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Keeping Your Head Above The Surface With TRISTAN BARNES From GROWTH · HEAVY Music Interviews

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  Speaker 1: I'm Tristan.
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  Speaker 2: I play guitar for Growth and I handle the artwork
• 0:03
  Speaker 2: and the production as well. We just wrapped up our
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  Speaker 2: second album, Under the Under, and we're about to launch
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  Speaker 2: that next Friday.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, that's interested. Thanks for joining us today, mate.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, thank you my pleasure.
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  Speaker 3: Say as you say.
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  Speaker 4: Growth release your new album Under the Under on Friday
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  Speaker 4: March at twenty seven, so it's not too far away, bra.
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  Speaker 3: How are you feeling?
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, pretty good.
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  Speaker 2: The reception has been pretty great so far. It's been
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  Speaker 2: a bit of an evolution from the last material and
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  Speaker 2: we've taken some chances and allowed ourselves to experiment, which
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  Speaker 2: was the goal.
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  Speaker 1: So yeah, cool.
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  Speaker 4: Along those lines, and can you dive into the album
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  Speaker 4: a bit deeper for us musically and what you were
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  Speaker 4: going for this time.
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  Speaker 2: We were going for a bigger range of dynamics, so
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  Speaker 2: we were exploring the slower, more drawn out moments and
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  Speaker 2: allowing them to be more drawn out, and then also
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  Speaker 2: to allow the intense moments to really ramp up as well,
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  Speaker 2: and just to sort of lean into all our various
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  Speaker 2: influence is in a more dramatic kind of way, and
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  Speaker 2: also to have, like I guess more sort of standout
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  Speaker 2: moments throughout, like you know, a nine minute song for example.
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  Speaker 5: Yeah, you have released the singles remember Me as At
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  Speaker 5: a Forward Further, Spirit Killer, So are they good sonic
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  Speaker 5: representation of the whole album or they just scratched the surface.
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  Speaker 1: They definitely are like I wouldn't not just scratch.
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  Speaker 2: The surface, but they are like hinting at styles that
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  Speaker 2: are present in the other songs. But maybe Ford Further
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  Speaker 2: definitely has a bit more variety to the sound and
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  Speaker 2: should have showcases a bit more of that weaving between
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  Speaker 2: the influencers. But I guess on some of the longer songs,
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  Speaker 2: obviously we've we've had more time to elaborate on on
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  Speaker 2: all those influences and expand on the sounds you have
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  Speaker 2: heard in the first two singles.
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  Speaker 1: So yeah, God, this.
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  Speaker 4: Album picks up where your previous on debut album That's
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  Speaker 4: Suffering Arms of Mercy left off.
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  Speaker 1: So how so.
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  Speaker 2: Thematically for Luke, it's a it's not to say continuation,
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  Speaker 2: but it is part two of the trilogy. So it
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  Speaker 2: was it was planned that we would we would step
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  Speaker 2: from the last one straight into the next album as
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  Speaker 2: a continuation. It was you know, that was strategic from
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  Speaker 2: when we released the last album, we knew that we
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  Speaker 2: were doing that, and I guess we had explored sounds
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  Speaker 2: on the first album and got a real feel for
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  Speaker 2: our identity as a band, as you do on that
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  Speaker 2: first release, and we really were able to like pinpoint, Okay,
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  Speaker 2: this is who we are as as an artist and
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  Speaker 2: our sound, and I guess identify what we'd like to
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  Speaker 2: expand upon and really like you know, like disguise the limit,
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  Speaker 2: go for it with the next one, and we really
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  Speaker 2: have with some parts.
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  Speaker 4: So yeah, there's more than a five year gap between
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  Speaker 4: the two albums, mate, So was it difficult to sort
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  Speaker 4: of settle back into the groovey created with the smothering
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  Speaker 4: mercy into this.
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  Speaker 1: Uh kind of? I guess.
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  Speaker 2: Like I mean, we released the first album December twenty twenty,
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  Speaker 2: so COVID had like had peaked kind of mid that year.
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  Speaker 2: We kind of just went like, let's just release it.
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  Speaker 2: Because this obviously was a continually it was just a
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  Speaker 2: continuing thing for society, and obviously everyone had varying levels
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  Speaker 2: of being affected by all of that, with work and whatnot,
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  Speaker 2: and you know, isolation for bands to meet up and
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  Speaker 2: write and do things. For myself, there was a period
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  Speaker 2: of about a year where I couldn't play guitar because
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  Speaker 2: I was physically injured.
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  Speaker 1: So I tore the tendons at the.
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  Speaker 2: Tendon and one elbow and then and then inevitably the
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  Speaker 2: tendon and the other elbow, and basically I had a
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  Speaker 2: whole year off work and and everything.
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  Speaker 1: So it was a rough time.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, you gat me both arms.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, and obviously as a guitarist, either on will do,
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  Speaker 2: but both the other. But but I guess that the
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  Speaker 2: one upside of having that much time off, which is
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  Speaker 2: the longest I've not played my instruments since I started
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  Speaker 2: learning when I was really young.
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  Speaker 1: It was kind of sometimes when you write music and
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  Speaker 1: you're in the.
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  Speaker 2: Middle of something, it's kind of hard to get a
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  Speaker 2: proper vantage point of what you you've actually created. So
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  Speaker 2: having a year off to listen to demos and not
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  Speaker 2: be able to do anything about it, it's a pretty
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  Speaker 2: it's a it's a good insight as to like what
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  Speaker 2: you're real sick of by the end of that year.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, you're going to look at the upsides on that.
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  Speaker 2: But yeah, but that did that did have an effect
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  Speaker 2: on that five year gap, I guess.
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  Speaker 3: And.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, but we weren't trying to like rush it out
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  Speaker 2: of the gate either. We like to make sure it's
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  Speaker 2: it's done right, not necessarily like just take forever. But
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  Speaker 2: you know, we're really happy with what we've got. It's
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  Speaker 2: the way we wanted it to sound and to the
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  Speaker 2: songs to flow and yeah.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, and the second album of the Trogy, as you say, Mabes,
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  Speaker 4: So is it a conceptually based trilogy.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, so it is. So it's.
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  Speaker 2: It's a conceptual base around the topic of mental recovery
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  Speaker 2: through trauma and and and those sort of affiliated parts
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  Speaker 2: of the you know, the brain and the mind and
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  Speaker 2: how we work and how we can improve like after
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  Speaker 2: situations we've gone through in life. And you know, Luke
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  Speaker 2: will continue that upon the third album, like the last
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  Speaker 2: of the trilogy, sort of tackling different aspects of this.
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  Speaker 1: So the first.
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  Speaker 2: Album was definitely the the spiral downwards and was reflecting that,
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  Speaker 2: and then this second one under the Under is literally
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  Speaker 2: you've hit the bottom and now you've basically got a climb.
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  Speaker 2: You've got a Huger center ahead of you. So and
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  Speaker 2: don't quote me on this because Luke like his lyrics
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  Speaker 2: like they do spell it out in a pretty literal
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  Speaker 2: way in some parts. But but yeah, it's it's all
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  Speaker 2: I mean, we leave ourselves in wiggle room in terms
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  Speaker 2: of like making sure, you know, the song does reflect
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  Speaker 2: what we're trying to conceptualize, but also just to make
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  Speaker 2: sure that the song still work as a song and
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  Speaker 2: it's not this rigid thing that we've you know, we've
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  Speaker 2: made a shape before we've even come up with a
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  Speaker 2: rift of the song, because it kind of you pigeonhole
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  Speaker 2: yourself a little bit doing that.
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  Speaker 3: So yeah, and my.
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  Speaker 4: Corrective saying that under the under actually documents the six
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  Speaker 4: stages of recovery.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, yes, so that's that's the conceptual part of each
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  Speaker 2: song and as it flows through as the whole of
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  Speaker 2: an album.
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  Speaker 4: So yeah, so we're to say overall it's an album
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  Speaker 4: of hope, an album of despair.
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  Speaker 2: It's it's a hopeful album, but I suppose a little
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  Speaker 2: bit reflective of our personalities too. We're not negative people,
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  Speaker 2: but we're definitely people that have not shied away from
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  Speaker 2: that side of thing. And and that's that's kind of
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  Speaker 2: what hope is. It's recognizing something abysmal, but knowing there
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  Speaker 2: is a light and and I guess that's where we've
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  Speaker 2: come out of the first album where it's heavily around
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  Speaker 2: the darkness and the negative attributes of all of that.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, so it just.
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  Speaker 4: Sounds like both both albums, it's pretty serious subject matter
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  Speaker 4: and it's pretty pretty dense, so to speak.
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  Speaker 3: So when you play it live, how do you go, like,
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  Speaker 3: does it do just bring it down? I guess, play
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  Speaker 3: it live because it is so heavy.
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  Speaker 2: No, not necessarily recording it can can definitely lean into
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  Speaker 2: that a little bit because like obviously you're, I guess,
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  Speaker 2: in a similar fashion to playing it live, you're rehearsing
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  Speaker 2: and you're you know, going over and over and over
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  Speaker 2: like take off the take, and I know for Luke,
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  Speaker 2: like obviously the lyrical writing process and recording process is cathartic,
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  Speaker 2: but it's also you know, like you're diving into subject
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  Speaker 2: matter that is, like you said, pretty intense. But we're
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  Speaker 2: doing it with an intention that that does give it
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  Speaker 2: that light that you've you've noted before, and I suppose
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  Speaker 2: for the live context it doesn't bring us down because
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  Speaker 2: we've had, like you know, we've had people come up
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  Speaker 2: to us in stead of comment that it's helped them
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  Speaker 2: and and that's kind of obviously music should do that
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  Speaker 2: in my opinion as a whole, to make someone feel
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  Speaker 2: better or feel something. And and our music is trying
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  Speaker 2: to like actually tackle that subject matter on top of
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  Speaker 2: what music should be and and and I guess there's
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  Speaker 2: an element of that that sort of takes that heavy
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  Speaker 2: edge off it. And yeah, but yeah, I don't think
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  Speaker 2: playing it live is a is necessarily a negative thing.
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  Speaker 2: Like it's it's obviously very intense music, and we feel that,
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  Speaker 2: but like, yeah, it's it's a hell of a release.
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  Speaker 1: I'll say that.
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  Speaker 4: Now speak of the libr but hit the road in
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  Speaker 4: August with Slaughter and Supports the psych Property and.
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  Speaker 3: Rivers of Big or Nile.
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  Speaker 1: I've never never file.
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  Speaker 3: Then it sounds like a pretty pretty hectic chob it's
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  Speaker 3: a lot of fun.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's going to be real fun. We're hitting a
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  Speaker 2: few cities we haven't hit yet, so we're very excited
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  Speaker 2: for that. Perth included that's obviously reasonably neglected in the
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  Speaker 2: Odds music scene, So happy to be there.
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  Speaker 3: How do you think your sound is going to compliment
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  Speaker 3: the headliners?
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  Speaker 1: I think we're kind of.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, there's definitely elements obviously, Rivers and Nile have
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  Speaker 2: like a pretty progressive edge amongst all the heavy music,
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  Speaker 2: the heavy sort of styles that they you know, having
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: their sound, and but they do obviously have saxophone, they
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  Speaker 2: you know, experiment with clean vocals with other instrumentation and
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  Speaker 2: more progressive passages. And then psych Optic has a you know,
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: a tech death background, but then obviously they've gone into
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  Speaker 2: more of like a groove laid and thrash death kind
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  Speaker 2: of hybrid, you know, combining a bunch of sounds, and
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  Speaker 2: that's kind of the same place. Like we inherit in
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  Speaker 2: a slightly different, like inspirational kind of way. But I
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  Speaker 2: guess we're adjacent to both of those bands in that side,
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  Speaker 2: Like we have a heavy death metal influence, but it's
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  Speaker 2: not straight up death metal. So I think it'll I
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  Speaker 2: think it'll widen the net for the people out there
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  Speaker 2: that want to, you know, not to see four bands
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  Speaker 2: with the same sound, but like the fans of all
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: of those bands.
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  Speaker 1: So yeah.
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  Speaker 4: The tour finishes up at Necrosonic Festival in Brisbane on
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  Speaker 4: August twenty second May. There's all four of the bands
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  Speaker 4: on the tour are going to be playing alongside bands
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  Speaker 4: like Five Star, Prisoners, Soul there's Helm Suggression, dream Fillers
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  Speaker 4: play more Mate like not a bad way to wind
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  Speaker 4: up at sure.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's gonna be good fun. It's actually an old
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  Speaker 2: friend of mine. Shout out to Kent who runs Necrosonic. Yeah,
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  Speaker 2: my brother and I used to live in Brisbane, so
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  Speaker 2: we go away back with him and we're happy to
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  Speaker 2: jump on his fest and help him out and also
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  Speaker 2: be a part of everything. And some of those bands
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  Speaker 2: I honestly haven't played with or seen in like over
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  Speaker 2: a decade, so that'll that'll be exciting as well as
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  Speaker 2: a nice like you know, cap to the tour.
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  Speaker 3: So just say.
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  Speaker 4: Someone's gone along to Decrosonic or going along to see
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  Speaker 4: psycho Optic and they've never heard of Grace before.
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  Speaker 3: What three songs should they listen to to get to
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  Speaker 3: know the band?
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  Speaker 2: Good question, I'd say remember Me as Fire is a
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  Speaker 2: good one, just as like a not to say an intro,
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  Speaker 2: but so like, obviously some parts of our sound dense
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  Speaker 2: and probably a little hard, as like a surface level
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: kind of I've got what the band sounds like. So yeah,
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  Speaker 2: And Saul Rott's another one being that it has some
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  Speaker 2: like heavier, sort of straightforward grooves as twisted as it is,
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  Speaker 2: and then probably the new one that's actually coming at
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  Speaker 2: this Friday, Under the Under the title track itself, which,
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  Speaker 2: like as I was saying earlier, kind of covers a
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  Speaker 2: whole a whole lot of our different influences. So I
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  Speaker 2: feel like that would sort of convey oh, they they
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  Speaker 2: don't just do this one thing, they you know, Yeah, great,
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: cool bright.
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  Speaker 4: All right, well, thanks very much for your time today, Trsted.
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  Speaker 4: The album Under the Under is out Friday, March or
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  Speaker 4: twenty seven. The tour kicks off August thirty eighth with
• 12:12
  Speaker 4: Psychopthic and rivers Of and Nile.
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  Speaker 3: So thanks you so Brown, I'll see it Netrosaic.
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: Yeah, thanks for the interview and I'll see you up
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  Speaker 1: then