Lucas Banim - NTH RD 'The Different Stages of The Panic Response'

Melbourne’s latest metalcore outfit NTH RD have just released their new EP Panic (our review here)and we were lucky enough to have a quick chat with bassist Lucas Banim, to dissect the new release, the origins of band's name and which song would send them viral on TikTok!

Hey Lucas, thanks for chatting! Let's jump into it... Not including vowels in your band name, or using symbols instead of vowels has become quite popular in recent years, what made you guys decide that as a band you didn’t want vowels in NTH RD?

To be honest, it wasn’t really a calculated move on our behalf! When we first started the band, we were looking at a couple of different ideas for a band logo and we all loved one in particular, which stylised the name as NTH RD. We loved the logo and thought that idea was pretty cool so we just kinda ran with it!

Cashing in on today's social media trends, which song off Panic do you think would make the best TikTok trend, and what kind of trend would it be?

'Wearing Thin', I can imagine people doing a video of themselves pretending to be in a frustrating situation and flipping the shit during the last line - ‘My Patience Wearing THIN!’ Would love to see someone give it a go!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVwpKcKOH6s&feature=emb_title

How were these 5 songs picked to be on the EP, and do you have other tracks that are just waiting to be released?

We picked these songs roughly on the order they were created in, but more so around how they complement each other thematically and give that cohesive experience of undergoing a panic reaction. The whole EP follows that kind of format, with different songs representing different stages of the panic response. Songs like 'Worm' relate to that initial moment of shock, whereas songs like 'Wearing Thin' and 'Threat' are more focused around the ongoing tensions of dealing with panic and anxiety on a day to day basis.

As for other songs, we will have a lot more music releasing over the coming months! Without giving too much away, we wanted to release Panic first as a starting point to give everyone a feel of what we’re about.

When you’re working on music, do you tend to write the music or the lyrics first, or is it more of a combination?

It really depends on the song. I don’t think we really had a songwriting formula with the EP, but for most of the songs on Panic, Billy and I would first write the instrumentals, then run it by John who would add his input, and then jam the song with Jord who would then work out the melody and lyrics. But then with songs like 'Lead to Ruin', we all wrote the whole thing together in one room.

What is Christopher Vernon like to work with as a producer?

We can’t sing Chris’s praises enough. He’s really good at getting bands to look at the vision beyond the songs/release, and shaping the ideas around that. When we recorded the EP with him, we came in with what we believed were already solid songs, but the resulting product was so much more cohesive!

There are 5 songs on the Panic EP, what 5 words would you use to describe the sound of it?

Energetic, Anthemic, Dark, Emotional and Atmospheric.

Do you all have a favourite song on the EP? My personal favourite is ‘Wearing Thin’.

That’s so cool to hear, thank you! We all love 'Wearing Thin' but I think 'Threat' and 'Panic' in particular hold a special place in our hearts. 'Threat' is my personal favourite because I think it sums up all the elements of our sound in a song - it’s catchy, energetic and has a great dynamic blend between soft sections with clean vocals and heavier sections with screaming!

Wow, that's a hard one! We are all super into Holding Absence and Bad Omens at the moment, so touring with them would be incredible!

Biggest influences as a band? I got a bit of a The Word Alive vibe from the EP, especially in 'Lead To Ruin'.

We do love The Word Alive, but I wouldn’t say they are a key influence. We all listen to a lot of different music so it’s really hard to knuckle it down to a few, but I’d say our key influences would be Incubus, Deftones, Linkin Park and BMTH.

What do you hope listeners take away from Panic?

Ultimately, we just want to share our thoughts, experiences and emotions with people through our music! While we definitely have our thematic intentions, we also want people to feel free to take on their own meaning from our songs in whatever way that they personally relate to it!

Anything final thoughts Lucas?

Thank you so much for having us, and a big thanks to everyone who’s listened to our music, bought merch or moshed along with us at shows! If you’re hearing about NTH RD for the first time, check us out on Spotify/YouTube/Instagram, and let us know what you think of our tunes!

On it babes!

Interview by Kelsey Trevan.

Check out NTH RD on Facebook, Instagram, Spotify and YouTube.

Panic is out now! Stream/Download it here!

NTH RD – Panic EP tracklisting

1. Lead To Ruin
2. Worm
3. Wearing Thin
4. Threat
5. Panic