably the worst in the band for it.

Sleep is crucial to brain function and there’s a heap of research showing how even having a tiny lack of sleep can add up and have adverse effects on mental and physical health.

Great answer. What motivates you? What keeps you going?

The thing that motivates me I think is being able to play alongside my brother. It’s a lifelong dream and its easy because he’s such an awesome person and guitar player all round. He can also be fucking annoying but he’ll probably say the same about me. He keeps pushing the envelope and that definitely keeps me going because he shows me what is possible in terms of guitar playing and song writing. Coming together and playing with a group of like-minded metal heads is the other thing that motivates me. Everybody brings a perfect piece of the puzzle into the equation and its hard not to look forward to catching up with the band to make music. I think the best feeling of all however is bringing it all together on stage and just letting everything go in the moment. Seeing the crowd go wild at the end of it all makes everything worth it because I feel like they’ve literally shared a part of me and genuinely enjoyed it – and that makes me want to do more.

Have you experienced any tough times personally that you’d be okay talking about? If so, how are you/did you get through this?

Without getting into too much detail, Joel and I lost a close family member about 2 months ago. It is bloody hard but I’m thankful that we have people around us that we are able to confide in and talk to, friends and family which meant we were not necessarily processing things alone in our head. I never really had to deal with grief or loss at this level so it all came as a pretty rude shock to me but I learned that by looking at the times we had together and fondly remembering them rather than focusing on the loss helped me cope with it. The other thing I think Joel and I did was to try our best and keep to our routines as much as possible. I’m not saying we didn’t feel sad or we ignored it. When the feelings came up we let ourselves feel them but at the same time we tried to do everything we’d normally do just to keep some sense of normalcy in our lives and to keep inching forward.

My condolences to you and family. I think your answer will be very helpful to anyone experiencing loss at the moment. Thank you. What does making music mean to you? Why do you do it?

For me making music is really about self-expression. I’ve always felt that an emotion or idea is always conveyed better when there is music paired with it. I do it because it’s fun, expressing yourself is cathartic and it is even more magical when 4 other people are in sync with you. You add the crowd to this and it’s just magic. The feeling never gets old for me.

When did you start making music? Was it like finding some buried treasure that you didn’t know you had, and how did making music fit in with the rest of your life?

Joel and I grew up in a household where there was always music so it was pretty normal for us to start dabbling in songwriting soon after we both picked up our instruments. Both of us played in different bands from a young age but we just never had the chance to play in the same band together I guess due to the fact that there is a 8year gap between us, me being the older one. I had actually stopped playing guitar for like 10 years until Joel moved from Singapore to Canberra in 2019 and that’s when I slowly picked it up again. I’d say I’m still getting into the grove f songwriting whereas Joel is just a machine. All of us are working full time pretty much but we make sure to carve out time to make music because it is important to us and it is fun. It does mean that we have to sacrifice certain other things but thankfully we all have pretty supportive partners in our lives and this makes it easy.

Your biography mentions the diverse musical backgrounds and experience of the members. How does the influence of Delhi, Singapore, Canberra, the world, impact your music?

I think in the fact that we aren’t purists. Different genres of metal like different cultures have elements that make it unique and wonderful. We’re not afraid to blend stuff in if we think it sounds good. I think the shadows is a good example of that.

Harshit’s vocals are incredible and drive home the bands powerful songs. How did you put the lyrics and vocal lines together? Do you have a whole lot of thoughts or ideas written down to draw upon, or do you wait to hear the music to get vocal ideas?

Harshit normally waits for us to give him the complete song. Sometimes we will give him a theme as well like for the Shadows we told him the song has to be about an assassin. If we don’t give him a theme then it is mostly him just coming up with a theme by himself and he will write lyrics that fit that theme.

I suppose it’s not difficult to find plenty to write about currently in Australia. What are some areas of life that are important to the band?

The Shadows started with Joel basically playing too much Hitman and then wanting to write a piece that reflected the tension and mystery of an assassin that infiltrated a party and went on a killing spree finally killing his target and slipping out amidst all the chaos. We conveyed this to Harshit and he basically took that and ran with it, crafting the story of the assassin that slays the wicked to free his people who are oppressed. We come from cultures where we’ve had to fight for freedom at one point or another so it tied in perfectly with our beliefs. We have themes that we are passionate about that will be obvious in our other songs but we usually write what we feel inspired by at the time and these tend to be tied into
the things we feel strongly about.

How important is it for the bass guitar and drums to be tight, and where do you see guitar and voice fitting in the groove?

Our songs are driven primarily by the guitars and vocals but it needs to have a solid foundation. I believe part of the reason why the guitars and vocals sound so good is because the bass and drums work in unison to bring our riffs to a different level. It is very important for the bass guitar and drums to be tight and form that foundation in which we can layer our guitar parts and vocals over.

Joel and Josh on guitars. Do you both give a lot of thought and arrangement with guitar parts, or do you have a more intuitive style where it just seems to fall together effortlessly?

Josh; For me it’s a mix of both, I usually hear a melody in my head and then sit down and figure out what it is. After that I try and break it down to see what is going on and how I can mess with the rhythms or the notes to make it more interesting. I like to get a fair bit of input from Joel first so there’s a bit of back and forth before the final parts get written. Generally I think being brothers lends itself to most of our guitar parts working well with each other? You tell me LOL
Joel: Part of my guitar practice includes lots of improvisation. Sometimes while exploring new ideas I will come up with very interesting lines which forces me to stop my practice and develop the idea. I often gravitate towards changes between riffs that are very bold and dramatic in nature. I would say 90% of the time we will come up with stuff where everything just seamlessly falls into place. I would attribute this to the fact that we both grew up playing guitar together and listening to the same kind of music. And honestly there is no better feeling than working with another guitarist who understands the music that we write together. The icing on the cake is that he is also my older brother as well so I get maccas after every jam session!

Love the improv angle! How was the recording process for The Shadows and Decode? Did you record it live, or record an instrument at a time etc? Have you been recording some new songs too?How is it going?

Covid threw a massive spanner in the works for us recording wise because we had pretty much recorded guitars for 4 tracks but then there was issues with the studio closing and as such we had to start from scratch. Joel basically took it upon himself to learn how to record and he has basically been
responsible for recording the band. We do it one instrument at a time and its been a learning process for him but it’s also pretty cool because now we have control over how we want things to sound before it gets sent off to be mixed and mastered.

What are your plans? Are you in the studio recording more material? Some more touring, or any dates you can mention?

Our drummer Jamie is a bona fide rocket scientist, who unfortunately has gotten a job offer in Auckland and is relocating there. We’re in the process of finalizing a new drummer and then it’ll pretty much be all systems go. The plan is to finish up one or two more originals before the end of the year and hopefully do some shows along the east coast so stay tuned!

Ok, last question. What would you say to fans who are struggling with their mental health, or finding life difficult at the moment?

If you’re struggling right now please be kind to yourself. You are not alone in this and there are people out there that care immensely about you. Do not be afraid to lean on them for support. You are absolutely not a burden and just need a helping hand because you are experiencing a tough time that is out of your control. Reach out, talk, seek help, things can and will get better!

Thanks Endless Grin for taking the time to talk with us.
Greg \MH/.

Music links: https://www.facebook.com/endlessgrinofficial

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCa1ICUwJpynavCwrGws4JoQ

https://www.instagram.com/endlessgrinofficial/

https://www.endlessgrinofficial.com/

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