Well known Brisbane musician Jordan 'Chalky' Hill is best known for his electrifying and dominant role behind the drum kit, but of late he has been expanding his skillset into pretty much every other facet of music.
His most recent solo project, Nuclearsaurus Rex, has seen Chalky explore a more crossover thrash style, immersing himself in everything from writing and recording to playing every instrument on recordings.
After hinting at something special with his 2021 debut EP Pegasus Ezekial, Chalky is set to deliver the follow-up Operation Party Destroy on November 15, harnessing a lifetime of experience and influences into a four-track body of work with the focus as much on fun as it is the music.
Chalky spared some time for HEAVY recently to run us through Operation Party Destroy and other happenings.
"It's got a bit of crossover," he mused when asked to describe the sound of the EP. "A little bit of punk, a little bit of thrash… probably more thrash on this one. Especially since the last song is seven minutes long. Most crossover songs are one, two, three minutes long, but the average length being four minutes on this one is probably pushing it for crossover (laughs). It's funny that there's a seven-minute song on there, but I cut it up into four sections, so it's still like four different songs merged together into one. There's a tiny bit of death metal throughout as well, with a few blast beats in there, but it's all in standard, so it's not heavy, heavy, but it's heavy in terms of standard tuning. It's a little bit of everything, but at the end of the day if I had to narrow it down, it would be crossover thrash."
In the full interview, we discussed Nuclearsaurus Rex and Operation Party Destroy in greater detail. Chalky explained that the project started as a fun outlet in 2021 and has since evolved into a concept EP with a storyline centred around a dinosaur partying in the mid-1980s. Chalky also mentioned that he has been playing guitar and bass for the project, in addition to drums and vocals, and plans to bring the project to the stage as a proper band in the future.
We delved into the conceptual elements behind Operation Party Destroy with Chalky explaining the story is about a nuclear dinosaur named Nuclearsaurus Rex who invites his friends to a party, which turns into chaos when a villain, Velociradioactive crashes the party. Each song on the EP represents a different dinosaur with unique powers, and the story unfolds as the songs progress.
Talk turned to possible future live shows and the line-up, plus heaps more.