The Regime Never Gonna Stop Interview

16 Piece Funk Collective

Exploding out of Sydney's inner-west, The Regime is a 16 piece funk collective that's tipping the scales firmly back into the favour of soul funk and they've just this week dropped their cruisy new lovefest of a single Never Gonna Stop in time for Valentine's Day, alongside yesterday's huge Bluesfest lineup inclusion announcement. This extraordinary love funky revolution will also be hitting the road to play a run of shows through March, kicking off at Big Gay Day in Brisbane on March 8, before moving on to The Boogiemanz Ball at The Factory Theatre (Syd), Beer Deluxe (Albury), The Night Cat (Melb), The Cheeky Squire (Frankston) and culminating with a show of epic proportions to storm Bluesfest across three days on April 9 (opening Jambalaya stage), 10 and 13.

Inspired by the dull-unrelenting pain of physical detachment, Never Gonna Stop tells the true story of love's foreverness. Cruisy, sexy as hell and a total love-in, exceptional musicianship is on full display here with sixteen Regimers appearing on the track – this group could be straight out of Motown Records - guitar, saxophone, piano and flute taking centre stage, and that's before we even have a chance to mention the soul-filled vocals and that groove and feel set by their unrivaled rhythm section.

Never Gonna Stop was written on the morning of the third day of Burning Seed festival, and the band started recording it in Liam Stacey's (vocalist and producer) bedroom as soon as they returned home. "The whole song was recorded in my bedroom, all except the drums which were done in Julian Joseph's (vocals) room, and the house is metres away from the Sydenham train lines, 24 hour railway construction, and right under the flight path. So, obviously we left the windows open during recording!" jokes vocalist and producer, Liam Stacey.

The Regime is supremely adept at serving up a triple helping of thumping bass lines, hearty brass tones and fat lyrics to insatiable crowds, and their performances at Bluesfest and these headline shows through March will be no different. "To be playing at Bluesfest feels like we've finally been welcomed home," enthuses Stacey. Say no more, you do not want to miss these shows.

And to add further excitement to what is already an impressive start to 2020, The Regime have signed an exclusive deal with one of Australia's leading booking agencies, New World Artists. "This band is incredible. Imagine the funky throb energy of James Brown, Jamiroquai grooves, killer musos with 6 star singers out front and total danceable, joyous, mayhem on stage," says Owen Orford, National Agent at New World Artists, "NWA is so very excited to join The Regime's circus."

A lively music experiment that generously borrows from funk, soul and electro, and twists it into a sumptuous undulation, 'The Regime', an expression once falsely disseminated and cunningly propagated, is now brilliantly redefined at the dawning of a new decade, finally giving sovereignty to the power of love.

The Regime is Liam Stacey (vocals/producer), Ziggy Tockuss (vocals), Keegan Fisher AKA Keggles MC (vocals), Aleks Mikic (Vocals), Giacinta Ruggieri (vocals), Julian Joseph (vocals), Jasper Gubbay (vocals), Matthew Stacey (lead guitar), Rory Brady (rhythm guitar), Rory Lucas (bass guitar), Andrew Charalambous (keys), Danny G Felix (trumpet), Ned Green (synth/keys), Oscar Connery (guitar), Alex Sullivan (drums), Ross Middleton (saxophone) and Leah Wilkie (trumpet).

SUN 8 MAR | BIG GAY DAY | THE WICKHAM | BRISBANE 18+
SUN 22 MAR | THE BOOGIEMANZ BALL | THE FACTORY THEATRE | SYDNEY 18+
FRI 26 MAR | BEER DELUXE | ALBURY 18+
SAT 27 MAR | THE NIGHT CAT | MELBOURNE 18+
SUN 28 MAR | THE CHEEKY SQUIRE | FRANKSTON 18+
THUR 9 APR | JAMBALAYA STAGE | BYRON BAY BLUESFEST | ALL AGES
GOOD FRI 10 APR | STAGE TBA | BYRON BAY BLUESFEST | ALL AGES
EASTER MON 13 APR | STAGE TBA | BYRON BAY BLUESFEST | ALL AGES

Interview with The Regime

Question: What inspired the track, Never Gonna Stop?

Liam Stacey: The temptations song 'Just My Imagination' was the aesthetic inspiration, the constant revelations, and musings of love was the essence of the inspiration.

Question: How would you describe your music?

Liam Stacey: The deuzy vibe, that funky sound. Funk is blind and so the vibrations are ancient.


Question: What's it like be a part of a 16-piece collective?

Liam Stacey: Well my brother Matt (the guitarist) and I are from a family of ten, so The Regime is just like that.


Question: Do you prefer performing live or recording?

Liam Stacey: I prefer recording when the ideas are flowing, and playing live when I'm feeling blocked up.


Question: Which is your favourite song to perform live and why?

Liam Stacey: My favourite song to play live is probably our new track 'Deuzy Vibe', it's the tribal party church song!


Question: What should we expect from your upcoming tour?
Liam Stacey: Heaps of unexpected stuff!


Question: If you could have anyone, in the world, attend a show, who would it be?

Liam Stacey: God or Prince or someone like that, but we all know that God is always with us, so I'm not really worried about it.


Question: How did the band come together?

Liam Stacey: When Ziggy (the best rapper in the world) made the call, the cult began. We had a jam in our new garage at our new house and played the first Regime gig a week later, that was three years ago.


Question: What motivates you most when writing music?

Liam Stacey: The biggest motivation in writing music comes from the purpose that has been bestowed on us privileged beings and that is to share the love that we're so lucky to feel. The universal message that keeps on giving.


Question: Which music/artists are you currently listening to?

Liam Stacey: I'm nearly always going straight to Parliament and funkadelic, it's too funky 'funkadelic' their first album is my old favourite, and funkentelechy Vs placebo syndrome is my funky saviour. Mac Miller, wow, so beautiful. I was also listening to that banger by Duck Sauce for a few weeks, learnt some production stuff from that song. Gritty influences from 30/70 and Horatio Luna from Melbourne.

Question: What or who was your inspiration to go into the music industry?

Liam Stacey: Inspiration is just life and experience, everything along the way was inspiring me to play music.


Question: If you could collaborate with another artist, who would it be?

Liam Stacey: The only one I can think of is George Clinton, just a good long chat.


Question: What is the biggest challenge you have faced along the way to your musical success?

Liam Stacey: The biggest challenge I would say is not judging myself along the way. Once I learnt to judge myself and it became habitual, I had a much harder time expressing myself. When I'm grounded in love, my intention emanates and vibrates and projects, so I can freely express myself and feel subconsciously guided.


Question: What's a typical day like?

Liam Stacey: A typical day is about as mundane as it gets, trudging around, spreading love through funky vibrations, while spinning around on an earth encrusted star in infinite space.


Interview by Brooke Hunter