The Art Of Sonic Seduction With DAN MAYNARD From VEAL

Interview by Kris Peters
Just like Santa Claus, Gold Coast rock outfit Veal only come once a
year.
But it's highly unlikely they would fit down your chimney…
After debuting at Wallapalooza in 2014 and making such a huge
impact they have been invited back every year since, Veal have
shunned the conventional path of music and stuck to their guns in
staying faithful to their pledge to play only sporadically - partly
for effect and partly because they simply could not be
fucked.
You might think that a band that dusts the cobwebs off only once
every twelve months could be a little shaky when it comes to taking
the stage, and usually you would be right, but for these four
prime-cut-eating musicians that one night of live release is the
culmination of the entire 364 days that preceded it.
While the majority of Veal play in other local, well-known bands,
when the annual meat-digesting call to arms beckons then it is all
systems go. Veal matures from a young, tender cut of beef to a
battle-hardened, seasoned side of goodness who take no prisoners
and give no quarter.
Their EP titles are, as expected, strongly based in the fine art of
butchery with The Meating coming out in 2019 and Pleased To Meat
You being unleashed in 2021. Veal's lyrics and song titles are
planted tongue firmly in cheek, with tracks like Peach, I Could Eat
A Peach For Hours and One Of Britney's Mums Pubic Hairs as funny as
they are entertaining, accentuating the feel good vibe each tasty
morsel of Veal comes served with.
This Saturday, October 14, Veal are hosting Vealstock: Veal's 10
Year Anniversary at Vinnies Dive Bar in Southport with special
guests including Gutterfire!, Dad Fight, The Green Whistle,
Dogshot, Beefed Up and more. It is an eclectic line-up of bands in
keeping with the eclectic nature of Veal's music and personality
and promises to once again be one of the (literal) gigs of the
year.
Vocalist/guitarist Dan joined HEAVY to tell us more.
"It kind of hit me this morning that it's sneaking up," he said
sheepishly. "Vealstock in general has been an idea we've had for
about three years, and it only hit me this morning that it's only a
few days out. I'm not nervous to do it, it's more the nerves of
'fuck, the shows coming'."
A tenth-anniversary show - even though it also signifies only the
tenth actual gig for Veal - is still a big deal, so we press Dan on
what sorts of things we can expect to get us into party mode.
"The plan is we plan to play every song that we've got, every song
we have written," he measured. "We wanted to make the most of it.
For those who don't know Veal is a once a year band. We only play
one show a year. Long story short, we played the first year and
with me and Chris being busy by the time we played another show it
was a year later and that kept happening so after three years we
made it a one-year thing. To put it in context, our first show was
2014, so this might not be our tenth year, but it's our tenth show.
Does that make sense? It's hard to say what we're gonna bring,
because we have always - without sounding cliché - we always try
and bring our most to it because we only play the once each year.
For me, I'm not in any other band, so I only play one show a year,
so this really is my one chance to get on stage and just let loose
and be as much of a 'rock star' as I can. (We will bring) as much
energy as we can, and every song we've ever written we are gonna
play, so it's a long set."
In the full interview, Dan talks more about the other bands playing
and why they were hand-chosen, The Green Whistle coming out of
hiding to play, Veal's EP releases, putting in the hard yards for
this show, what to expect, the infamous rehearsal room lolly jar
and a possible surprise appearance on Saturday night, the
importance of Vinnies Dive Bar to the Gold Coast music scene, why
Veal play only once a year, the possibility of new material this
weekend, what the band plans to do after Vealstock and more.