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A Celebration Of Music With STEVE MERRY From BE'LAKOR · HEAVY Music Interviews

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Well, yeah, you're talking to Steve from Bellicour keyboard and piano,
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: and yeah he had chat about the Aussie too. We've
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: got coming up this October with Ophius Amiga and Persephone
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: from and Or, which is really exciting.
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: Yeahful mate, thanks for joining us today.
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: Pleasure, Thanks having me Wow, pleasure as well.
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  Speaker 3: So, as you say, Bellacour I hit the road this
• 0:21
  Speaker 3: October for three shows, starting in Brisbane on October night,
• 0:23
  Speaker 3: then hitting Sydney and Melbourne over consecutive nights. So you
• 0:26
  Speaker 3: must be pretty deep into rehearsals now, mate, it's not
• 0:29
  Speaker 3: far away.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah we are.
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  Speaker 4: We've been heading into our little room and texicing our
• 0:35
  Speaker 4: songs for a few months now at least, and we
• 0:37
  Speaker 4: are the sort of band that needs some proper rehearsal
• 0:39
  Speaker 4: to be ready for the tour with pretty.
• 0:41
  Speaker 3: Good Yeah, and the tour is named twenty Years of
• 0:46
  Speaker 3: Live Bella Coore. So does that mean you're going to
• 0:48
  Speaker 3: be playing a selection of music that spans your whole career?
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it does. We we want to make sure we
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: do capture something from every album and we've done that,
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  Speaker 1: but I think there's a little bit more on some
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: of those albums that we know people like Unpress the
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: Bone and stones rich, but there is something from everything.
• 1:04
  Speaker 3: Yeah. Cool. So for those not familiar with the band,
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  Speaker 3: mate like run us through a typical live show, a
• 1:09
  Speaker 3: lot people can expect from the other road.
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: Well, to be honest, it's going to be a lot
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  Speaker 1: of rifts, a lot of melodies, a lot of harmonies,
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  Speaker 1: not much else, like not much chit chat. We get
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: up there and we play our songs, and that's the
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  Speaker 1: way we like to do it. You know, we're there
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  Speaker 1: for the music. It's what drives us is writing the
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: music and then you know, playing it. So no, it
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  Speaker 1: would be good fun. We'll try and pack as much
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: as we can into the set.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, And the term immersive landscape has been used to
• 1:35
  Speaker 3: describe your shows and music quite a lot.
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  Speaker 2: Mate, So run us through that cham and how it
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  Speaker 2: translates to your music.
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: I think what the problem is talking about is a
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  Speaker 1: combination of the songs a lot, and they go in
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  Speaker 1: all directions and they often don't return to rifts that
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  Speaker 1: they started with, so sort of like a journey feeling
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  Speaker 1: to the music. You know. We use a lot of
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  Speaker 1: atmospherics and a lot of kind of spacious sounds around
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  Speaker 1: the actual guitars and drums, and the core of the
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: song will chuck a lot of atmospheric stuff in as well,
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: and I guess the lyrics, like we do tell a
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  Speaker 1: story with the lyrics, so I think those three things
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  Speaker 1: together would be maybe what makes people say it's a
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  Speaker 1: bit immersive.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, Although those atmospherics and those the intricate guitar changes
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  Speaker 3: and the stuff that you talk about in a studio these days,
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  Speaker 3: that's pretty easy to do it.
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  Speaker 2: But when it comes to replicating it live is it difficult?
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: It is difficult, and I think we're probably like a
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  Speaker 1: lot of bands, which in the modern world of live performance,
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: you do try to look for ways to bring it
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  Speaker 1: in as a background layer. So we we're running a
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  Speaker 1: MacBook that has a little bit of atmospheric stuff going
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  Speaker 1: in the background. So a lot of bands do it,
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: you know, Symphonic bands will do it to a great
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  Speaker 1: extent where they'll have like half of a symphony, you know,
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  Speaker 1: on backing tracks. In our case, we probably try to
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: minimize it, but we do like to use it, and
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  Speaker 1: I think a good example is the Smoke of Many Fires,
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  Speaker 1: which is a very atmospheric song. So in addition to
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: what we're all playing, we will have a little bit
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  Speaker 1: of you know, atmospheric stuff in the intro and in
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  Speaker 1: the bridge, just to really bring that out in the
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  Speaker 1: live setting.
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  Speaker 3: And you mentioned earlier like you're touring with Procifone, who
• 3:12
  Speaker 3: are company here for the first time and all his omegas.
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  Speaker 3: So why choose those two bands, particularly these touring partners.
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: Well, it's probably if I mean, we'd heard that Persephone,
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  Speaker 1: were keen to look at it and tour for some time.
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  Speaker 1: And obviously they're a band that we've known about for
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  Speaker 1: a long time, probably since about nine because I do
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  Speaker 1: remember when we were releasing Stones Reach around that time
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  Speaker 1: there was a lot of hype about there and album.
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  Speaker 1: I think I'm right in saying that. But they've certainly
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  Speaker 1: been around a long time and they're a very respective
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  Speaker 1: band and they're probably like us as well, where they're
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  Speaker 1: very focused on I guess intricacy, you know, musical ideas.
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  Speaker 1: It's not immediately digestible music at all times, which I
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  Speaker 1: think is exciting and I know there's people have been
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  Speaker 1: really waiting a long time to see them, So the
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  Speaker 1: chance to play with them and put together a nice
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  Speaker 1: package was exciting for us. And then obvious. Will you know,
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  Speaker 1: They're just such an energetic, hard working local band that
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  Speaker 1: has you know, been at this for such a long
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  Speaker 1: time and is so good at what they do, so
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  Speaker 1: bringing them into the package as well just made so
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  Speaker 1: much sense.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, if you have a listen to all bandog is
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  Speaker 3: it all different obviously, but you can hear that live
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  Speaker 3: you guys are gonna be a good mixed together.
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  Speaker 1: I think so. I think there's clearly an emphasis on melody.
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  Speaker 1: Persephone is more progressive I think than the other two bands,
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  Speaker 1: but all three bands have a focus on guitars, riffs
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  Speaker 1: and melodies. So anyone who likes melodic death metal slash
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  Speaker 1: progressive metal is going to have a really good time.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah. Nice.
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  Speaker 3: Now, going back to the beginning, made I felt like
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  Speaker 3: or formed in Melbourne in two thousand and four. So
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  Speaker 3: what was the Australian musical climate like at the time
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  Speaker 3: and where did you fit in Initially.
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  Speaker 1: At the time I think we we felt, you know,
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  Speaker 1: like little fish in a big sea. I know that
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: we when we started. Some bands that were really big
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: at the time were just trying to go back. There
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: was like Hero, Rust, five Star, Prison Cell, Synthetic, Breed,
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: the Eternal. I remember at the time we looked up
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: to them quite a lot. Alarum really big. So when
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  Speaker 1: we were starting, we were playing lots of shows at
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: the Arthouse and the Toate, and no one knew who
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  Speaker 1: we were, and we just had to kind of, you know,
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: try to do what we could to get the word
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  Speaker 1: out a little bit. But it did take a lot
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  Speaker 1: of years, I think for us to develop an understanding
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: of who we were and people to understand who we were.
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: And obviously these days, I think things have turned around
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  Speaker 1: where we've been around for twenty years and we feel
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  Speaker 1: possibly out of touch for the opposite reason, which is
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  Speaker 1: that we're not that young anymore. We don't know what's
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: cool anymore, not that we ever did, and we you know,
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: we don't play it live as often as we did then,
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  Speaker 1: so our finger isn't really on the pulse as much,
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  Speaker 1: and we just do the best we can to stick
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: true to what we like, I guess, and make music
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  Speaker 1: for the reasons we want to.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, and your style of melodic death metal infused with
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  Speaker 3: the progressive allus wasn't it as common background in the
• 6:02
  Speaker 3: turn of the century is what it is now, So
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  Speaker 3: where did it stem from then, Like it's not as
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  Speaker 3: if you had a heap of band and still we're
• 6:07
  Speaker 3: influencing here.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's funny like I think in the Australian scene,
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: there weren't mini then and there still aren't that MANI now,
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  Speaker 1: I don't know what it is about Australia that there's
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  Speaker 1: heaps of really cool metal bands, but i'd say melodic
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: death metal here is less. There might only be three
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  Speaker 1: or four bands, i'd say in Australia that are really
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  Speaker 1: doing it and are kind of reasonably well known. Back then,
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  Speaker 1: I think our influencers were all you can probably guess
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  Speaker 1: who they were, Like you know in Flames, Opeth, Duck, Tranquility,
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  Speaker 1: those were the three big ones for us then and
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: again because we're now getting a little bit older, we
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: still go back into our time capsules and listen to
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  Speaker 1: those albums quite a lot and still draw inspiration from
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  Speaker 1: them in many ways. But yeah, Australia seems to have
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  Speaker 1: a real kind of a broad spread of styles that
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  Speaker 1: are big and not a huge focus on the lot
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  Speaker 1: of death metal for what I can see.
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  Speaker 3: And as we say, bro, you're celebrating twenty years on
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  Speaker 3: this draw, So how is your music grown or changed
• 7:02
  Speaker 3: from your debut The Frail Tide to your most recent album, Coherence.
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: I think it just gradually evolved to be slightly more mature.
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: I'm trying not to sound boring with these answer here,
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  Speaker 1: but you know, like, ultimately, we haven't tried to change
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: very much. I think we know what we like and
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: we will keep exploring something roughly in that realm. I
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: think we've added an atmosphere. I think we've become better
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: songwriters in some ways, but we aren't seeking to drastically
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  Speaker 1: change what we do. We're not looking to add clean vocals.
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  Speaker 1: We're not looking to become a breakdown or a gent
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  Speaker 1: infused band. We're just going to keep it kind of
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  Speaker 1: true to a combination of progressive melodic death metal with
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: some atmospherics and some acoustic elements and those sorts of things.
• 7:45
  Speaker 3: Coherence was released a worldwide acclaim mate. What's it about
• 7:49
  Speaker 3: that album? You think that actually connected with lots of
• 7:51
  Speaker 3: more people?
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: Look, I don't really know. I think every album surprises us,
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  Speaker 1: and even every song does. Like there might be a
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: song that we we think is good and then people
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: don't talk about as much, and there'll be a song
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  Speaker 1: that we love and people. You know, it really is
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: hard to predict. So with preherents, I think we just
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: sat down and tried to write I guess some of
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  Speaker 1: the longest songs we had done. It's certainly got some
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: of the longest songs, and I think maybe some people
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  Speaker 1: like that. We tried exploring some more instrumentals. It's got
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: three instrumental pieces, and some people didn't like that. Some
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: people did. But yeah, it's a mystery to us in
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: terms of what exactly will resonate or when it will.
• 8:27
  Speaker 3: Yeah, that was released in twenty twenty one, butte So,
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  Speaker 3: how advanced is writing of the follow up.
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: It's pretty well advanced, but we're not quite ready to
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: record yet. I think we've done it's probably fair to
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: say something like sixty percent of a new album. But
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: you know, we do have a fairly meticulous approach to that,
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  Speaker 1: and we will keep revisiting things that we've done to
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  Speaker 1: make them better if we can. So when we get
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: back from this round of touring, we'll be going back
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: into that world and trying to get ready to record.
• 8:54
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
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  Speaker 3: Now, as a band, roy like we said before, like
• 8:57
  Speaker 3: Coherence was worldwide. People loved it, so as a band
• 9:00
  Speaker 3: when he entered the next album after that, like, is
• 9:02
  Speaker 3: it tempting to just rehash that winning formula that you
• 9:05
  Speaker 3: know people liked, or is it important to move on?
• 9:07
  Speaker 3: So to speak.
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: I think what I'm trying to think about and remind
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: myself of is to write whatever excites me. So that's
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: always hard to do because you don't want to disappoint
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: people if they're waiting for the album. You don't want
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: to make something that they hate, and I don't think
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: they will, And I think the way to do that
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: is to write something you love and it is like
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  Speaker 1: really exciting, So trying to not think about what people want,
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: trying to not think about copying or changing what you've done,
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: and just whatever's coming out and whatever's exciting to you
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: is what you should be trying to do. So that's
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: sort of going to be my focus.
• 9:41
  Speaker 2: Yeah, No said, are they going to be any of
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: the new songs played on this?
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: Tom No, I did very briefly suggest that to the guys.
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: I think even a year ago, I was like, maybe
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: we could think about doing that, but we haven't done that,
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: and it's probably probably for the best, you know, like,
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: you know, we still want to improve the songs, so
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: we won't but to say it could have happened, but
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: it may not be in this case.
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: And I'll finished on that one.
• 10:04
  Speaker 3: They write like, if there's a new music, what people
• 10:06
  Speaker 3: would expect from Bellicore?
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: Or are you going to throw a few go balls
• 10:09
  Speaker 2: in there?
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: Let's see. I think, like I was saying, nothing too drastic,
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: but I'm hoping to, you know, keep it really melodic
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: and yeah, go with whatever is the most exciting for
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: us as we're writing read as.
• 10:22
  Speaker 3: Made all right, Well, thanks for your trying to brother.
• 10:24
  Speaker 3: Chur kicks off October ninety Brisbane. It's Sydney and Melbourne
• 10:27
  Speaker 3: on consecutive days after That's so basically like and I'll
• 10:30
  Speaker 3: try and pop along the Brittie Show.