NEMBUTOLIK – Interview

02/07/2025

Following their sold-out E.P. launch we had a chance to have a chat with Jonk, Pat and Riley from Nembutolik about their new E.P. SOUTHEAST SUFFERING, their creative process and surviving milk and the pit.

DAN -First of all congratulations on the launch of your highly anticipated new EP, Tell us about the writing process for SouthEast Suffering

PAT – The writing process was pretty similar to all along the Frankston line, someone would come in to the jam room with an idea and then chaos would ensue as we yelled at each other for the next hour and a half until a song popped out. Generally, Hemi would aim to make the song as difficult for Jonk to play as possible

RILEY- There’s not much to it, we find a time when we are all in a writing mood (which is rare), and we basically go riff-for-riff trying each other’s ideas. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don’t. Otherwise, Hemi conjures up a 10-minute song all planned out in his head while at work.

JONK – Every song was different, and we were keen to do things differently after the first album. For the most part, it was a group effort writing riff by riff, if it wasn’t that it was Hemi writing entire songs in his head and bringing them to the table. During the writing of this, we learned to refine our way of writing and these days try and stick to doing it when all five of us can work on songs at the same time

DAN – Is there an overarching theme or is it more individual stories?

JONK – It depends on the day, most song themes stem from Pat’s lyricism, in others we have a bit of an idea going into it or halfway through writing. The themes generally revolve around the cons of being young now and how substance, oppression and milk affect us as young people.

PAT – Honestly not much of an overarching theme, more so just a general expression of discomfort and misery/anger, although the songs Goonslingers and comedown eternal both tackle the subject of substance abuse.

RILEY – Pretty much just Frankston

DAN – How do you decide on your release artwork?

PAT – Similar to writing the EP we kinda just argued about the different things we wanted on the cover and when we thought we had enough ideas and Easter eggs we sent our ideas to Kator (who is a legend). Honestly we were just super stoked at how they did it and it didn’t need any changes

JONK – We were floating a few ideas around, it had to include the goat man from previous artworks and be relevant to the songs or title. We were gonna go full-blown in the milk direction but all our ideas eventually combined into doing a shot in front of the Ambassador, a building in Frankston famous for its cheap rent and dodgy residents. From there it’s about including as many little Easter eggs as possible.

DAN – Any funny stories you want to share from the writing or recording process?

JONK – The others will probably say watching me suffer dealing with the classic “guitarist tries to write drum parts” We always get a good laugh when we bring out the stupid little edits, like Hemi’s Black Ops II Zombies guitar tone in Milk Lake and Goonslingers

DAN -Do you have a favourite track to play live?

RILEY – Comedown Eternal is my favourite track right now, it has a good build up and even structure

PAT – Personally for me it’s gotta be Every Dog Has Its Day. It just starts out so fast and gets heavier and heavier till that last slam at the end that’s just bone-crushing

JONK – Goonslingers, it’s an absolute bop and the changeup into the double kicks is super fun to play

DAN – Have you got any plans to tour the EP now? Head interstate? What’s on the radar for 2025?

JONK – Right now it’s about locking down and getting a system going. We’ve been selling out our VIC shows so we’re hoping to really make the push interstate, we have a bit of something in the works for September… Aside from that, keep writing and hope we can nail some sick supports

PAT – We will be touring later this year with some international acts, don’t know how much of that I can spill but interstate folks keep your eyes peeled

DAN – As far as live shows go – give us some highlights from the last couple of years and what made those shows special

PAT – The inflatable goonbag incident at Flippin The Bird a few years back. We filled up probably 30/40 empty goon bags with air and launched them all off-stage while playing Goonslingers

RILEY – Opening for Good Things 2023 was a pretty big highlight

JONK – Overall the progression of our Flippin’ The Bird appearances is a big one, starting early on the metal stage, then four years later finishing off in the courtyard, and in the same year playing Metal In The Mountains AND Good Things to open air. My favourite moment will always be doing that good things competition and being at the final, just hearing our name called and feeling the emotion with the most important people in our lives, you can’t beat that. It’s a testimony to the journey we’ve been on and how important the support of the homies and our lil cult following is to what we do

PAT – Last show was pretty hectic too, lots of moshing and stage divers. Halfway through Angel Of Meth my mic lead got caught on a stage diver and a little tug of war ensued. We’ve had so many hectic things happen at our shows, concussions, broken and missing teeth etc there’s always something gnarly that happens by the time our 30-40 minutes are up

DAN – And this year’s Flipping the Bird festival is coming up fast at Singing Bird studios in Frankston – what can we expect from that? Anyone you’re super pumped to play with?

PAT – I mean MINDSNARE has been a huge influence to us since we were teenagers, Left To Die is gonna be pretty nostalgic hearing all those Death songs with some of the original members. Posseshot will be cool to and I know Liam’s looking forward to playing with them. It’s always cool to play with our mates Goat Shaman, Carnal Viscera, Hormagaunt, Choof, Trepacide and a few others on there.

JONK – This is basically the Frankston EP launch for us so mostly new tunes, and hopefully an earlier slot so there’s no excuse to stand still. I’m personally super keen for Mindsnare, Left To Die, Terminal Sleep and Posseshot – all in their own way have had a big influence on our sound and have the potential for some great networking – but as ever playing with the bands we’ve formed our awesome scene with will always make Flippin what it is, and this year has it all.

RILEY – Super pumped to play with Mindsnare, we’ve had many opportunities go astray trying to gig with that band

DAN – Your fan base is super enthusiastic and can get pretty physical, do you have any advice for new fans who want to get amongst it? (other than wearing a mouth guard 😂)

RILEY – Be nice, pick each other up, but also hurt each other

PAT – I’d reckon stay on the outside of the pit till you get a gauge for it and see what people are doing in there, if it gets too hot or you get banged up it’s a good idea to get out of there. And keep your eyes open for bodies flying off the stage.

JONK – It’s all about pit etiquette – it’s rough out there but as long as everyone picks each other up, calls out targeted attacks/predatory behaviour and keeps each other safe you can go as hard as you like – just keep an eye on any newcomers you know of, and make sure they know what they’re in for

DAN – If you could play with any other band current or past who would it be and why?

JONK – Death would have been awesome, so we’re very lucky to be playing with some of the original members at Flippin’. If Meshuggah ever did another run in Australia I’d love to be a part of that, we draw a lot of inspiration from their side of music and it’d be great to contrast their style with our more thrash death grind elements.

RILEY – Love playing with Goat Shaman every chance we get, they are addictive live

PAT – Pre-1996 SEPULTURA, simply because they were the most epic band on earth. As for present, I’d love to play with Wormrot one day, that’s one of the most intense bands I’ve ever seen

Thanks heaps for your time, the EP is a banger and the show was baller as usual we’ll look forward to catching you at the Bird next month