Good news

Samsara have announced a new singer, to replace Baina who left many many months ago. I really had a feeling there would just be no more Samsara. Baina has been replace with Nick from Face Eater. I saw them a couple of years back at the Arthouse, very heavy band. They played with Tenth Dan and they both come from that same "hard" school. I think he will be good addition, and I'm keen to see Samsara again.

Here's an interview I did with Dave last year.

So you just played in Melbourne and Canberra over the weekend.... how'd the shows go? Any highlights?

Both shows were cool, decent turnouts and people seem to have fun. Melbs was good to see some new bands play like Slow Burn, Jack Napier and Lookin In and 4Dead killed it in Canberra, they were rad. Its always fun to play with our mates in Dropsaw, such a good band, look forward to hearing their new record. Highlights would have to be out with John from 4Dead at dodgy Canberra bars till the early hours of the morning.. funny shit.

The last time Samsara came to Canberra was for Metal For The Brain, where the crowd just didn't really "get" Samsara. Did it feel good to have a more receptive audience?

Yeah totally.. last time we didn't have an album out either so that makes a difference too. but we are used to people just standing there sometimes... we don't have the big breakdowns goin on so people just don't know what to do, but that is cool.

You've got some shows in Adelaide and Perth coming up... have you had the chance to get over there much and what are your expectations for the shows?

Been to Adelaide once on the From The Ruins album tour and it was pretty quiet, there were 3 shows on that night. The Adelaide scene is going through a new phase/group of kids.. back in the day it had the strongest scene, with Day Of Contempt, Shotpointblank, Prom Queen, Embodiment and a stack others so now its evolving again. Since you've sent me these questions we've already been,(i'm slack haha) and it was a rad show. awesome turnout and whole vibe of the night was unreal. Bloodsport were rad and so was Ever Ready so I expect things in A Town to pick up again.

We've been to Perth twice before and both times its been awesome. Rad scene over there and great people. Hopefully this time should be just as good. We are playing with Battletruck and Extortion so that should be sick.

When you recorded "The Emptiness" did you have any hopes and expectations for the album..... and did the band live up to the goals?

We really didn't have any expectations to be honest. We wrote some songs and were lucky enough to get Kurt Ballou to record them and he did a great job. We are stoked with the end result. Its now being released in Europe and its coming out on vinyl too.

Everyone in Samsara has been in some pretty high profile bands in the past (Her Nightmare, Shotpointblank, Within Blood etc). Do you think having that early high profile made it easier when the band was starting out?

It probably did in the sense that we were all experienced in writing songs and the process of that.. everybody brought what they had learnt in previous bands to this band so that helped for sure. It also helped with getting shows I suppose as we knew people in bands and asked them for shows too, so that gives you a headstart already.

What's the plans for Samsara in 2008?

Tour the new record, start writing for the next record and hopefully get over to Europe once the album has been out for a while.

What are some albums that have been on high rotation in the tour van lately?
Heavens - Patent Pending, Interpol, Small Brown Bike, Ramallah, we try not to play the same album too much otherwise dudes get shitty.. haha..

Any plans to come back to Canberra any time soon?
Hopefully in 6 months... i think you don't need to overplay anywhere you go.

What bands in Melbourne should everyone be looking out for?

Meatlocker.. there doesn't seem to be too many new hardcore bands at the moment.. but then again I can't keep up with the times these days..

Any thanks or shout outs.. anything else to add?

Patrick from Canberra for the show, 4Dead for the beer, the Dropsaw guys and the Bite The Kerb crew in Adelaide... and to everyone else...Keep It Real.

As for me, work on Issue 6 of Captial Eyes is underway. I really just started putting it together last night, but there are some things I have been sitting on for far too long. Hopefully I should get it done in the next week or so.