Tom Kiely - Patient Sixty-Seven "'Mare's Nest' The Latest from Aussie Metalcore in the West'

Your friendly neighbourhood, WA metallers Patient Sixty-Seven have been slowly catching the eyes of the internet over the years with multiple EPs, albums, covers (from Seasonal Jingles to Punk Goes Pop) and their most patented metal-memes extravaganza for social media pages. Now the band are taking on darker and deeper themes circulating mental health and the traumas left behind.

2020 was a big year for Patient Sixty-Seven releasing their most popular EP to date Home Truths, containing some of their biggest singles ‘Where to from Here’ with drastic, insane tapping leads, emotionally thrilling vocals & lyrics from Tom Kiely, and catchy pop choruses. Shortly after the band brought huge news of joining InVogue Records and released Home Truths (Deluxe) reintroducing the independent EP in more of an album structure, containing reimagines of original tracks featuring giant post-hardcore artists such as Kellin Quinn of Sleeping With Sirens.

After only a short run with the American record label, Patient Sixty-Seven decided to fly solo and stay down the independent path. With nothing standing in their way, and a trail of six singles being dropped to lure their fans to an exciting future, the 2022 Fault Line EP came into existence. Bearing the most refined tunes and revealing a much lighter side of the band, single ‘Feeling Alive’ featuring Kellin Quinn brought a different kind of passionate melody to the table previously unheard. Barely a month later Fault Line transcended into a higher being of omnipotence and was reborn as debut album Wishful Thinking, included were the 6 previously released singles from late 2021 to early 2022, with 4 additional songs with 2 more incredible features, taking their popularity to yet another level. Embarking on their first-ever headline tour to showcase their debut album, the western Aussies brought along tour mates Harroway & Bury Me, to take on the big alien territory of Australia’s eastern coast.

Since the downfall of COVID and the slow regeneration of our society and music scene, Patient Sixty-Seven have become unstoppable with a constant stream of releases. Whether it be their own creation like single ‘Lake Valley’ with djenty riffs and rattling guitars, or group effort projects involving other artists Tired Violence, VRSTY and Late 9, coming out of their comfort zone and stepping into someone else’s musical premise, displaying the core bands motivation to adapt and improve.

Keeping extremely busy on their social media with mass amounts of self-made video content and memes, the rapscallions finally started hyping up that new music was on the way.

A shadow passes above you too swiftly for you to see, in an instant you’re picked up with savage talons and dropped into a sharp-pointed, trap of confinement, strung together completely with barbed wire, you’ve entered the ‘Mares Nest’. Sliced open by a Pierce the Veil/Chiodos-style intro riff your wound becomes infected by Tom’s distortion of gutturals and ferocious mids. Applying first aid to your wound you feel relief from the pain as the soft vocals in the catchy chorus’s rhythm release a moment of bliss from the internal agony. Steering away from electronic samples as a halfway transition/breakup in their formula, the bridge consists of clean, delayed guitar paired with reverberated screams instilling fear and anxiety in your chest as if you waiting for a second round of hurt. With no time to prepare the breakdown takes an immediate dive barrelling towards you, shredding you to ribbons under its anarchistic prowess. Don’t worry, Patient Sixty-Seven were kind enough to let your life flash before your eyes one last time with the complete feeling of ecstasy from the final chorus.

After analysing P67’s entire existence in an afternoon, we decided to have a chill and chat with frontman Tom to see what’s new with our West Aussie metal family.

Welcome back gents, good to hear from you again! You've been pumping out tunes and collaborating with some sick artists. What's the drive behind the band with these idea collabs?

Hey team! Thanks so much for having us. We always really appreciate it.

Being able to collaborate with other artists is just a really cool opportunity to try some new things. We are really fortunate that we've made connections with artists that reside in different parts of the world, and it's the perfect chance to get involved in some projects outside of our usual releases.

For me as a vocalist it's helped to keep things feeling fresh and working with other bands such as Late 9, Tired Violence - it helps keep me as inspired as ever and writing with people outside the Patient bubble. I always feel really lucky to have the chance to be involved in these projects with talented people.

'Mare's Nest' brings light to one's inherent conflict & mental struggles. Would you say future songs to come in this latest era of the band will revolve around similar raw topics?

I think it's important for us to write from the heart and be honest with ourselves in how we're feeling. Future songs will certainly continue to draw on those feelings in different ways, we want to write what comes naturally while continuing to push ourselves in different ways. It's a fine balance, for sure. As a vocalist trying to deliver a message, I want it to feel relevant to my own state of mind while having the chance to reach people who might feel the same or be able to relate. Again, definitely a balance- but I know I'm at my best when I'm not overthinking it and just being true to my own feelings and being in that headspace of using it as a tool to express as much.

You guys are infamous for your Memey persona online. Will P67 embark on a mature approach to music and online antic, or will the jokes and meme life continue as you grow?

I think it's all about balance. I think we've always been open about sharing different elements of life within the band, through live streams and posts. If we were to just be every day, or every time we post - serious - that wouldn't be us. We enjoy being able to balance out the serious side of our music with being able to have a laugh and make other people laugh too. Memes are one way, but I think the running jokes, the inside jokes we have with people on the page, and being able to have a space to be ourselves and the people who follow us to be themselves too is the coolest thing.

Our approach to releasing, writing and bringing our music to people is certainly something we take seriously - this release for example we've really tried our hardest to make it as great as it can be...but when it comes to the day in day out stuff, we want to balance the usual music, promotion, show flyers - with other fun stuff too.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CyibA16vDNK/?hl=en

Unfortunately, you guys had to pull out of Blue Ridge Rock Festival. What happened there and anything you guys can do to prevent that so nothing stands in your path next time?

I think the reality of being an overseas touring band in the States was too big of a bridge to cross for a band of our size. We only have limited touring history, limited overseas history when it comes to shows - and no festival experience. We tried to have all the boxes checked to acquire the visa we needed...but it just wasn't in the cards this time.

Hopefully with more opportunities in the future, laying more groundwork and continuing to build ourselves as a touring band we can make it happen when the time is right. We're optimistic about that prospect for sure.

We've spoken a lot about the new exciting things coming from you guys, but let's revisit a friend from the past. How's Kellin Quinn? You've technically had him on two albums now (Home Truths (Deluxe) and Wishful Thinking) Can we expect a return in the future for a hat-trick?

We'd love to write with Kellin again in the future, nothing is planned right now but you never know.

You’ve been steadily playing shows here and there, making it internationally to NZ this year. Will home base in Australia be your main focus for shows/tours right now?

Yeah, definitely - we have another tour in the works for early next year. We'll see what happens - it's certainly a better and more sustainable option for us to play shows in Australia. But we're open to international shows if the right opportunity arises! It's quite tricky to tour being from Perth and being able to get from A to Be, I think people are aware of those challenges. Though we don't want to let that stop us from putting ourselves in the mix and being able to tour whenever we can in 2024 and beyond!

You guys released a little Christmas Jingle Cover last year, can we ask Santa if there's anything under the tree to hype us up for the holidays this year?

Maybe. Just Maybe. Watch this space!

What's on the horizon next for our Metal Perthian Super Stars?

We've been busy writing and recording new material, we're really excited about that. We have shows planning for early next year, we should be able to share details on that soon too.

I can't wait for 2024!

Interview by Ed Atlas @YourFavouriteMerchGuy

Stream ‘Mare's Nest’ here