injured ninja

INJURED NINJA

No Rest For The Wicked

Getting one album a year set up and released is enough of a chore amid the smoking ruins of the music business, but local experimental rockers Injured Ninja have defied the stereotypes by releasing three records in less than 12 months. Ahead of the launch for their latest EP, Superluminessence, at The Bakery this Friday, December 23, JENNIFER PETERSON-WARD spoke to vocalist Dominic Pearce about the band’s hectic year.

The days of yore when a band would release three albums a year seems like a time long forgotten, but sometimes it happens that exceptions are there to be made. Following on from debut album Injured Ninja Vs. Skylazer released in March and Redeemer/Skylazer Remixed released in October, experimental rock group Injured Ninja are rounding out 2011 with the release of yet another new four track record entitled Superluminessence.
“We just did, I suppose is the simplest answer,” says Dominic Pearce when questioned as to how the band found the time to release three records in one year. “Injured Ninja Vs. Skylazer was a long time in the works as it featured some songs that went back to when we formed as the current four-piece, and most of the recording and mixing was done late last year. Skylazer Remixed came about thanks to all of the incredibly talented producers involved with the project. They all worked hard to complete their mixes by the release date despite all of the original work they do, for which we are massively thankful.
“As for Superluminessence, we came back from the States very keen to work on some new material,” Pearce continues. “We were really happy with the new jams, and were planning to road trip somewhere remote to do some recording and jamming of all the new stuff. With everyone’s schedules being what they were though, and since our amazing sound engineer Lewis Ryan was keen to get into the studio with us, we decided to just say, ‘fuck it, let’s record it properly’, and headed back into Loop Studios.”
Despite the sense of accomplishment derived from the release of all three records in such a short time span, Pearce admits the noisemakers have been left exhausted from what has been their busiest year to date.
“The last few months have certainly been a bit hectic with all that’s been going on; Usurper Of Modern Medicine has been keeping Steve [Hughes] busy with gigs, and they’re about to drop another EP and tour to New Zealand to play Camp A Low Hum. I’ve been working on a new dub outfit called The Weapon Is Sound with a few friends and occasional Ninja collaborators, Jake [Steele] has been massively busy with his debut LP [under the name Yarkhob] Transmissions and his label Pineapple Lounge, and Boobs [aka Matthew Bairstow] has been doing plenty of gigs and recordings with smRts and is now doing stuff with local electronica siren Kucka,” Pearce concludes. “We’re all pretty driven on our musical endeavours. That, and since we went straight from Skylazer to the US tour and then right into the new EP, we didn’t give really give ourselves any opportunity to not make time for Ninja. We’re all really respectful and supportive of all the musical things we do between the four of us, so it works.”