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Reading The Signs With JOSH MIDDLETON From SYLOSIS · HEAVY Music Interviews

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Hey, I'm Josh from Silosis and you're listening to the Heavy Podcast. Hey,
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and welcome to the Heavy Podcast, where we share with you our conversations
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with the most badass people of heavy music. I'm as and this episode I'm
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joined by Josh Middleton of Silosis. Solosis are releasing their sixth studio album,
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A Sign of Things to Come, on September eighth, So let's jump in,
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shall we? Hello? Hello, thanks for joining me. How's life
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treating you today? Yeah? Good? Thanks? Yeah, well good,
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Yeah, it's eleven, I am here, nicin Elli. What time is
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it over there? It is just go on eight o'clock at night, So
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Thursday nights. So are you Thursday morning? Yeah? Yeah yeah. Time
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zones will forever blow my little mind. Yeah. I feel like twenty twenty
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three has been a big year for you already, like Solosis is bringing out
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solid new music and of course your departure from Architects. But let's talk about
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a Sign of Things to Come, which is the fourthcoming Solosis record. Yep,
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yeah, so this is album number six for you guys, right,
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yes, but notably shorter than previous albums. Was that a calculated decision?
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Yeah? Yeah, it's like our manager was actually like a big part in
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pushing us, to pushing us in loads of different ways, like in terms
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of just reaching our potential, like with writing songs and that are going to
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like be memorable and sticking people's heads, and trying trying to make like a
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classic record, and just trying to aim for like ten tracks, like a
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single disc on vinyl, just two sides, because it all our other records
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would be double vinyl. Not that that was like cutting costs for manufacturing or
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anything, but I think it was just for us, like we've always just
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yet had quite long record or even like long songs, and it was good
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to try and just really focus this time and and just like make a record
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I want to play over and over again. And yeah, so I was
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deliberate. Was it a challenge to write shorter songs considering that's sort of being
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your stick is to write longer, lengthier things. I think yeah it was.
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I mean I feel like on the previous record cycle of Suffering, that
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we made the songs a bit more concise compared to previous albums, and this
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one a bit more so. I mean, in all honesty, my attention
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span as a listener, as I think with most people in today's modern world
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is gone down anyway, Like I just don't have the attention span I used
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to. I think just the modern world so distracting that I would agree with
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that you need stuff to like just hook you in. I still want the
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songs to feel like there's their pact full of stuff like riffs and every thing.
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Like, I don't want it to feel like we've just dumbed it down.
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Yes, necessarily, I don't think we're just doing verse chorus like structures.
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But ye, it's definitely a challenge to get a song that feels like
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it's taking you on a journey, what has like some real substance to it,
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but it's like less than four and a half minutes. Yeah, so
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that it's definitely it's it's way harder to write four and a half minute songs.
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And in the past I was always like, I've always been very proud
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of what we've done and put a lot of attensions detail in it. But
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it's easier to write along the song because you don't have to be it's ruthless
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with yourself and're like, oh, well, this riff might be the best
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riff in the song, but if it would if the song would be better.
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If it's not on it, then you have to sacrifice it, and
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that would be harder for me in the past, whereas now it's like,
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do what's best for the song. Yeah. Look, I try not to
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say in my band we do this, but I know that very scenario,
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and what we do is we just bank it and we just turn that riff
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into a new song somewhere else. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, that's the
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best thing to do, I think, in just knowing when to recognize that.
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Yeah, yeah, yeah, definitely. Is there an underlying theme to
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the songs on this record, h not really. No, I wouldn't say
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there's like a concept or anything. And the title track was the last song
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to be written, and it wasn't going to be the album title for a
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while. Um so actually Deadwood was going to be the album title. I
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had that idea for it quite a while. M Yeah, I guess like
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a lot of the lyrics, well, all of the record was pretty much
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written within the pandemic um so obviously they're sort of just state of the world
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in that period. Was you know, it went into the lyrics and there's
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like all sorts of different topics there. The title track itself is kind of
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that feeling of like the anxiety around what the future holds, whether it be
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like you know, things that are happening politically or like climate change, or
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whether it might be like just doom squalling. And especially when you're just like
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locked in your home all day and you've got nothing else to do and your
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mind just goes to like, you know, negative places. It was.
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It was awful, Like, yeah, Australia was, yeah, we're about
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to you. I'm in Melbourne, so yeah, where it was pretty much
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the worst. So yeah, and I think for creative people in particular,
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it was. I mean it was hard for everybody of course, but yeah,
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I find just because I'm surrounded by creatives, i'd hear the same thing.
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Like interviewing bands post pandemic, you're all saying the same things basically,
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Yeah, we were all suffering through that, you know. Yeah, it's
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not good for us to be trapped inside our own heads. No, Yeah,
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and it's it's definitely there's not a lot of it that's like from a
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necessarily like a personal perspective like woe is me, Like I had a bad
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time, um, But yeah, it's more just like yes, stay of
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the World stuff, or even like things like in the UK, like the
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right to peaceful protesting has been like stamped down, Like just all of that
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kind of stuff just feels a bit like where are we heading, especially politically.
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So yeah, but there's no like I would say there's an underlying theme
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on the record, but I guess, like you know, stay of the
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World kind of stuff, it comes into playing a lot of the songs.
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Yeah, and that's completely fair considering what we've we've all gone through. Do
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you think that our kids are going to do better than we have or I
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think so? Yeah, I think like at least in terms of like social
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right. I think the progression and society towards like understanding different types of people
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and and that sort of thing is it's going to be better. Like our
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kids are going to probably all be brought up with a bit more tolerance and
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understanding for other people. So yeah, I'm still hopeful. Yeah, I
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agree. I'd like to hope that future generations are geared up to flip the
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script, so to speak. Yeah. Yeah, I read somewhere that you
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approached this record from the standpoint of sort of rediscovering what you first loved about
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metal. And you know what, I think most metal heads can confidently recount
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a moment or moments where they got bitten by the metal bug. Tell me
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about the kid that you were when this happened for you, Like, what
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was your fucky air moment? Yeah, it's hard to pinpoint it because I
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got into like alternative music super young, and I was like the only person
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I knew, at least of my age that was into it. So I
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was like eight or nine when I started playing guitar, and I was listening
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to Navana and Food Fire twos and Raid against the Machine smashing pumpkins. But
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then I, yeah, the first like metal song, like not the first
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metal song I had, but the first one I had purchased, and like
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felt like a reaction. I bought the single to Good God by Corn,
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which is like the chorus is like, why don't you get the fuck out
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of my face? And I was a little, like like eleven year old,
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I was like, oh, this is great. But I bought it
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just on what they looked like, because I was, you know, into
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the nineties, and I was into like skateboard culture and surfing and stuff,
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and they all had like dreadlocks. They didn't look like a metal metal band
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like lead and all that sort of stuff. So that was like my gateway
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in So that was one. Corn were totally my gateway as well. Yeah,
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that was like one for me. But I got into them on the
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Life Is Peachie record and then it wasn't that long after that, What's the
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one after four Other Leader came out? And I remember even as like a
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twelve year old kid not being some like snotty like music fan that I prefer
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the old stuff, but I remember thinking, oh, this is like cleaner
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and more polished and a bit cheesy. So then Slipknot came around, and
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I was a pessed with slip Night. They're even heavier and that intensity,
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Like I was so excited about it. So the first tip I record was
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a big one. But I think something for me that was like such a
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huge moment as being a huge fan of Slipknot seeing all the new metal bands
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before them who had just come out super like scathing and heavy and dumb it
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down and go commercial. When Iowa came out, I was like so happy.
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It was heavier, it was more like intense and extreme, and that
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like as a fan, I felt like respected as a listener, like they
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didn't like sell out or anything like that. And it's the same with Panta,
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even though I wasn't there when like Tranquil came out, like they got
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heavier and heavier and more extreme, and like that's probably why they were selling
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out arenas because all the fans are like, yes, this is why we
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like you. Yes. So like that that feeling of bands like getting heavier
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or having that like bassical primal energy is something that pushing the envelope, so
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to speak. Yeah, and that was like like really exciting as a kid,
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like especially like slipping up with my gateway into extreme music because they would
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always be referencing more of an Angel and Cannibal Corps, so I'd be like
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checking out those bands and that's how I got into Death Matter and then Fresh
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and stuff. So yeah, that was like that was it for me.
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And I think with Solosis over the years, even though I'm still proud of
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everything we've done, the better I got as a guitarist and a songwriter,
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and I'd be like sitting in front of my computer right riffs like this just
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sat down. I feel like over time we lost that sort of primal energy
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that we had when we were kids and we started and actually been doing like
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a mini documentary about the very early days of the band because it's completely undocumented
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because we were a band for like three or four years before we ever released
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any music, and we were like where we where we sound now is actually
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closer to how we started, but no one knows that. Yeah, cool,
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so everyone everyone kind of might hear what we're doing is like new for
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us, but it's actually like a rediscovery of our roots, which are roots
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that our fans don't know we have because it predates anything we've ever released.
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So yeah, I've been like trying to just like tap into that feeling.
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I've been like trying to, like I like write music like stood up with
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a guitar as if like I'm playing a show, and like I want to
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like feel I want to feel if a riff like feels good or if it's
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going to feel intense and heavy to play like, which I think when you
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just sit down in your bedroom and you're playing guitar like on your lap,
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it's not got that feeling. So I'm just really trying to tap into that
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energy of making the songs feel intense, even if it's not like the heaviest
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song on the record. I feel like there's like an injection of just intensity
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and especially with the vocals as well. Yeah. Yeah, how did it
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feel to be going back to, you know, to look at those early
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days to make that documentary, Like, is it dredging up some bad as
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nostalgia? Yeah? The nostalgia is good. I mean we were terrible.
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We were kids, like we were twelve when we started. It's very humbling,
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isn't it. Oh yeah, Like it's it's not good. It's nothing
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that I'm like proud of, necessarily, But I think the thing I am
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proud of is that, like our mission statement was just to be like super
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heavy and obnoxious and like just be the heaviest band around. And we were
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like every show we used to play because this is coming out of the new
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metal period, and like we started in two thousand and one, we were
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like the heaviest, most extreme band on the build, even though we're always
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like the youngest one. And it was like a sense of pride about that.
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But at the same time, even though we are you know, I've
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been talking about going back to that period and the roots of the band.
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I do feel like this record is like still feel the modern and it's like
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a modern metal record as opposed to throw back record. It's just what I'm
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going back is just trying to capture the excitement and the energy when we started,
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or like when you're a kid and you have that first band practice and
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you turn your amps up loud and you're playing with the drama for the first
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time and it's like shaking the room, that kind of excitement. I wanted
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to bring that back into what we do. Yeah, that's awesome. Do
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you have a time frame of when the doco might come out or is it
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a work in progress? Um? I mean it's it's yeah, it's a
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working pross. It's not going to be like a big deal. It will
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probably only end up being like ten to fifteen minutes at the most, just
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like a YouTube video. So it's not like anything too exciting, like exciting,
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I don't know, it's not it's not We're not making a big song
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and dance about it. But I think it's just like kind of interesting that
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this is going to sort of tie this record back to where we came from
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and trying to capture it's just about capturing like that energy of that we had.
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Yeah, yeah, sure, and giving that little bit of an insight,
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I suppose exactly. Yeah, how much of your early influencers still have
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an effect on your songwriting now? Admitedly it's more than ever, Yeah,
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because I think like Slip Knot was a band that were big for me as
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a kid, and there wasn't much of that in our music and that still
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isn't because I think as we started to you know, grow and evolve,
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new metal was sort of like, you know, fallen by the wayside and
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yeah, and there was this new wave of American heavy metal stuff like Crimerian
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and with God and We're Deaf. They didn't want to be like metal anything.
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I'm not really any metal fan, and I think maybe it's like unfair
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to cool slip not that, but but so that was never something that came
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through and music too much. But I think the the energy of like a
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lot of just records that were produced by Ross Robinson back in the day where
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vocalists sounded pissed off and they meant it and trying to like really like feel
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the lyrics that you're doing, So that that's a big influence that I feel
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like we hadn't had enough of and yeah, I mean Pantera has always been
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a big, huge influence for the band, and I think that's probably coming
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through a bit more that we're embracing a bit more of the groove side of
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things, because for some reason, I love like fast, trashy stuff,
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and I'd always want any song we did to have everything, so there'd always
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be like a thrash part in the song. It's like, well, now
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we know we can we can do some different tempos and do some big,
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stumpy stuff. So there's a bit more variation as well. I understand that
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you sort of eased off the control pedal for this album and partnered with Scott
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Atkins as a co producer, but he's this isn't a new partnership, right.
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You've worked with Scott before. Yeah, Yeah, we definitely worked with
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him before on the first two records. He quote unquote produced them, but
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that was more kind of just recording the songs and he was the guy at
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the desk just doing all the work and we'd be just playing irishments. So
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what's different about this record in terms of sharing the driver's seat with him?
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So this time we reached out to him well in advance before going in the
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studio like months in advance with all the demos and getting him to give us
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like some real feedback on the songs and the cool thing about him. So
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he used to play guitar in a band called Stamping Ground, which was quite
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a big metal slash hardcore band back in the day. I wouldn't call the
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metal core even though that's what they were. But they're definitely like Slayer with
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a hardcore thing. It wasn't like metalcore as we know it. But they're
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awesome band. But So's he came from a musical background. But when he's
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in like the producer, see, he really puts a different mindset on and
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he just tries to he says, he always just tries to put his head
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in the like in someone else, like a just new average metal punt who
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doesn't he's not in a band like just his friends that he goes to shows
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where they don't play instruments, but like they're just what do they connect with?
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What are they waiting for an a song? And they you want that
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like anthemic cookie stuff. You want to know when the vocals coming back in,
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you're like, oh, I can sing along to this and stuff and
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we definitely wanted a lot more like of an anthemic field, even if it's
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still like really heavy, so like Great Southern TRANKI or like a huge influence
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for us. And it's the song the Great Southern Trank. It was like
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catchy and like the choruses like singing along, but it's still super heavy,
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so it doesn't anthemic doesn't necessarily mean like radio roll kind of thing to us.
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Yeah, So that that was a big part of it. But also
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a manager is credited it as an executive producer because he had a very similar,
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like quite a detailed input into the songs and arrangements, and he even
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came here and did some vocal stuff with me, like I'd be sort of
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producing myself, but he was here with me just like don't do that line
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again more annunciation or like you need to sound more pissed off there. And
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so both of those guys had a big, big parts play. Yeah awesome.
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Did returning your energy to Silosis after spending you know, six odd years
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with Architects did it feel like coming home again? Yeah? I guess so.
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Yeah, I know that you never dropped Silosis, but I would I
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be right in saying that you know, Architects spent you know, took up
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a fair chunk of your time over those years. Definitely, yeah, I
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mean merely, I did step away from Silosis before I joined Architects. It
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wasn't really like announced, but we'd gone on a hiatus just I was kind
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of yeah, I'd sell lots of limitations around the band, like we play
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an Eastandard, we don't down tune, we don't play anything that sounds like
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breakdowns, and like it just wasn't actually that fun, like playing those songs
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are just like, okay, I've got to stand here, I've got to
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do all these technical riffs, and I wanted to just like do something different
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and just a bit heavier and more fun, I guess. And then I
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joined Architects. So the band was on hiatus for a while. We did
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Cycle of Suffering where that came out like a few weeks before the pandemic hit,
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so we didn't do any touring or for it or anything obviously. So
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then we are just like right, get to work on the new one.
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And like I said, our manager was quite brutally honest. It was like
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it was a great record, but it's not like it's not going to be
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like a classic record. It's not like there's not enough like memorable moments and
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hooks and stuff that's going to like draw people in. So we spent the
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pandemic writing. Yeah, those guys had a big, big input. What
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did you take away from Obviously the two bands, Architects and Solos is two
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vastly different bands. What did you take away from Architects It has you think
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has contributed to you growing as a musician. It's the collaborative side of things.
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Because I was like the first two songs I brought into Architects, I
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think that more to after all in Modern Misery. And I remember sending down
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the demos because at the moment it was obviously before me, it was Tom
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whitting everything. And then when I joined, it was me writing at least
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all the guitar riffs and stuff and if not a lot of the material and
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Dan would more sort of produced my material. But the first time he would
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like worked on the songs that I'd send him and like I'm going to make
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that the chorus, that's the verse and like chop and change it. I
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was just like, oh, this is really uncomfortable, Like no one had
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done this with my music. I spent ages on this song, and yeah,
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just learning to like let go of control. Well, even if I'd
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had like a clear vision of what I thought the song was and then allowing
20:56
it to take a different shape, I think the main thing was even though
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it never got like super easy, I think it's great people, if you've
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got a vision of something, it's really hard to let go of it no
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matter what. But that aspect definitely helped because I was actively seeking that out
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this time, like actively wantings, got Atkins to tell me if the song
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was the shit, like tell me I want to hear it, or like
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getting the other guys in the band to you know, contribute as march into
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you know, give as much feedback on the arrangements and everything to yeah,
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just let go of control and like if it's going to make the song better,
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then yeah, I just need to get out of the way. Yeah,
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It's sometimes being made to feel uncomfortable is the best way to grow.
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Yeah yeah. Yeah. Are they plans to tour this record on the Horizon,
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Yeah, so we're going. We've got five weeks in Europe in the
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UK in November and December, and it looks like I will be hopefully over
21:57
in Australia in the first next year as well. Yeah, that's what we
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wanted to hear, which I hadn't expected. I ain't really considered with be.
22:04
We have a looked at analytics recently and like Australia was like the fifth
22:08
best territory for like streaming and stuff for us, which it's kind of surprising
22:14
but very cool. So yeah, we want to spend a lot more time
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over there. Does not surprise me. All my friends are fans, so
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oh cool, awesome, we'll be front, front and center. Um,
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would you like to play a game? Sure? Yeah, it's a little
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bit of a classic one. We're going to call it this or that.
22:33
The choices, it's very straightforward. I'm just gonna I'm just gonna give you
22:48
two options and you have to pick one only. Yep. You can elaborate
22:52
on your choice if you desire, but you don't have to. Okay,
22:55
let's go. I'm going to start with a real stock standard one. Dogs
22:59
or cats. Sorry, I'm a selfish person. Text or phone call,
23:04
A phone call, Metallica or Pantera. I'm gonna say Metallica. I wasn't
23:12
expecting that. Fiction or nonfiction nonfiction win a race, or win a debate.
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Win a race maybe just because a debate. Yeah, I'm just gonna
23:29
say a race' going to think about it too much. That's the key,
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don't think too much. Vocals or guitar vocals. Yeah, do you want
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to liberate on that one? Yeah, it's just really fun and really cathartic.
23:42
As a vocalist, I completely agree. Halloween or Christmas, Christmas,
23:48
painful truth or comforting lie? Painful truth? Robots or dinosaurs? Dinosaurs?
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Yes, good answer. Podcasts or books. Podcast I haven't read a book
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in so long. Podcasts is so much easier, right, I love reading
24:04
books, but it's it feels harder to sit there washing up. Yeah,
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exactly. You can get shit done while you're listening to your podcasts. Ocean
24:12
or swimming pool, ocean, performing or recording, performing education or experience experience,
24:22
test the waters or dive in the deep end, dive in the deepend
24:26
Yeah yeah. Aliens or ghosts both are sick aliens because it's the news,
24:37
all right. Last one freedom or hope freedom? Yeah, I think my
24:48
airports has just died ham ye me. Yeah, just at that very last
24:52
bit. My airports are as of yesterday, I think the battery is just
24:56
done no good. Um no, I just said that. It was a
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bit of a nasty one to throw you at the end there that freedom or
25:03
hope is like, how do you answer that one? Anyway? That was
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the this or that game. Thank you for playing Josh. Thank you so
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much for joining me on the Heavy Podcast this afternoon. I'm looking forward to
25:17
the new album and I hope it is a massive success for you. Thank
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you. Yeah, hopefully see you in the new year. Hell yeah,
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thanks so much for your time. Cool, nice one, Thank you so
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much. Have a good anything yea. The new album by Solosis is a
25:36
sign of things to come and we'll be available on September eight. Make sure
25:40
you check out the latest singles Deadwood, Poison for the Lost and the Titiller
25:45
track A Sign of things to come and you heard it here folks. Silosis
25:49
have their site set on an Aussie tour next year, so be on the
25:52
lookout for that one too. As always, thanks for tuning in to the
25:56
Heavy Podcast and remember to keep life heavy. They are really on time,
26:02
depressing, complex and our words. Hight Fice out at unsern A guy wants
26:12
to take from Girl the Lost on standard. You're you're the anserting guy,
26:21
so now it's understood. We removed the third word.