Wheezing new life and enjoyment into the current Australian heavy music climate, the arthritic riddled retirees known as GOPHER have released their astonishing, must hear debut album Tunnel Buddies.
Featuring the forever young looking and current world mahjong champion Ernie Bingo on vocals, and perpetually complimented by the effervescent ladies man Ned Smelly on guitars, they prove without a doubt that you are never too old to hail the horns and bang your head. Even if it is fused to your neck.
GOPHER’s infectious debut album Tunnel Buddies knits together a cohesive fusion of knee wobbling groovy grind, back breaking death/slam, slinky massaging synths, sedating sing along anthemic choruses, and most importantly FUN! Like a bit of diversity in your heavies and looking for something new to gnash your gums on? GOPHER, unlike Australia Post, delivers!
To coincide the album’s release is a brand spanking new single and video for their about to be shindig hit Party In The Sky - a tale of guitarist and scrabble shark Ned Smelly’s passion for guzzling grog on flights and expertly making the time whizz by. Ned states, ‘When you’re up in the air for hours on end and with only shitty modern-day entertainment on offer, what better way to kill the time than drinking the plane dry, charming the hosties and passing the fuck out. We’ve all got a plane face and my ancient wrinkly noggin is the best of ‘em! This splendid ditty kicks off with a catchy synth intro before launching into an all-out groove riff spread and then cleverly leading into an all-time party sing along anthem. Get your boarding pass and come ‘Party In The Sky’ with us."
Disturbed by the happenings with Gopher's sudden rise through the ranks, HEAVY tracked Ned down at his tropical hideaway to figure out whether or not to take Gopher's threats seriously. But first we thought we would compliment him on how good he looks today.
"Look, when you're this old, everything freezes up," he spat back, possibly not believing I was being genuine. "Your muscles are fucked. Everything's just gone to shit. So I'm doing the best I can with what I've got to work with, you know? It's not easy. We do what we do. 250 years old, man."
We turn our attention to Gopher's new single, Party In The Sky, with much the same result.
"Yes. Yes," he nodded. "We like to party. We like to drink every day and smoke dairy and not do much else. We'll play guitars and write some music and do this crazy stuff. But yes, that's what we do. Flying in a plane is really boring, so what better way to pass the time than just to get really pissed, drink the plane dry and just pass the fuck out and voila, you land and you're good to go. Well, not so good, you're shit really, but at least you slept those six hours and then the time's gone."
In the full interview, Ned described Party in the Sky as party metal about partying on a plane, explaining the song's themes and the video concept of staged on-the-road misbehavior, and positioned the album as a mix of metal subgenres with heavy riffs, synth elements, and singalong choruses.
We talked about the past, present and future of Gopher, digging holes in Indonesia and their fun first ethos and attitude to music. Ned went off track more than a few times, but when he regained his focus we talked more about the musical side of Gopher's music, what they hope to bring to the music scene, playing live and much more.


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