Interview: Cog

By Sean Lynch

Interview with Lucius Borich

COG

In a world where most teens get their political information and opinions via P!nk and Panic At The Disco, its comforting to know that there are still artists out there who are looking to make more than just a snappy pop song.

Web Wombat Music's Sean Lynch caught up with Lucius Borich - bravely filling in for a flu ridden Luke Gower - to discuss life, politics and drug addictions within Australia's "Next Big Thing" in the band Cog.

One of the newbies in our Web Wombat offices is a big fan - and he begged me to ask you: What are you actually singing in the chorus of the song Doors - is it "I'm High" or "I Will"?

Um...  it's "I Will", "In time I Will"...

[Laughs] You had to think about that one for a second... are you sure you're not high?

[Laughs] Because it's not really the chorus. It's at the start of the song - "In time I will change...".

Are there any lyrics you guys like to change on stage for your own amusement?

Yeah, Flynn's done that [Laughs]. I think he's done it a few times with our song Spined. And I think there's a lyric that goes... oh f**k, how does it go again?

It's escaping me, but he says "Bobby Dazzler" or something like that. I don't know why he says it, but he does - but it's been pretty funny sometimes [Laughs].

There just isn't enough Bobby Dazzler in music these days [Laughs]...

Maybe he just does it because no one else sings about Bobby Dazzler anymore...

Back in Cog's early days, you supported System Of A Down, when they were in their prime. Were they cool guys - or was it just a bunch of people sitting around trimming their respective beards?

We didn't get to meet them! They turned up, pretty much, fifteen minutes before they went on and that was it.

I think it was such a great opportunity for Cog, because System Of A Down were on the cutting edge of what was happening on the Heavy Rock / Metal scene.

To play with them was fantastic. But we just did our set and were told "The boys are upstairs - and no, you can't meet them". [Laughs]

Cog has really broken out in the last few years thanks to some mainstream radio play, have you noticed your crowds changing - be it rougher or broader audience?

It usually goes in cycles of what day it is throughout the week [Laughs]. A Wednesday, Thursday night we find people are pretty conservative and are on their best behaviour. But come Friday night or Saturday night... it can get a bit rowdier.

People mid-week are on their best behaviour - which is good in one respect, because I suppose they get to really experience the music instead of being completely out of it and off their f**ing face [Laughs].

What's the "loosest" you've ever seen a crowd get?

When there has been violence. It's really pathetic and goes against everything that Cog is trying to bring into the experience of being with people in a venue. It's something we completley don't align ourselves with.

On one level we understand that some people just want to "let go", and that's great - because they can come to a Cog show and really express themselves, let go and have fun. But I guess sometimes people can get annoyed with that - or sometimes there is a slight elbow here or there, or it gets a bit rough...

Then all of a sudden you've got people cracking the shits, and they start fighting. We definitely don't advocate the "Mosh Circle Pit : American Style" way of doing things...

What about when you were a teen, were you up the front moshing? What sort of guy were you back then at a Wednesday night show?

If I really loved the band - I was always down in the mosh. But I understood that there is a certain type of way that you do mosh, or get involved. You're not trying to hurt anyone.

There is a lot of politics within Cog's music - do you ever try and draw a line between subtlety addressing issues and sounding like Bono? How have you gone about avoiding that "wank" factor?

Obviously the ones that sound wanky really haven't done their homework, and really don't understand the machinations of the whole political structure and setup...

Are you saying P!nk hasn't done her homework?!!

[Laughs] She looked good to me on the front cover of the Virgin in-flight Magazine the other day.

For us, we are involved in those things and sing about those things because we've studied them a lot - and researched them a lot and tried to understand what we are living in here. What's set up here? What's this political thing?

When we [Australians] get out of school, all of a sudden you've got to vote. But within school, there is no studying or understanding of the political system and the way it's set up. You don't really know and just follow your parents...

And I think you end up hearing so many lies, and seeing so much corruption - and at the end of the day, you just have to make a decision to either really understand whats going on, or just bow out altogether. That "Ignorance is Bliss" sort of thing people seem to get into.

When crossing over and playing in America, did you find you had to adapt the lyrics and themes to suit Americans - or are the issues universal?

Not really, because America is the linchpin. [As Australians] our entire lives, the USA has been the country. As for Australia, you may as well plant the American flag on the ground here - really..

So many areas of our life we just copy and align to America, 80% of our television is American, 80% of our radio is American - whether its fashion or movies or entertainment, its a complete onslaught of that country.

So, of course, when we sing about things, it's going to appeal to Americans - definitely. Because from a political standpoint, it all comes from there. Look what's happened, we're allies with America and went to war based on a complete lie that everyone now knows about - yet we're still over there.

It's all relevant. The United States of America, is really, a corporation - thats what that is, thats what that stands for. So everyone there is owned by the corporation.

Do you ever wonder what would happen if Cog do break-out in America?

How might that jeopardies your integrity and lyrical direction, in the same way that someone like Green Day now deliver candy coated diatribes because they are now a corporation - and fueled by that "American Corporation" - themselves?

There is nothing wrong with making money - it's just how you make it. There is nothing wrong with being a corporation, Cog is already a corporation - we set it up as that, it's just a good way to run your business.

Before we go, just to lighten things up, we like to ask everyone we interview to offer up a stupid myth or a rumour we can spread about you. So if you were to die tomorrow and leave the world with one crazy "Richard Gere Gerbil" style myth... what would it be?

[Laughs] There's so many good ones you could think up. But I'd have to go with that I really thought that I was the Son of God...

F**k, I don't know, just put down I was a DMT Addict...

COG are touring Australia from May 2009.