Interview: Kyle Adams from Incentives

Amongst a recently thriving metal scene, Melbourne metalcore 5-piece Incentives have grabbed the limelight with their brutal debut EP ‘Dusk’ and a killer video for their unusually dark narrative track Better Off. As they gear up to hit the road for the first time this month, the group are on a mission to see jaws dropped and elbows thrown. We had a chat to vocalist Kyle Adams about ‘Dusk’, coping with the departure of their drummer, and their run in with the po-po!

You guys have just dropped your debut EP ‘Dusk’, how does it feel to get a solid release like this out for people to hear?

I think probably, in a way, it’s a bit of a relief. It’s been a pretty long journey. I think we started doing pre-production probably a year ago, so it’s been a really long process. We lost our drummer in the process and had to find a new one, all while trying to play shows and just stay relevant, so it’s a massive relief to have it all out now.

How do you think it compares to some of your earlier singles back in 2013?

Well, I’d say it’s a pretty huge step up from the first two-track release we did back in the day. We were all still in high-school and didn’t really know what we were doing, didn’t know what we were trying to really even sound like – not saying not that now we’re by any means perfect or really have our sound down, but I think definitely now we have more of an idea of where we’re going. I feel like the EP kind of puts all our musical interests and inspirations into one.

You guys have been around for three years now, and you’re doing well supporting other bands and getting recognition with the EP. What do you hope to achieve in the next three years?

Ooh, next three years, that’s a good question. I guess we just wanna all keep enjoying it, I think that’s probably the most important thing. As long as we’re enjoying it, then I’d say that’s pretty much all we can ask for. We’re heading off on tour later this month, so I guess just more tours. It’d be sick to play some big festivals – UNIFY is probably the big Australian one that every heavy band is wanting to get on – and then slowly just build a fan base.

Speaking on that, you guys are heading out on a national tour, what part of the tour are you most excited for?

That’s a good question. We’re excited for all of it, if I can be honest with you. I think Melbourne – obviously it’ll be fun just because all of our mates will come down and it’s at a local venue too, so that’ll be cool. But then the Adelaide lineup is seriously strong, so I think the ticketing for that one is going to sell pretty well. Pretty much excited for all of it. I’ve never even been to Adelaide, and Brisbane I’ve only spent an hour in, so that’ll be pretty cool.

You just released the video for Better Off, and it’s really quite dark and mysterious. What was it like shooting the clip? Was there anything that didn’t go to plan?

With that one we wanted to do something a bit dark and sort of grimy. I guess that’s where we got inspired a little bit by The Blair Witch Project. We went out to a pine forest out near Ballarat, and our guitarist Max – he was the one who was filming it all – he was saying to us, “It’s fine, we’ll just go in here”. We get there and it’s all fenced off, and we weren’t sure that we were allowed in there, and he’s saying, “Nah, nah it’s fine” (laughs), so we weren’t 100% sure about making noise and lighting fires and all that stuff.

We got through all the acting, and then when it came time to do the live shots we saw the good ol’ blue and red cop car lights (laughs) and we were like, “Oh well, this is interesting”. We quickly ran around attempting to put out any fires and then the cops eventually came down. They were actually pretty good about it, wasn’t like one of those ‘f*ck the cops’ things, they were good to us. They were just like, “You are on private property, it is illegal. If you could move along, that would be great.” It was all good, but yeah, it was a little bit of a setback (laughs).

You spoke earlier about your drummer, who left you halfway through last year. What has it been like since he left working with your new drummer?

When he initially left we were all pretty bummed out, because obviously the dude’s got an insane voice, so I guess our first thoughts were like “how are we going to replace not only a voice, but also a drummer?” Metal drummers are pretty damn hard to find these days, but we got super lucky. We just finished thanking our old drummer for his time in the band and everything, and the next morning we had a message from our current drummer. He said, “I’ve just moved down from NSW and I’m looking to join a band, and I heard you guys are looking for one”.

So we had a practice with him – we’ve always just gotten along with him really well – and in he came. In that sense, it was incredibly easy. In terms of filling the void with the clean [vocals], Jeremy, our bass player, stepped up this release and had a bit of a sing, and he’s been really good.

You guys have recorded a few collaborations as well, what was that like?

Yeah, we had Max from Imprisoned sing on Corrode. We’ve all been listening to Imprisoned for a while now. Our guitarist is sort of family friends with him, and we were like, “Oh sh*t, he’d work perfectly with this”, so we got him to come in and track vocals in our guitarist’s bedroom, which is always fun.

Then we had Tory from Harbours – because we record with Sam Bassal from Harbours, he said that Tory would be keen. Then Sam sent us this video and we were like, “Holy sh*t, that dude’s got some serious power in his voice.” They both absolutely killed it.

Given that your EP is called ‘Dusk’, what’s your idea of a good night out?

Ooh, a good night out? I feel like this really differs (laughs) depending on who you ask. I’m pretty heavy into the club thing, but then a few of the guys have got girlfriends so I’m sure they’re probably into a nice night at home. It all really differs (laughs).

Catch Incentives on their national tour kicking off at the end of this month!

Incentives National Tour Dates

FRI 29 JUL
Phoenix Arts Theatre, Brisbane
SAT 30 JUL
The Small Ballroom, Newcastle
SUN 31 JUL
Rad Bar, Wollongong
SAT 6 AUG
Wrangler Studios, Melbourne
SUN 7 AUG
The Bluebee Room, Adelaide

Get Tickets HERE