Latest / The BlackSheep Podcast: Presented by HM Magazine / Simon Allen and Russell Cleave: Mt. Onsra

Transcript

Simon Allen and Russell Cleave: Mt. Onsra · The BlackSheep Podcast: Presented by HM Magazine

0:09
What start hello once again? We have we have a new band here that
0:34
uh that we're very very excited about. Mason and I have been listening to
0:39
these guys on repeat recently. Uh, this is Mount Sra. Would you
0:44
guys like to introduce yourselves? Tell us what you do in the band and
0:47
everything. Yeah, so I'm rusty and I this is gonna sound weird,
0:55
but do everything musically and then maybe like ninety and then Simon just stands there.
1:04
Is that all he does? Or what? Yeah? And I did
1:11
precious little really, So what I did? I wait at home until Russell
1:15
sends me some music and then then I sit for about, I don't know,
1:19
two to three months, probably kind of going what do I do here?
1:26
And then I sing and write lyrics mainly and sometimes did a little bit
1:32
of a little bit of sprinkles of fairy dust. Hey, there you go,
1:37
There we go, there you go. I'm curious to know what the
1:41
fairy dust is, Okay? Is this is this like another texture to the
1:46
music or is this just is this like some like rhythmic things or what are
1:49
you doing? The fairy dust can be anything, really, it could be.
1:53
It could be strings, it could be since it could be whatever particular
2:00
toy I picked up that that that week and then just finding places for it
2:06
to go because because that's one of the fascinating things about this band is that
2:10
so Russell and I have got a long history of making music with a massive
2:16
twenty year gap in between, and and historically we've always written music together.
2:24
But this time Russell Russell's just takes on the instrumental side of things, which
2:31
is amazing because it means that I don't have to do very much now,
2:37
Russ that that that that's that leads me into a question here because this is
2:42
I mean, obviously you guys have had some experience. You can tell through
2:45
your music that this is not your guys' first rodeo in the color of your
2:49
beards, like you can tell you've been through the Ringer before I heard I
2:57
heard the color of the pence when you were saying that that's right. Yeah.
3:01
Now I'm just I'm massively impressed by the musicality of of your group here.
3:07
This is this is an incredible uh number of songs that that through and
3:13
through every single one is very very high quality, very well thought out,
3:16
so textured, so layered, has so many cinematic qualities. Would you mind
3:23
just kind of telling us how you go about the musical songwriting of the band.
3:28
Yeah. Yeah, So it's funny you used to say about the cinematic
3:31
thing, because I'm right now, I'm at work. Well i've been I've
3:35
been released for to do this, but I work. I work on a
3:39
film course. So I work on a film degree, so I teach oh
3:43
wow, and lighting and stuff like that. So interesting, So I'm in
3:46
one of these studios in a minute. But so there's a there's a way
3:52
I think about creativity and making music and films that's very similar. So I
3:55
don't kind of separate them. M So I see I make stuff rather than
4:02
make music and films, you know, So it's kind of it. It
4:05
doesn't have I kind of blend it together. So we were talking about this
4:10
a while back. But it's like tonally, and I guess, yeah,
4:15
Like tone wise, I see music the same as films. So if I'm
4:20
lighting a scene, I see highlights, mid tones, and dark tones,
4:27
and I see and it's exactly the same as treble, middle and bass.
4:30
So it's weird. I when I'm doing music, I'm like when I'm writing
4:35
a piece, of music. I'm like, Okay, it hasn't got enough
4:39
highlights, like in it or if I'm making a film, it's like that
4:45
image looks muffled in these highlights, you know. It's so it's kind of
4:48
like a weird frame of mind, I think, But so it's Yeah,
4:54
it's very much based on feel and that. It's not like a technical Oh
4:58
I need to I'm playing the sea, I need to go to this chord,
5:02
because that's how it works, you know, because to be honest,
5:05
I couldn't tell you kind of what chords and playing I noodle on the sofa
5:15
and you're just looking for sounds like you're not trying to like piece again,
5:20
like these chords together. You're just literally looking for a sound and you feel
5:24
like, oh, that's that's an interesting sound, like it's like going to
5:27
balance out this other sound or whatever, like that's what it sounds like.
5:30
Yeah. Yeah, So I'll write this piece and then it could be a
5:33
drum part. It could be a basic guitar, but it could be a
5:38
bit of guitar, could be honest synth, and and then when something happens
5:43
and my brain lights up and it's like oh okay, then the phone comes
5:46
out, and I have to record it so I remember it tomorrow, like
5:50
I record me playing it video wise, so I know where I was playing
5:53
it, and then I'll maybe go down to I've got a little studio room
5:57
and I'll maybe go down to there and play that and record it into logic,
6:01
maybe loop it a bit and just stop playing other guitar parts over the
6:03
top maybe a bit since or maybe I've got a bassline that okay, that
6:08
sounds I can hear this with this guitar, and it just builds like that
6:12
really, and then you know, and you kind of know that, like,
6:15
okay, it's good. We've got to go into another section here and
6:17
then start kind of playing with that. So it's more of an organic feel
6:20
thing. It's not really I don't know. I don't know. There's no
6:26
secret source. I guess apart from our brains. I guess. You know,
6:30
it's not goodling it and these are how all these songs are made,
6:34
so just quickly, like going back to what Simon was saying, like because
6:39
the first record was a lockdown thing, so we weren't meant to be a
6:44
band. We would it just everyone was couldn't do anything as we all know
6:49
couldn't make films, so it was like, okay, like we've got music
6:54
to make stuff. So Simon out of the blue. I haven't spoken to
6:57
Simon or messages him for years and some of that. The Blue just messaged
7:01
me and said, do you do you want to do some remote music for
7:05
fun? Well, actually I remembered, I remember what it was because I
7:11
was on so we're all lockdown. You can't go and get your hair cut,
7:18
so so what do you do? You go on Instagram live and have
7:23
your haircut by your daughter. That's what you do. Obviously I was my
7:29
haircut and Russ Russ popped up and so it's I think I think this was
7:34
a fairly common haircut during lockdown. We just have quite a long bit here
7:40
and then these bitch ship up, So I think, I think, I
7:46
think, I think Russell just messaged So I live. I live in a
7:49
place called Radstock, which is like the coolest name of the place ever.
7:54
That is cool, But you just just said, look it's the Radstock Samurai.
7:59
And I just can't imagine, like, if you haven't seen somebody for
8:07
years and years and years and the first thing that you've like, the first
8:09
moment that you see them again, is them getting a haircut by their daughter.
8:13
Like that is such a weird moment to like run into sort of run
8:18
into somebody for the first time in years. So that's the world that we
8:20
lived in. Yeah. So yeah, I think we'd started talking now about
8:26
maybe like making some stuff, well, making a song just for fun,
8:31
just to see how this remote music thing works, because we've never done it
8:35
before. So I sent one full track. I kind of had a bit
8:39
of an inspiration moment and just kind of like wrote the guitar part and it
8:43
all started. I started getting over excited, like I do, and I
8:46
just ended up with a finished song and then I sent it to Simon at
8:50
like ten o'clock at night, and then I woke up in the morning for
8:56
work at seven o'clock and he had sent it back with vocals on it.
9:00
Man, you were you were obsessed at that moment, then, weren't you.
9:03
You were like, You're like, all right, I'm in the zone.
9:05
I'm gonna move right down this line and I'm gonna I'm just gonna nail
9:09
this thing. Yeah, Well, it was because it was just one of
9:13
those things where you kind of because the way Russ describes writing the music the
9:18
beauty of so all the song right that I've done in my life, it's
9:22
been me with a guitar, so I know where it's gonna go. I
9:26
know then, and you fall into kind of usual kind of tropes and and
9:31
ways of thinking and patterns of singing. But the fact that I had to,
9:35
I don't know what it was, but you kind of get this this
9:39
complete piece of music, which in and of itself is wonderful and beautiful,
9:46
and it's got twists and turns in it. And then I can only describe
9:50
it as sitting down to meditate and and just like try and live in this
9:58
piece of music so that you really are like a samurai. Absolutely, So
10:05
I took that idea to the nth degree. And but it was, but
10:11
it was. It was the I probably haven't written songs full songs anyway,
10:20
I don't know, for about a good ten years. I released a solo
10:24
album and I don't know, twenty eleven or something maybe, and then it's
10:28
been like songs with far and few between, just because that traditional way of
10:33
writing songs it just didn't appeal to me anymore. But this just meant that
10:39
I like Russ has got this knack of writing music. It just unlocks my
10:43
subconscious So then so then it was just like, right, I get in
10:46
there. I just need to live live, live in the music for a
10:48
little while and these words come out and and and so that. So that
10:54
then became almost a daily occurrence once we started getting into into writing stuff like
11:01
that was it was, it was. It was a mad period of time.
11:03
Actually yeah that album because we sorry, So we did the one song
11:09
and then soon Simon sent it back and this is a continued thing. Soon
11:13
Simon sent it back, it's like, oh god, this is really good.
11:18
And we were like we and then should we do another one? Yeah?
11:22
Okay, little hand it over sing sing Sing comes back and it's like
11:28
cool. And then before we knew it, there was ten and then we
11:31
were like, should we should just properly do this? You know, it's
11:35
it's silly, we were just writing this music and are we just going to
11:39
just listen to ourselves? And you know, so so we kind of decided,
11:45
come on, let's just let's just go for it. Because I personally
11:48
was trying not to be in the band again. I did a fair bit
11:54
of touring up until about twenty thirteen in a pretty extreme metal band. What
12:01
was that band called Brotherhood of the Lake. We were called that's a great,
12:05
great name. Yeah, so it was kind of like go for it,
12:09
you know, kind of black metally, Yeah, that's that's Mason and
12:13
nice kind of forte here. We really did that of music. Like you
12:18
look at the videos and YouTube. It was quite disturbing, but carry on.
12:22
So so basically we were I was doing that and I got to a
12:28
point, you know, I was getting older and I was like, I
12:30
can't be sleeping on people's floors in Belgium anymore. It's just like I can't
12:33
do it. So so calm and complaint that. So I stopped. I
12:43
was like I'm done. Now, I've done enough of it. It was
12:45
great. I'm just like I'm just going to go and do something else,
12:48
you know. So I stopped, and I kind of got a little bit
12:52
of kind of education within filmmaking and stuff, and now I ended up working
12:56
teaching it. So so I was, yeah, I was out. I
13:01
was like, cool, it's just a completely different path, change your life.
13:03
This is great, something new. And now we're here, so it's
13:07
kind of and now we're talking about should we do a little weekend in Europe
13:11
and it's like, okay, so so yeah, so it was it was
13:16
quite weird. It was like it was a real organic, accidental band.
13:22
Basically, well, what a what a blessing that you guys have given us.
13:26
I don't know about Mason, but everyone that I have shown you guys
13:31
too, has has just been absolutely blown away. And I've heard a lot
13:37
of different you know, monikers put on you guys, like it's like,
13:39
what did what did I tell you? The one person said, uh,
13:43
my coworker Mason. It was like if if explosions in the sky tool and
13:52
I don't remember who the third one was had a baby, and it was
13:56
like such a weird combination. But it's a combination that works so well.
14:01
But that also brings me into another question. It's for Simon here, and
14:03
it's you know, you were talking about how you're you're kind of doing singer
14:07
songwriter type stuff before Generally you're like, you know four four you're you're just
14:13
trying to keep a good rhythm, why while you sing pretty right? Yeah,
14:18
this is a little different. I mean there's not exactly like you don't
14:22
necessarily know where that where that that downbeat is going to be at at least
14:26
from my listening experience. Have you found that that singing to this is a
14:30
little bit a little bit more different than what you used to sing before or
14:35
before one hundred percent, but but you should like this. There's some songs
14:41
that of the new album that we haven't obviously haven't come out as a sing
14:45
or the absolutely madness when it comes to time signatudes. But I think that's
14:52
the that's the that's the beauty of it for me, is that is that
15:00
to find within within every song, regardless like sometimes Russell sends something over and
15:05
I'm like, I haven't got a clue I can do in this, but
15:13
it but it is there. It's the spending time in in the world of
15:18
it that then I'm like and one and once I found one bit that that
15:24
I mean, you know, and it's like we've got I think that the
15:28
pair of us because we've known each other for so long, like we we
15:33
will know when when something is working and when something is not, and there's
15:37
been there's maybe like there's a few times when I'll send I'll be a bit
15:41
I'm not sure about this, and I'll send it, send it to us
15:46
knowing that I'm not sure about it, and it'll be like good, like
15:50
let's let's let's let's find find another way in, you know. But it's
15:54
but like this, I don't know if I questioned I on the new album
15:58
what times, which is no, that's a nice nine that one. Yes.
16:08
But here's the thing, like we were saying about the you know,
16:11
the way I'm putting this stuff together. I don't know what time statesist are
16:15
in until later, so I'm just noodling and this sounds great. I'm just
16:21
going to mix it up on top of that. And then I send it
16:22
to Simon and he's like, what's happening? In my mind? It sounds
16:27
fine? Just send their country groove. Do you lay down the drum tracks
16:33
as well? Yeah? And you have a brain. You have a brain
16:37
that can just that can just follow. It's just when I learned. When
16:41
I start writing, I hear all the drums and everything, I know what
16:45
it's going to sound. That's impressive. Not a lot of people can just
16:48
can just pick up. Yeah, you're playing it on guitar is one thing,
16:52
but trying to like actually follow it and make it sync up with with
16:56
percussion can be quite difficult for I would say the majority of the population when
17:00
you're playing with weird time signatures. Yeah, I guess. I guess it's
17:03
if you're writing it, though, if you're in it, if you're learning
17:06
someone else's music, it's a lot harder. But if you're just writing it,
17:08
you can hear where the snais are dropping, so you're kind of hearing
17:11
it in your head anyway, and then you can yeah. Yeah, so
17:18
yeah, So it's a case of yeah, and I found it if because
17:22
we've we weren't even going to do this live. It was just going to
17:25
be a studio project. And now we're we've been practicing with We've got some
17:29
really talented friends that have decided to come and help us, and they're like,
17:33
and they're going to play the extra part so we can play a lot
17:34
because there's only two of us, right, fantastic. So it wasn't really
17:40
till then when the drama was saying, Rusty, come on, like,
17:42
what do I work this bit out? You know? So I've kind of
17:48
had to sit down on the pit and just go through little bits but nothing
17:51
major though, like's a great drummer, but it's yeah, it's it's moments
17:56
like that when I realized it's that weird because I don't I'm not here it,
18:00
you know, right, yeah, yeah, yeah. The dynamic that
18:06
you guys have right now of like you know, Russy, you you're writing
18:10
all the music and then sending it over to Simon to like do some lyrics
18:12
and then maybe like just a few other things. But it sounds actually really
18:17
similar to the dynamic that The National have. I don't know if you guys
18:19
are fans of The National or not, but you know, the I think
18:23
is the Dresner Brothers, like they primarily write all the music for the band,
18:26
and then once all the music has been mostly recorded, then they send
18:32
it over to Matt to start, you know, singing and figuring out lyrics
18:34
for you know, and the melodies that he wants to sing and whatnot.
18:37
But that's essentially, from my understanding, or at least for a while,
18:41
they have made a lot of their music with that kind of dynamic where the
18:45
music has already been written and then Matt figures out lyrics afterwards or after the
18:49
fact. So it sounds like, you know, and they're becoming, you
18:52
know, arguably maybe one of the most influential bands in the world right now
18:56
with you know, influencing like bands like Taylor Swift and a whole host of
19:00
really popular pop bands now and so it's really cool that like that dynamic,
19:04
it's like a it's a dynamic that has worked for one of the most influential
19:07
bands in the world right now. Tool does the same thing, right Yeah,
19:11
yeah, yeah, yeah, well but I think I think we've just
19:15
been to see them on Monday. Yeah, how was It always always makes
19:23
you level up. Yeah, I want to see them live so bad.
19:26
They were going to come to my hometown here and uh and it got closed
19:32
down because of the pandemic and then they never rescheduled it. You really have
19:37
to. Like Russ has been to see them probably since they started to turn
19:41
the UK, but every tour that they've been to the account hell yeah it
19:48
was. It was like it's not like you kind of think when you go
19:55
and see an orchestra whatever you're going to see like Virtuoso was on on instruments
20:00
and it's like Danny Carey comes out and does does this rhythm thing like which
20:10
which just completely changes your DNA and it's like and then you know, and
20:17
then just jams with himself for a little while, and then just the sound
20:22
like never never Mind may not as vocals, which are incredible, but the
20:27
sound that three human beings can create, it that like fundamentally changes your life.
20:36
It's not an understatement, but it's and it's like fair play. And
20:41
he doesn't even play the greatest hit set. That's the they don't have to.
20:45
It was Deep Cuts on Monday, that's for sure. It's great.
20:48
Love it, yeah, yeah, yeah, And I think like the secret
20:52
to that kind of dynamic of the me making a lot of music sound it's
20:56
Simon. I think as long as this is happening, and the thing is
21:02
I sent something to Simon, he's excited about it, and when he sent
21:04
it back, I think it's a million times better. And I think that
21:07
keeps happening and that's good. Yeah, that's super sustainable for both of you.
21:11
It seems like yeah, yeah, yeah, And I think that's and
21:17
as long as that's happening, and then and we can just go for as
21:21
long as the other. The other interesting point that I just want to add
21:25
about the first album is that is that we never actually spoke to one another
21:30
for the entire writing and recording of the album. So we only had we
21:36
had a video call once we got it finished. So so the rest was
21:40
just messaging and and no no physical contact whatsoever as pro the rules, do
21:48
you guys usually have physical contact? Like like what kind of physical contact we're
21:52
talking about here? Russ doesn't like it, but I like to give him
21:55
a heart giving that again, looks like the guy that would give though I
22:00
am he's shedding me in a bad light here on the hugo if anything.
22:07
Yeah, but but yeah, I think that's why that album, the first
22:12
albums were written in silence because it was m that's really just and WhatsApp message
22:18
is even the files were on What'sapp very funny. I'm kind of curious.
22:26
I'm kind of curious where you guys is uh more ethereal influences came from.
22:30
I mean, you said you were in a black metal band and stuff like
22:33
that, and and obviously that's yeah, it's got some layers to it for
22:38
sure, definitely not the kind of layers that that you're that you're putting down
22:42
here. Curious where that influence comes from. So I think both of us
22:48
have a I know everyone says this this is like a cliche, but we
22:52
genuinely do have a stupidly broad music taste. So it's even when we're playing
22:56
in bands or whatever, we're not listening to that all the time. You
22:59
know. It's not like we're in this scene and we're just just like nails
23:03
the whole way. You know, it's like other stuff going on. So
23:07
yeah, I think we grew up listening to lots and lots of different stuff.
23:11
And I'm a huge like I love I'm a huge Slint fan, you
23:15
know, and yeah, a lot of that post rock stuff that Maguay and
23:22
kind of got to be to Black Emperor all that kind of stuff. So
23:25
and but I also love a lot of like jazz stuff as well. My
23:29
dad was a jazz fan, so I grew up with that, so kind
23:33
of a lot of that more nice, quiet, mellow jazz stuff. So
23:36
so it's always been in there, and I'm always drawn to that kind of
23:37
stuff. So all those nice, clean guitar kind of syncopated patterns are all
23:41
kind of on their own without the noise behind their midst They are quite like
23:45
kind of a little bit jazz influenced kind of thing. But so so yeah,
23:48
so I get as much of a buzz out of syncopated twinkly clean Fender
23:56
guitars as I do glass beats, you know, so I get the same
24:00
vibe, you know. So so it's so yeah, it's it's I think
24:03
it's just something that's and and I think I remember we realized this a while
24:10
ago, Simon, that we were talking about it. We didn't even talk
24:14
about what kind of music this was going to be. No, no,
24:18
So so when we said let's make some blah blah blah music, I sent
24:22
that first song and that's what it sounded like. And then and then we
24:27
just carried on doing that. We just carried on making yeah, just making
24:32
work. Yeah, and then and then the way with the vocals. Because
24:37
so I'm upstairs in my house right now, but downstairs, I've got a
24:41
small, small studio, recording studio. It's a small room that I recorded.
24:45
But and because because I was mainly recording the vocals, it like it
24:52
was I was literally getting up at five and in the morning and recording and
24:59
then and then working. So I worked throughout the pandemic in the NHS with
25:06
Health Health Service in the UK. And because you guys actually have one of
25:11
those, right, I didn't realize that that was on this podcast. We're
25:18
going to talk about that, but we can't. You've got an election coming
25:23
up, have you? With some of they if we make it to it,
25:33
But so so so I'll be up at five kind of recording these vocals,
25:38
and my wife and two daughters would not have appreciated had I been,
25:44
and so so so everything is like like fairly apart from a few few different
25:52
places, and it's probably changed a little bit on this second album, but
25:56
not too much. Like it's fairly like quietly sung and and really layered like
26:04
as much as many harmonies as I could possibly work out to put them on.
26:11
So that's so so there was like it was a necessity really for the
26:14
for that type of vocal style. But actually I've always I've always loved like
26:19
that's the reason I love Tool is that is that you you get you get
26:22
you get the light and the sheard and and you know, absolutely devastating music
26:30
and devastating vocals, but like sung so so sweetly and it's like that's that's
26:37
that's my that's totally my vibe. It's such a beautiful juxtaposition, right,
26:42
yeah, totally. Every now and again I try and like I did I
26:48
did smoke for years in the vain attempt to try and get some kind of
26:52
gruff voice, but it never quite about that. Yeah, you're not quite
26:56
Bruce Springsteen yet. Yet, there's still time. There's still time. The
27:04
band must get gray. Like it's just you know, I can go a
27:10
little bit more. Yeah, you gotta go do a blue collar American job
27:12
and then it just happens it just working a coal mine a while. Yeah,
27:19
I mean, you know, you could go work in one of the
27:22
old English coal mines. Yeah, there you go. Well, one of
27:29
the things I do love about your guys' music, you know, you guys
27:32
are like talking a little bit about some of these influences. And obviously we're
27:33
going to get to that in just a second. But what I what I
27:37
do love is like when Colin and I have been talking about your guys' music,
27:40
We've brought up, you know, bands like Slints and Tool and Magua
27:44
and and Mono and Godspeed and you know, all these different bands, and
27:48
and like the fact that you guys, like sort of unsolicited are bringing up
27:51
these bands, I'm like, I feel like we're so confirmed and like some
27:55
of these comparisons or some of these like similarities that we're hearing in the music.
27:59
So it's good to know that, like some of the bands that we're
28:00
hearing in your guys' music are actual bands that are influencing the sound. Yeah.
28:06
And and to go along with that, it's not that you necessarily sound
28:10
just like them, because you guys are bringing a whole nother element here that
28:12
totally you don't really get from any of those bands. I mean, maybe
28:17
some of like the Magua songs in which is it breath Waite sings or whatever,
28:22
Yeah, some of those, I mean I can I can sense some
28:26
of it in those songs in particular, But this is different. I mean,
28:29
it has has a little bit more of an indie rock feel almost,
28:32
which is it's such a cool concoction. Uh. And I think I might
28:37
be jumping the gun here. So at the end of at the end of
28:41
our podcasting year, we we do our top albums of the year and we
28:47
shout out those, and I'm pretty certain you guys are gonna be on my
28:51
top list here. Now, I haven't heard all of the new album yet,
28:55
but yeah, they're all rubbish. I mean, I'm super excited.
29:02
I haven't had this much anticipation for an album for a long long time.
29:06
But the singles you guys have put out thus far are absolutely incredible. And
29:11
I just want to give you your flowers for this because this is this is
29:15
an undertaking that I'm really happy exists in the world now. So just retire.
29:27
We completed it, mate, Yeah, podcast list, that's right,
29:36
you made the highest of achievements. That kind of a earlier Hardcoo bound to
29:42
be like, okay, someone said it's okay, we can split out now.
29:49
Just ten songs that were you know, like a ten minute album of
29:52
ten songs and we're done. We need it is a great T shirt design
29:59
and to to let it go into the future. That's true. That's true.
30:03
Well, I just I don't know whether you guys have watched the the
30:07
Slint documentary Bread Breadcrumb. I haven't, but I want to like you should
30:12
that you should like it's like it's it's it's stunning, just in terms of
30:17
the like the history and just how how young they were. Yeah, they
30:22
were, and they were only a banned for a very very short amount of
30:25
time, right, and then they like they released Spiderland and then they were
30:29
broken up before it was even fully released, right, yeah, exactly,
30:32
and then this this whole thing has just become like mass Spiderland is something else.
30:37
Yeah, so it's it's Slint Spiderland and it's American Football with their self
30:44
titled. I mean, it's basically I mean, they're very very similar stories.
30:48
Yeah, totally. Yeah, And I guess got so Slint in the
30:53
early like two thousand and one, maybe they did this thing called Au Tomorrow's
30:57
Parties in the UK, and it's where they get a band to curate all
31:02
the other bands, so they choose the rest of the band to the headline
31:03
it. That's cool, and Slint reunited and obviously I was there like a
31:11
shot, so it's like, yes, come on, let's go and see
31:14
this. And it's really great. At the very beginning of the set,
31:15
they had a technical hitch and someone setting some microphone. We're just a technical
31:22
hitch, please be patient, and someone in the crowd shouted, we waited
31:26
fifteen years. It's amazing crowd, but absolutely incredible game. Not a dry
31:37
eye in the house. Yeah, it's amazing. Oh my gosh. Well,
31:41
speaking of a lot of these bands that you all like and we like
31:45
too, let's talk about top five influential albums, and it sounds like you
31:52
all, like you sort of collectively have a top five list, not like
31:55
you want to do it individually. Is that? Is that the sound of
31:56
it? It's kind of correct. Could it be a top six so we
32:00
can get three? Yeah, let's go, let's go top six. Let's
32:04
go back and forth between you if we can break. Yeah, So I'm
32:07
definitely having a number one Spider Man. There we go, there we go
32:13
now. Of course, definitely can feel it with Spiderland, with with you,
32:16
with you guys. The influences there again, especially with like the kind
32:22
of the jagged riffs along with that very strange time signature earth rhythm of I
32:30
can't think all of a sudden, what was I going to say? Very
32:32
strange sense of time when it comes to percussion and everything like that. Rhythmically,
32:37
just a very strange band, but it works so well. Definitely feel
32:42
it with you guys. Cool number two, number two straight and the number
32:50
two this this will be for both of us well and Slints. But so
32:57
Joni Mitchell Blue oh yeah see yeah? Are you are you channeling your your
33:02
inner Joni Mitchell when you when you sing, do you know what I'd love
33:07
to because but I will never reach those heights. But but that, but
33:12
that album has a complete body of work is something else, and it's like
33:17
like there are there are, there are amazing. Well it's gonna say living
33:23
singers johny Mitchell still living, thank goodness. But in terms but in terms
33:27
of vocal range and melody like this, just even in a case of you
33:34
like just the way that that melody like rises and falls and goes all over
33:38
the place, it's some. It's something else. Could only hope to replicate
33:44
that in an octave lower and still not reach the high points. Yeah,
33:51
wow, I love it. Uh three, Yes, I can't remember what
33:57
we were talking about this morning. It's a very difficult because I was we
34:00
were trying to do our top ten albums in our office at work, and
34:05
we had to have one freak genre because we found it really difficult to do
34:08
it. It's a good thought process, though, good way to go about
34:10
it. Okay, I think these are gonna be hodest. We're not.
34:14
We're not having limp biscuit away No, no, okay, good. I
34:21
think I'm gonna have to have like I think they can be in order because
34:25
I couldn't let the children fight. You know, I'm definitely going for super
34:31
Unknown Sound Garden. Oh yees, oh man, that's that's right, that's
34:37
right to the dagger of my heart. Yeah, that's exactly you're I mean,
34:42
this is a list designed for me essentially. Yeah. Yeah, but
34:51
again again, strange time signatures, weird guitar tunings, great, great layers
34:57
and different textures of of musicality going on there. Man, you guys,
35:01
there's a theme here with these time signatures. Yeah. But what a voice
35:07
as well, Oh my gosh. Times. So actually got very, very
35:13
excited earlier in the year when I purchased off my friends a p v v
35:20
v t M one sixty amp, which is the sound God lamp foot all
35:25
about the finger and so much super It's not the actual amp, but the
35:29
same model and stuff. And did both Chris and Kim play that or was
35:34
that more of a thing, But but Chris did use one at one point
35:37
as well. So it's just it's basically PV's version of a j CM eight
35:43
hundred. But they you know, they just kind of made their own and
35:45
it's an absolute based, absolutely incredible amp and it's faithful recreation of the sound.
35:52
Yeah, but it's I sadly got it after recording our last album.
35:59
That means you got to get another one out there. Yeah, man,
36:00
Pev really owned the nineties, didn't they. Oh yeah, yeah we come
36:07
up. Yeah yeah. Legos just drawn by an eight year old. Right?
36:14
You saw you saw Chris's last performance before he died. Right second to
36:17
last performance, second last Yeah? Yeah, where was where was that?
36:22
What was it? It was at a large festival in Council Bluffs, Iowa,
36:29
RW Yeah or was it? So he was with Sound Garden and it
36:36
was I was absolutely incredible. A few days later they were in Detroit and
36:39
uh that's when he unfortunately took his life. But I remember actually being in
36:45
like a true state of depression for at least two months after his passing.
36:52
Just yeah, it's weird because you know a family member could pass away,
36:58
but you know there's some people when they when they pass on, you're just
37:01
like, man, I don't know what to make about the world anymore.
37:06
For him and Bowie both, it just hit me on another level. So
37:10
I still get like a little wobble. I can't. I find it quite
37:14
difficult to watch BAC Boys footage the mc A yeah whenever I like this.
37:20
I found this really incredible full gig in Glasgow in Scotland the other day and
37:24
I was watching it. This is amazing. The energy is incredible. As
37:28
soon as he gets on the mic, I'm like, I don't know if
37:30
I can watch this. It's incredible, Like it's yeah, isn't it.
37:35
You don't know these people, but yeah, infiltrate themselves into I almost feel
37:39
bad for having such, you know, deep connections to these people that I
37:44
don't know. I don't know, but but that's that's the that's the that's
37:49
the past, that's the beauty. Yeah, it's the thing that binds us
37:52
in connectus. It is crazy, it is it is yeah, right,
38:04
yep, it was great because that because what you just said and has sparked
38:09
a new one for me that we didn't talk about today. So this is
38:13
going to have to be Can I have one on me? Sure? It's
38:16
not a shed? Everyone on Yale. So John So seventies like folk rock
38:27
singer John Martin. I don't know when I heard of him. I'm not
38:30
I'm not familiar, but I'll be looking it up right after So So So
38:35
Martin Martin with a Y and his album Solid air, which was so that
38:40
so the song Solidaire was written about and four Nick Drake, So you heard
38:47
that singer songwriter, another seventies singer songwriter. Not familiar with them, but
38:52
but similarly so, so all you know loads of stories about John Martin,
38:58
like there's was fond of a it was fond of a whiskey of an occasion
39:02
like after his heyday in the seventies, continue to tour, made some questionable
39:09
albums with Phil Collins, but like the seventies stuff is it's amazing. And
39:15
and but when he died, I was exactly the same, just like ship
39:22
like that's just that's a that's another that's another earth changer. He's just gone
39:29
Yeah, it's it's like wow, because because all I've never met him,
39:35
I've got to see him live on occasion he would he was not a nice
39:38
man apparently, but for his friends he was. But it's like the impact
39:45
of like those songs just ham on your your life and your psyche and it's
39:52
kind of yeah, that's that's that's why we make music, I guess,
39:58
because it's still powerful. Some of the can be eulogized some day, So
40:02
somebody cries for a day yeah, all right, what else we got?
40:15
See, this is getting hard, but it's gonna have to be tool on
40:20
him. I think, ah, yeah, yeah, it was like,
40:24
this is my last one, right, yep. Yeah. It was a
40:29
dice up between that and Michael Jackson thriller. But it's okay. It's interesting.
40:34
I want to guess that from you. I like it? Or after
40:37
type for Destruction. Oh no, we're just what slaves to the grind?
40:42
Yeah, what slaves the grindad also or Great World Words by by Brian Kennedy.
40:47
But right, it's fine, carry on. It's a it's a tough
40:52
less to try to figure out, isn't it. This is a good way
40:55
of getting it more. Yeah, yeah, yeah, you're just cheating.
40:59
Get dropping, all right, Timon, that's your last one? Amy Grant
41:09
really wait? Wait? What really? People across the pond know who Amy
41:15
is. Wow, let's listen. You can't sell for my accent. But
41:20
I grew up in I grew up in Northern Ireland and Amy Grant was big
41:27
Yeah because I so. What you two don't know is I've gone down a
41:32
complete rabbit hole after listening to your Leah Payne podcast interview, and it's been
41:39
it's been amazing. So so you're lucky Larry Norman didn't make it onto my
41:45
list. We were talking, we were talking about first first gigs the other
41:54
day and I was and I was telling Russ and Aidan, who is along
42:00
with James and Joe is helping us put the live stuff together. And I
42:04
had tickets to go and see Extreme. So this is this is, this
42:08
is the Extreme tour when they've just done more than words and so they were
42:13
they were playing the King's Hall in Bellflowes Kings and that is the name of
42:17
a venue. That is that is that is a place ah, And I
42:24
think I might have been there once. I don't think it was actually there
42:28
though in Land I was that was a poor attempt at a joke. But
42:34
well to the King's Hall, I've been. I've been to maybe in the
42:37
King's Hall, who knows. But but so what I did was I didn't
42:45
go to see Extreme because I was too I was too afraid of going to
42:47
a big gig, so I went to see Larry Norman instead. Well,
42:55
then the podcast there that's it, that is it should be. What was
43:00
your last one though? Was it actually any grant? No? I think
43:07
where have we got here. Oh, this this is one that we can
43:12
both go for. So we're trying to think of a Jimmy Hendrix album.
43:19
I would have gone for Access of Boat, but I think we settled on
43:24
the best of m HM true style. Oh I love the best of Jimmy
43:36
Hendrix. What a what a trio of dudes just absolutely ripping it apart.
43:42
Jimmy is Yeah. I grew up Like the reason I played guitar at all
43:46
is because I was a really weird twelve year old that loved electric blues.
43:53
So I was like, I was learning how to play Cream Claptain, Buddy
43:58
Guy, bb King. Yeah. And you know, I actually got asked
44:04
to stay back after a class because we had quite a hippie English teacher and
44:08
we had to write a personal profile, your name, your height, what
44:13
your interests are, what music do you like? And I'd put like Pink
44:16
Floyd, Cream, Jimmy Hendricks experience, and he thought I was taking a
44:22
piss of him, so he so he asked after school and so I stay
44:31
back and he's like, what do you think you're doing? This isn't funny,
44:35
and then I said, no, genuinely, I'm done. Let's playing
44:37
guitar. I love all this stuff, and he was like, great,
44:39
and he brought me in some records to borrow. Wow, and then got
44:44
fow, I've still got those records. That's awesome. You know that.
44:50
That reminds me of a story growing up, because I was a lot like
44:52
you. I was into a lot of the blues rock and classic rock kind
44:55
of stuff growing up, and not a lot of my peers were. I
45:00
would say almost no one was. But I had a music or not a
45:02
music teacher, but I had a sociology teacher that always did, like,
45:07
I guess this song thing at the beginning of class, and I got it
45:12
right every single day, and he was he would just get he was.
45:15
He was like, you're the only student I've had in the last fifteen years
45:20
that's been able to get all these right. He's like, how do you
45:22
know all this stuff? And he's like, I'm gonna give you a challenge,
45:24
and I'm like, all right, it sounds good. And so he
45:28
starts playing a song from his daughter's playlist. And I don't know if you
45:32
guys are familiar with the artist named Toby Mack at all. So he's like
45:38
this, he's this Christian Christian music artist kind of like pop and hip hop
45:45
kind of. He was. He was in a band called d Talk if
45:47
you know he Talk like they were really really big in the nineties. Yeah,
45:52
so he thinks this is going to be like completely out of left field,
45:55
nowhere near like my train of thought. Well, I happened to you
45:59
know, up in the in the Christian Church, and obviously Toby Mack was
46:02
a part of that, that journey, and he's like, all right,
46:07
can you get this one? And I said, oh, it's Toby Mac
46:08
that's a song ignition. He goes, what the hell, Like, how
46:13
do you know? And everyone in the classes thought I had, like,
46:16
you know, a third eye on my head or something like that. Like
46:19
I was just a total, total weirdo. But I got I got a
46:23
piece of candy every single day that I got one, right, So it
46:28
was worth it. It was worth it, all right. Sorry for that
46:30
side tangent. I just thought it was a fun story. Let's move into
46:35
what you guys like to plug obviously record coming out June twenty eighth, correct,
46:38
Yeah, yeah, all right, tell us little more about it.
46:42
What's the name of it? Where where should people go pick it up?
46:45
At? So so the name of the album is Sacred Time. So our
46:51
second album, Friday, the twenty eighth June, available on All Your All
46:57
Your streaming website. It's on that on that day. Yeah, nine songs,
47:05
is it? I can't remember a few songs on there. Three of
47:08
them are singles the Restaurant and Yeah. And it's the first. It's the
47:15
it's the first album that we've recorded together. No, it's not. It's
47:19
the second album we recorded together. But this time we did it together in
47:22
the physically, in the physically in the room. Yeah, we got We
47:29
went down to Cornwall in England and took over an artist, a friend of
47:36
ours and artists studios, Don don Moore in Cornwall. He's got a room
47:42
with a massively high ceiling so that we could get our best John Bonham on
47:50
and actually record stuff. Well, Russ record, Russ played it all.
47:53
I just watched. Can we expect this ever on vinyl? You think?
48:00
Oh, I wish like we're So. The plan is, because we're doing
48:04
all this ourselves, we've decided to keep it all in house. When I
48:07
say decided, I didn't get any bund choice. We decided to do this
48:12
all around. And so now to be honest, we haven't really shopped it
48:15
at all. We've just we just decided we want to see it all on
48:17
around because it's nice to have it all in house. So the plan is
48:22
we're gonna do some merch soon and then just once we've put up enough money
48:27
to get a pressing together, we'll do that and then we'll just continue for
48:30
those pressings that pay for themselves. So we wanted to, but it's just
48:35
because we're all doing it off our own backs and we're just with our day
48:37
job money. Just kind of it will happen. But I think it's I
48:43
think it's nice to do it this way, you know. And I'm making
48:46
all the music videos because I've got the equipment here. Yeah. Music,
48:51
the music videos thus far had been they're super high quality. I am absolutely
48:54
impressed with with the music videos as well, Like it's good. It's good,
48:59
isn't he well he knows a thing or two, you know. And
49:02
also they've got to be because the students will be like, why is this
49:05
guy? Yeah, it's like yeah, yeah, yeah. So it's been.
49:14
It's and it's nice to keep it all in house in the way that
49:16
the same as the way of the feeling with the music. It's kind of
49:21
I can see the visuals of how the videos are going to go from just
49:23
the final mixes. You're listening and it's like, this would be nice to
49:27
have sure the last single, the one that's out today actually so today there
49:34
is. It just felt really spacious, So I knew we were gonna I
49:38
wanted to shoot SlowMo, just keep it all the same pace, not too
49:42
many cuts. And and also it would be interesting to see how, you
49:45
know, the young people of these days, the Walking Stick will actually deal
49:54
with not many cuts in the in the film, it's like it's like can
50:00
span It's like, oh my god, he's been running down the road for
50:02
maybe sixteen bars of this song. What's going on? Yeah, So I
50:07
just wanted to see how that went as well. Love that TikTok generation Yeah,
50:13
yeah. Yeah. The other the other thing that's sorry, Mason.
50:17
The other thing we should have is that alongside the album on the twentieth,
50:23
we have we have got a got a documentary that's going out. So really
50:29
there's a bit of a bit of the history of the history of the band,
50:34
history of our relationship, which has been you know, along and winding
50:38
road it's fair to say. But like, the wonderful thing about having a
50:43
filmmaker as your band mate is that that We've also got footage of the parabus
50:49
from the mid nineties when we didn't have white beards, which is amazing.
50:55
See there's more here up here and less right here. Yeah. Was there
51:01
was there a Samurai haircut then too? No, no, there was,
51:07
there was. There was quite a lot of quiffs going on there. Definitely.
51:13
I was full, like, you know, really long hair. Did
51:17
you ever do you ever braid your hair being in a black metal band?
51:21
No? No, I didn't. No, I did have. You know,
51:25
it was when I was playing when I was back in the maybe around
51:30
when I was like eighteen nineteen and I was playing in kind of death metal
51:35
bands, crusty death metal bands in the time with on Plymouth. I you
51:38
know, you had to have some dreads at some point. Yeah. Yeah,
51:43
I was really really into Carcass still. Yeah, and yeah it's uh,
51:49
you know Jeff Walkers, singer of Carcass, had the dreads and it
51:52
was like, he's cool, I'm going to do that. Yeah, you
51:55
were just you were just channeling your inner Boudica, right, Yeah, that's
51:59
it. Yeah, I don't know if you've seen there's We tried to do
52:02
some singles, a little ep of songs that were all based around the time
52:07
when we met. So we did to Amos cover a carcass cover, and
52:16
that's as far as we've got because we were like, I started sending really
52:21
slinty persons of Pantera songs and someone was like, Okay, do a second
52:28
album. If you haven't heard them, check definitely check out the Tori Amos
52:36
Winter sounds like Melvin's which is great, nice, and then the carcass One
52:40
sounds like slint. I guess that's amazing, yeah slint, yes, great,
52:46
yeah, uh sweet? Anything else you'd like to plug. We do
52:51
have some posters arriving soon, so like we've got these really nice rhyso print
52:55
like in between screen print and photocopied posters that are like really cool me and
53:00
Simon looking up on our third eyes and melding into a mountain. WHOA Yeah
53:07
nice of you, guys. I love it. Yeah, maybe one of
53:12
the maybe both yeah yeah ink versions of us with like, yeah, these
53:17
beams coming out of their heage and making the mountain. It's pretty cool.
53:21
Yes, yes, yeah, that's cool. Yeah, I have to pick
53:25
one of them up. Yeah, yeah, I do love the the visuals
53:30
that you guys got going on, whether you know it's like the album artwork
53:32
obviously the music video is like just you've you've nailed the like visual aspect of
53:36
being really they all accidents as well, this is great are happening to us,
53:43
and we just captured them and just put them up. The one on
53:45
the new album covered with a blurry car that was just I was on the
53:50
way home being a filmmaker cinematography specialist. It was like, there was a
53:53
beautiful beam of fog above this car under a street line. I was like,
53:58
that's great, I'm going to get a picture. So I just took
54:00
it on my phone. Forgetting that at night, you have to hold it
54:04
in one place for the just put it in my pocket and then when I
54:08
looked at it, it was all and I was like that that's great.
54:13
And then so the Simon said a new album cover and he was like,
54:15
yeah, let's do that. And then we had we had another idea for
54:17
a cover with the you know that when you're on Instagram, it's something to
54:22
load and it's got the little circle. We were like a half loaded circle
54:27
for the album cover, just because it's you know, we're older and it's
54:30
playing with people's mind half loaded, Like does that does that mean like you
54:34
guys are like half high all the time? No, it's it was,
54:38
Yeah, it was more of a respectable member of society. It was more
54:45
like a patience thing like when we were younger, we had to wait for
54:49
stuff. It wasn't all so it's kind of it's a bit of that.
54:52
And then I sent both of them song and said which one we use?
54:54
And Simon said, and I still don't know what this means. I like
54:58
the one with the car because it's more northern. Iri, what does that
55:02
mean? I think you do know what it means. But I don't think
55:06
you're actually to genuinely. I mean I think I think cars and uh,
55:13
Northern Ireland and everything like that. Wasn't there like a whole thing in the
55:15
eighties and nineties and all that stuff. We put all that behind this.
55:21
Okay, all right, need don't need to bring that up, thank you.
55:28
But the photograph, you know, it just just looks slightly not nourish.
55:32
Yeah, I love it. Sweet Well, we're super stoked for the
55:38
new album to come out. We're I mean again, it's truly it's at
55:43
the very least it's going to be mentioned, uh in our top five when
55:46
we do the episode in December. So we're super stoked for the new album
55:50
to come out. We're definitely going to be listening to it on repeat,
55:52
and yeah, hopefully at some point we can get it on vinyl because I'd
55:57
love to love to see the vinyl and actually be able to hear it on
55:59
vinyl at some point too. So thanks so much for chatting more about the
56:01
music guys. This has been so fun. You guys are great, so
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we'd love to have you back on and thank you, like for even asking
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us. This is pretty wild, to be honest for us, because we
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like, yeah, we're just two blokes from the prairies of the United States
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and we're just we're just happy to have wonderful music players such as yourselves, so