Interviews

Kim Choo & Marinos Katsanevas - Feed Her To The Sharks 'The Megalodon of Metalcore Resurfaces'

Walladmin

Heavy Metal Wordsmith

Jul 3, 2024

7 min read

One of Australia’s most prominent metalcore bands from the early days of the sub-genre, Feed Her To The Sharks, has announced their return to the stage this September, supporting US metalcore heavyweights Killswitch Engage after an eight-year hiatus.

With this exciting news, we at Wall of Sound HQ eagerly tracked down guitarists Kim Choo and Marinos Katsanevas to learn more about what sparked the idea of a comeback, who we will see performing vocals for the band in September, as well as the group’s plans as we look further into the future…

Watch here, or read on for the best bits!

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Thanks for taking the time to chat today guys. What has life been like out of the spotlight for you since Feed Her To The Sharks ceased being active?

Kim: It’s just been typical everyday life, it has actually been really good to step away from music.

So you have had no involvement in music?

Kim: Not quite. Music has continued to play a part in my life, and same goes for Marinos as well. However, music would only really take up 30% of my time, as opposed to 100% of my time back when we were in Feed Her To The Sharks full time – we were really all in.

It’s 2024 now, marking eight years since Feed Her To The Sharks were last active. We’ve seen a number of acts return from inactive status this year, including Graves, who were, and still are an exceptional Australian band, and now yourselves in Feed Her To The Sharks. What is it that sparked this comeback and why does now seem like the right time?

Marinos: Kim and I have written music together on and off for the past eight years with no intent as the band has been called a day, we’re done with it. More recently however, we received a phone call from a friend who was looking for a band to support Killswitch Engage. From there we felt as if now is as good of a time as any.

Killswitch Engage are the band that started the genre and if they need a support, and we can do it, then we might as well jump into it. That opportunity kind of reignited the flame.

We've held the attitude of 'let's just see how this goes and see what happens'.

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Prior to receiving that phone call from your friend, had the itch to play live music been there or did this new opportunity spark this idea on its own?

Marinos: We always thought that maybe we would play another show or two, but we have been saying that for a number of years now. So the phone call is definitely what ignited the flame.

We have seen a few lineup changes over the years, it seems as if Andy (vocals) isn’t coming back. Who do we have taking his place?

Marinos: If you saw us in Europe and America in 2016, you would have seen our friend Shaun Coar [of Vessel Born] from Brisbane filling in as vocalist. Anyone who saw us would probably agree that he did a great job, so he will be stepping up to fill in for us as the vocalist in September.

Might we see Shaun join Feed Her To The Sharks as a full time member?

Marinos: Well, the future of the band is yet to be determined. What we are currently doing will be a bit of a trial run.

Within online metal forums, I regularly see the question, ‘If you could bring back one band, which band would it be?’ and Feed Her To The Sharks always pops up in the comments. You have essentially created somewhat of a cult following throughout the years. Is it surreal to think that your band has had such a big impact on Australian music within a global scale?

Kim: It is definitely quite surreal to think about. When we did the first album in 2010, I was just a kid playing riffs and trying to make sounds that I thought sounded cool. We had never quite as popular as our peers at the time. We did an AMA on Reddit last year and to see the amount of people that still love the music we released all those years ago is quite crazy.

It is arguable that had Feed Her To The Sharks kept going, you guys might have turned out to be as big as the likes of Parkway Drive. Are you content with the decision that was made to go into hiatus or would you change anything if you could?

Kim: The hiatus was quite unavoidable to be honest. There is so much more that comes along with being in a band than just releasing music and touring. Whether we would change something, it is easy to look back and think ‘we should have done this’, or ‘we should have done that’.
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During our time in the band all those years ago we were lucky enough to tour the world on the back of three full-length albums that we are very proud of, so I don't think I would change anything personally.

Marinos: As Kim said, it was a bit of a forced hiatus. When the band essentially fell away, we didn’t really look at it for a while as we had other things going on and we were getting through life but every now and then we would jump on YouTube or Reddit and see people commenting about how they miss our old band. So I’m not sure whether the hiatus worked in our favour because it drove people to realise that we were over and that they would wish for our return, then others would see those comments and think ‘who is this band’, then listen to us for themselves. Arguably now, our following is bigger than ever (laughs). Perhaps we were ahead of our time.

Which makes now the perfect time for a comeback! You mentioned earlier that you have spent the last eight years on and off writing music. What direction have these songs gone in? Is it the traditional Feed Her To The Sharks sound or is it different than what we are used to?

Marinos: Kim and I have grown as musicians. We still regularly listen to music and we have a studio at our house where we would work on all different kinds of music. Obviously it is still heavy, it’s definitely still metal but we have developed as songwriters. Sometimes listening back to the old songs it can sound… not immature, but it has a timestamp. We’re in 2024 now and over the years the metal genre has evolved, even music as a whole has evolved. I would like to think our new music has evolved with it.

Are there any Australian artists that perhaps weren’t around when Feed Her To The Sharks were active, but would like to look at working with, whether it be playing shows or touring with in the future?

Marinos: There’s so many good Australian bands at the moment. The scene is thriving! I could probably list forty or fifty bands from the top of my head. Alpha Wolf are currently killing it. Mitch [Fogarty] who plays drums for Alpha Wolf, played drums for us on one of our European tours, so I have a soft spot for him and everything he does. Northlane is another act that is doing really well. We’d just be happy to play shows with any of the good bands in the scene.

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With everything that Melbourne has been through over the past eight years, with the longest COVID lockdown in the world being one of them, what are your thoughts on Melbourne these days?

Kim: Melbourne is still the best city in the world, even though it has definitely changed.

So your track ‘Fuck Melbourne’ was and still is a piss take?

Kim: Yeah I guess so. At the time we were a little salty that we were touring around the world but we weren’t getting much recognition in our home city. That’s along the lines of what that song might have been about.

Seeing as you are loved more so overseas, if this first show is successful, would you consider treating your overseas fanbase with some worldwide touring?

Kim: Life has changed a lot since we stopped the band. As Marinos said earlier, September will be a trial run.

Are you closing the door to it completely?

Kim: We’re definitely not closing the door to it. We’ve got new material that we want to test out. There is a lot that we need to do before we begin to think about touring again, but I’m definitely not cancelling it out, that’s for sure, but we can’t promise anything either.

We don't want to let the fans down by over-promising and under-delivering. I feel as if we have been pretty transparent about everything at this stage.

Marinos: I think as well, when you are younger, your priorities are different. Back then it was fine to spend all of our money, live in a van and slog it for a bit. The situation has to be right, and that could come along, so we definitely aren’t cancelling it out. We haven’t been very proactive to build it back up to what it was. So we’ll just take it as it comes.

Any last thoughts for fans, no matter where they are in the world?

Marinos: We appreciate all of the support. Like I said before, it is crazy to see that people are still talking about us, sharing our music and tagging us online. I’m proud of what we accomplished in that time and without the fans that wouldn’t have been achieved.

Kim: Exactly what he said!

Interview by Adam Rice

Feed Her To The Sharks supports Killswitch Engage in Frankston this September.
Keep your eyes peeled for more…