Iron Mind: The Calm and the Storm
On their third LP Test of the Iron Mind, hardcore veterans Iron Mind get reflective. Frontman and lyricist Sam Octigan chats to The Note about fatherhood and changing perspectives.
Interview Will Oakeshott // Image Zac Vinko
2014 was a year overburdened with astonishing events. Activist Malala Yousafzai, at age 17, won the Nobel Peace Prize for her fierce commitment as an advocate for girls’ education worldwide. She is still the youngest-ever Nobel laureate. The world tragically lost incredible talents such as Academy Award winner Robin Williams and comedy legend Joan Rivers. Laverne Cox became the first transgender person to appear on the cover of TIME magazine – these are only a few of the plethora of happenstances that made global headlines 11 years ago.
This was also the year that Melbourne hardcore torchbearers Iron Mind released their last album, the self-titled Iron Mind. Now, the quintet are back with new hardcore triumph Test Of The Iron Mind, and The Note caught up with frontman and lyricist Sam Octigan to discover how time has shaped this new chapter for the band.
“Perception is not something that happens to us, or in us. It is something we do.” - Alva Noë.
This is arguably not the most complicated analysis of the human behaviour known as “perception”; however, what this award-winning American Philosopher has immaculately captured with this insight is the simplicity of understanding. Conception is a fascinating exercise that is spectacularly susceptible to time and experience, but at its core, “It is something we do”.
Iron Mind’s frontman and lyricist Sam Octigan has undergone an abundance of experiences since the hardcore five-piece released their last full-length LP in 2014. Understandably, within that time and the occurrences that have taken place in his life, his perception has grown with him. This sentiment is echoed extraordinarily in the band’s new record Test Of The Iron Mind and with it, emanates an amazing affiliation for Iron Mind’s (and hardcore) admirers, but also observers who might potentially undergo a similar course of life as they enter into a different era of their respective age.
“Iron Mind has always been a very self-reflexive band,” Octigan muses. “You might have picked up on that in that we're always referring back to ‘The Iron Mind’. There’s different layers there. The band has always been like that. And it can be fun. ‘The Iron Mind Army’, that’s our fans, you know? But what is the ‘Iron Mind’? It really is tools for mental health.”
Sam pauses for a moment, as if in his reflection he had discovered more about his songwriting, before continuing – “I couldn't articulate it 20 years ago, but that's what it is. With these new songs, a big goal of the record was that we were not going to do a ‘B version’ of one of the older records. We were going to reference who we are and who people know us as a band, with the sounds and the themes. But we're going to update it tastefully; we're going to perfect it - that's what we're shooting for. We're going to evolve it and improve it and give people the best version of what Iron Mind [is] today. It has to take into account our history.”
“Self-reflection” and “evolving” are standout themes of the 11 tracks that make up Iron Mind’s remarkable third LP. With the notion of reflection, comprehensively revisiting the past is a compelling part of the process, and Mr. Octigan has accomplished this journey prodigiously and breathtakingly. Take opener ‘More Pain’, that refers back to 2012’s ‘Look Into My Eye’, or the eponymous composition ‘Test Of The Iron Mind’ that recalls 2009’s ‘The Iron Mind’. These are revolutionary moments for the quintet, who are sharing their evolving perceptions with this scintillating soundtrack of inspirational hardcore music.
‘Terrified’ is a shining showcase of this evolution. The two minutes of groove-laden hardcore is a truly astounding exposure of heavy emotional subject matters involving fatherhood and metamorphosis of character. As Octigan describes, “‘Terrified’ is a pretty direct, sort of personal reflection of where I'm at in my life in terms of becoming a father. I'm 41 and my daughter is 10 months old; this is my first time having a kid. I think it's a little bit more normal these days to have a kid when you're 40 or whatever, but historically, it's a little later in life. And part of that reason for me is because I think I was terrified of having kids.”
The opening lines to the striking song are as follows: “Father a child, how terrified /Can’t find my father, how will he survive?”
In 13 words, Octigan has incredibly encapsulated some of our worst fears as a parent, and further, as a family member. However, it is this honesty that music aficionados latch onto wholeheartedly. Whether they enjoy the hardcore genre or even heavier music is practically irrelevant. It plagued this writer to ask how Octigan felt about this captivating openness now that the world is able to hear and connect with his honest poetry.
“Without going into too many details, it’s the responsibility, right? The responsibility of being older. It's like my parents are getting older, and so, the next line is: ‘Father a child, I’m terrified / Care for my father, how will he survive?’ It's me looking at just becoming a father, but I feel like a kid, you know what I mean? But I'm stepping into this role of responsibility where I'm also having to parent my parents, because they're getting older.”
Octigan openly expresses in sincere detail that is beyond articulate, similar to a best friend disclosing their most honest self. Then he continues, “There's a little bit of creative license, and I like to shift in and out of it, not just being my perspective. I shift into the perspective of someone else I know. So perhaps I'm stepping into the shoes of someone else I know whose parents are more ill than mine, or something like that. I'm trying to write for myself, but also trying to make my lyrics accessible. I want people to see themselves in my lyrics. I want to share my experiences. I want to feel connected to people through what I'm going through. And yeah, I want people like yourself to sort of read it and go, ‘Damn, I know what he's talking about.’”
“Perspective” it’s what Octigan is sharing in a multi-dimensional soundscape and it is enthralling. Circling back to the title track of the album that references 2009’s ‘The Iron Mind’, a composition he wrote in his mid-20s, it did make this scribe wonder if the vocalist was answering questions he had presented in 2009 to himself or the world he lived in? Or if ‘Test Of The Iron Mind’ was an introspective of his outlook as a man in his fourth decade on this Earth?
“I would say more of the latter. I think on the title track, ‘Test Of The Iron Mind’, that song is sort of ambiguous and there's a few different kinds of themes wrapped up in there. One of them is the 20-year-old me saying, ‘Hey, I'm struggling with this, and this is my way of dealing with it’. It's like, 20 years later, Iron Mind doesn’t have the answers. The conclusion is this shit doesn't get easier, but you get better skills in dealing with it.”
He elaborates further: “Mental health is a personal responsibility, but the lyrics don't ever say something like that. It's more empowering than it is disempowering. It's more along the lines of things in life certainly haven’t gotten easier. If you look around, it's at every news cycle, it is just constantly challenge, challenge, challenge, challenge. What I'm touching on is that at 20 years old, or now, this issue of mental health is not going away. It's not like you grow up and everything's just fine and easy. No, this stuff is for real.”
What would you say a shared perception could be?
“The ‘Test Of The Iron Mind’ is that life will test you, you know? And that's basically what this track is. This is all just life and we're all just doing our best. We don't have much insight or answers outside of that. But we're still here and we're still doing it. This is what we do and this is who we are.”
“…It is something we do.” - Alva Noë.
Iron Mind play Jive Friday 4 July. Tickets on sale via moshtix.com.au.
