Caligula’s Horse

“It’s going to be a good time, we’re de­finitely bringing some new material with us and playing some stuff we’ve been working on, just to throw it out there and see how people like it,” says Jim. “Basically, it’s going to be good times.” After an amicable split with former drummer Geoff Irish, the band had to find themselves someone new and Grif­fin was the perfect ­fit. “Josh has been our friend for a little while, but he was also a fan of the band. He’s getting these great moments coming into Caligula’s Horse with where we are now. All of a sudden we’re going to be touring with Opeth, we’re going to be heading to Europe, we’ve got a headline tour coming up… it’s going to be a big change for him.

“Geoff was always a rock drummer and a very feel-based drummer [and] he had great chops as well. With Josh comes something else, the way I’ve been describing him is as a ‘concept musician’. He’s a guy who really feels every part, he understands his position in the music and how it reflects even vocals and things like that. His mastery of dynamic is very strong – he’s metronomically perfect, as well as being full of feel. He’s a really exciting drummer to work with, and he’s a really exciting drummer to watch as well.

“Obviously Josh is bringing his flavour to the older material, but also to the new material that we’ve been writing, so it’s a very exciting sound. I think people are going to have a good time [at the shows]. I’ve been reinvigorated in terms of my love for those old songs.” Since forming in 2011, the band has taken on a heavy touring workload, which has seen them play around Australia and all over Europe. For Grey, there’s something special about a hometown show. “I’ve got a real soft spot for playing in Brisbane just because it feels like home,” he says. “We’ve had bigger shows in other cities than Brisbane, but at the same time, there’s just something about it. There’s nothing like getting up on stages, at the venues that you’ve wanted to play since you were twelve.”

Although there’s no place like home, playing shows in Europe was a completely different experience for Grey and the band, with big cultural differences between cities meaning that the live show had to be adapted for each audience. “I’ve found, on the whole, that at the shows that we’ve played in Scandinavia people are quite pensive in their responses physically. Here in Australia, everyone goes hard. It’s beers and moshing and celebrations and good times, and then in Scandinavia it was a little more reserved in their response. But then if you head to Hungary and play Budapest everyone’s going crazy. In the Netherlands we had a really great physical response and in Paris of course, everyone was moshing and crowd sur­fing the entire show.

“It certainly informs how you’re going to approach the show. If I’ve got a crowd of people that are enjoying it and cheering their guts out, having a great time at the end of songs [but] while the songs are on they’re really concentrating on what we’re doing, we’re going to give them a far more physically reserved performance. They’re not going to be into me jumping out and trying to smash them and landing on their head… whereas if they’re going nuts and having beers and stuff then I’m going to get amongst it. You just play the crowd you’re playing to really.

“It’s very different depending on where you go, and as Australians I think we forget how startlingly different communities and cultures and people can be, despite being relatively close to each other geographically.” As far as new music, Grey was tight lipped when asked about the next album, but did give some positive signs that it can’t be too far off in the future. “I’m not ready to drop an album release date yet, but I will say that we’ve got a few songs under our belt that we’re very, very happy with. We have a lot of ideas that are happening, a lot of concepts that are in more of an embryonic kind of stage that are just being fleshed out, but we are progressing quite quickly.”

The Hands Shape Stone tour kicks off in November, and with renewed vigour and a new drummer, the shows will be very different to previous Caligula’s Horse tours. “All of a sudden, songs that we’ve played literally hundreds of times on tour are fresh again, it’s like hearing them for the ­first time… [Josh’s] excitement has fuelled our excitement, and we’re all feeling kind of fresh-faced again about all the tunes.”

Bloom is out now via Century Media. Caligula’s Horse will be touring throughout Australia from November 4 until December 3. For more information visit wildthingspresents.com