00:00I think setting out in any creative industry, it's ambitious in itself.
00:17Hi, I'm Sam. I'm the guitarist.
00:20I am Jamil. I am the bass player.
00:22My name's Woody and I play drums in Fames.
00:25I'm Ethan. I play guitar in Fames.
00:27Hi, I'm Josh and I play singing.
00:35Fames is like a mishmash of like...
00:38Punk rock music.
00:39Jackass with guitars.
00:41Loud, fun.
00:42A lot of beer.
00:43Beers.
00:44An outlet for good times, I guess.
00:46Yeah, right. I'd just say we're a punk-influenced rock band.
00:49Yeah, I mean, it's what I said. Kind of.
00:51In 2018, we were in another band called The Lockhearts and we went and toured Europe with our first album.
01:00Played a really good tour around Europe and then the band imploded.
01:05And then we still had about three more shows to go and we cancelled the rest of those shows.
01:11We were dropping our splitter van off at the end.
01:13Which we'd also crashed too.
01:15And this band pulls in and they see us and they're like, oh, what's wrong? Like, you look really upset.
01:21There was Liam from a band called Cancer Bats through a Canadian hardcore punk band.
01:25And he told us to stop feeling sorry for ourselves and go home and start a punk rock band.
01:31So, yeah, we did. And that's how we've started things.
01:37That was like an injection that I think we needed to say we can get away from that sort of
01:4170s sort of vintage rock sounds that we had before.
01:45We thought, let's just start a band making the music that we want to play with, I guess, this new
01:50energy, which we kind of transferred from Liam to us and was still with us to this day.
01:55Sam and I stayed in Europe and we went to Paris download.
01:59Jamil and I were standing there next to each other in the middle of a mosh pit for Frank Carter
02:04and the Rattlesnakes.
02:05We're just kind of standing there watching, you know, a hundred thousand people jump around like lunatics, losing their mind.
02:10And you've got this angry little ginger dude covered in tattoos just being awesome.
02:14And we look at each other and we're like, we need to do this. Like, this is what I want
02:18to do.
02:19And so I'm overdoing what we're doing.
02:20The song that he was playing at the time when we said that was Fangs and here we are.
02:25We just put a Z on the end instead of an S.
02:33So we came back to Australia. We basically started writing within two weeks or something.
02:40Yeah.
02:40We had four songs and we recorded them instrumentally on an EP and then basically hit the internet to try
02:46to find a singer.
02:47Jamil, he actually messaged me and he was like, hey, I see that, you know, you've done this and you've
02:52done that.
02:53We think you'd be a good fit for it. If you want to have a listen, I'll send you the
02:56stuff.
02:57I sent him one of the instrumental demos and within an hour, he sent it back with complete lyrics in
03:01a vocal melody.
03:02I was like, this is exactly what I want to do. This is, can I swear? This is fucking sick.
03:09And it was everything that I wanted in a band that I couldn't find for five years or something.
03:15We auditioned a couple of people and Josh came in and within like 15 seconds of the first song that
03:22we auditioned him, he was doing cartwheels in the room and stuff.
03:25We're like, sold. It's been, you know, foot on the gas since day one.
03:30And I'm forever grateful that, you know, he had the inkling or whatever to message me and save me from
03:38doing acoustic shit.
03:40And then in a weird twist of fate, he also used to tour in his old band with Cancer Bats,
03:45Small World, Small World.
03:52We started the band with a residency, essentially because we, like three of us had played together a lot.
03:58But we'd never played with Josh.
04:00I guess that was an intro for fangs into the music scene in Sydney.
04:05We started in this room, which holds what, a hundred people, maybe.
04:09And on the first night, there was a line down the street.
04:12We made sure the shows were insane. It was wild in here.
04:16We came in here like guns blazing and every single night was sold out.
04:21It was sick and we kind of created this community.
04:25I was driving through the inner west, going through Merrickville and I'm just seeing these fangs posters up everywhere.
04:31I went along to the first Fangstock.
04:33Fangstock is a musical festival that we self-curated of bands we love and we want other people to love.
04:40Initially, it was just a Sydney-based festival, which we put on ourselves,
04:44just showcasing local talent, essentially.
04:47This year, 2025, we decided to move it to Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney.
04:53Yeah, we're looking to do it again next year.
04:56Yeah, we'll see how we go with doing it in Adelaide and Perth, I guess.
05:02When we were recording the album down in Melbourne, there were a lot of extra guitar parts for the new
05:08album.
05:09So as a result, we needed a second guitarist to fill in the blanks.
05:13So yeah, Ethan came into the band after we just put it straight on the internet.
05:19We're looking for a new guitarist.
05:20I remember he walked into the room, played with us, then he walked out, we played by ourselves and it
05:25felt weird that he wasn't there.
05:30We released the album on July 3rd.
05:32So you have one week of all the sales that you do, all the streams, all the listens.
05:37We were starting the tour, we were going to Newcastle and we were on the way, really happy.
05:43You're on your debut album tour.
05:45And we got a call from our manager, Rob.
05:47He said, I just got an email from Aria.
05:50They want to know your address, just in case your album reaches number one this week, so they can send
05:56you this trophy.
05:58It was amazing.
05:59Like, I don't know.
06:01Suddenly my parents thought being in a band was really cool.
06:05After years of being disappointed, I wasn't a doctor.
06:14Invest in your ambition, for me, is believe in yourself.
06:20Keep striving to want more and not to stay still.
06:25Really give yourself, like, the opportunity to believe in yourself as well.
06:30Because, like, you can do anything. You really can.
06:32I think setting out in any creative industry, it's ambitious in itself.
06:38Because it's not a regular, like, gig.
06:42We are the people that your parents, when their friends ask them, like,
06:47Oh, and are they still doing that little band thing?
06:49And even with that look continuously, you keep going and just keep going.
06:55Recently we were on tour and somebody came up to me and was like,
06:59One of your songs saved my life.
07:00I was in a really dark space and the lyrics that you wrote about really helped me out of that.
07:06I'm really stoked on that and that's, yeah, that's ambition for me.
07:10It's putting on a really good show and giving someone something to walk away with.
07:16When you do get some sort of recognition, you do get a little number one plaque
07:20and your parents are super proud of that and everyone around you who supports you
07:24while you are chasing this ludicrous dream.
07:27It's also important to celebrate every single little win
07:30because no one else will do that for you as well.
07:33So, being a part of Stake's Ambition Project, it helps us move forward
07:38and keep the wheels moving, you know?
07:40And I think it's really important for a band, you know, to have anything coming in.
07:46What's next for Fangs is...
07:47The only things we haven't done, which are a second record because we've done one.
07:52We really want to get overseas.
07:54I think that we do really well in Europe and Japan, Canada.
07:59It's always about doing stuff that either we haven't done or someone hasn't done already.
08:04That's what keeps it exciting for us is just continuously doing different stuff.
08:09And that's really what's next for us.
08:21I hope so.
08:21We don't see you.
08:21Until next week...
08:22I hope so.
08:22I hope so...
08:22I hope so...
08:22See you next week.
08:25I wanna see you next week...
08:26Bye.
