A few months ago, I stumbled upon a song called "Blood on the soil" by the Australian band Ka$h Nexu$. I was immediately blown away by their awesome heavy folk/rock sound and their strong political messages that are so rare in today's music scene. They write about anti-war, refugee crisis and social issues, and with hard-hitting political songs like "Ode to Chelsey Manning", "They shut the gate", "C'mon the 99" and "The Uprising", they are a truly unique band. In their own words they are: "Middle aged men on a musical mission, with a penchant for hard rocking folk tunes that pertain to the plight of exploited people everywhere!" Right on!!!
I decided to write an article about them. However, their social media was minimal, and they seemed to me like an intriguing mystery I had to solve.
I wrote in my post that I'd love to do an interview with them, and since then they've contacted me, and were happy to be interviewed.
Ka$h Nexu$ consists of three guys from Melbourne, Australia: Steve Pollock on vocals, Mick Seymour on lead guitar & vocals, Ross Crawford on guitar & vocals.
So what's their story? Here's the interview with this mysterious band:
How did you all meet and decided playing music together?
Mick and Steve met at a community songwriting class approximately 4 years ago as a way of beating isolation and boredom. They struck up a different style of playing with Steve on acoustic rhythm guitar and lead vocals, and Mick on electric guitar and vocal harmonies. No drums or bass. Ross joined us a bit later and played acoustic rhythm, bass and added vocal harmonies, which freed up Steve to concentrate on lead vocals.
Mick & Steve: We all had a passion for the truth and we just hit it off. We all liked the heavy rocky, folky sound we developed and alternative lyrics.
Ross: I was approached by Steve while I was working in a songwriting group, and we seemed to mesh pretty well musically. The messages he puts into his lyrics resonated with me, and the three of us clicked pretty well musically, so I decided to stick around for a while!
When did you as a band realize what was going on in the world? Did one of you become a “truther” and the rest listened?
Mick: Steve is the most passionate member of the group regarding politics. I have the same outlook but have shaped my views slower over time. If you are not exposed to healthy or objective points of view as a young person, you can be easy prey for unscrupulous social, political and ideology’s that are self serving and damaging instead of unifying everyone.
Steve: We are not “truthers” as in the context of being conspiracy theorists (Writer's note: No truther thinks of themselves as conspiracy theorists, but perhaps they dive into conspiracy facts.) We are all passionate about the truth being spread widely around the world.
We began initially writing Anti-War, Refugee Crisis and Social comment material. We have since incorporated some ballads and country stuff, and some covers.
Ross: I don’t think it was a “band thing", – we had all come to a similar place in our thinking, and Steve’s lyrics really said what we were all thinking. I definitely don’t think of myself as a “truther”, just someone who is disillusioned with the direction the world is taking.
How was that process? Did you have problems with your family or friends?
Mick: Continually living on a knife edge of survival for decades is not only wearysome and pressurized, but also inhibits the ability to make art. If art is just a “hobby” and a purely commercial consideration, then most working people are too busy to have the time to take it seriously... But good art needs to take itself seriously if it is to be as effective and good as any other craft. Art is too often viewed as a luxury and traded commodity instead of a necessary barometer of cultural importance.
Ross: There are always people who believe differently from me, – heck my beliefs have changed a lot since I was 20! But it’s hard to argue that the direction society is going is improving the future for our kids. That always causes friction, even between us three!
Did any major event wake you up?
Steve: For me it was 25 years of unending wars and poverty for the majority of humanity. For example there are 50 - 60 million people looking for places in the world to live after their homes were bombed.
Ross: No, I try to calmly evaluate my experience and question my biases and motives constantly. Basing my opinion on a single event to me seems fraught, – aside from not knowing the whole story, it’s like basing a statistical analysis on an outlying reading, and we all know how statistics can be abused like that…
How far down the rabbit hole have you gone?
Mick: I have personally gone too far in terms of finding “the truth“, – it has led me to sometimes be an outsider – and the strange thing about what we do is that, although we may be perceived as being different and confronting or outsiders, – the truth is we actually want everyone to have the same access to fundamental rights, – that can’t be a bad thing .
Steve: Art and the truth can be revolutionising and stop the slide into the rabbit hole.
Ross: I prefer to send a ferret down the rabbit hole first!!
Have you always played music - and for how long together?
Mick: Music is the motivating force for me, to rise in the morning. It never lies, is always there if I need it, and notes say things lyrics can’t always manage.
Steve: I started singing and playing guitar at 10 years old, and mucked around with music for decades with friends.
Ross: I have played since I was a kid. My mum played piano and got me & my sisters lessons from when I was about 6 or 7. I started playing with Steve and Mick in about 2014, I think?
Kash Nexus has only been together for about 3 years.
Do you write the songs together? How is the process?
We all give as much as we can to the craft. Everyone has contributed, but it tooks us a while to find a great way of working... Lately it tends to be a guitar riff by Mick, then shaped and arranged by Ross, – then turned over to Steve who writes a lyric and then mixed and recorded by Ross.
Thats a rough explanation though. It is becoming a really good way of working .
It was hard early on, but we have a loose system now and can get songs done pretty quickly, – so its a great group collaboration.
Ross: Early on, one of us would come up with the lyrics, which was sometimes a starting place for the music, then we all come up with the final arrangement together.
Steve: When I initially started writing, I would usually think of a topic, then a catch phrase, and then write and play chords to fill out the verses and chorus.
How is your everyday life when not playing music?
Mick: When I'm not playing music, I'm making it. When I'm not making it , I'm listening to it.
When I'm not listening to it, I'm watching it. If not watching then reading it. If not reading, then studying it. If not studying, dreaming of it. If not dreaming of it, I'm in the shower and humming it. Sometimes I do other stuff.... Once or twice a decade!!!
Steve: Boring and lonely!!
Ross: Pretty much like everyone else; trying to find a way to pay the bills, and occasionally splashing out on something fun.
Do you play live quite often? In your local community or do you tour?
We have done the rounds of local clubs / pubs, but have decided to focus on recording and film clips for now, – building up a library of songs and playing infrequently at special occasions, – keeps it fresh, exciting and less stressful than playing live all the time .
Ross: We used to play live quite a bit, but recently we have been putting more time into recording. It’s just less stressful. But I do miss that adrenalin rush from playing live.
How often do you meet up to rehearse or just to hang out?
We don’t rehearse at the moment. We used to about once a week when we were doing gigs, because we live quite far apart and have to rely on public transport mostly. We just occasionally meet up for songwriting and recording sessions at the moment.
Ross: Whenever we need to. There’s no specific timetable. If we have a gig coming up, we’ll get together to work out a set, and we usually record together, but we just take it as it comes.
Anything else you’d like us to know?
We are generally a politically motivated group and the fact that we are older musicians making original music makes it interesting and challenging. Our stuff appeals to young and old.
Let’s rock on!!! And get important messages out there!!
Ross: We want to be famous !!!!!!
Subscribe to Ka$h Nexu$ on YouTube!
Listen to "The Uprising", "Ode to Chelsea Manning", "They shut the gate" & "Blood on the soil" below, - plus many more awesome songs from their YouTube channel.
