- Jan 4, 2021
- 11 min read

Frontier Season | INTERVIEW

If you thought having a band or 4-5 people was tricky, try 7. That’s right Frontier Season is Melbourne’s metal band with 7 members. Sam, Cooper, Darcy and Luke spilt the Frontier Season tea about what it’s like being in a big band, a look behind ‘Ambivalent’, the upcoming new single featuring 6+ genres and the possible country track feature on their new EP.

Even though, I’m only interviewing FOUR of you today, there are actually SEVEN band members in Frontier Season. How did you all meet? Did you just start picking randoms up from off the street? How did it all happen?

Darcy: Frontier Season started with myself and Luke. I was in another band at the time and then, Luke and I had mutual friends and I knew he was a DJ and he does a bit of beat making, so I was like Hey, Let’s do some stuff.

Frontier Season started in 2016, but we had few years before that just making beats.

Luke: We kind of started off in our garages, Darcy and I started making electronic music, electronic beats and just mucking around there. Darcy showed me some of the stuff that Darcy was working on, and I thought it was awesome, it was lot of heavy metal stuff and I kind of had an idea where he wanted to go with this, so, we started making stuff out of that and then we both said Let’s get a band together, and we just started incorporating everybody: a couple of guitarists, singers…

Cooper: Darcy I think, started the look when he got Leon our guitarist from another project he was working on (which fell through), and then Leon brought me on board cause I was already in a project with him, then Sam and Leslie we found online, and Mike had filled in for Leon in one of the other projects previously. That’s how it all came together.

Sam: It’s just a weird web!

Cooper: Yeah, here, there and everywhere is where we found everyone.

You all must get this a lot, but having seven people in a band is very unusual. What is it like having seven? Do you lose people at shows?

Cooper: We’ve lost many! Haha

Sam: Communication is tricky, just because we all have our own lives, we all work full time, so trying to arrange times when we are all available for something can be challenging. Other than that, it’s pretty good, we all get along and have been in other projects before and I can say personally that I’ve never felt as connected with a band as I am with Frontier Season, like we never argue on anything like that. But yeah, aside from scheduling issues it’s all pretty easy.

Luke: With writing we always have to get all seven people on board with the one idea, that can be complex at points, but, having said that though we try to find a happy medium where everyone will be satisfied with the end result. We do have a pretty good work flow with all of us and it’s an awesome group, we all get along really well inside and outside of the band.

Cooper: No one has thrown anyone through a window yet.

Luke: Not yet haha

Give it time haha. It is hard to schedule rehearsals, do you have to book one or two months in advance with everybody?

Luke: We kind of make a dedication to a certain day, I believe Mondays and/or Thursdays was “band time”.

Cooper: It was a bit easier before Covid, obviously we had our regular time and Covid has thrown it all a little bit off, but we are still working with it and it hasn’t been too much of an issue so far.

So the new single Ambivalent, what was the writing and recording process behind it?

Sam: So that was one of six tracks for our EP, that we are going to release in the future, and I think that was the only song that we had prepared that didn’t need any editing. I think it was the most straight forward out of everything we have coming and have released so far.

As for writing it, I think it was the only song Darcy didn’t take the lead on…

Darcy: One of two songs

Sam: It was pretty much all Leon (guitarist), I think it was one of the easier ones we have done.

Luke: It just flowed, that one just flowed, we all just heard the base idea and added this, and this, and this. And it was just pushed out so quickly. Of course there was some refinements and that, and we are just wrapped with the result that came out of it.

Could you all talk a little bit about the meaning behind Ambivalent?

Cooper: It’s about inferiority, that feeling of being unappreciated for what you try and do for people, and how they ask and expect a lot from you but they expect too much and you try your hardest to please people and meet their expectations but you can’t and you just aren’t able to, and they don’t recognise the effort of you even trying and they kind of treat you like you’re the villain, like you have let them down and you have ruined things for them because of it.

This song was actually written before lockdown, the Ep was finished in…

Sam: Early 2019

Cooper: Yeah the Ep was finished 2019, the song was finished in 2017/18, so the lyrics are actually quite old, there’s nothing on the Ep that is inspired by lockdown, even though there are a few things in the songs that seem relevant, it just work out interesting that way.

What are some of the band’s biggest influences? I know that personally for Ambivalent I hear like a Fall Out Boy meets Earthbound sort of vibe, what are your thoughts on that haha?

Luke: Interesting haha.

Darcy: Yeah, that’s a real interesting one haha.

Sam: okay we do get this question a lot, and well having seven members we have a lot of influences to draw from.

Myself, I listen to a lot of like 2007-8 metalcore pop punk sort of stuff. But these days, for my vocals at least, I try to draw from stuff like Sam Carter Architects, Oli Sykes obviously, Chester from Linkin Park that sort of thing. I’m hoping that will become more obvious in our future stuff.

Luke: For me, I think a lot of it stems from a heavy electronic background and a very heavy background as well. I feel like the first thing that got me into metal was Slipknot, just like a lot of young teenagers who are getting into that scene. A big one for me though, production wise with electronics is Pendulum, that one hits hard for me, there front man Rob Swire is a massive influence to me, that sort of sound is what I really want to accomplish now and in the future.

Darcy: I guess, for me, there’s a very broad spectrum because I listen to everything. So, again with Luke I listen to a lot of EDM (Electronic Dance Music), but mainly in the UK sound so jungle and dubstep. I obviously also listen to a lot of heavy music as well such as Architects and Bring Me The Horizon. Enter Shikari is a big influence I bring into our music, and when doing Ambivalent I drew a lot from Muse with the synthesizer, as Ambivalent is a very orchestral track, so we’ve applied Muse’s style to our track.

Cooper: I grew up on punk and then post hardcore was a big influence on me, as I’ve gotten older I like everything from post hardcore to hip-hop to K-Pop.

And it doesn’t end there, the other band members are into so many different things. I think I might just say that, since Leon was the lead songwriter on it that Leon is a melodic death metal dude in his core, I think that does show a bit through this song

cause that is vibe in this song that the other song’s on the Ep doesn’t have.

Sam: One thing that I think should be recognised is that since we have such a broad range of influences, if people listening do pay attention to the songs that we will be releasing over the next couple of months are very different from one another.

Luke: We also use a lot of those genres together as well. When you come to realise that there is seven of us, with such a huge spectrum and music doesn’t really have boundaries, we can all create something so special and it kind of hits home for us, and that’s the beautiful thing about this thing and this band that we can really push boundaries on what we can do.

Cooper: and I might just elaborate on what Sam said, and I don’t mean this in a We’re soo good kind of way, but I think that I would be very surprised that if anyone could say that all the song sound the same on this Ep.

Luke: that could not be possible! Haha

Cooper: If they do, I think they might be lying! haha

So… the next single will be a country single, is that right, is that what you are telling us? Haha

Luke: We’ve got cowboys hats ready, let’s do this! Haha

Cooper: I’ll tell you what, it might not be the next one, but it’s not impossible.

Maybe the next one after that

Cooper: Maybe haha, it’s possible in the future for sure.

You all mentioned a little bit about an upcoming Ep, what can you tell us about it?

Sam: I guess, we try to show off a broad range of what we can do in terms of performance and song writing, but thematically it’s all what me and Cooper do is generally write about aside from being personal topics, we try to write about things that are relatable, generally to do with things like mental health and stuff like that. But we always try to put a positive spin on things, for example with our song Shadows is very much about anxiety and how it affects at least me personally, except there’s very strong suggestions that there are ways to over come it and ways to cope with it, and that’s present in almost every song on the Ep actually.

Cooper: Yeah, we don’t go for a woe-is-me, everything’s awful, it’s always going to be awful. We are like Hey, It’s awful but that’s not everything, we can get past this.

Darcy: Musically, as Sam said it’s diverse, we have a broad range of songs that don’t sound the same, like we’ve got Shadows which is like this power rock ballad, and we’ve got Ambivalent which is our big orchestral piece and one of our future songs that we are going to release is… am I allowed to say it?

Sam: Don’t say it!

Luke: Don’t say nothing!

Cooper: I don’t even know which one you’re talking about haha

Could you give us a hint about it?

Darcy: So the next one we are doing a music video for, so it’s most likely going to be our next release, it probably has about six genres or something like that…

Cooper: At least six genres we could count in there

Sam: This next one is defiantly a journey for sure.

Darcy: It kind of works with what the song is about, we are very excited to release it and see what people think about it. I think that coming from an artist background, because I’ve done a Bachelor of Creative Arts, it’s our most artistic work in terms of meaning and the way we fuse genres and our sounds together.

Luke: We really pushed this one, it was a good song to write, looking forward to putting this one out there.

Darcy: It still has a pop structure I can say that, but it has our own sound.

Luke: It’s catchy! It has a very poppy vibe to it, but we really try to fuse these genres together, that’s the best way I can put it. It’s not like split segments, but instead combining as much as possible into one, cohesively.

What is next for Frontier Season?

Cooper: The single that we are currently talking about comes out in…

Can you give a name at all?

Sam: Not yet, but it rhymes with ‘Based Ham’ haha

Luke: haha are you hungry mate?

Cooper: so, this one that we are talking about that rhymes with based ham haha, we are about to start filming it and we are probably looking at a February release for it, and we are planning on a video and single release for every song on the Ep, so this would be the third on the Ep. So, look forward to four more videos from now, and then once the last song is out will be when the Ep is complete and then we will have that out too.

Sam: In the meantime, we are still, while mostly Darcy is still writing new tracks and remixing old ones that haven’t seen the light of day and doing that sort of thing.

Cooper: and we are just getting ready for what comes next after all that.

Sam: yeah, and in terms of playing live it has all been uncertain as everyone knows because of 2020, that’s a little bit up in the air, but hey we’ll see what 2021 holds.

Luke: We are so eager to get onto the road again to play some gigs and hopefully some touring would be awesome.

Darcy: I guess back to future releases and this Ep, with this band I’m constantly always on that journey to find what our sound is, and this Ep is sort of in the middle of that journey. But now, I think I’ve found a sound that we can work with, it’s not just a this genre here, that genre there, but instead it’s something fused together like a concept.

Cooper: If people like the diversity of what we are putting out now, I think that people are going to definitely vibe with what we are coming up with next for sure.

Darcy: We are trying to find our niche sound in today’s heavy music industry, because we are trying to get that same heaviness but branch out more. And I’m not this in a bad way but usually all of the influences come from the same people.

Luke: we are trying to do it in a way that we haven’t heard, or haven’t heard yet, so that’s exciting.

Do you have any final words to say on behalf of the rest of the band? Or any messages you want to get out to fans?

Cooper: For the other guys, I think that the other three guys said that the four of us sitting in this room were really sexy, I’m 100% sure that they said that haha.

Luke: There’s an optometrist I know that’s really good, I think they can all get a check up haha.

Cooper: Hey I’m not wearing my glasses man, I don’t know what’s up.

Luke: I think that a message that we really want to push out there is that we know people are dealing with things and respect and emphasise with that. We really want to make it very clear, like a family thing, if you’re a really good hearted person, no matter what’s going on, is that we want to let you know that it’s going to be okay, it might be a struggle, but it will be alright, and everyone and anyone no matter how you identify or what your beliefs are, if you are a good hearted person you are welcomed into our family That’s how I’ve always seen this band, as a family and we really just want to emphasise that love and that welcome.

Cooper: and just to build on from that It will be alright thing, no matter what you are going through whether it be a mental illness or some sort of crisis, just anything, it will be okay, it might not seem like it, but it will be, as long as you are willing to, like it’s not just going to come to you, sometimes you need to put in the hard yards. Whether it’s talking to people or with friends, family, therapy or just doing things to better your situation and life, there is an answer out there that may not be obvious or easy, but it is always worth it in the end.

Darcy: Just to go with that message, we try to write music that will appeal to everyone, so I guess that goes along with message saying that our music IS for everyone.

Luke: We want to spread the love, and open sick moshpits at the same time haha, that’s what we want to do just have a good party, good times, and just enjoy life as much as possible.

That was 4/7 of Melbourne’s Very own metal band Frontier Season having a chat with Jess from Moody Music Blog Au.

Frontier Season are

Sam Bonanno | Vocals Cooper Breen | Vocals