Latest / HEAVY Music Interviews / Filling The Void With ALEX DEAN From ARCHITECTS
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: So this is Ali from Architects, just here to talk
- 0:03Speaker 1: about our upcoming tour in December in Australia with two
- 0:07Speaker 1: great bands, House of Protection and President. It's been a
- 0:11Speaker 1: little while since we've been over, so yeah, we're really
- 0:13Speaker 1: stoked to get back.
- 0:15Speaker 2: Fantastic Ali, thanks for joining us today.
- 0:19Speaker 1: Thank you for having me, mate, appreciate it.
- 0:21Speaker 2: My pleasure. So as you say, Architects return to Australia
- 0:24Speaker 2: and good fans and early Christmas. President. When you arrive
- 0:26Speaker 2: at three shows starting December the eleventh in Melbourne, then
- 0:29Speaker 2: hitting Sydney and finishing im Brisbane on December four, they
- 0:32Speaker 2: so it's still a few months away, mate, Like, do
- 0:34Speaker 2: you look that far ahead for tours or do you
- 0:36Speaker 2: sort of have so much going on you don't really
- 0:38Speaker 2: don't really worry about it till they get closer.
- 0:41Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, we've started thinking about it. We obviously
- 0:45Speaker 1: have to stop planning fairly in advance of these things,
- 0:48Speaker 1: because yeah, there's a lot, a lot to figure out
- 0:51Speaker 1: these days. But yeah, we're currently on tour in America
- 0:55Speaker 1: Roughter Canada tomorrow for a couple of shows. But yeah,
- 0:59Speaker 1: it's quite a good way to work on future tours
- 1:03Speaker 1: really because we're all in the same room and we're
- 1:05Speaker 1: with our crew as well, so we can kind of
- 1:07Speaker 1: figure out the little complications that pop up weigh in advance,
- 1:13Speaker 1: and yeah, we can. We can also work on the
- 1:16Speaker 1: set and figure out what works and what doesn't work,
- 1:18Speaker 1: and yeah, it's it's it's a good way to prepare,
- 1:22Speaker 1: I suppose. And we've got UK and European headliner coming
- 1:27Speaker 1: up in October as well, so we'll be we'll be
- 1:29Speaker 1: gig ready by December.
- 1:32Speaker 2: As you say, it's been a couple of years since
- 1:34Speaker 2: you hear Last Night, so what's changed with Architects at
- 1:37Speaker 2: that time?
- 1:39Speaker 1: New records come out, Sky the Earth and All Between.
- 1:42Speaker 1: That came out earlier this year and we were in
- 1:45Speaker 1: the early stages of touring it, so we did a
- 1:48Speaker 1: headliner in March in Europe, and we did a couple
- 1:51Speaker 1: of release shows in the UK, and then we're just
- 1:54Speaker 1: as I said earlier, we're on a six week North
- 1:57Speaker 1: American tour of the record at the moment, and then yeah,
- 2:01Speaker 1: off to go headline at home, which we haven't done
- 2:03Speaker 1: for a long time as well, and then yeah, we
- 2:07Speaker 1: wrapping up the year in Australia. So it's just been
- 2:10Speaker 1: It's been a lot of touring for us. We didn't
- 2:11Speaker 1: we don't get out half as much as we used to,
- 2:14Speaker 1: but we've we've been blessed with some really great tours
- 2:18Speaker 1: so far. So we're very much looking forward to getting
- 2:21Speaker 1: over to Australia and seeing how the how the album's
- 2:24Speaker 1: gone down over there.
- 2:26Speaker 2: I speaking of the album mate you mentioned it's called
- 2:28Speaker 2: This Skuy the Earth and All the Train, which came
- 2:30Speaker 2: out earlier this year, So how was the reception for it?
- 2:33Speaker 2: Did you get the response to your iproens.
- 2:34Speaker 1: For Yeah, I think I think it's gone down great.
- 2:38Speaker 1: You know, we like a lot of bands, we look
- 2:41Speaker 1: so much into the online data for how your music's performing,
- 2:47Speaker 1: and we're always very happy to see that our top
- 2:52Speaker 1: songs on Spotify are always songs from the new record,
- 2:57Speaker 1: So it feels like it's it's going down well online
- 3:00Speaker 1: and we're going out and playing these shows and people
- 3:02Speaker 1: already really know the songs, so yeah, it feels like
- 3:05Speaker 1: a big one and where we're having a lot of
- 3:08Speaker 1: fun playing these tracks. It's it's always fun getting out
- 3:11Speaker 1: and playing new record, but it feels really like people
- 3:14Speaker 1: were engaging with the songs, so yeah, it's cool.
- 3:18Speaker 2: You mentioned you've had a chance to play a few
- 3:19Speaker 2: of them live, So are there any songs that have
- 3:22Speaker 2: gone down better than expected live or any that maybe
- 3:24Speaker 2: didn't go down quite as well as you thought they would.
- 3:27Speaker 1: No, I mean we were playing I mean it's like
- 3:30Speaker 1: five songs from the new record and four of them. No,
- 3:35Speaker 1: they've all been No, four of them have been singles,
- 3:39Speaker 1: so people have had quite a good amount of time
- 3:41Speaker 1: to get familiar with them. But they all have their
- 3:46Speaker 1: own moments in the set, which is really cool, Like
- 3:48Speaker 1: they like crowd interact with them in different ways. So
- 3:51Speaker 1: that's that's been a lot of fun to figure out
- 3:54Speaker 1: kind of the best ways of playing them. And yeah,
- 3:58Speaker 1: we spent quite a lot of time working with our
- 4:00Speaker 1: crew on like making sure they sound as good as
- 4:02Speaker 1: possible and like the parts are played like, because there's
- 4:05Speaker 1: so many layers to our songs now, we we really
- 4:07Speaker 1: take a lot of time to figure out the best
- 4:09Speaker 1: way to perform them. And we've got a we've got
- 4:12Speaker 1: a couple of extra guys on stage who are helping
- 4:15Speaker 1: out with some additional performance parts. So it's yeah, it's
- 4:19Speaker 1: been a lot of fun.
- 4:21Speaker 2: Now the Sky of the Earth and all between was
- 4:23Speaker 2: your eleven studio album mate. So as a musician, do
- 4:26Speaker 2: you find it easier or harder to come up with
- 4:28Speaker 2: fresh showding material the more you're right?
- 4:31Speaker 1: Ah. I think when you're this far in and you've
- 4:36Speaker 1: made this many records, you tend to just you get
- 4:40Speaker 1: a good sense of what your band's sound is. Because
- 4:43Speaker 1: we read we we don't really look around us for inspiration.
- 4:47Speaker 1: We kind of know what it is we want to do.
- 4:49Speaker 1: And I think you can only really get to that
- 4:51Speaker 1: point after making a lot of music. You start to
- 4:55Speaker 1: trust your gut a lot more. You can you can
- 4:59Speaker 1: drawn influ in different ways. Like I think whenever you
- 5:02Speaker 1: start a band like you kind of have, you kind
- 5:05Speaker 1: of pull your potential bandmates together and you go cool,
- 5:08Speaker 1: we all want it to sound like this. And then
- 5:11Speaker 1: many years pass and you kind of start refining other
- 5:14Speaker 1: band sounds into your own, and it's it takes a
- 5:18Speaker 1: long time to do that. But I think the thing
- 5:21Speaker 1: that we experienced most after all this time is just
- 5:23Speaker 1: the confidence in what we're doing and we know when
- 5:26Speaker 1: stuff is right, and we know and stuff isn't good enough.
- 5:29Speaker 1: And we've also kind of got the the we know
- 5:35Speaker 1: when to say no to things, and we know it's
- 5:38Speaker 1: all about trusting the gut right and we're never going
- 5:41Speaker 1: to put out stuff that we're not happy with. Like
- 5:43Speaker 1: we've definitely done that before, and we've we've kind of
- 5:45Speaker 1: released music maybe when in the back of our minds
- 5:48Speaker 1: we're thinking it's not quite there yet. But we now
- 5:52Speaker 1: have that skill and that trusting ourselves to know when
- 5:55Speaker 1: it's good enough.
- 5:56Speaker 2: You know. Oh, and I'm like it. We've got your
- 6:00Speaker 2: core sound now, like as you mentioned, but architects have
- 6:02Speaker 2: never been afraid to experiment a little bit from album
- 6:05Speaker 2: to album. So along those lines, how much musical growth
- 6:08Speaker 2: do you think you've got left in here?
- 6:12Speaker 1: I mean, we're always trying to push ourselves and I
- 6:14Speaker 1: think as soon as like for a medical band with
- 6:18Speaker 1: two guitars based drums, as soon as you start adding
- 6:21Speaker 1: electronic elements to it, the kind of musical world is
- 6:24Speaker 1: your oyster because there's just so many things you can try.
- 6:28Speaker 1: And we've you know, we've done records where we experiment
- 6:31Speaker 1: a lot with like orchestral sounds, and that might be
- 6:34Speaker 1: something we revisit again, but we just try and do
- 6:38Speaker 1: what's exciting for ourselves. Really, that's where it all starts,
- 6:42Speaker 1: and I think we will listen to such different types
- 6:45Speaker 1: of music now and that's always going to influence what
- 6:49Speaker 1: we're doing, and we try and bring that to the
- 6:51Speaker 1: architects sound if you like. But yeah, as well, like
- 6:56Speaker 1: the way musical technology works these days, you can experiment
- 7:00Speaker 1: so easily, so there's really no excuse to not just
- 7:03Speaker 1: try new things all the time and just see what
- 7:05Speaker 1: excites you.
- 7:07Speaker 2: Yeah, before the album came out, mate, you toured with
- 7:10Speaker 2: Metallica for two years, So it goes without saying that
- 7:13Speaker 2: that would have been a great experience. But what sorts
- 7:15Speaker 2: of things do you learn about yourselves and about the
- 7:17Speaker 2: band on a lengthy tour like that with legends of
- 7:20Speaker 2: music like Metallica.
- 7:23Speaker 1: Yes, it wasn't. I wouldn't say it was two years
- 7:26Speaker 1: of touring we did. We did two summers work for
- 7:28Speaker 1: shows with them and they were they were off doing
- 7:31Speaker 1: other things as well, So like it was, Yeah, it
- 7:35Speaker 1: wasn't a tour so to speak, but it really the
- 7:39Speaker 1: shows and themselves really took out of our comfort zone
- 7:41Speaker 1: because playing in the middle of a stadium is something
- 7:46Speaker 1: completely new to us, and also just playing to like
- 7:51Speaker 1: a very super dedicated fan base in Metallica fans, like
- 7:55Speaker 1: they're kind of like no music fans that we've played
- 7:59Speaker 1: to really before, because they're very like you can sense
- 8:02Speaker 1: that when you're on stage they want to see Metallica,
- 8:04Speaker 1: and we obviously completely get that. So yeah, it was
- 8:08Speaker 1: it was a bit of a case of winning crowds
- 8:10Speaker 1: over from show to show. Some shows were kind of
- 8:14Speaker 1: crowds are definitely a lot more receptive than others, but
- 8:17Speaker 1: we just had the best time doing it, like we
- 8:19Speaker 1: were we were so well looked after by the band
- 8:21Speaker 1: and their crew and yeah, there We've been a band
- 8:26Speaker 1: for a long time and like at some point you
- 8:29Speaker 1: stop getting so phased by things. But when we got
- 8:33Speaker 1: on offer to play a Metallica was like, oh my god,
- 8:35Speaker 1: like what how has this happened? But yeah, super fun shows.
- 8:41Speaker 1: Would absolutely love to do it again, and yeah it was, yeah,
- 8:46Speaker 1: unforgettable experience, Like if you're in a metal band, you're
- 8:49Speaker 1: almost definitely going to have grown up listening to those guys,
- 8:51Speaker 1: So it's crazy moment for us.
- 8:54Speaker 2: Yeah, and you mentioned earlier that you're bringing House of
- 8:56Speaker 2: Protection and President with you, so tell us a bit
- 8:59Speaker 2: more about them and why you chose them to bring
- 9:01Speaker 2: all the way over to Australia.
- 9:04Speaker 1: So House the Protection are some good friends of ours
- 9:07Speaker 1: and they feature on track on the new record, on
- 9:10Speaker 1: a song called brain Dead. They're an awesome band as well,
- 9:13Speaker 1: Like as soon as we started hearing the material they
- 9:17Speaker 1: were working on, and when the first releases came out,
- 9:19Speaker 1: like we have to take these guys out, like they're
- 9:22Speaker 1: very much doing something that I mean, at least are
- 9:27Speaker 1: is is like super fresh, and like they're such an
- 9:29Speaker 1: exciting live band, so we can't can't wait to stop
- 9:32Speaker 1: playing shows with them. They're also doing our UKN European
- 9:35Speaker 1: tour in October and then President are just a band
- 9:39Speaker 1: that are super exciting right now. Like they've obviously come
- 9:43Speaker 1: along and released like a couple of tracks and they've
- 9:45Speaker 1: absolutely like you know, blown up the internet. So yeah,
- 9:50Speaker 1: cool to be at the start of that band's journey
- 9:54Speaker 1: with them, and I think it's gonna be really fun
- 9:56Speaker 1: having them on the shows.
- 9:58Speaker 2: I ne saw three shows that all a one too,
- 10:00Speaker 2: which is great. But as a band, do you have
- 10:02Speaker 2: any saying something like that or is it just something
- 10:04Speaker 2: that the promoters do.
- 10:07Speaker 1: You can have saying it if you want, Like I
- 10:09Speaker 1: think generally speaking, we try and make our shows all ages.
- 10:12Speaker 1: It's not like a super strict policy or anything. Funnily enough,
- 10:16Speaker 1: like at least I've noticed, like never before in this
- 10:19Speaker 1: particular toll we're doing in America right now, there are
- 10:22Speaker 1: a lot of dog kids here, which is awesome, and
- 10:25Speaker 1: they're in the front row with their massive protectors on.
- 10:32Speaker 1: But the best time a little bit because it's like
- 10:36Speaker 1: pretty I didn't think our music kind of reached to
- 10:40Speaker 1: such young people, and if they're into our band, that's
- 10:44Speaker 1: that's like we're very grateful for that because if our
- 10:48Speaker 1: band can have the same kind of inspiration for a
- 10:50Speaker 1: young musician like we experience growing up, then that's that's
- 10:53Speaker 1: a whole different level for the band for us. So
- 10:55Speaker 1: that's it's cool to see. So yeah, we we really
- 10:58Speaker 1: love seeing that.
- 11:00Speaker 2: Patty. Now, I know we can't see you at the moment, Vabe,
- 11:02Speaker 2: but can you see my screen? Uh yes, because I've
- 11:07Speaker 2: got a little segment for you. I've started doing a
- 11:09Speaker 2: segment called photo Bombs. So basically, before we've had a chat,
- 11:12Speaker 2: I've trod through your social media and I found a
- 11:14Speaker 2: few photos that I want to talk to you a
- 11:15Speaker 2: bit more about. So I've found this one here like,
- 11:20Speaker 2: is that strict photography or editing or was a drum
- 11:23Speaker 2: kit at the opposite end of the room for the stage.
- 11:27Speaker 1: That's just the medicine. Yeah, I've never looked at that
- 11:31Speaker 1: slide in that particular way, but yeah, I see what
- 11:34Speaker 1: you mean.
- 11:35Speaker 2: But no, that is.
- 11:37Speaker 1: That's just a compilation of shots. That would be a
- 11:40Speaker 1: very cool idea though to have. Yeah, I might have
- 11:44Speaker 1: to nick that I did from you.
- 11:45Speaker 2: At some point I was looking at the crowd and
- 11:47Speaker 2: like half the people looking one way and half the
- 11:49Speaker 2: other way. It's like, and it's divided the crowd way
- 11:51Speaker 2: to look at it. It'll be a great little idea.
- 11:54Speaker 1: Yeah that's a weird like trick of the eye, but yeah,
- 11:56Speaker 1: that's a cool idea.
- 11:57Speaker 2: Yeah. Cool. And the other one I found this just
- 12:01Speaker 2: happened very often, mate, like when someone proudsurves all the
- 12:04Speaker 2: way to the stage.
- 12:06Speaker 1: That is that is from a very long time ago.
- 12:08Speaker 1: That Yeah, we haven't we haven't played a show. We
- 12:12Speaker 1: did a couple of shows like this earlier in the year.
- 12:15Speaker 1: But they I think our fan base is like a
- 12:18Speaker 1: little bit older as well as much as you know, younger.
- 12:22Speaker 1: In what I was just saying about the the young
- 12:25Speaker 1: sys come to the shows. People don't want to do
- 12:27Speaker 1: this so much at our shows anymore. They're in their
- 12:29Speaker 1: late thirties, they've got bad backs, they're not playing around
- 12:32Speaker 1: this stuff anymore. But we definitely, we definitely get some
- 12:35Speaker 1: good crowdsurfing, but not they're not making it to the
- 12:38Speaker 1: stage anymore.
- 12:41Speaker 2: And do you remember what that was in his head?
- 12:42Speaker 2: It looks like a cheddy bear, but I can't quite see.
- 12:46Speaker 1: Yeah, I got this photo. Looks like it was from
- 12:48Speaker 1: like twenty twelve, twenty thirteen or something. Yeah, but some
- 12:56Speaker 1: kind of teddy bear. I don't know if that if
- 12:59Speaker 1: that remains with us on tour and art, but yeah,
- 13:04Speaker 1: it's a great photo.
- 13:05Speaker 2: All right, Roy, Well, thanks for your time, mate, thanks
- 13:07Speaker 2: for hanging around and waiting for us. And Architects are
- 13:10Speaker 2: in Australia studying the Elemnath of December in Melbourne. They
- 13:13Speaker 2: are a fantastic band live, so get yourself a ticket
- 13:16Speaker 2: if you haven't got one already.
- 13:18Speaker 1: Nice fun, all right, Chris, I'll be talking to you
- 13:19Speaker 1: me