Chris Downey, singer in Burning Season (a Sydney metalcore band), tells us about how they came to write a song against domestic violence and donate the proceeds to Bonnie’s.

I originally wrote the song maybe a year ago. I wrote it because it’s something that’s affected my girlfriend quite badly, so that kind of spurred me on. We didn’t have anything else ready to record for an album, so I thought, ‘Why don’t we just put this song out on a flexi 7” and then donate all the proceeds to charity?’

My girlfriend found Bonnie’s. I thought it would be the perfect place for us to give the money. All the things Bonnie’s stands for, we’re aligned to as well.

I think a lot of the time, what people think of, when they think of heavy metal and hardcore bands, is very different to what it actually is. Heavy metal can be quite intimidating at first for people, and maybe a little bit inaccessible, but we’re working on that.

People can misconstrue an aggressive sound and think it’s angry. But it doesn’t have to be about anger. For us it’s about passion, especially when we’re singing songs about things like domestic abuse.

But if you don’t read the lyrics or know what the songs are about, I know it can just seem aggressive. That’s why when we play a live show, I stop to say what the song’s about, and to talk about those issues a bit. People can’t always understand what I’m singing or the lyrics, so they can’t always get the message from what we’re playing. It’s important to give the songs subtitles in between.

A lot of bands are about an aesthetic, or just working on a particular sound, and there’s nothing wrong with just having fun and making music. But we wanted to push for something a little bit more than that, especially when it comes to social justice.

Burning Season’s album ‘Beneath the Demon’s Wings’ is available for sale on bandcamp.
All profits are donated to organisations that aim to assist those who have suffered from domestic abuse.