Interview with WARBIRDS: ‘The first thing here was that kickass groove riff’

Melbourne-based hard rock trio WARBIRDS have released their debut album Order From Chaos, running the gamut from heavy to bluesey rock, with power ballads and grunge in between.

The band was founded by Anth Nekich (vocals/guitar) and is best described as hard rock, blending heavy groove-based riffs with melodic rock melodies. Primarily influenced by 70’s, 80’s and 90’s rock with a dash of prog, all layered and intertwined with powerful, high range emotive vocal melodies. Their name came about because Nekich and their first bassist liked the Top Gun theme: ‘It sounds heavy but not offensive,’ Nekich quipped. ‘We added in ‘birds’ to make it softer!’ At their recent gig at Hard Rock Hell in Great Yarmouth in the U.K., the band featured Danny Slaviero on bass and Luciano Alvaro on drums: ‘Danny and Luciano are officially not in the band and had no part in writing and recording any of the album,’ Nekich explained. ‘Danny has been involved with filling in on bass with the WARBIRDS for years and has always been a close contact and friend for me, musically – we joke they get a permanent fill in (laughs) but will re-evaluate next year for the next phase of the band.’ Nekich met both of then when he joined the band Moments Apart, which they were both members of in 2014. ‘Years later, Looch and I played in another friend’s band together and also worked together for a short period of time at the guitar/drum store.’ Alvaro looks at him: ‘You can’t be unhappy in a music shop!’

Nekich describes WARBIRDS’ 14 track debut album, which has been four years in the making, as ‘melodic hard rock’, Slaviero calls it ‘a journey’ and Alvaro says it has ‘lyrical substance – no two songs are the same’. Nekich agrees: ‘They’re all individual songs about life, love and death (laughs). ‘Order Of Chaos’ was going to be the last track on the album but my dear friend Richard, who was supposed to be here with us, passed away, he’d said it was a strong song, so we bumped it up.’ Slaviero agrees: ‘Richard really supported music in Melbourne, he was a real community person. When I hear this song, I think of him.’

The title track encapsulates what the whole album is about and Nekich’s mindset at the time he wrote the lyrics: ‘It’s probably my favourite track on the album,’ he said. ‘It was written towards the end of lockdown in Melbourne. I was having a very difficult time by the end. It was about what’s the point, I was trying to find order in the chaos.’ It’s one of the standout tracks on the album for me, opening with hard-hitting, grungy almost Bond-like guitar and bass lines. It allows Nekich to showcase his vocal range, putting in one of the strongest vocal performances on the album; it’s a dramatic track with a soaring chorus that builds and builds to an epic crescendo: ‘It’s a three, four chord bash,’ Nekich said. ‘It doesn’t need a big riff.’

”Slave’ is about being baptised by fire, to drown or die, about being mentally conscious about what’s going on – drown me or save me’

‘Slave’ is a charged emotional opener and sets the tone for what to expect, underpinned by a chuggy bass riff, grungey undertones reminsicent of Soundgarden, and bluesey, crunchy rock riffs and licks scattered throughout. It’s my favourite track on the album: ‘Danny was jamming with us in St. Kilda, six or seven years ago,’ Nekich said. ”Slave’ is about being baptised by fire, to drown or die, about being mentally conscious about what’s going on – drown me or save me. I’ve got plenty of voices in my head.’ Slaviero laughs: ‘Plenty of personalities! There are an extra three bandmates in there!’ Nekich laughs: ‘That riff was from a different song and I wrote the chorus riff after a nice pinot noir!’ Slaviero weighs in: ‘To learn ‘Slave’ was easy for me as I already knew half of it!’

I ask them what amps they’re using on ‘Slave’: ‘I use an EVH 5150 and a Friedman amp, I split them left and right,’ Nekich said. ‘I split five or six guitars and experiment a bit to get thick rhythm sounds. Looch is all over it with the drums!’

They bring a huge range of different influences to the band: ‘My big brother introduced me to The Cult, Zepp, The Doors, Mötley Crüe and Van Halen – that set me off,’ Nekich said. Alvaro’s musical journey took him in a different direction: ‘I fell in love with Ugly Kid Joe, their bit of kookiness, but my true love is Red Hot Chili Peppers and watching Chad Smith. Then Bon Jovi, Dream Theater and Eddie Van Halen between 12-15, the most important part. I got obsessed with music, it was mine, I wanted more!’ Slaviero got off to an old school start: ‘My dad played guitar and I really liked the sound of it,’ he said. ‘What really got me into it was one day when my cousin came home with a CD of Chuck Berry and I started obsessing over that. Angus Young was very inspired by Chuck Berry. One of my favourite bands is Måneskin, Victoria (Victoria de Angelis, their bass player) is so sexy, so good. Eurovision really made them.’

Typically, the melody comes before the lyrics, according to Nekich: ‘Often the music or riff will come first and you jam and start scatting some melodies,’ he said. Nekich describes ‘Bring Back Your Love’ as ‘a made up story, it’s tongue in cheek, about good sex and bad relationships’. It’s one of the bluesier tracks, with a massive singalong chorus, and hooky bass and heaviness as the song thunders towards the outro, giving it extra depth.

Alvaro stepped in for the tour after Strapp left to join the police force, earning himself the nickname ‘Mahoney’ like in Police Academy: ‘My process of learning songs is a bit different, he said. ‘I’ve got a music degree and I’m a drum teacher. I’ll put the song on and listen to it and write it out note for note and learn it that way, it’s very nerdy!’ Nekich weighs in: ‘Luciano stepped up when he found out I needed a drummer for the tour, we only played three shows in Melbourne before coming to the UK for the tour, he is a brilliant player and great friend and may well have a place in the future.’ Alvaro continues: ‘I’ve played with Danny years before that, the three of us always bonded really well. When Anth asked me to play here, he chewed my arm off to do it (laughs). I’m mates with our old drummer Lee as well. Sometimes, when you learn a bunch of songs for a band, it can be hard but I had the greatest time learning these songs. You know you’re playing with good people when everything clicks beautifully.’

‘The most important thing with music is that it can take you back to a place’

Their hard working ethos has stood them all in great stead: ‘It’s been a colourful journey, this isn’t happening by itself, it’s been hard work over the years,’ Nekich said. Slaviero agrees: ‘Credit to Anth, he’s a good guy, the music’s great, people gravitate towards him.’ Nekich jumps in: ‘We had a gig once in Albury, a three hour drive from Melbourne road trip, played our set and played a gig the next day, it was a baptism by fire, but the journey was fucking fun – we’re all big Bon Jovi fans!’ Alvaro laughs and Slaviero shakes his head: ‘We’re very sentimental!’ Slaviero looks at him: ‘The most important thing with music is that it can take you back to a place, to a fond memory of someone you were with or when you bought something.’ Nekich has recently had a baby and is making new memories: ‘My son has started rocking out to Van Halen,’ he said proudly.

During their gig at Hard Rock Hell in Great Yarmouth on their first U.K. tour earlier this month, Slaviero was playing a beautiful silver sparkly bass and I ask him what brand it is: ‘It’s a Hays bass, I was looking for a light bass to bring here, ‘cos mine is like a tree trunk (laughs). I got this one second hand and modified it, it played like shit at first!’ Nekich has recently acquired his dream guitar, an Ernie Ball Music Man, EVH signature guitar: ‘I’d played it as a kid, ‘ he said. ‘The guy who worked with me in the music shop was selling it but we’d just had a baby and didn’t think we could afford it. My wife told me to buy it, she said I wouldn’t shut up about it otherwise (laughs). I didn’t even plug it in for three months, I was just stoked to have it!’ Slaviero’s dream bass would be a Gibson Grabber: ‘It’s the one from the Kiss album cover, a friend of mine has one and let me play it, it sounded and played amazing. It’s worth a mint, A$30-$40k.’ Alvaro has several things on his wish list: ‘Drum kits and a snare drum,’ he said. ‘I’d like the Tama Star Classic Purple Monster (he shows me a picture of a Prince-worthy drum kit) like Portnoy’s in Dream Theater, I had so many opportunities to buy it. And Tico Torres’ signature pearl snare, it’s around A$5,000 for a basic set up but you can’t get exactly that anymore. A friend of mine has one but he won’t part with it!’

Seeing them live, you appreciate how much fun they have, giving off an infectious energy that gets the crowd bouncing: ‘We bring a fun element to it,’ Alvaro said. ‘If people are having fun, we’re having fun.’ That fun and energy were especially apparent on tracks such as ‘Collider’ that hook you from the thundering intro riff, giving it a Pearl Jam vibe: ‘Lee, our old drummer, is a big 90’s guy, he’s a huge Pearl Jam fan,’ Nekich said. ‘The first thing here was that kickass groove riff. It’s roughly about a holistic approach, if someone is judging you. it’s about biting your tongue, not reacting to things and causing more damage, having the guts to step back. It’s an old song, around five to six years old. I have lines on my phone (he pulls it up and shows me), maybe from a movie, I write it down, I grab it. It happens organically. A good song shouldn’t take more than 20 minutes. ‘Reality Check’ took me four months (laughs). A perfect example is Keith Richards, he got the idea for ‘Satisfaction’ and hummed it to himself at three in the morning.’

Slaviero agrees: ‘Sometimes, I’ll wake up, look at my phone, something comes into my head and I go into my study,’ he said. ‘Or I think a lyric is great and I’ll write a song around the title. I’ve had a spliff here and there (laughs), write a line and obsess about it! Like Anth and his chairs! I went round to Anth one day and said: “Are you lazy or something?!”, he had these nice, elaborate chairs in the music video, he was king of the castle, king of his domain (laughs).’

‘It’s one of my favourite songs because the riffs keep escalating, it keeps people around’

‘Reality Check’ turns out to be one of Nekich’s favourite songs; it’s the poppiest song on the album, albeit peppered with reverbing riffs: ‘It’s about getting your own back, I had some good lyrics in the filing cabinet so to speak (laughs). It has a similar message to ‘Contain The Rage’, it’s about judginess, it’s gutsy. It was written by our first bassist in the band then I wrote the break and we played the drums for it. It’s one of my favourite songs because the riffs keep escalating, it keeps people around.’ Alvaro agrees: ‘It’s my favourite, it’s in your face, I couldn’t wait to learn it,’ he said enthusiastically. ‘I look forward to rehearsals, I can’t wait to see these stupid idiots! I’ve known these guys for a long time. When I clicked on YouTube, this was the first video of theirs that showed up. The chorus really made me explode, it’s a fist bump, an angry one! I feel that you’ll get what’s coming to you, your reality. It has an energetic anger but it’s catchy – I could sing it all day! It means the most to me nostalgically, musically and lyrically.’ Slaviero’s favourite track is ‘Lost’: ‘It’s big, open and epic,’ he said. ‘It’s a big production, I love the lyrics. It’s vulnerable, it speaks to me as a musician.’

We do the second half of the interview over dinner after their set and it immediately becomes apparent that they’re all complete foodies, not least because Nekich turns out to be a chef: ‘I’m a wannabe chef!,’ Slaviero said. Alvaro agrees: ‘We change the food names for everything!’ Slaviero is laughing: ‘Even for our songs! So for our set list tonight, we had the food names for the songs on there. A guy afterwards asked me for the set list and I gave him that one, forgetting! I’m a home cook, I’m very passionate, I honed my skills during COVID. I’ve got a wood fire oven, I make pizza, I made it for Anth and got his seal his approval. That meant a lot coming from someone like him. I’m vegan as well, we talk about food a lot! We talk about techniques, he’s next level. The beauty of living in Melbourne is that music and food go hand in hand. I would love to open a hole in the wall pizza place.’

For his last meal, Nekich plumps for a hot and cold seafood platter with a good bottle of rosé and tequila. Slaviero picks ‘lasagna, roast veggies, arugula salad with walnuts, lemons and olive oil dressing, parmesan, and a drizzle of balsamic, and apple strudel with vanilla ice cream…all vegan!’ Alvaro goes with squid ink marinara, side of mac and cheese bake, pint of pale ale, coconut gelato and an espresso.

In Australia, Alvaro is a big fan of Voyager: ‘They’re is my favourite Aussie band, they won Eurovision. They used to be prog rock but now they’re more synthy.’ Slaviero shouts out to rock bands Wicked Things and the briliantly named Tequila Mockingbyrd. Nekich is a fan of Baby Animals: ‘It’s melodic rock, female fronted. Ragdoll are very cool.’ Slaviero agrees: ‘They’re good mates of ours, they’re sick, they’re great dudes.’

‘Languages open you up to different cultures, different languages have a different energy’

Their multicultural roots – both Slaviero and Alvaro have Italian heritage – has been something else they have bonded over: ‘Languages open you up to different cultures, different languages have a different energy,’ Alvaro said. ‘I was born in Australia but we have so much of what our families brought over, my family today would think it’s still 1950’s Italy (laughs) Nekich agrees: ‘They give you a different connection,’ he said. Slaviero weighs in: ‘Everything that’s good about Italy comes from Naples, like pizza!’

If he could go for a pint with anyone, Alvaro plumps for Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith: ‘He’s the main drummer who inspired me to pick up the sticks,’ he said. ‘I have his flag to inspire me by my desk if I ever feel shit about something. He loves what he does and he always seems to have time for people.’ Nekich goes with Eddie Van Halen: ‘He’s my number one influence, I was obsessed pre-teens and early-teens. They were immigrants (from The Netherlands) and didn’t have much money, like my parents who emigrated from Croatia when they were 18 and 21, that resonated with me. I didn’t speak English until I was five – when I went to school, I didn’t speak English.’ Slaviero would like to sit down with Freddie Mercury: ‘To have a conversation about being from that time, coming from a very ethnic background and being homosexual, which was really hard then. How did that affect his artistry? It was a big deal then. My goldfish is named Freddie, after his yellow jacket!’