INTERVIEW: Daniel Estrin & Ashley Doodkorte – Voyager

Bloodstock Festival 2018 was easily one of the best festivals we have been to in recent years, it was genuinely incredible. Now that our review of the full weekend is officially live, it’s time to start sharing the interviews we had with some of the amazing bands over the weekend. We had the chance to chat with Daniel Estrin [Vocals] and Ashley Doodkorte [Drums] from Australian progressive metal veterans VOYAGER to discuss the pains of touring the land from down under, and how the band have developed past the standard writing blocks as their career has progressed!

Thank you for bringing the Perth sun with you! 

Daniel: You’re most welcome

Ashley: It’s funny, the guys we spoke to at the last festivals we went to said the same thing, last month!

VOYAGER have had a very busy festival season this year. Where have you played in total? 

Daniel: Yeah we’ve been all around this year. We’ve done Tech-Fest, Ramblin’ Man. Ramblin’ Man was a cool one, it’s kinda like bluesy, much older crowd.

Ashley: I think it was THE CULT that were headlining

Daniel: Yeah THE CULT were headlining so it was that kinda vibe. It was weird cause we were easily the heaviest band on the line up, and people were kinda taken back but you could see them get into it!

Ashley: It was weird being the heaviest band on that line up and then over here we’re probably one of the lightest bands!

Would you rather be a band that can play anywhere or be a true scene hero? 

Ashley: I think being able to play anywhere is one of our strengths. I’d always rather be a band that can have all different kinds of shows rather than playing the same stuff.

Being at a through and through metal festival like Bloodstock, do you think prog is a bit of a dirty word? 

Daniel: Dirty word is probably a bit much, I don’t think people pay too much attention to the labels.

Ashley: Everyone I’ve spoken too has seemed to have no issue with the labels at all!

Daniel: Yeah I think it’s a label that describes something different, something a bit more out there. But I don’t think it’s a dirty word, we’ve always just been playing what we want to play.

You probably get asked this a lot but what is it about Australia that makes it have such a thriving music scene? 

Ashley: I think a lot of it has to do with the isolation. For the longest time we had to entertain ourselves, we didn’t have bands flying over and international touring was almost unheard of, so we had to do something, and I think that has really helped the music scene over there grow into what it is now. It’s crazy, you see festival line ups with like six-seven Australian bands on there and it’s almost like when did this happen?!

With the death of Soundwave in Australia, what do you think it is about the country that makes it difficult to have a festival? 

Daniel: Geographically and logistically it’s very very hard. The country is just so massive, it’s a five/six hour flight from Perth to Sydney and you’re still in the same country!

Ashley: There was recently a festival that had nothing but Australian bands on it. Bar LEPROUS I’m pretty sure every band on the line up was Australian, which is awesome y’know!

Coming back to the eclectic sound you guys have, you still maintain a real sense of structure and catchy melody. Is this intentional? 

Ashley: When we go to write, we never think we have to do anything at all. We just let it happen and let ourselves create.

Daniel: We write what we want to hear and what we like. I love catchy choruses so I write them and put them in the songs!

Ashley: Sometimes we write something takes us off guard though. Makes us kinda go ‘oh’ a little bit.

Daniel: Yeah but then the sound becomes us.

Being in a band for so long, where do the struggles lie in the writing process? 

Ashley: I don’t actually know, I don’t think there are any real problems at all!

Daniel: Yeah I don’t know! You’re a perfectionist so we know where your difficulties lie!

Ashley: I think one of the biggest problems is too many cooks spoil the brew! If all five of us are working on a song, it can be far less productive than if just three of us were say.

Daniel: Yeah absolutely, I would also say one of the hardest things is getting to grips with a song. I was talking about this recently, and there was this one song we had that I was jamming last year and just couldn’t get it into it, just nah. And then this year…

Ashley: Oh this was a couple of days ago!

Daniel: Yeah, and I listened to it in the hotel room and I just got it, it all made sense finally, and that’s a really hard thing.

Ashley: Yeah there have been songs that I’ve hated, but only after I’ve recorded and heard the final mix that I’m like “ahhh now I get it. This song makes sense now”.

Daniel: ‘Kinda like the Bohemian Rhapsody effect of song writing. “Freddie, what the hell are you doing now?”

We have to talk about crowdfunding because it went so well for VOYAGER. Would you ever do it again? 

Daniel: No I don’t think we would…

Why’s that? 

Daniel: It’s just so much work. All of the work falls onto you, and it is so rewarding but it’s also a massive strain on creativity. Admin is the death of creativity and crowdfunding is just all admin.

Ashley: I think it’s really great for bands to start out, but I think it should be a platform for bands to eventually stand on their own feet. We did it the once and now we’ve progressed and evolved past it. So it’s great, but for younger bands it should be just that, a platform for them to utilise in order to stand up.

Daniel: It’s just the worst when you’re down the post office with a thousand CDs and it’s just like oh my god.

Ashley: Nah what’s worse is when the cashier is just like “what the fuck”. I became very good friends with my local post office!

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