Even though they’ve only been together for six months, NoKTuRNL are hot property. And the heat is only going to be turned up over the next few months as they warm audiences up as support on supergroup Spiderbait’s national tour.
The NoKTuRNL line–up is familiar – guitar , bass, drums, vocals. But the sound is a unique fusion of metal , hip hop, reggae, blues, soul, funk and jazz (oh, and there’s a bit of kitchen sink in there too!)
As well as playing their own original music they’ve got some interesting takes on tracks from other bands including Cypress Hill, The Prodigy and Public Enemy.
Latest recruit to the Deadly Vibe family, Cath Craigie caught up with NoKTuRNL on their recent flying visit to Sydney.
Cath: So what is it about NoKTuRNL that makes Spiderbait want them as support on their national tour?
NoKTuRNL: We played in front of them and amongst the bunch of bands we were playing with they liked us the most. They probably thought it was going to be ochres and clapsticks and didgeridoos but instead there was screaming guitars and angry vocals and thundering drum beats.
Cath: How would you describe your music?
NoKTuRNL: Our music doesn’t stick to one genre, there’s a common vein through all of it – it’s loud and heavy and it’s got attitude. People describe us as a heavy metal band which is wrong – we’re not Metallica we’re just as much funky as we are metal and just as much rappy as we are jazzy. It just depends what you hear most in the music.
Cath: So what messages are you sending out?
NoKTuRNL: I don’t know if we’re sending any messages. We’re just giving people something to think about. If you wanted to tell them what to think then that would be sending a message.
But if you’re giving them something to mull over for a while and decide on whether that’s right or not or whether they believe it or not then that’s giving them something to think about.
Sending a message is actually posting it to them – we’re just leaving something on the doorstop and if they want to open it they can.
Cath: What do you think are the issues facing Aboriginal youth in the nineties?
NoKTuRNL: There’s a big backlash of racial and social tension between black and white and ethnic immigrants. The great experiment of immigration and assimilation in this country is being tested to the fullest.
Cath: Where do you see Aboriginal people in the next millennium?
NoKTuRNL: I see us being better off, getting to the point when we can accept other people’s beliefs and customs.
Today’s youth are tomorrow’s leaders. We see a lot of people showing interest in not just Aboriginal but ethnic cultures. People are starting to be more open to different cultures.
Things can get better if people work at them, but if people sit around and wait for iut to happen it won’t. You’ve got to be actively out there doing something about it.
Cath: And what about your dreams for NoKTuRNL?
NoKTuRNL: We wouldn’t mind being rich – we’ve never done that before.
For more about NoKTuRNL catch Cath’s full interview on Deadly Sounds and look out for them on the new ABC series Songlines and on ICAM on SBS.
Jamie Ramzan, Damien Armstrong, Craig Tilmouth and Douge Pipe are NoKTuRNL.
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