A QUICK DOZEN with TIM MEACO, THE LOCKHEARTS

Shane | 28 March 2018 | Reply

A QUICK DOZEN with TIM MEACO, THE LOCKHEARTS

By Shane Pinnegar

Introducing The Lockhearts – they are loud, obnoxious and demand to be heard. Their rock stylings are dirty, fuzzy and catchy as hell; and they’ve been called bluesy rock, 70’s rock and hard rock. Call it whatever you want – they just prefer to make it known that they play rock ‘n’ roll. Hailing from Sydney’s inner west, these four best friends will go through anything to get on a stage, plug in some vintage gear and play an energetic set of incendiary guitar sounds with mesmerising melodies and bell-bottom swagger. The band, Tim Meaco on vocals and guitar, Sam Sheumack on guitar, Jameel Majam on bass and Steve ‘Woodie’ Woodward on drums; grew up listening to 70’s bands including The Stones, The Faces, Led Zeppelin, Queen and Free mixed in with more contemporary influences like The Hives and The Bronx.

The Lockhearts have become a crowd favourite in the Sydney scene, regularly selling out venues with incredible live shows and rambunctious energy. They have supported the likes of The Baby Animals, The Meat Puppets, King of the North, Gay Paris and the Hell City Glamours.

The Lockhearts believe music, especially rock ‘n’ roll, is about the inclusive notion that draws different people together – and all they want to do is spread the love.

1. Tell us a little about your latest release. Are there any hidden nuggets the band put in the material that only diehard fans might pick up on?

Americana Doom Fuzz is our first full-length release so it’s been a long time lying in wait for us. We were essentially goaded into making it by great friends and mentors, Jon Boy Rock and Mo Mayhem, both of whom produced and engineered the album. Not sure about hidden gems unless there was some subliminal flat earth propaganda hidden post production, as there were many jokes being made in the studio. The name started as a joke in response to an interview question regarding genre, because rock bands tend to become obsessed with genre and defining themselves in ridiculous ways. I guess nobody thought of a better name, which is unfortunate because we had plenty of downtime to think about it.

2. What got you into music, and can you tell us about the moment you realised you wanted to be a musician?

Probably the first time I saw The Wiggles on television.

3. Who would be your main five musical influences?

I usually just listen to Tom Petty, but when writing this record I was listening to a lot of Fleetwood Mac, Cake, Mastodon and Tom Petty.

4. If you could call in any one collaborator to do a song with, who would it be?

Russell Crowe

5. How would you describe your music to someone who’d never listened to you before?

Americana Doom Fuzz. It’s like Americana, but doom fuzzier. Most likely the result of the other guys listening to lots of Black Sabbath and me just listening to Tom Petty. It’s just rock music with a silly name and occasional saxophone.

6. What’s the best thing about being a musician?

Being poor, scruffy and miserable only makes people think you’re more complicated and artistic, and you get a free sun-damaged flanno, crusty moustache and book on how to ask people for cigarettes in different languages. It’s all in the starter pack they give you in music lessons.

7. When the band are all hanging out together, who cooks; who gets the drinks in; and who is first to crack out the acoustic guitars for a singalong?

Sam (guitar) cooks, Woodie (drums) cracks out a fine wine, Jameel (bass) breaks the necks on all the guitars, while I’ve already left to go home and watch the Sopranos.

8. If you weren’t a musician, what would be your dream job?

Russell Crowe

9. Looking back over your career, is there a single moment or situation you feel was a misstep, or you would like to be able to “do over”?

Doing it all again sounds exhausting, I think I’d just focus on getting really good at being Russell Crowe.

10. If you were made ruler of the world, what would your first orders be?

Dissolve the irreparably corrupt system that allowed a global fascist dictatorship to gain ultimate power in this proposed Orwellian nightmare, which we’re likely hurtling towards anyway given our current and past governments’ heinous abuse of human rights with asylum seekers, institutional racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia and general xenophobia. It was a good move getting rid of the guns.

11. If you could magically go back in time and be a part of the recording sessions for any one record in history, which would you choose – and what does that record mean to you?

Traveling to an arbitrary point in spacetime has a very limited support in theoretical physics but hypothetically speaking if it were possible I’d appear to Dr. Brian May during the recording of ‘39 from A Night At The Opera, because I feel he’d be the most appreciative of witnessing temporal displacement, being a physicist himself, though ‘39 specifically has more to do with the twin paradox and principal of relativity, but it’s the thought that counts. It’s also a very good record.

12. What, for you, is the meaning of life??

Well, it’s nothing very special. Try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations.

http://www.thelockhearts.com.au/
https://www.facebook.com/thelockhearts