Metal Anarchy

Time for the next edition of Metal Anarchy’s “new music showcase,” the feature where I introduce you to bands that readers of this site may find interesting. This time I have an exclusive Q&A with Planet Hunter.

METAL ANARCHY: Tell me a little about your band:

PLANET HUNTER: Oddly enough, it was a background in brewing that brought us together. Cormac and Jed have known each other since they were kids. They used to brew up a sort of bathtub moonshine that they’d pass out to other kids. They reckon it probably wasn’t alcoholic – it was mostly Ribena, squeezed feijoa, and sugar, and there was no sort of fermentation process – but it was kids getting on it, you know? And their imaginations can run totally wild if they think they’re on the grog. So, they’d act all crazy and pissed at these moonshine parties, but really, they were just kind of hopped up on sugar. Will started brewing beer and moved on to distilling whisky to make Irish cream with. Dave has a whole garage full of cultures and petri dishes where he concocts up really odd strains of fungus. He’s been experimenting with a kind of fungal sour mash that’s a bit like an alcoholic kombucha. His initial attempts have been a bit shit, though! Every few months, Johnsonville has a little brewer’s emporium. We all met at 2016’s ‘most spontaneous brew’ competition. None of us won anything, but we got chatting and realized that we all shared a love of music. The band grew from there.

METAL ANARCHY: Who are your main influences?

PLANET HUNTER: The Gillespie brothers from Garage Project are big influences on all of us. They just brought out a really great beer for Christmas: ‘Slay Ride’. They use all sorts of crazy shit in the brew – plum pudding, mince pies, cranberry, raisins. It sounds fucking awful but it’s really, really tasty. That’s the thing about these dudes; they keep thinking outside the box. They’re been a huge inspiration to our brewing practices. Both drunkenly and spiritually.

METAL ANARCHY: What is your latest release and why should readers of this site check it out?

PLANET HUNTER: Will’s latest Irish cream is actually really good. It isn’t for sale to the public per se, but we often sell bottles of it at our gigs. Who would have thought that fans of heavy rock would have such an appetite for Irish cream? Cormac’s got a great little Japanese porter for sale too. Again, due to New Zealand’s restrictive liquor licenses, he can’t sell it at an official capacity, so that’s only available at our gigs too. The laws here are so stupid. I mean, Jed’s last chilli-wine didn’t even screw with your eyesight. It’s a bloody nanny state.

METAL ANARCHY: What can people expect when they go to your live shows?

PLANET HUNTER: I mean, we definitely play rock music. The differences between our shows really depend on what sort of brew we’ve got for sale. For instance, at our last gig, we played some rock songs and Dave managed to sell about 20 bottles of his ‘Mushy Pale’. That shit was disgusting, but it’s got a secret ingredient (that I can’t mention here wink wink) and everybody who took it was losing their shit. Literally.

METAL ANARCHY: Where do you see your band heading in 5 years?

PLANET HUNTER: We’d love to open up our own brewery. Cormac’s aunt owns a little chain store in Wellington called 4-square and she reckons she’d be able to sell a bunch of our products when we finally get our shit together. Our wives keep telling us that we’re wasting our time trying to set up a manufacturing and distribution chain for a range of alcoholic beverages. They reckon it’s not as financially secure as being musicians. But despite all the cash coming in from playing rock music, our real dream is brewing – even if we go broke chasing it!