Following a successful UK tour and a second Western Canadian tour, Mediaslaves are poised to keep making noise with several upcoming shows in Vancouver and on Vancouver Island. Ahead of their new album, Make Punk Dead Again, we talked with Mediaslaves’ Johnny Das about the making of their new video and their punk rock plans for the future.

Can you share some of the inspiration behind the music video and how it relates to the track “I Was Abducted by Aliens and They Told Me Not to Write This Song?”

The song’s lyrical themes and video aren’t really related. The song is more or less about falling back into old bad habits. Sometimes you feel like you’re doing awesome with a new goal or getting over some kind of vice, but it’s very easy to fall back into your old ways. But if you’ve gotten over the hurdle once, you can do it again.

You filmed the video at Alf House in Vancouver, which is a pretty legendary DIY space. Any fun stories to share from on set the day you shot it? 

We were booked to perform at Trooperfest, a little fundraiser/festival to support Noelle from Chaos Disorder And Panic’s diabetic cat. It was actually shot in the backyard at Alf House, but yeah, it’s a literal punk house with graffiti on the fence, writing all over the inside walls, stuff like that. I heard someone say it’s been throwing backyard and basement shows since the ‘70s and DOA used to party there or something.

I guess a kind of funny moment from that show was when a bird took a big dook on us right before we played. It got all over my arm and Taylor [Sukert, drummer]’s drum cymbals.

How was Mediaslaves formed and how have you evolved as a group since its beginning?

Long story short, in 2018 I did a mix of LSD, mushrooms, and weed at a music festival that took me totally out of whack. It was like all my deep-rooted self-doubts and insecurities were brought to the forefront and screaming at my face for several hours while I was surrounded by loud music and people. Our debut EP, Fear and Loathing in Outer Space, has a few songs written about that experience. As challenging as it was, a lot of good came out of it. After some post-festival reflection, I knew I wanted to start another band, which I hadn’t been in for over a decade. Got sidetracked trying to climb the corporate ladder at a day job I hated, but stayed in because I was kind of spiritually lost at the time. 

Taylor and I were both working as seasonal actors at a Halloween Haunted House in Surrey, BC. We bonded over our love for heavy music and I knew he played drums. Shot him a Facebook message out of the blue and when we jammed for the first time, we clicked immediately. When our first bassist, Danielle, left to focus on personal matters, Sean [Tanner] fit the vibe and joined not long after.

What is your relationship like with media and digital spaces, and how do you navigate creating content around performing and writing?

It’s a love/hate relationship for sure. On one hand, I can’t stand how addicted I am to my phone. When I get home, I should be writing or something, but instead I plop on my bed and scroll through the same apps over and over again for hours, or play mindless freemium mobile games. Alongside that, the internet spews a lot of hateful, divisive shit into everyone’s minds. Luckily, I’ve trained my feed to mostly show me stand-up comedy, music tips and cheesy inspo-content. I still occasionally get sucked into a toxic rabbit hole, though. 

On the other hand, it’s helped the band a lot. I’ve used social media a ton for networking, booking shows, getting to know our fans, etc. Fans who discovered us online have been kind enough to let us crash at their place while playing out of town on a few occasions. 

Do you write collaboratively as a group, or how does each member bring something unique to your sound?

A lot of the time someone will bring a skeleton of a song to jams and we’ll build on them together. I think it’s helpful that we all have very similar music tastes in a lot of ways, but very different tastes in others. I was big into grunge and thrash metal growing up, Taylor is big into black and death metal, Sean loves emo and pop punk. But we all also love hip-hop and hardcore and basically anything you’d find on a Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater soundtrack. The first gig all three of us saw together as a band was Limp Bizkit while we were on tour in England. It was a blast.

What has the response been like to Mediaslaves outside of your hometown of Vancouver? What are the crowds like? Any standout/memorable performances?

Response outside of Vancouver has been rad. Playing rippin’ shows in front of lively audiences is what this band lives for. Knowing that people from outside our city are down with us is pretty fulfilling. In terms of crowds, the most standout one that I can think of was Liverpool, England. We played above a vegan restaurant on a Wednesday night and the kids who came brought it. Circle pits and all that shit. It was nuts. 

What’s next? Any shows or upcoming projects that you’re excited about?

On August 28 we’re releasing Make Punk Dead Again, which is a compilation of all our previously released songs, plus the new single. We’re also playing Red Gate Art Society on September 5 as well as Green Auto for the first time on September 26. Then we are doing some shows on Vancouver Island on September 27 and 28.