LIfe To Order
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LIfe To Order

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Although the story of Melbourne alternative five-piece Life To Order only goes back a year or so, the history of certain members of the band playing together stretches back years and years and out into the furthest reaches of country Victoria, as drummer Andy Taylor explains.

Although the story of Melbourne alternative five-piece Life To Order only goes back a year or so, the history of certain members of the band playing together stretches back years and years and out into the furthest reaches of country Victoria, as drummer Andy Taylor explains.


Our history goes back a fair way,” he starts. “Ben, the guitarist, and myself started playing together a good 14 years ago. Tim, the bass player, joined us about eight years ago, so the three of us primarily have been working together for a long time, and we’ve had a couple of different vocalists during the last seven or eight years. We used to have a female vocalist and then found a male vocalist. At the start of last year the singer Bjorn started working with us. Funnily enough, we both were born in a place called Ararat, up near the Grampians. We have mutual friends and all that sort of stuff, and thirty years later we’ve ended up in a band together! It’s really bizarre.”


Bjorn’s been with us for just over twelve months,” he continues. “A couple of our tunes were written prior to him joining. Tim and Ben and I were looking for a vocalist for six months or more, and during that time we wrote a couple of tracks and then we gave them to Bjorn and he put stuff down basically straight away for them. And it just gelled straight away.”


The band just released their debut EP, entitled As You Were…, and while it fits loosely into the Australian alternative/progressive rock category, it’s kind of a different beast. They appear to be a band that could fit quite easily onto a live bill alongside Cog, Karnivool and Jericco, but should stand out from the crowd at the same time. As You Were… was recorded by David Carr at the famous Rangemaster Studios in eastern Melbourne, and Andy and the band couldn’t be happier with the results.


The EP has somewhat of a subtle anti-war sentiment, especially with regards to the cover artwork, which they feel strongly about. “We’ve started discussing that stuff. It’s been more and more present in the media in recent times,” he says. “And with the track Infidel, it’s got a bit of presence there. We are of that standpoint, but we weren’t trying to portray that lyrically. There’s not a lot of war themes in the music, lyrically. But it’s more of just an awareness thing for people to look at, and think about.”


The EP is launched this coming Friday night at the Ding Dong Lounge in the city. As if the launch of this excellent EP wasn’t enough, the night also features a sensational lineup of high caliber Melbourne alternative rock, with Engine Three Seven also taking the stage, along with Fading Hour and newcomers Robot Child. It’s a night that Andy and the boys are very much looking forward to. “Absolutely, it’s gonna be great,” he says, the anticipation evident. “We’ve been fortunate enough that the last few years we’ve been playing around, we’ve teamed up with Engine Three Seven. We’re stoked to have them on board as mates as well as being a great band, and they’re doing really well. And Fading Hour are fantastic, so it’s great to have them on. The other band Robot Child, we’re really looking forward to seeing them…they’re a quirky sort of band. But yeah we’re looking forward to getting the Ding Dong really crankin’.”


Life to Order have another show at the Esplanade Hotel at the start of May, after which the band intend to take things down a notch and hide themselves away for more writing and recording. “We don’t have anything booked (after the Espy show),” he explains, “so we’re taking about two months off, and we’re going out on a ‘band camp’. We’ve got a place in Buninyong out near Ballarat. We stumbled across the place a couple of years ago, it’s basically a big hall in the middle of nowhere, and it’s all set up, big kitchen, there’s obviously power there, so we just head out camping. We’ll set up the recording gear, and we’ve got a heap of material that we haven’t recorded yet that’s really coming on well. So we’re going to work on the next project.”

 

LIFE TO ORDER will be launching their As You Were… EP at the Ding Dong Lounge this Friday April 8.