Über Rock Introduces… Pincer+

Introduced by Monk

Our latest introduction to a hot new band sees us travelling to the land down under to hook up with Perth hardcore four piece Pincer+, who have just released their declarative debut EP, the brilliantly tilted ‘Hunting God Tapes Vol 1: Violence’. So, we took the opportunity to touch base with guitarist and chief songwriter Josh Ang to find out a bit more about their back story, the state of the musical Überverse and where they see things going from here… as well as, of course, his thoughts on the great “pineapple on pizza” debate!

Before all that, however, that’s start at the beginning (well, it’s always a good place to kick off) and find out who else is in the band and how they came together…

I’ve known Jordan (Burn) since 2015 when he crowd killed me at a Make Them Suffer show and we’ve stayed close friends since.
I met Jack (Nelson) shortly after and since then, me, Jordan and Jack have been in a few unreleased and short lived projects and when those ended, we still stayed in contact. I met Jacson (Robb) later on when I was about 18, when he was playing with Conform. He’s always been a phenomenal guitarist and vocalist and I’ve definitely taken note of that.

Sometime in 2021, I decided I’d give metal one more shot and started the projects and Pincer’s lineup ended up being one of them. We have been through a couple other members before debuting and all of our previous members are absolutely lovely and still remain good friends with us.

Personally, as a historian, I have an interest in etymology, so I feel I have to ask about where the band name came from and if it has any special significance…

The name Pincer+ came from a military maneuver that splits your forces into two teams and flanks the enemy. I found it strangely poetic because if one of those teams fails, the whole maneuver would put the entire team at a dangerous disadvantage. It’s all in or nothing and that’s what this band means to me. One last move before I pack it in for this genre.

Music is categorized into various genres and sub-genres. How would you define your sound? What individual and collective influences do you draw on for your sound?

I would describe us as hardcore with noise elements. Sonically, I try not to draw from other metal bands as that causes this effect of inbreeding in a sense, where similar influences from the same genre mix and leave you with another carbon copy of a pre-existing band, however if I have to put it our sound into words, we’ve ended up having similar tonal aspects to Justice For The Damned, Code Orange, Knocked Loose and Sworn In.

Influence wise, I mainly listen to rap and indie, and I used a lot of vocal patterns in my writing based on what I enjoyed from those genres. Lyrically, those genres do tend to be more lighthearted or almost quirky and that’s the direction I went at first, but in the context of metal, I found it to sound almost comedic and I decided to try to put some flesh into the lyrical content instead.

You’ve just release your first EP a couple of days ago… can you tell us a bit about it?

If I had to describe my approach to this EP in a few words, it’d all boil down to “controlled chaos”. Pockets of noise contrasted by very direct riffs.

Are there any particular lyrical themes/personal issues you are addressing in the songs? Are there any particular issues/subjects that are important to you that you like/wish to address in your material?

This EP is about the collapse of love, in every context of love, from relational to platonic and will touch on topics close to me like religion, life, loneliness and general mishaps that I’ve experienced. Although lyrically heavy, I did try my best to focus on the idea that this trauma is not the end of growth, but just a chapter in life. I wanted the listener to remember that to move past the trauma, you have to work through the trauma, which is what a lot of this EP became to me without even realizing that as I wrote it.

How important is social media in getting your music out there? Do you think it is useful for bands like yourself who maybe don’t have that big “corporate machine” behind them and dominating traditional media outlets?

Social media is this generation’s main source of marketing in my opinion. Social media isn’t the end all to marketing if you get me. Your visual branding, sonic experience and all round product really define it, but social media has to be used to generate maximum reach. I don’t actually believe that ‘big corporate machine’ exist in most metal. Metal is still a niche genre and that brings up the concept of a ‘ceiling’.

Everything in life has a ceiling, and where metal’s ceiling may be higher than obscure genres like polka or, idk Russian folk, it still has a considerably lower ceiling than mainstream rap or pop. Most of the bigger labels and media outlets in metal are still accessible to a lot of the general public with enough networking work.

I think people tend to look at a giant in the metal scene, (i.e. Loathe or Northlane or Spiritbox) and instantly say, “no, I can’t make it that far,” where in reality, all you need to do is create content and as long as it’s good and unique, the community will make sure it’s heard.

Is it more important than, say, streaming outlets especially given the fact that the financial returns for streaming can mean a band doing a lot of work for relatively little reward – i.e. you earn very small percentage returns, with the services themselves taking large chunks of your potential income. Is it worth the effort, or is it a fact of the business that you just have to accept?

Such is life. No matter how I feel about it, streaming outlets have overtaken iTunes and physical records. Personally, I’ve decided to accept it as what it is. It’s a necessary evil that makes all our music so much more accessible to the general public, as it is a lot cheaper to listen to music now (ignoring illegal downloading.) I’d say social media and streaming services go hand in hand, as both are needed. One to gather listeners and funnel fans to your streaming service. One to generate your play count.

Do you think that things like social media platforms, streaming services, etc., have made it easier for fans to discover new bands, or has it led to an even more competitive marketplace in which you need that vital USP in order to get attention?

Fundamentally, it’s always a competition, It always has been. Nowadays, the competitive part is just more clearly seen. I’d like to point out though, that it doesn’t mean you can’t support your friends’ projects and other bands too. You can either be alone in this game, or you can move as a team with your friends and bring everyone up together.

Even though life has returned back to normality (for the meantime anyway), do you think the option of things such as lives streams, which really took off during the lockdowns of 2020 and 2021, will continue to be used by bands, especially to reach into territories where they may not be able to play, or afford to go to?

It really depends. I think that as of this moment, live streaming requires so much logistical work that it may not be viable for smaller bands with less expendable money, but when done right, god damn it’s cool to watch. (Note: Code Orange’s live stream performance was wild.) As technology progresses at this exponential rate, who even knows what the limit is. I’ve seen people simulate entire rooms in VR and with that technology developing and being refined as fast as it is right now, who’s to even say that live streams would only exist in the confines of a flat phone screen.

So, what is next for the band? What is the plan for, say, 2023 in terms of getting out there and bringing your music to new and expanding audiences?

The same as always. Creating content, meeting people, making friends and trying to leave the scene a little better than before we came in. I think this vision should be standard between bands. Spread the love.

OK, now a bit of fun, and a couple of quickfire “out there” questions to give us a wee bit of an insight into your personalities:

Ice cream: vanilla or strawberry? Vanilla all the way
Gravy or curry sauce on your chips? Gravy
Salted or sweet popcorn? Cancel me but popcorn is mid… like all it does is get stuck in your teeth
Smarties or M&Ms? Peanut M&Ms
And the big one: pineapple on pizza? Fuck yeah yes.

Final question: now that live gigs are fully up and running again, we’ll give you your choice of any three other bands (signed or otherwise) you would choose to play with on a bill and where would that gig be?

$not, Heavensgate and Baby Keem.

‘Hunting God Tapes Vol 1: Violence’ is out now. You can your copy HERE.

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