Interviews : Rosetta (Michael Armine) – 15/03/2008

Rosetta oppose “music criticism and hype-filled magazines that set themselves up as arbiters of taste”, the “music industry and its exploitative treatment on unsuspecting artists” ,  and believe that “DIY is an ethic that works”. In June, Rosetta will be traveling to Australia to give us the pleasure of witnessing the unique “Metal for Astronauts” experience that their DIY attitude has created. I spoke with vocalist Michael Armine about their up and coming Australian tour.

Metal Obsession: For those who haven’t heard of you, can you give us a quick insight into Rosetta.

Michael Armine (vocalist): Simply put, Rosetta consists of four very humble individuals who share the same musical tastes and goals. We formed to experiment with a few ideas we all individually shared about music. Rosetta surpassed the execution of these ideas and now is more of an emotional outlet for us.

MO: You are touring on the back of you’re latest release Wake/Lift. You’re first full length The Galilean Satellites was about a “space man”, does Wake/Lift contine to be based on the same character and idea?

MA: Same idea/character but Wake/Lift is more personal than TGS was.

MO: You released a coimpanion disc to Wake/Lift titled The Cleansing Undertones of Wake/Lift made up largely of electronic samples form the main album, what compelled you to create and release this? Were there any discussions about releasing a sync-disc similar to that of The Galilean Satellites?

MA: We did discuss this. 3/4ths of the band was completely against the idea as we wanted to do something more focused. The only reason we could come up with for doing a sync-disc was that it was a very fun and educational experience for us. However, doing one for Wake/Lift would have been redundant. I was sitting on about 7 years of samples that I wanted to get rid of, use them somewhere, somehow. This was a perfect opportunity for me to lock them away.

MO: Having such a detailed and complex sound, does the band find it difficult to replicate the atmosphere and general sound of the albums when playing live?

MA: Absolutely not. So much of what we do is effects and sample driven. Seeing that we travel with exactly what we practice and record with, nothing gets left out of the experience.

MO: I’ve read that your set list will vary throughout the tour. Are your set lists planned out before hand, or do you change them around as you tour?

MA: We will be putting together a list of about 7-8 songs that we will play for the tour. Of those, 5 will be played each night. What it is exactly we will play will be decided about 20 minutes before setting up our gear that night.

MO: An Australian tour from you guys certainly was an unexpected announcement. Australia is usually one of the last places band tour because of the travel costs to come all the way down here, however on top of that, you guys are charging less than half of the entry price that most other international acts charge! Why did you choose Australia as part of you’re Wake/Lift tour?

MA: Australia chose us. We ere half heartedly exploring various touring options in Europe when this offer came our way. We very quickly came to the conclusion that not one of us would ever really get the chance to ever get to go visit Australia, let alone tour there.
So we very quickly decided to set the tour up. As far as the entry prices being half of what other international acts charge… we originally wanted to keep this tour as simple and as DIY as possible. It was requested that all the shows be at small venues, and playing smaller house shows were our main focus. However, when word got out that we were coming we saw that it was necessary to play semi-large clubs to accommodate the demand. It would be nice to make some of the money back we spent on plane tickets. But we are all prepared to take the hit on that so long as we have a good time.

MO: Brisbane-based band “The Surrogate” will be playing with you throughout your whole Australian tour, how did this come about?

MA: They are the crazy bastards who have arranged to bring us over.

MO: Have you heard much Australian metal? If so, what bands have you enjoyed most?

MA: To be honest I do not think any of us know a lot about Australian metal. In fact, none of us listen to metal… at all. The bands that I really like that have come out of Australia are projects like Terminal Sound System and Halo. Fall Time made an impression on me for a short minute, but they never did a follow up to Coma.

MO: Will the band be taking time off to have a bit of a holiday while in Australia, or will you be heading back home straight after the tour?

MA: This tour is our holiday. We have two days where we get to run around and chill out for a bit. For the past 3 years touring as always been our time off from the real world. Tour is where we get to meet good people, see inspiring places, all the while play shows for people that care about what we do.

MO: Any last words for your Australian fans?

MA: It would be great to have people come who are not particularly a fan of our records. I would very much like to have them experience a live set before they pass judgement on what we have recorded.

MO: A huge thankyou for taking the time to do this interview and best of luck for your Australian tour!

Rosetta’s tour dates:
18th June 2008 – Brisbane – Rosies
w/ The Surrogate, Art Vandelay +1 more
19th June 2008 – Gold Coast – The Shark Bar
w/ The Surrogate and Govern the Sky
20th June 2008 – Newcastle – The Cambridge Hotel
w/ The Surrogate, Coma Lies and Dining in Tuscany
21st June 2008 – Sydney – Herman’s Bar
w/ The Surrogate, Slowly Building Weapons and Fattura Della Morte
22nd June 2008 – Woolongong – The Oxford Tavern
w/ The Surrogate, Hospital the Music and May
24th June 2008 – Canberra – The ANU Bar
w/ The Surrogate, Four Dead and Moments
26th June 2008 – Adelaide – The Enigma Bar
w/ The Surrogate, Robotasaurus and Worms of the Earth
27th June 2008 – Melbourne – The Arthouse
w/ The Surrogate, Whitehorse (TBC) and Worms of the Earth
28th June 2008 – Melbourne – TBA (All Ages)
w/ The Surrogate and Worms of the Earth

Tickets are available at the door, $15.