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Toehider

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Beat speaks to Mills about the process that led to getting the great man to record drums for the EP. “I came across a contact on the net, and I sent him an email,” he says. “I sent him some of the rough demos and some of my previous [recordings], and to my great surprise he wrote back. And it was like ‘Fuck,’ you know?”

It’s amazing to think that completely cold, unsolicited contact was enough to secure the services of a heavy metal legend. “I just thought, ‘It can’t hurt to try and track him down to see if he’d be keen’,” Mills says. “And he was. It’s not often you get to work with your heroes like that.”

Mills also went on a European musical odyssey last year, which entailed both a Toehider tour and a chance to perform alongside yet more of his musical inspirations. “I got an offer to be in a rock opera stage show in the Netherlands,” he says. “Which was the [Dutch progressive metal band] Ayreon thing. There was an album that came out in 2004 called The Human Equation, which had James LaBrie from Dream Theater and Devin Townsend on it. So Arjen Lucassen, the guy who writes it all, sent me an email and said, ‘Devin Townsend’s not available to be a part of it, and would you be able to do his parts?’ So that show went for four sold out nights. It was James from Dream Theater and Anneke van Giersbergen [The Gathering]. Basically I was the only no-name singer in the cast. So when that came through, we put together a [Toehider] tour as well.”

Now that all of the surreal excitement is out of the way, it’s time for the official launch of Mainly Songs About Robots, which takes place at Ding Dong Lounge next weekend. Toehider have been absent from the Australian live scene for quite some time, and they’ve put together an impressive lineup for their triumphant return.

“It’s our first Melbourne show in well over a year,” Mills says. “We’re really looking forward to playing Melbourne again. We’re doing Ding Dong with A Lonely Crowd and Orsome Welles, which are two of my favourite Melbourne bands. So it’s going to be a great night, it’ll be loads of fun.”

Last year is going to be a pretty hard one to top, but Mills’ primary goal for 2016 is to release the band’s next recording. “I’ve got a bunch of different ideas about how it’s going to be released, but the aim is to get something out by the end of the year. It’s probably going to be a full length album at this point. I’m a big fan of bands from the ‘70s and ‘80s, how they put out an album every year. I like to stay as active as possible, it’s good for my brain to stay active and creative.”

BY ROD WHITFIELD