Taking Out The Garbage With RORY MCDONALD From VOODOO BLOO

Interview by Kris Peters
Despite their relative youth, New Zealand alternate rock outfit
Voodoo Bloo are no amateurs when it comes to music. Don't let their
baby faces or innocent looks fool you. When it comes to making the
tough decisions that could ultimately make or break your career,
these lads will invariably make the right one.
Be it youthful exuberance, diligent studying or just plain luck,
Voodoo Bloo have always ended up on the right side of the equation
since their formation in 2020, constantly releasing new music and
content for their growing fan base.
After starting out with more than a dash of punk-fueled teenage
angst, the former school friends gradually found themselves veering
into rock territory, the trappings of youth giving way to a more
mature outlook on life that ultimately flowed back into their
music.
Over two previous albums - Jacobus and The Blessed Ghost - the band
has gradually adopted a safer approach to music without shunning
their heritage completely.
With their recent single Hot Garbage being revealed as the first
song of a new album cycle, Voodoo Bloo have tapped back into their
punk sensibilities to a degree, with vocalist/guitarist Rory
McDonald saying in earlier interviews and press releases that the
new EP will definitely be a trip down memory lane in many
respects.
HEAVY sat down with McDonald to find out more.
"The reception has been great," he enthused of the new single. "I
think one thing that we have gotten pretty often with this single
is that it's quite reminiscent of the stuff we were originally
doing about four years ago, but it's just a level above what we
were doing. From the people I have spoken to they say it shows a
bit more maturity in what we're doing, even though I'd like to say
the things we're talking about are probably a lot less mature
(laughs)."
In the full interview, Rory talks more about Hot Garbage and the
shift in musical direction, whether the band set out to write a
song with old-school leanings or it just happened, producing the
track themselves and the pros and cons of keeping it in-house, the
release plan for the next two singles and what they will sound
like, the EP coming out in June and what it will be called, the
musical direction it will take, the decision to revisit the band's
old sound, Voodoo Bloo's musical journey over the last four years
and more.