COURTESY OF THE TITIRANGI FRINGE MAGAZINE: Bandstanding: White Noise Mafia

 

Heavy Alt Rock band White Noise Mafia have kept themselves busy in these crazy times by writing new material and rescheduling cancelled shows “but we want to get out and play as soon as covid permits!” The four piece have come together from far flung locales, but it was lead guitarist and born and bred Glen Eden-er through and through Matt Holden who brought the band together.

“It was the initial forming of the band, and the local scene, that brought me to Auckland” explains Chris (guitar and vocals) “I actually grew up most of my life in South Canterbury. Our drummer Neo’s from the Coromandel, Matt (Holden) and bass player Matt Sansome (yes two Matt’s) were here in Auckland. We all knew each other before joining but it was Matt H who put it all together and brought us here. So blame him”.

The band has a unique sound influenced by many different artists. “We are all big fans of vastly different sounds, but to narrow down what helped create our sound, we take great inspiration from different groups such as Linkin Park, Shihad and Slipknot just to name a few.”

Matt Holden’s musical journey began when he was just 4 years old, when his parents gifted him with a Christmas present that would end up having a massive influence on his life: “a crappy, cheap acoustic guitar”. It was his older cousin who first inspired him, when they “picked it up and started shredding like crazy”. From that moment on, Matt was “instantly hooked on the idea of playing an instrument like that one day.”

And so White Noise Mafia began, just over a year ago, in July of 2020. Neo explains “we all met as competitors in Smoke-free Rockquest. The two Matt’s were in Silvera, a metal band that saw them place 3rd in the Final. Neo and Chris both competed in separate bands in the Northshore finals and both ended up placing side by side in the top two spots of that final. Basically Matt Holden took it upon himself to put together a band full of people he knew were capable of playing, and here we are. It only took one practice at Neo's house to gel what would be the next year's worth of unreal growth as a band.”

The band already has two songs out for the world to hear: ‘The Divide’ and ‘Let It End’. Matt H says “We're happy about the feedback we've received on these songs, and will keep trying to do better and better things”. They often stick to the same songwriting process, as Chris explains “Matt (H) is usually the brains behind the operation, and  creates instrumental tracks that get passed to me to add vocals and give feedback, then the rest of the song is naturally tuned in the practice room with the rest of the band. Most of the songs haven’t changed much at all from how they were in the practice room to how they were in the studio which is great because with the singles we were aiming for that live aggressive sound.”  

The band’s plans for a future album “depend on the state of the country's developments with COVID-19. At this point it doesn't look like anything will be recorded until Auckland's alert level changes, as Neo still lives in Coromandel. But although there will be obstacles still present, we can't wait to start on our biggest project yet!”.

White Noise Mafia have so far had a ferocious presence in Auckland’s music scene, and they’re getting to know fellow local bands. Matt H - ”My favourite band in the local scene currently is Melanie, everyone should go checkout their album '42 Losers' you won't regret it! Our favourite spots we've played so far are Ding Dong Lounge, Tuning Fork and Whammy Bar. But we really want to get out of Auckland and play at venues all across NZ" 

Matt H is also kept busy by his job as guitar tech to Alien Weaponry. “I’m not currently touring with them for family reasons, but I’m hoping to get back on the road with them as soon as possible". Matt describes the job as busy and challenging. “My roles within Alien Weaponry's crew include setting up/restringing the guitars and basses, mixing their in-ear monitoring, setting up and micing backline (guitar amps, bass amps etc). It's a small, but tight knit team that works together to get things done.” 

Like so many other bands around the world at the moment, the covid pandemic has impacted White Noise Mafia’s progress as a band. Matt H - “This lockdown has caused a few gig cancellations for us including shows at Galatos, The Powerstation, Anthology and Underground. It has stopped the possibility of rehearsing until we reach a lower level, but on a positive note it gave me a lot of time to work on lots of new music when we were in level 4”  The band’s future plans include getting this new music out there, as well as making their live presence further known to all. “We're wanting to get back into the studio soon, and back on stage as soon as this pesky delta-variant allows us to! We are dying to get back out there, bring people together and have some fun”.

You can follow and check out White Noise Mafia here https://www.facebook.com/WhiteNoiseMafia

and look out for them playing live again just as soon as they can!