Latest / HEAVY Music Interviews / Stoking The Fires With JORDAN VON GRAE From CARMERIA

Transcript

Stoking The Fires With JORDAN VON GRAE From CARMERIA · HEAVY Music Interviews

0:24
Speaker 1: My name is Jordan Jon Gray.
0:25
Speaker 2: I am a singer songwriter from Sydney, Australia and I
0:28
Speaker 2: currently run to the band's car Maria and Bad Mood Borne.
0:31
Speaker 2: The band we're talking about today or tonight rather is
0:34
Speaker 2: car Maria. We've just released a new album, Symphonic Metal
0:38
Speaker 2: meats Gothic Rock, and we're about to hit the road
0:42
Speaker 2: with our good friends in Orphus Omega for a tour
0:45
Speaker 2: in November. So really looking forward to that. Yeah, that's
0:49
Speaker 2: pretty much hit in a nutshell.
0:50
Speaker 3: Really awesome brother, Thanks for joining us tonight, mate, good
0:53
Speaker 3: to talk again, no worries.
0:54
Speaker 1: Thanks so much for having me.
0:55
Speaker 3: Dude.
0:55
Speaker 1: I think it's been a couple of years since we
0:56
Speaker 1: last spoke.
0:57
Speaker 3: It has been made like you're still looking good day, brother.
1:01
Speaker 1: Mate. It's spending sober for four years. It does wonders
1:04
Speaker 1: for the skin, you know.
1:09
Speaker 3: Come and hit the road next month as part of
1:11
Speaker 3: the Embers of Tragedy Straw with Orpheus Omega, starting in
1:15
Speaker 3: Melbourne on November sixteenth, then hitting Sydney and Canberra. So
1:19
Speaker 3: what's the last couple of weeks like before a straw, mate?
1:21
Speaker 3: Like your practice eves, do you relax like you're getting
1:25
Speaker 3: the zone. What are you what's the process?
1:27
Speaker 2: Yeah, man, So really it's just just rehearsals and tweaking
1:32
Speaker 2: you know, bits and pieces of the performance, like so
1:34
Speaker 2: coming up with you know, specific set lists for each
1:37
Speaker 2: show and stuff like that. You know, obviously with these
1:40
Speaker 2: kinds of shows and tours and stuff, you have different
1:42
Speaker 2: set lengths for the different shows. So yeah, I think,
1:46
Speaker 2: you know, one of the sets is like forty minutes
1:48
Speaker 2: and I think another's like sort of fifty to an
1:49
Speaker 2: hour all that kind of stuff.
1:50
Speaker 1: So you're kind of picking and choosing which songs you
1:53
Speaker 1: feel would fit best, and of course.
1:55
Speaker 2: You know having to act someone so that you know
1:57
Speaker 2: you might not want to act, and all that kind
1:59
Speaker 2: of stuff. It's really just you know, the last couple
2:01
Speaker 2: of weeks before it's always really just about tidening everything up.
2:05
Speaker 1: And so yeah, there's there's been a bit of work.
2:08
Speaker 2: We've pretty much only had one rehearsal so far since
2:11
Speaker 2: being back, and we've got like two more planned in
2:14
Speaker 2: the in the the next week, I think, and so
2:17
Speaker 2: off the back of that it'll just be about, yeah,
2:19
Speaker 2: tweaking little production things and coming up with some additional
2:23
Speaker 2: ideas for you know, additional performance bizaz if.
2:26
Speaker 1: That's what you want to call it. Yeah, man, So
2:29
Speaker 1: just yeah, yeah, having discussions.
2:31
Speaker 2: Around how we can improve the live show, anythings we
2:33
Speaker 2: might have missed from like the previous shows and all
2:35
Speaker 2: that kind of stuff, and.
2:37
Speaker 1: Yeah, just trying to put on the best performance we can.
2:41
Speaker 1: Was paying omash for our new album.
2:43
Speaker 3: Yeah, very diplomatic cancer. Yeah, bring up at good point
2:47
Speaker 3: with acting songs, bro, Like, it's inevitable as the band
2:50
Speaker 3: releases more albums that you've got more songs to draw from,
2:52
Speaker 3: So I cut some. I suppose sometimes it'd be like
2:56
Speaker 3: like killing your own baby, wouldn't it.
2:59
Speaker 2: It's really something it is sometimes yeah, yeah, yeah, it
3:01
Speaker 2: can be pretty hard.
3:02
Speaker 1: But yeah, I think we're.
3:05
Speaker 2: All pretty much on the same page in terms of
3:08
Speaker 2: the songs that we think will work best for live. Obviously,
3:11
Speaker 2: with this kind of music you're doing, you end up
3:14
Speaker 2: doing some pretty outlandish things that you're like, oh, this
3:16
Speaker 2: sounds great on a record, but I don't know how
3:17
Speaker 2: we're going to pull this off live and all that
3:19
Speaker 2: kind of stuff.
3:20
Speaker 1: So I think I think we whittled it.
3:22
Speaker 2: Down to the most appropriate tracks for a live performance,
3:27
Speaker 2: particularly with regards to set.
3:29
Speaker 1: Times and stuff like that.
3:30
Speaker 2: So yeah, I think, you know, we're coming out of
3:33
Speaker 2: the gate with a pretty strong set that pays a
3:35
Speaker 2: march to both albums, but obviously heavily focuses on the
3:38
Speaker 2: new one.
3:40
Speaker 3: Now, speaking of albums, both bands are celebrating the release
3:43
Speaker 3: of new albums you with Tragedy dl more and Mbglow
3:47
Speaker 3: for Authius a Magas. So have you heard their album yet?
3:50
Speaker 3: Is it better than yours?
3:53
Speaker 1: Of course?
3:54
Speaker 2: Man, I'm not going to say it's not, you know
3:55
Speaker 2: what I mean, but no, absolutely, dude, absolutely love Christening
4:00
Speaker 2: guys and what they do.
4:01
Speaker 1: Such a brilliant band, and yeah, the album is phenomenal,
4:04
Speaker 1: Like it's it's such an amazing record.
4:07
Speaker 2: So yeah, super proud to be touring alongside them and
4:11
Speaker 2: celebrating the albums together.
4:14
Speaker 3: And Tragedy Darmore was released back on August twenty third,
4:17
Speaker 3: made like hasn't been that long yet, But how's the
4:19
Speaker 3: early reception been for it?
4:21
Speaker 2: It's been great, man, Like, I think you know, we
4:23
Speaker 2: we kind of went into it knowing that we were
4:25
Speaker 2: going to do something different from the first record, and
4:27
Speaker 2: so I think early on there were a bit of
4:30
Speaker 2: nerves around how you know, people would react to something
4:33
Speaker 2: that was quite quite different to what we put out initially.
4:37
Speaker 2: But the response has been really good, man, Like it's
4:40
Speaker 2: it's it's it's been a been a bit of a relief,
4:43
Speaker 2: to be honest, because you know, sitting in the like
4:46
Speaker 2: I was, I've produced this record, so sitting in the
4:47
Speaker 2: producer's chair for the first time and having those debut jitters, I.
4:51
Speaker 1: Really wasn't sure how people were going to respond.
4:54
Speaker 2: Because you've got, you know, new producer, you know, new
4:57
Speaker 2: new direction, all that kind of stuff. And yeah, overall,
5:00
Speaker 2: been really pleased with how it's been received, and like
5:03
Speaker 2: there's been quite a lot of good interactions from like overseas.
5:07
Speaker 1: I think, you know, Australia.
5:08
Speaker 2: Might be like our a top country in terms of
5:11
Speaker 2: popularity for the band now, so you know, pretty pretty interesting.
5:15
Speaker 2: But I suppose, you know, that's that's the nature of
5:17
Speaker 2: the Beast when it comes to this kind of music
5:19
Speaker 2: and doing this genre in this country is it's always
5:21
Speaker 2: going to be more appealing to I.
5:23
Speaker 1: Guess overseas listeners.
5:25
Speaker 2: But that's been really cool to see, Like by our metrics,
5:28
Speaker 2: it's been like, you know, really real eye open, Like
5:30
Speaker 2: some certain songs are like popular in Germany, and then
5:33
Speaker 2: others are going off in Finland and you know, Japan's
5:36
Speaker 2: jumped on a couple of them, and so that's been
5:38
Speaker 2: really cool to see that. The fact that it's getting
5:40
Speaker 2: that sort of global attention, yeah, it's super rewarding.
5:44
Speaker 3: The press really said that you sound tricked on a
5:47
Speaker 3: more energetic gothic rock approach on this one than on
5:51
Speaker 3: your debut album, Mate, So how saved? Like, how did
5:54
Speaker 3: you wait that into it?
5:56
Speaker 1: Yeah? Man, I think.
5:59
Speaker 2: You know, the like thematically the first album was pretty bleak,
6:02
Speaker 2: Like I was in a pretty dark frame of mind
6:04
Speaker 2: when writing it, and I think, yeah, the song's kind
6:08
Speaker 2: of reflected that. And having like that record took like
6:11
Speaker 2: six years the build, man, Like, it was such a
6:14
Speaker 2: long process and there are a lot of obstacles that
6:16
Speaker 2: we had to overcome, and I think by the end
6:18
Speaker 2: of it, having sat with those songs for so long,
6:21
Speaker 2: I was just pretty keen to move on to something different.
6:24
Speaker 2: And I'd been listening to a lot of like, you know,
6:26
Speaker 2: bands like Him and sort of like Lord of the
6:28
Speaker 2: Loss and Rathmins and stuff like that, and I kind
6:31
Speaker 2: of just had this feeling that that's where I wanted
6:35
Speaker 2: to take the album and I really wanted to explore, like,
6:38
Speaker 2: you know, love and losses, the two big themes, and
6:41
Speaker 2: that genre you know works quite well with that. I
6:44
Speaker 2: think you see bands like him do it, and yeah,
6:48
Speaker 2: I've always really appreciated that and wanted to delve into
6:51
Speaker 2: that influence. And yeah, so pretty much like literally like
6:55
Speaker 2: I was pretty ready to go after it out the gate.
6:59
Speaker 1: Once I came out.
7:00
Speaker 2: So I think within like three months of releasing it,
7:02
Speaker 2: I put together a pitch for the second album, sent
7:05
Speaker 2: it to the guyers and they were all on board,
7:07
Speaker 2: and yeah, it kind of just went from there.
7:10
Speaker 3: So what lessons I guess did you learn from making
7:13
Speaker 3: your debut album that you carried over into this one.
7:19
Speaker 1: Stop pussy footing?
7:22
Speaker 2: So I think, you know, with that first album, a
7:26
Speaker 2: lot of that time was spent developing skills and learning
7:29
Speaker 2: the songwright and you know, we're all quite young when
7:32
Speaker 2: when we started on that path, and I think there
7:35
Speaker 2: was a lot of self doubt. You know, there was
7:39
Speaker 2: a lot of mistakes, but you know, of course we
7:41
Speaker 2: learned from them, and coming into the second album, I
7:45
Speaker 2: think the process really became streamlined in terms of, oh,
7:49
Speaker 2: this is what we do, this is how we do it.
7:52
Speaker 1: So it really was. I think the first album was such.
7:55
Speaker 2: A brilliant learning experience, and coming out of it, I
7:58
Speaker 2: feel like, you know, we all had built skills around
8:02
Speaker 2: the production process of our album, which allowed us to
8:04
Speaker 2: get the second album out in half the time.
8:06
Speaker 1: So hopefully album three might even be even less. But
8:08
Speaker 1: we'll have to wait and see.
8:09
Speaker 3: Yeah, next week, come on, give me a break from
8:13
Speaker 3: breather of fresh air.
8:14
Speaker 4: Man.
8:16
Speaker 3: Now, I would notice there's no song on there called
8:17
Speaker 3: Tragedy dar More either, which usually indicates that it's got
8:21
Speaker 3: a bit of a deeper meaning.
8:23
Speaker 1: Yeah, man, I think, well, you know, Tragedy to More.
8:26
Speaker 2: We chose a French title because French is widely considered
8:30
Speaker 2: to be the language of love. That were and we
8:32
Speaker 2: were going into this whole love and love and lost
8:34
Speaker 2: love and tragedy thing, and so tragedy more loosely translates to.
8:38
Speaker 1: Love and tragedy or tragedy of love.
8:41
Speaker 2: And so yeah, I think with this one it was
8:45
Speaker 2: it was about encapsulating the whole record in a little motif,
8:49
Speaker 2: in a little phrase, and Tragedy to More seemed to be, yeah,
8:53
Speaker 2: just the right pick for the album. I think we
8:56
Speaker 2: went through, you know, a couple of ideas that we
8:59
Speaker 2: stuck with through it and then they ended up sort
9:01
Speaker 2: of falling by the wayside. But Tragedy More was the
9:03
Speaker 2: one that stuck. So yeah, and looking back on it,
9:07
Speaker 2: it really does feel like the.
9:08
Speaker 1: Right title for the album.
9:10
Speaker 3: You touched on this before, bro, but you also is
9:12
Speaker 3: seeing the role of producer for this album, So what
9:14
Speaker 3: are some of the advantages and disadvantages of keeping that
9:17
Speaker 3: in house?
9:20
Speaker 2: I think, look, some of the some of the advantages
9:23
Speaker 2: is that you know, it makes the team smaller, So
9:27
Speaker 2: I think, you know, you don't have you don't run
9:29
Speaker 2: the risk of having too many cooks in the kitchen.
9:31
Speaker 2: I mean, I've had the privilege of working with some
9:33
Speaker 2: wonderful producers and I've learned so much from them, But
9:37
Speaker 2: as like a principal songwriter in this band, I feel
9:41
Speaker 2: like taking on the producer role allows for a bit
9:43
Speaker 2: more of a maybe an or transparent version of the
9:49
Speaker 2: tracks that I'm looking to sit of get out and
9:51
Speaker 2: the songs I'm looking to write. So I think, yeah,
9:54
Speaker 2: I think that that transparency and I guess that rawness
9:57
Speaker 2: you know, you're not sort of shooting it off to
9:59
Speaker 2: someone sort of fix up and put their own ideas
10:02
Speaker 2: into and everything like that. So as a band, I
10:04
Speaker 2: think it's, yeah, it's sort of a more natural. Yeah,
10:11
Speaker 2: it provides more natural sound to the songs because you're
10:15
Speaker 2: not only overseeing, you know, the songwriting, but you're overseeing
10:18
Speaker 2: the overall sound as well.
10:21
Speaker 1: The disadvantages to that is that.
10:24
Speaker 2: I don't really have anyone to tell me to shut
10:27
Speaker 2: the fuck up, and that's kind of you know, to
10:29
Speaker 2: say like no, no, no, dude, that's too much, you know.
10:32
Speaker 2: So I think a lot of this the process was
10:38
Speaker 2: learning temperance man, because that first record was the entire
10:41
Speaker 2: Kitchen Sink, and I was working with Lord Tim for
10:44
Speaker 2: that record, and he's super enthusiastic, like like as enthusiastic
10:49
Speaker 2: about later as I.
10:50
Speaker 1: Am, and so we just went hand.
10:52
Speaker 2: Like I think the first record had like seven one
10:54
Speaker 2: hundred and fifty vocal tracks model or something ridiculous, and
10:57
Speaker 2: so coming into this record, it was a lot more
11:01
Speaker 2: about finding the right parts and not overdoing it and
11:05
Speaker 2: really focusing on the right parts of the songs. And
11:08
Speaker 2: I think, you know, for me, that was such a
11:11
Speaker 2: valuable learning experience because you know, going back to what
11:14
Speaker 2: one of my old UNI lecturers said, you know, when
11:17
Speaker 2: everything sparkles, nothing shines, So it's about finding the right
11:20
Speaker 2: places to put the big moments and the right places
11:24
Speaker 2: to like quiet it down a bit.
11:25
Speaker 1: And so yeah, I think, you know.
11:27
Speaker 2: Obviously there there are disadvantages and advantages to being the
11:31
Speaker 2: producer for your own band, but I think in this
11:34
Speaker 2: case it's worked quite well, or at least I feel
11:38
Speaker 2: it has, and I think this is the model that
11:40
Speaker 2: we'll be looking to adopt moving forward.
11:44
Speaker 3: Now back to the tour, bro like both yourselves and
11:46
Speaker 3: authors and Mega, I've got reputations for your live shows, mate,
11:49
Speaker 3: So is it going to be like a little bit
11:51
Speaker 3: competitive between this he's going to out do the other one?
11:54
Speaker 1: H of course not, man, of course not.
11:56
Speaker 2: We'll just go in and do what we do, and
11:58
Speaker 2: I'm sure Obvious will do the same.
12:01
Speaker 1: Because I think, yeah, it's it's I wouldn't even say
12:04
Speaker 1: it's probably competition.
12:05
Speaker 2: You know, we both do vastly different things, and I
12:08
Speaker 2: think I feel like we both appreciate what the other does.
12:10
Speaker 2: So yeah, we're really looking forward to hanging out with
12:13
Speaker 2: those guys, man, because we've I don't think we've actually
12:14
Speaker 2: ever played with them before, So that's going to be
12:16
Speaker 2: a blast.
12:17
Speaker 3: We just say, someone inexcusably has just come along for
12:21
Speaker 3: Aupheus amazing because they've never heard of Camera before. What
12:24
Speaker 3: three songs of yours should they listen to to prepare
12:26
Speaker 3: them for your shape?
12:29
Speaker 2: Oh jeez man, Well, I think morning Stars the big one,
12:32
Speaker 2: like that's that's, you know, our most popular song. Probably
12:37
Speaker 2: the second one would be Immortal because that shows a
12:41
Speaker 2: lot that's like, you know, the gothic that was the
12:43
Speaker 2: gothic rock single of the record, and so and then
12:47
Speaker 2: A thousand Winter Range, which was the first single off
12:50
Speaker 2: the new record. That that's kind of a bridge between
12:53
Speaker 2: the two. You know, it's got some gothic rock in there,
12:55
Speaker 2: but it's also got that symphonic metal. So I think
12:58
Speaker 2: those three songs paint a pretty good piece true about
13:00
Speaker 2: overall sound and what people can expect from the band.
13:04
Speaker 3: So before we let you go, bro, I've introduced to
13:06
Speaker 3: your segment called photo bombs. So basically, before we speak,
13:10
Speaker 3: I troll through your social media and find a couple
13:12
Speaker 3: of photos I want to know a bit more about personally.
13:15
Speaker 1: So yeah, that's.
13:17
Speaker 3: How the hell you get into that position and then
13:19
Speaker 3: stand up again after it?
13:21
Speaker 1: Mate?
13:23
Speaker 2: Yeah, look medically I've got hypermobility, so I can do
13:27
Speaker 2: all this weird shit.
13:27
Speaker 1: With my body. Unfortunately it's caught up with me now.
13:29
Speaker 2: I'm in my thirties and my joints are ranking and
13:31
Speaker 2: it's pretty hard. I think if I went to do
13:34
Speaker 2: that again, i'd probably I'll probably stay like that for
13:37
Speaker 2: a couple of weeks.
13:38
Speaker 1: So yeah, so look, I'm keen to try a back bend,
13:42
Speaker 1: but I'll.
13:42
Speaker 2: Have to bloody practice before we get on stage, because
13:45
Speaker 2: you know, I've had I've.
13:46
Speaker 1: Had one four with a back bend before and it's
13:48
Speaker 1: not pretty.
13:51
Speaker 3: Now I've also found this one like, hey, how the
13:54
Speaker 3: fuck did you get that far into the desert? And
13:56
Speaker 3: b why the fuck are wearing all black?
14:00
Speaker 1: You must Well, here's the eMate.
14:02
Speaker 2: So that's actually shot at Stockton Junees up the coast,
14:07
Speaker 2: so where they filmed I think The Phantom Menace or
14:11
Speaker 2: something like that. And it's just rolling dunes of sand
14:13
Speaker 2: for as far as I could see the funny or not.
14:16
Speaker 1: So funny now that I could look back on it.
14:17
Speaker 2: But we were actually shooting a video clip for our
14:20
Speaker 2: second single off the first album, called Celeftia, and we
14:23
Speaker 2: went to these dunes and figured we'd shoot a massive
14:26
Speaker 2: clip and we got busted by by I suppose the
14:30
Speaker 2: beach fuzz as it were, and they caught us trying
14:33
Speaker 2: to shoot there without a permit and which we weren't
14:37
Speaker 2: sort of aware that we needed. And apparently the permits
14:39
Speaker 2: cost like upwards of nine grand and so it ended
14:42
Speaker 2: up being a huge bus like we couldn't really do anything,
14:45
Speaker 2: but we managed to get that photo before before they
14:49
Speaker 2: told us to fuck off. So yeah, and the reason
14:51
Speaker 2: we were able to wear black in the desert there
14:53
Speaker 2: is because it was the middle of winter.
14:56
Speaker 3: It still looks pretty hot.
14:58
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, it was.
14:59
Speaker 2: It was actually pretty all right, I mean from memory. Yeah,
15:01
Speaker 2: we none of us were sweating all that much as
15:03
Speaker 2: far as I can remember.
15:06
Speaker 3: Big all right, Jorda, Well, thanks your time. Made pleasure
15:08
Speaker 3: to speak with you again. How Maria hit the road
15:10
Speaker 3: with Orphicue of May up from November sixteenth, starting in Melbourne.
15:14
Speaker 3: Check out The Socialist more information, get a copy of
15:17
Speaker 3: the new album because she's a cracker. And I'll see
15:19
Speaker 3: you guys next time you come to Brizzy.
15:20
Speaker 1: I'll pop down from via fantastic mate. Good to chat
15:23
Speaker 1: to you again. Thanks so much for having me. Ord
15:53
Speaker 1: within my sign, and sign know really not too.
15:57
Speaker 5: Then being onto the guise field is closer to the play.
16:06
Speaker 6: No comes, deny the ten s, my ams fall together
16:14
Speaker 6: another shape of another's, and.
16:25
Speaker 4: And forge.
16:40
Speaker 1: You get some.
16:44
Speaker 5: Twice to night is now and your worship taxes.
16:49
Speaker 7: Plays an twice in on me.
16:53
Speaker 5: The long go to the glay, I said, consert wing
17:00
Speaker 5: to super shadow folls of bow Man.
17:05
Speaker 4: So shut you don't shoot means a game you can't
17:17
Speaker 4: want to fine, you.
17:26
Speaker 7: Didn comfort you, You did so fay when you fall.
18:05
Speaker 4: For the games, When county did you out Danny out
18:20
Speaker 4: and to find out.
18:27
Speaker 3: And it's so.
18:46
Speaker 1: Into mine, not
19:04
Speaker 4: So fo wio, it's so foorious