Lay Down And Spread 'Em

Hitting the east coast for the loud and proud Dead Of Winter festival, Perth miscreants Chainsaw Hookers will be spitting venom in their own colourful way, the four-piece combining a junkyard aesthetic with blood-spilling riffs that join the dots between traditional hardcore and punk.

Since 2005 the Western Australian four-piece have been writing their own rule book, reaching a few relatable pinnacles (appearing on the Perth leg of the 2011 Soundwave festival and watching Rob Zombie side of stage, a man drummer Nathan Sproule has “a really big boner” for), but also kicking the kind of goals a band of their build shouldn't be expected to, such as picking up WAMi nominations and even scoring government grants, money which went into their 2012 debut.

The coffers aren't opening up for them on album number two, but Sproule doesn't seem to mind, with Chainsaw Hookers set to take the crowdfunding route this time around.

“I don't think we're going to have a grant, we'll just see how it falls, and we're interested in like what Josh Freese did with his record a few years back. He just sold things, parts of his drum kit, like x amount of dollars would get you one thing, or x amount would get you something else, like shout choruses on the record. Just to entice people to help. Our Facebook is going off so we're going to try and test those Facebook likes for loyalty.”

Work on the follow-up is well under way, and although it might take a little longer to come together, the band have releases to bide the time.

“We've got a split seven-inch release with New Jersey punk rockers Electric Frankenstein,” Sproule informs. “And then we have our own CD, but we're taking our time on that one so it's probably not going to be [released] until next year. We've done three tracks already and we've got about ten more to record but we're just trying to shape them up, get the structures a little better. We'll be working on that for the rest of the year.”

While that's happening, Chainsaw Hookers are simply keen to dominate the stage regularly. They want to get overseas for shows in the near future, too, but for now, they're just going to have to settle for Brisbane; although jumping on a plane to somewhere remote sounds like a more enticing prospect if Sproule's Queensland memories are anything to go by.

“We were playing this indie bar and a female patron threw a glass at John, our guitarist, and got him pretty good in the forehead – I thought that was hilarious!” he cracks up. “Apparently her boyfriend had cheated on her that night – she was a real crazy bitch – and he was just walking from the toilets and she was trying to throw it at him but it got John instead. That was our first show, and we'd only just got off the plane, too. But I almost lost it, I was absolutely hysterical laughing. It was a warm welcome.”

If only the lady in question had access to Chainsaw Hookers' merch stand – that might have put a smile back on her face. “We have all sorts of merch from condoms to ladies underwear to [the usual] shirts, singlets,” Sproule reels off, connecting the items like they'd naturally go together. “There's always someone blowing up a condom and passing it around the audience; there's always a bit of that going on.”