Interview by Burt Wolf with vocalist & Lyricist, Brad of the band OMNIUM GATHERUM.
Interview done June 2nd, 2005.
YOU GUYS HAVE BEEN TEARING UP THE UNDERGROUND SINCE 1997. COULD YOU GIVE A
BRIEF HISTORY OF THE BAND SO FAR? ANY PREVIOUS BANDS YOU GUYS WERE IN BEFORE?
We started in '97 & played our first show in '98 as well as our first "Self Titled" 4 song demo release. We
released our second 4 song demo in '99 titled "Promo '99". In '01 we released our first full length CD titled
"RECTIFYING HUMAN REJECTION" In '03 we recorded 2 songs & also did a film clip for one of the songs
("Keys Of Opportunities"). We are currently in the studio recording our next full length CD that should be due out
late '05 or early '06. All band members have had other bands (some never saw the light of day), but the guitarist,
Rocco & drummer, Johno were in a working band called
NEMESIS before OMNIUM... During the OMNIUM
time there have been a few side projects called
SEXUAL INTERCORPSE, SICKNESS, OF THE HUMAN
CONDITION
& DEATH BOUNDARIES. There are probably more, but that's enough name dropping for now.

WHO OR WHAT ARE SOME OF YOUR INFLUENCES IN MUSIC & IN LIFE?
This is what makes OMNIUM... so interesting & diverse. We all came from different backgrounds with different
musical interests, but we all had one thing in common. We all like our music extreme & intense. Whether it is
Death, Grind, Black or Thrash, it comes together & makes
OMNIUM... who we are. Apart from the music we
all like a good drink, smoke & a good party.

WHY WAS THE NAME OMNIUM GATHERUM CHOSEN AS THE BANDS NAME?
"OMNIUM" meaning everything & anything & "GATHERUM" meaning bringing it all together. Dur to all our
different backgrounds & music styles, we felt that this name is suited to what we want to achieve. In '05, we
decided to drop the "
GATHERUM" & just call ourselves "OMNIUM". Our next release will be under the
"
OMNIUM" banner.
HOW WOULD YOU BEST DESCRIBE
THE STYLE & SOUND OF OMNIUM
GATHERUM?
Our style is extreme & intense technical
grinding Death. We have our own "Aussie"
sound, but are also told that we have a bit of
an American Death/Grind sound. My vocals
are very Australian sounding. (So I am told)

THE NEWEST RELEASE I HAVE OF
YOURS IS "RECTIFYING HUMAN
REJECTION" (WHICH I ALSO DISTRO).
THIS RELEASE CAME OUT A WHILE
AGO. HOW WELL HAS IT DONE FOR
YOU GUYS & WHAT HAS THE
RESPONSE BEEN LIKE?
"RECTIFYING HUMAN REJECTION" has done very well for us. It has gained us fans & friends from all over
the world. A label in Indonesia asked us if the could re-press it on cassette tape for their country. The end result
has been excellent & we have received an excellent response from them. We have had a few songs taken from
When we recorded it back in '01, it was an awesome experience & we received a top response. Now in '05, we
are in the studio again & using new technology & what we have learned (both good & bad) from our last
recording experience.

CAN YOU EXPLAIN THE COVER ART A LITTLE BIT & WHO DID IT?
The artwork for the CD took a long time. It is all original & we are all pleased with it. The idea behind it is earth,
air, fire, water & space for the unknown void. A good  friend of the band offered to help us with the artwork &
we all feel that he has done an excellent job.

WHAT IS SOME OF THE LYRICAL CONTENT OF YOUR SONGS?
I use "OMNIUM" as my bench mark for starting a song (anything & everything). As a band we don't like to
pigeon hole our self into a writing style. If you have a look at all the lyrics that I have written, you will see that
every song is written about a different topic. No two songs are the same. I write about everyday issues, life,
death, work, hate, fantasy, politics & what ever else has relevance to the band & or it's members & me. This
keeps it interesting for the band, it's fans & myself.

WHICH ONE OF YOUR SONGS IS YOUR FAVORITE & WHY?
I don't have a favorite song as such because I like them all. I do have some songs that i like how the lyrical
content & the music have flowed together. Songs like "A Frown On The Face Of mars", "Idiosyncrasies Of
Others" & "Imperative Revamp" are songs that I think stand out as well written songs (musically) & songs that
lyrically I am very pleased with. Some other songs like "Irate Oration", "Deeply Felt Intensity" & "The Wrath Of
Parasites" are also well written songs.

THIS RELEASE CAME OUT ON LIFE FLUID. HOW DID YOU GET HOOKED UP WITH THEM? HOW
HAS IT BEEN WORKING WITH THEM? ARE YOU GUYS STILL ON THAT LABEL?
We were introduced to LIFE FLUID through another excellent Aussie band called INTENSE HAMMER
RAGE
. As a band we all wanted our first full length CD to be all Australian. We achieved that, but our next
release we would like to spread our music further. We were
LIFE FLUID's first release & Tim from LIFE
FLUID
has done us well. Our next release, we would like to have an overseas label or distro pick us up or help
us out. We are looking into mastering our CD overseas & when we have the finished material in our hands, we
will shop it around to see who can help us with getting our unique blend of music out to the globe.
DO YOU HAVE ANY NEW RELEASES OUT OR IS THERE
ONE IN THE WORKS?
In '03 we recorded two songs for compilations & one of those
songs we have done a film clip for. The film clip was another level
for the band & a good experience & good promotion for us. We
are currently in the studio now recording our next full length CD.
Hopefully it will be out late '05 or early '06. Once again, any labels
interested?

ARE THERE ANY OTHER LABELS INTERESTED IN
OMNIUM GATHERUM? IF SO, WHO?
When "RECTIFYING HUMAN REJECTION" was released, we had a good response from a lot of distros. A
label that showed us a lot of interest was the Indonesian label
EXTREME SOULS PRODUCTION who
re-released the CD onto cassette tape for their country & we have also had a song on one of their compilations.
Because we like to fine tune our music & not just pump out discs to make numbers, we spend a lot of time on
the music &  lyrics before we go into the studio to record. At this point in time we have no labels as yet
interested in our next release.

DOES OMNIUM GATHERUM PLAY OUT A LOT? WHERE ARE SOME OF PLACES YOU'VE
PLAYED? WHO ARE SOME OF THE BANDS YOU'VE PLAYED WITH?
OMNIUM play at least 1 show a month & we have done this since the beginning. Some times we might play 2
shows a month or no shows a month. It all depends. In our early days, we would play any show so we could get
the live experience & our name out there to the fans, but these days we are more selective. We have played in all
Australian capital cities, except for 2. We are looking into playing these 2 cities when our new CD comes out.
Some bands that we have played with are
HATE ETERNAL, DEEDS OF FLESH, PSYCROPTIC, ALARUM,
DAMAGED, PORTAL, LORD KAOS, MISERY, DUNGEON, INTENSE HAMMER RAGE, FUCK I'M
DEAD, EARTH, BLOOD DUSTER
& tons more over our 8 years.

DO ANY OF YOUR SHOWS STAND OUT FOR ANY REASON? ANY INTERESTING LIVE OR TOUR
STORIES YOU CAN SHARE?
I always like playing festivals or events that have a heap of bands. It's a good way to meet new people, bands &
fans of the bands. The
OMNIUM... CD launch of "RECTIFYING HUMAN REJECTION" in Adelaide was an
awesome show for the fans & us. The venue was over packed with screaming Metal heads, lots of alcohol &
sweat. When the night ended, we found shoes, shirts, pants, bags & all sorts of stuff that people had lost in the
massive mosh pit. It was a good laugh trying to work out how some people even made it home without their
shoes, shirts & bags, etc. We have done a lot of touring around Australia & we have a lot of laughs along the
way. Nothing stands out that could make a story out of for you, but there are lots of little comedy sketches along
the way.

IF YOU COULD TOUR WITH ANYONE WHO WOULD IT BE & WHY?
It would be great to tour with an overseas band in their own country. We all have so many bands we listen to,
that it's hard to narrow it down to a band.
CRYPTOPSY around Canada. DEICIDE, VITAL REMAINS,
SUFFOCATION
through America, NAPALM DEATH through the U.K., etc... The list could go on & on. It
would be good to tour overseas with another Australian band also. We believe that our blend of music would be
very well accepted outside of Australia & our live shows would have everyone pumped.

WHAT DO THE MEMBERS OF THE BAND DO WHEN NOT DOING ANY WORK FOR THE BAND?
There are always ideas for the band even when we are not working on the band. Some of us have 9 to 5 jobs & a
lot of
OMNIUM... stuff gets done during that time as well. The band consists of a supervisor, a concert rigger,
an admin officer, a production worker & a full time un-employed body.
ARE YOU INTO ANY OTHER
STYLES OF MUSIC BESIDES
WHAT YOU PLAY? WHO ARE
YOU CURRENTLY INTO?
Because of my work, the radio is
played all day. So I know what the
current music getting around is. I
don't particularly listen to a certain
style of music as such. I do
appreciate good music that is well
written & some thought has gone into
it. I don't like Country, Gospel,
Classical, Techno, Blues, R&B, Rap
& music that just does nothing for me.
A couple of bands that come straight to mind are PSYCROPTIC & ALARUM. We have played many shows
around Australia with these bands & we always have a great time. As for labels & zines. There are many that
come & go & none that really stick around. A good zine at the moment is
PEE ZINE. It covers a wide range of
music & has a huge Metal section, tons of new music reviews & live reviews.

HOW WOULD YOU COMPARE THE AUSTRALIAN MUSIC SCENE TO THE SCENE HERE IN THE
U.S.?
I don't know what the scene in the U.S. like. The Australian scene is good & the caliber of bands getting around
is excellent. Unfortunately, for Australian bands is the distance between cities. It averages around 8-10 hours
between them by road. That makes a road trip tough. In the U.S., your cities are much closer so that would be
great for a U.S. tour. I hear that it is the same in Europe as well. Because the cities are so close, you can do
heaps of shows in a short space of time.

WHAT'S ONE THING PEOPLE WOULD BE SURPRISED TO FIND OUT ABOUT YOU?
I am a supervisor at work, I have season tickets to the football, I have a lunch every Wednesday with my parents
& I hate wearing jeans. I'm not really that interesting.

WHAT ARE YOUR VIEWS ON THE WAR & OTHER DECISIONS OUR PRESIDENT HAS BEEN
MAKING FOR THE U.S.?
I don't know much about what goes on in the U.S. with regards to politics. Sure I do hear about the really big
decisions, but I am sure your president is doing the best for his people. In Australia at this moment, there is a lot
of attention on drugs being planted on us Aussie tourists who are going over to Indonesia. Well, they say that it's
planted on them...

WHAT WAS YOUR REACTION WHEN YOU FOUND OUT ABOUT THE TRAGIC DEATH OF
DIMEBAG DARREL OF PANTERA & DAMAGEPLAN?
It was a shame to hear this. There was a big wave of amazement & disbelief her in Australia. Dime Bag made his
mark & he will live on in many people's memories. RIP Dime Bag Darrell.

WHAT CAN WE EXPECT NEXT FROM OMNIUM GATHERUM?
We are in the studio right now recording our next CD. We are hoping to have it out late '05 or early '06. A film
clip for 1 or 2 of the songs from the album is being spoken about & we are also planning to release a DVD of
some of our live shows. We have been talking about a MCD or a split CD with another band & a vinyl release is
also on the horizon.

THANX A LOT FOR DOING THE INTERVIEW. FEEL FREE TO ADD ANYTHING YOU'D LIKE TO
CLOSE OUT!
A big thanks goes out to you & your interview. We will be releasing a new CD soon so keep your ears to the
ground. Any labels & distros interested in our releases or us please contact us for a chat. We will be releasing a
new website soon to correspond with our name change from
OMNIUM GATHERUM to just OMNIUM.
Everyone feel free to contact me/us via email or the guestbook on our website. Thanks again & cheers, beers &
bleeding ears to you all \m/.
www.arcom.com.au/~OMNIGATH