Sonic Perspectives

Two-time GRAMMY-nominated and millions-selling progressive music titans Dream Theater will be releasing their newest progressive-metal masterpiece, “A View From The Top Of The World,” on October 22nd via Inside Out Music / Sony Music.

The new album lives up to Dream Theater‘s reputation as a band that can blend well-crafted guitar and vocal melodies with the sheer brute force of progressive metal.  It’s a powerfully cohesive album that reflects the talented musicianship of James LaBrie [vocals], John Petrucci [guitar], Jordan Rudess [keyboards], John Myung [bass], and Mike Mangini [drums], all working together in the spirit of pushing their musical boundaries.

Fans will marvel at John Petrucci‘s brutally heavy rhythm guitar playing mainly on “The Alien” and the band’s ability to jam out on their 20+ minute title track, “A View From The Top Of The World.” All songs are varied soundscapes yet tied beautifully together with John‘s guitar tone, the power of his unfaltering right hand, and the light touch of left for his lofty solos. His guitar playing is the perfect marriage of fury and grace.

  “A View From The Top Of The World” can be now pre-ordered in various configurations including:

The Blu-ray contains a 5.1 surround sound mix with full album animations, plus ‘Digging For A Spark – A View From Inside DTHQ’, a specially filmed documentary that gives a glimpse behind the scenes of the band’s new home-base and the making of the new album. The album is also available for pre-order digitally and fans that pre-order the digital version will receive an instant download of “The Alien.”

Pre-order the album HERE.

Correspondent Robert Cavuoto spoke to John Petrucci for an in-depth discussion about the writing, recording, and challenging guitar playing that went into creating the band’s latest masterpiece, not to mention a detailed account of the difficult decision the band faced to postpone their tour to 2022. Listen to their chat in the links below (or read the transcript), and remember that for more interviews and other daily content, make sure to follow Sonic Perspectives on Facebook, Flipboard and Twitter, and subscribe to our YouTube channel to be notified about new content we publish on a daily basis.

When we spoke in 2019 for Dream Theater’s release, “Distance Over Time”, you were excited that the band lived together while writing and recording that album. I’m sure COVID foiled the opportunity to duplicate that idea, but did you try to incorporate any elements of communal living while writing and recording this new album?

We all went to live and work in a very remote place for “Distance Over Time.” It would have been perfect now because we would have been totally isolated. This time it was a bit different in that we recorded it in our own space. We now have our headquarters, which includes a recording studio, storage for equipment, and lounge. It wasn’t finished back in 2019 when we were working on “Distance Over Time.”. It makes things very convenient now. I recorded my solo album, “Terminal Velocity,“ which was my first solo album recorded there. Then in the summer of last year, we recorded “Liquid Tension Experiment III,” then Dream Theater went in there last October. In that sense, the location and the feel were very different because we weren’t in the mountains in a house and barn with that sprawling landscape. It was similar in that it was only us in our own space, outside of the engineer and my tech Matty. The only person who couldn’t join us was James LaBrie. He lives in Canada and couldn’t travel here with the restrictions. He would Zoom in on a TV screen in our live room. It worked out well, and I think he liked it better [laughing]. The band was all together; it was safe and without incident, which was great.

I never asked you before, but when you set out to recorded with the other band members, do you start writing from scratch, or do you all bring in demos/ideas and proceed from there?

It really depends on which album you are talking about. Most of the time, I and some of the other guys will come in with ideas. Those ideas can be anything from a quick voice memo on an iPhone to a demo with a part sectioned out. We are not the type of band that brings in finished songs, passes them out, and says, “Learn this!” We bring in nuggets and seeds to get us started; musical conversation starters. This time around, there wasn’t so much of that. I had completed my solo album then LTE and the state of touring was very uncertain when we were going to play again. We weren’t supposed to go into the studio, so last October, we just decided to start a record and see what happens, and we were not sure when it would be released. It was better than sitting around doing nothing. Because of that, there weren’t a lot of preconceived ideas; it was let’s just see what happens. It was off the cuff, being collective, and just seeing how it goes. Albums like “Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory” got more direction because it was a concept album, and we were working around a story with themes. This time was different, and let’s just see what happens.

Your guitar playing is the perfect marriage of fury and grace as it combining the power of the right hand with a gentle touch of the left which expresses a unique emotion. A perfect example of that is the balancing act of heavy and light guitar playing is on “The Alien” and “Awaken the Master,” where you go from heavy rhythms to smooth solos in a heartbeat. Is that a conscious decision or just the organic nature of your playing?

It’s a little bit of both. I really like expressing both sides of that. There is the very exciting, energy-driven, adrenaline rush playing where it almost makes the listener nervous with its aggressive and fast passages. It’s like going on a roller coaster, driving a jet ski, or a fast car. It’s a rush to play like that, particularly when the band is doing it all at the same time! Listening back, it gives you that feeling that puts you on edge. At the same time, there is this pulling at your heartstrings kind of feeling that I’m drawn to as well. In music, we always recall and remember the most beautiful themes and melodies, whether they are in a movie soundtrack or your favorite song. It’s like being on a speed boat going at a fast pace, and it being very exhilarating. You then get to the middle of the lake, and you stop the boat. It just floats, and the scenery opens up all around you. You can see the mountains and the trees. Those are the melodic moments of the song that creates the contrast. “The Alien” is a perfect example. It is very chaotic in this 17/8 time, which is very weird. There are several different angular sections, and you are not sure what is going to happen. Then it just settles and opens into this thematic passage. I love realizing that contrast. It also makes the song more interesting. It makes it more dramatic or cinematic. The melodic sections can really act at themes. You can take that theme and either incorporate it into a vocal or bring it back.  

Your rhythm guitar tone is brutal, yet the solos tones are lofty with crystal clarity. What is your philosophy for setting your amps in getting the different sounds you want, when you need it, and as quickly as you need it?

Thankfully I have been able to develop an ear that has helped me realize my own tone mission, which happens to be the name of my company, Tone Mission. We are all on a mission to find the tone that is in our heads. I have been playing Boogies all my life, and now to have a signature Boogie that does exactly what I’m looking for and being with Ernie Ball/Music Man for 20 years to develop a guitar with Dimarzio pickups. I’ve honed it into doing exactly what I’m looking for. With the amp dialed into the rhythm sound, it’s creating something heavy but not too distorted or compressed, something that is aggressive but not annoying. Something that is full yet has a low end but isn’t floaty. That is all the nature of my Boogie JP-2C and EQ section. Going for that type of sound is going to bring out the articulation and pick attack when you are playing tight rhythms. On the lead side of it, I have three channels where I’m dialing in something like you said, is a little more liquidy; it uses more gain, less high-end, and more mid-range, as you want the notes to be more vocal. When the guitar comes to doing a melody or a solo, that is the focus. It should take the same sonic space and attract the same attention as the vocal at that moment. So, it is the combination of the guitar, pick-ups, amp, and engineering. Our engineer James “Jimmy T” Meslin, did an incredible job selecting the right microphones, pre-amps, and recording in-depth. Then, of course, Andy Sneap mixing it the way he did. All of us were on the same page, envisioning what the guitar sound should sound like. It was a team effort, but it is the result of a lot of years searching for something and then being fortunate enough to develop gear that will help get me to that place. That’s the really long answer [laughing]

That’s great insight, but I think you forgot to mention your touch also has a tremendous impact on the sound of Dream Theater’s music.

Thank you so much. There is a way I approach playing certain sections of music on the guitar; it definitely does change the way the guitar sounds and reacts through the amplifier. The level of pick attack and the velocity at which you’re picking at vs. something where you are trying to have more of a dynamic touch and approach. Then you switch that up. Every guitar player is unique, and that is why everybody’s sound is so different and like themselves even when playing through the exact same gear. Everybody has their own identity.

My favorite song on the album is “Transcending Time,” with its beautiful melodies on the guitar, keyboard, and vocals; it’s reminiscent of an Asia song and lets the album breathe. Can you tell me about its creation?

When we got together for this album, there were no rules; let’s just see what happens. We are not trying to write certain types of songs like we did with “Distance Over Time,” where we were trying to write Dream Theater music in a more conscience package. It was a fun experiment. The first few songs we wrote for this album were very long, progressive, and heavy; they were “The Alien” and “Sleeping Giant.” After we had done that, we switched gears as we got it out of our system; let’s do something different. There were a couple of things that I wanted to do on this album that was a bit of a different. One was to write a giant epic, and the other was to write a major key, Rush, Boston type of song. It’s a challenge, and we have done it before on certain albums. It’s a challenge because every time you go to writing as a metal or rock band, you walk a tricky line of it sounding too poppy and too light. You think of all the tough songs from Van Halen, which are in major keys, uplifting, and have a positive vibe. They were able to do that so well and walk the line perfectly. If you don’t do it right, the song can end up sounding cheesy or sound like you’re attempting to write a pop song that is out of character and doesn’t sync with the album. That’s the challenge, and I really wanted to try it. It’s funny because there are so many incarnations of the opening riff that I was playing it. You would be surprised just by changing around one or two notes how it sounded like something else, or it didn’t sound tough enough or too poppy [laughing]. I had to give a lot of thought in experimenting with that opening riff and how to do it. I think it does fit in with the album and breaks up all the other darker, heavy, more progressive stuff. It’s not light in any way. It was one of my favorite songs on the album. Whenever I listen to the album in its entirety which I had to do a million times [laughing] as I was producing it, I always looked forward to that song. It presented this feeling of a nice change.

The title track is 20 + minutes and covers everything people love about Dream Theater’s music. Was there ever a time where you had to self-edit on how long a song would be or is longer better?

In the very beginning, we didn’t self-edit, and you will hear that in how long our songs are. We grew up listening to Rush and YES, who had 14–20-minute songs. It’s the nature of progressive rock, and that is what we like to do. There are only certain moments where we specifically said, let’s try to keep this down. There were times with albums that we conscientiously went in with the thought, “What would happen if we tried to make music in the style of Dream Theater with no compromise except, keeping them shorter?” So, in general, we don’t self-edit. Looking back at some of the songs, I can say, “Maybe that passage didn’t need to go on for so long!” [laughing]. Now, if a song is a certain style and going in a direction like “Transcending Time” or “Invisible Monster,” it doesn’t make sense to make it a 14-minute song. Doing it for the sake of doing it because it is prog would ruin it. I think you get more of a sensibility as songwriting to what is appropriate and when. It comes from experience as opposed to this; this doesn’t have to be this long; let’s chop these parts. Every once in a while, we have to do radio “edits” of our songs [laughing]. We chop this, chop that, lose the intro, and it’s a horrible feeling.  It really bothers me.

It was disappointing to hear about the postponement of the Dream Theater tour. I have to imagine it was a tough decision; how did the band come to their decision?

It was an unfortunate decision, John Myung and I really wanted to tour. We are dying to tour and support the album. Unfortunately, we couldn’t convince the other guys to do the same. It wasn’t a unanimous decision, unfortunately. It’s frustrating for me because everything has opened up, concerts are happening at theaters and arenas, and bands are out there. A lot of my friends are touring successfully, and there are ways to do it safely, which we were very prepared to do. Like I said, we couldn’t convince the other guys it would be safe, so we had to push it off. I’m the kind of person who hates disappointing our fans, so it’s definitely an unfortunate decision.

I don’t think there is a right or wrong way to that decision, and your fans will support you when you get out there. Was there any thought about touring solo?

Yes absolutely! The challenge there is having time to shift gears and plan to put it together quickly. My solo album came out last year, and I didn’t tour in support of it because nothing was open, and we couldn’t tour. Once it did open up, the priority would be Dream Theater for the new record coming out in a few weeks, so timing was important. The fact that it ended up being postponed put me in a position where I would love to tour and support my solo album; it’s just a matter of doing that shift quickly.

The post DREAM THEATER’s Guitarist JOHN PETRUCCI Offers Insight on Band’s Upcoming “A View From The Top Of The World “Album: ‘There Were No Preconceived Ideas when Recording; It Was All Off The Cuff’ appeared first on Sonic Perspectives.

A man that needs virtually no introduction to any discerning melodic rock fan, Jeff Scott Soto launched his career at a young age in tremendous fashion as the lead vocalist for Yngwie Malmsteen’s debut album, “Rising Force” and the sophomore album, “Marching Out”. That first step into the spotlight has led to a career that has seen Jeff play and work with an outstanding number of artists and genres. From the AOR of Eyes and Takara, to the hard rock and Metal of Talisman, Axel Rudi Pell, Soul SirkUS and of course, his time with the legendary Journey. Jeff has also maintained a solo career over the past decades, while also recently joining up with the progressive metal super-group Sons of Apollo and acting as one of the singers for Trans-Siberian Orchestra.

Using the down time from his normally relentless touring activity due to the worldwide pandemic, Soto decided to create a very special album which pays tribute to some of the classic songs he has recorded over the course of his storied career. But, rather than simple re-records, he wanted to make the album something special, unique. So, he not only did re-record these songs with his musical friends Jorge Salan, Howie Simon (guitars), Leo Mancini (guitars), Tony Dickinson (bass) and Edu Cominato (drums), but he called in some of his fellow rock friends and vocalists to create a unique duets album: “The Duets Collection – Vol I”

With the likes of Erik Martensson (Eclipse, W.E.T.), Dino Jelusick (Animal Drive, Dirty Shirley), Eric Martin (Mr. Big), Johnny Gioeli (Hardline), Deen Castronovo (Revolution Saints), Nathan James (Inglorious), Russell Allen (Symphony X), Renan Zonta (Electric Mob), Mats Leven (Candlemass, TSO), BJ (Spektra, SOTO), and Aliro Netto, this is an amazing international affair. Jeff said about the idea: “It was a DREAM to cast these voices and I am so amped for you to hear the results…”

Jeff joined Sonic Perspectives’ collaborator Rodrigo Altaf in their 4th interview in the last 5 years, for a detailed analysis of the album, how he chose the songs to include in the record, how he thinks the idea might expand to future volume, the chemistry when singing with so many different vocalist and friends, what’s happening in the Sons of Apollo camp nowadays and much more. For more interviews and other daily content, make sure to follow Sonic Perspectives on Facebook, Flipboard and Twitter and  subscribe to our YouTube channel to be notified about new interviews and contents we publish on a daily basis.

The post Acclaimed Rock Vocalist JEFF SCOTT SOTO Talks Recently Released “The Duets Collection – Vol I” Album: ‘I Felt the Need to Have a Creative Outlet, to Entertain People and Help Them Forget The Hardship of the Pandemic’ appeared first on Sonic Perspectives.

Gus G. made a name for himself with Firewind, the band he initially launched as a solo project in 1998 that made its official debut in 2002. In that time the band has released nine albums, while Gus has also recorded and toured with Mystic Prophecy, Nightrage, Arch Enemy, Dream Evil and Ozzy Osbourne. He has also made inroads as a solo artist, having released three albums under his own name: “I Am The Fire” (2014), “Brand New Revolution” (2015), and “Fearless” (2018). He closes 2021 with a new instrumental solo effort “Quantum Leap,” featuring 10 tracks that both showcase the playing style Gus is known for and takes fans into new territory.

“Quantum Leap” came together over the course of the worldwide pandemic that, unfortunately, prevented Firewind‘s self-titled album from 2020 from gaining any real momentum. Immobilized by the quarantine measures that kept him at home, Gus began compiling musical ideas to keep himself occupied, which led to the full-on effort to write and record an album during the summer of 2021

“I didn’t make “Quantum Leap” with the intention of it being the next one in the cycle of solo albums,” Gus admits. “It was more of a case of, ‘What else is there?’ I needed the creative outlet.”

Gus agrees with the suggestion that one has to make an instrumental album for him or herself; if people happen to enjoy it, that’s a plus. It’s an approach he takes with every album he makes, but if heavy metal is considered a niche market doing an

For an in-depth discussion on “Quantum Leap”, Gus spoke with Sonic Perspectives’ collaborator Rodrigo Altaf about the songwriting process behind the record, how it differs from writing for Firewind, what makes this album different to its predecessors besides the fact that is his first full-instrumental effort, why did he decide to add a bonus discs with a live show, and what are the actual touring plans for Firewind in Europe, among other topics.

For more interviews and other daily content, make sure to follow Sonic Perspectives on Facebook, Flipboard and Twitter and  subscribe to our YouTube channel to be notified about new interviews and contents we publish on a daily basis.

The post Renowned Guitarist GUS G Talks Just Released Solo Album “Quantum Leap”: “I Flirted with Some New Ideas When Composing this Album, Despite it is Still Much a Guitar Record” appeared first on Sonic Perspectives.

For the past two decades the band Magenta has built a solid reputation through their top-notch live shows and catalog of studio works. At times celebrating classic prog terrain and at other times pushing new horizons, Magenta have established founder Rob Reed’s passion for prog even as he has explored other musical projects such as Chimpan A, Kiama and his Sanctuary series. However, before the inception of Magenta there was another color that Reed had painted, a project-of-sorts called Cyan. Releasing three albums in the 90s – the first being originally written in the mid-80s – Cyan was never a proper band but rather more of a solo project with Reed covering most everything himself on the debut album. As such, few have been aware of Reed’s formative years as a prog artist. That’s about to change. What could have remained as a curious historical prelude to the band Magenta has now been resurrected, re-imagined and recreated. Cyan are coming home, not as a Reed solo project but as a full-fledged band with some of the best in the business.

To find out more about the band’s origins and bring us up to date on their present and future plans, Sonic Perspectives decided to talk with the two primary men involved: celebrated singer Pete Jones and the Cyan man himself, Rob Reed. Below is the transcription of our insightful and enjoyable interview, followed by a review of the new album in question: Cyan’s 2021 version of “For King and Country”.

Hi Rob and Pete, great to have you with us. Let’s start by asking Rob to give us some background on Cyan, as fans of Magenta and his other projects may not be as familiar with it. How did Cyan first get started?

Rob Reed: Well, it’s got a connection to Magenta. But first, we go back into the olden days. When I was in school in the sixth form, my first band I was in was Cyan and we formed it in the last year of school and we wanted to be a Prog band, we wanted to be Genesis and Yes. We made a real cheap demo with like four tracks on it, sent it around to few people and heard nothing. And about six months later, I got a letter from Nick Barrett of Pendragon, and he viewed the tape and really liked it and passed it on to SI Music in Holland. And they came back and said, Oh, we love this demo, can you make an album? But by that point, all the people that were in the band with me had all left school. So I was forced to make the record on my own. So I played terrible guitar on it, synth bass, synth drums and worst of all, I sang it! But it did really well at the time, and this was in the nineties. And so I made a second and third album and we got a singer in. And then I was making a fourth Cyan album and I’d also been doing a pop duo with Christina, the singer from Magenta. We’d sort of been battered going through the pop industry and we’d had enough. So I thought, I wonder what this would sound like if Tina sang it? She sang it and I thought, Oh my God, it sounds amazing! And that is how Magenta was formed. The first Magenta album “Revolutions” was meant to be the fourth Cyan album, but it sounded so good with Tina singing it that I just thought, Let’s go with it. I was a massive Renaissance fan. And to me, it sounded like early Renaissance with Tina singing it. And the rest is history, really with the band. So these three albums sat on the shelf, really. So about 10 years ago, I put some real drums on it because there’s drum machine on the original. And I kept going back to these original recordings, but I couldn’t get anybody to sing it. And I tried a few singers. For me, singing is everything on records. You know, you can fake everything else, but the singing you can’t cheat. So I was waiting for somebody special to come along to sing it! [laughs]

Enter Pete! So, Pete, did you know about Cyan? Have you known about them for years or is this relatively new to your ears as well?

Pete Jones: Well, Chris Jones, who is Rob‘s unofficial right-hand man, was telling me about the Cyan stuff not too long after I signed up with White Knight Records, which is Rob‘s company. So that would have been about 2016, something like that. And he sent me a couple of tracks and then I think later on, he sent me a couple more. I don’t know whether it was his sort of idea for me to sing because I had a few things on, so we weren’t sure whether I was sort of up for it or not. It was great stuff and also I’d heard some of the stuff from the other two albums as well. So I was definitely aware of them but when Rob asked me to do it officially, which I think was back in 2018, I was really up for it cause by then I’d heard the new versions and it was just fantastic. I mean, personally I’m still someone who’s recording with synth bass and a drum machine myself! [laughs] So I’m not too worried about that. But there was something fantastic about these new recordings and obviously knowing that Luke was going to be involved as well. And it all sounded top-notch. It’s great when you get songs sent like that and they’re all ready, and now you just put your vocal on and you already know it’s going to be good because you’ve heard the track already.

This project has one of the longest timelines I think I’ve ever heard of! It was written in the mid eighties originally, right, Rob?

Rob Reed: Yeah. right.

And then it wasn’t until the nineties that it was first recorded. And then even now…just fill in a little more of the timeline for us, because it sounds like Pete just said in 2018 he started tracking vocals. And I imagine maybe you brought Luke in when you were working with the band Kiama, or how did that timeline work?

Rob Reed: Yeah, that’s how Luke came in, really. I put real drums on it about 10 years ago and it sat on my hard drive. And then Chris, our friend said, Let Pete sing on one track, so we did that. And the moment I heard it, I thought, This is amazing! And then I was doing the project Kiama with Luke and I said, Luke, I’ve got this stuff that Pete sang on, do you fancy putting some guitar on it? I’m a huge It Bites fan. I love the songs and the arrangements, so I said to Luke, Could you come in here and you can do your thing on it, and so he played guitar on it and again, the whole thing went up another level. So then I got a girl singer called Angharad Brinn. She’s a brilliant female singer. And she sang on some of my solo albums so she came in and her voice compliments Pete‘s. So every time I was adding these layers, it was just getting better and better. And the record’s been sort of finished for about two years, really. Almost, but I’m always tinkering with it until the release date! But I didn’t want to release the record until we could get together to shoot all the videos. I wanted to make the first video a 15 minute epic, the opening track of the record, with all of us performing that. And it was only like about two months ago that we could actually get everyone in the same room! I didn’t want to have a soft release on it, so I wanted everything in place like the video, photographs, promotion. And even though the songs do date back to 1984, 85, there’s a great innocence on these tracks. They were written with no pressure from fans or record companies or reviews. I only made it because I enjoyed it. And I think that comes through on the music and there’s something that I wish I could get back that sort of youth and positiveness and fearlessness. So it’s been great to sort of revisit it and to rewrite loads of it as well. Cause I listened back to it now with 30 or 40 years of knowledge of songwriting and production, to fix all the mistakes on it, in the arrangements. I thought like, we can do this now that we’ve got Pete singing, he can go louder or quieter, and up into the top range which I know he loves to sing [Rob and Pete laughing]. So it’s been really good to push and to get it right. I wouldn’t change anything on it now. It’s just something special.

That’s a brilliant feeling. And so Pete, did Rob guide most of the melodic vocal lines, or did you come up with your own flare and spin on things as well?

Pete Jones: Well, most of the tracks had Rob‘s guide vocal which will be on the bonus deluxe box set [laughing].

Rob Reed: No, don’t you dare!

Pete Jones: So, that was absolutely a great guide and you know, a lot of times Rob has written for obviously Christina and of course, Steve Balsamo who has such a vocal range that he can get way up there! So it’s almost like Rob has been writing for the female singer in mind cause that’s what he normally tends to do. So there were a few moments where I thought…hmmm… You know, I’m going to have to…what’s the phrase…

Rob Reed: Go on! [laughing]

Pete Jones: I’m going to have to…reach for this one, you know, gotta tighten the screw somewhere! [laughing] I mean, there were challenges, but I mean, that’s great, it’s actually helped me when you do stuff like that and you work out a way of doing it, and then you can sort of add that to your bow. As far as the material, you’ve got the experience and the additions that Rob has made over the years and it’s a lot more carefully crafted. If you compare the two side-by-side, you can hear all the bits that aren’t there on the original. It’s quite a journey that it’s made in terms of that. So I just knew people are going to love this record.

Speaking of rewrites, let’s get into that a little bit. I was kind of surprised when I went back and listened to the original in some places. Like on the new version, “Call Me” is such a great obvious choice even for a single. And then you go back and you listen to the original, there’s no vocals on it whatsoever. It was an instrumental originally!

Rob Reed: [laughing from Pete & Rob] Well, that song in particular has gone through various changes. Originally, back when we were in school, there was a singing melody on it! But it sort of disappeared over time. It was my brother who wrote some of the lyrics on this album, and he was the singer originally in the band! And he writes most of the lyrics on the Magenta albums. And so it was about fixing the arrangement mistakes, really. And knowing that I had such a good guitarist and vocalist to be able to write some new bits and sort of solve the puzzles on the track, which I think we’ve done.

Pete Jones: I think part of the appeal and something that I think you can’t overstate the importance of enough, is the fact that you’ve got these epics, like “For King and Country” and “The Sorcerer” and “Don’t Turn Away,” but then you’ve got these songs that probably could be played on Radio Two or whatever. You’ve got that level of accessibility, which even in the midst of Prog, you need something for people to sing along to, and hook lines as well, which is really important. And I think that’s a good mix on this album of those two aspects.

Yeah, Magenta had that as well. When you came out with The Singles, there were some amazing pop/Prog tunes there that that’s something like “Call Me” fits right in that vein. You can almost imagine Christina singing it right alongside Pete.

Rob Reed: Yeah. It might actually happen one day! But I think the best Prog, or the Prog that I like, is all about the songs. As I said, the vocal is number one and number two is the song and the melodies. All that instrumental nonsense is like, anybody can do that if you practice hard enough. It’s writing the songs, that’s the gift that you wait to come down to you into your fingers, the chords, the melody. And you go back to bands like Genesis, they were pop songs, everything was pop songs. Even Supper’s Ready is like six or seven pop songs sewn together. And that’s what I do in Magenta. I would write a verse, chorus and the bridge. Then a big electric guitar solo in the middle, a big guitar solo at the end, and I’ve got a prog epic! And you get the best of both worlds on this record, it’s Prog with a capital P but there’s still songs. When we did Magenta, Prog was a like swear word. Everyone hated Prog in the early 2000s. But you fast forward 20 years and everybody wants a bit of it and everyone’s waving the flag of Prog. I look in the Prog magazine now and there are loads of heavy metal bands and indie bands. They’re not Prog in the traditional sense. I know there’s a massive argument about what is Prog and all that nonsense, but I just love great songs, lovely arrangements, emotional peaks and troughs.

You were writing this album so early on. You mentioned Nick Barrett was an early fan, which is amazing because look at the trajectory of Pendragon after that time, after he contacted you and heard it, their career had so many more decades after that. So when you were looking back, throughout the past decade, as you were starting to rerecord this, how was that for you going back to the early-to-mid eighties? Did you get almost a visceral sense of a young Rob Reed then, with those visions and writing those pieces of music?

Pete Jones: Yeah. That’s exactly what it was. And when I listen to the tracks now, like “Call Me“, I remember and I can see it visually. I sat at the piano in the school hall in the six form just before assembly in the morning where everyone was going to sing hymns, I wrote, “Call Me” on that piano. I remember doing it. And the same, I remember being with a mate in his living room writing “The Sorcerer“, you’d come up with a riff and I’d write the chords. So it was just a great time and all I dreamt about was being in a Prog band, either being in It Bites or Pendragon or Genesis. And there was no sort of dark thought like: will it fail or will anybody like it? What are reviewers going to say? It was an amazing time, really. And rerecording it just takes me back to all that.

And all that you have accomplished since then. I remember the only time I’ve seen Magenta play, cause I live in the States, I saw you play at the RosFest festival and you mentioned being a huge Renaissance fan and didn’t Annie get up on stage and sing a song with you?

Rob Reed: Yeah, we did a single with her, and that was an amazing show, it was our first time in America. And, it was just brilliant, we had a great time. And again, you didn’t know how people were gonna react to it, the same as when we did the first Magenta record. I didn’t know if anyone would like it, it was a really bad time to release it. I just said I’ll make a double album, four songs, Prog and go for it.

Pete, your voice is popping up in so many places on all these different albums, maybe for a song here, maybe for an album side there. And of course you’ve got your own projects. So how are you viewing your trajectory of your career right now, as now you’re the lead singer of Cyan, but you’re also such an amazing instrumentalist as well? I think you are playing saxophone on this album, too?

Pete Jones: Yeah, that’s me. It’s funny actually, because I played sax on Cocoon on the very first Tigermoth Tales album. And then after that, I just didn’t really. The sax didn’t seem to come up for the subsequent six albums after that! And then I started getting asked, like when I was in Camel I told them I played sax and I ended up playing for them. And then it was a couple of people started asking. It’s also lovely to be seen as a sort of a sax player because when you play a lot of instruments…well, for me, there’s the keyboard, which is obviously my main thing that I’m considering myself to be best at. With the other instruments you tend to feel sometimes that I’m just sort of, I’m a stowaway. I’m sort of waiting for someone to say, Well, he’s not really a sax player, is he? He’s a keyboard player who just plays a bit of sax. So it’s nice to be asked specifically for the sax as well. So that’s nice. And as for my trajectory, I’ve just got to keep juggling stuff there. There’s a new album in the making from Red Bazar and also there’ll be something new from Tigermoth Tales in the pipeline. And then with Cyan, I think we’ve got to get the live gig out of the way first. I don’t know what the plans are after that, but I’ll certainly be very happily involved in whatever Rob wants to do. Just a matter of trying not to burn the candle at both ends as, as they say. During lockdown, when there was no gigs happening, it was kind of fun to be able to just get on as many things as possible, which is kind of the result of what’s happening at the moment! But I really still pinch myself sometimes to think, I can’t believe this. If I ever thought to myself when I was trying to make it – when I’d been trying to make it for sort of 15 years and nothing was happening – If I’d ever thought to myself, What’s the most likely thing that’s going to sort of boost your career and actually make you into some somebody that gets a bit of recognition, making a Prog album wouldn’t have been my answer if I’d asked myself that question! So yeah, I still feel very lucky.

Rob, who is the drummer on the album and who’s the drummer on the live gigs? I’ve seen Dan’s name on the bass but you haven’t officially announced a drummer.

Rob Reed: Well, as I said, the drums were recorded back 10, 12 years ago for this album, when I was working on, uh, some of the early Magenta albums. So I used Tim Robinson who played on the first three or four Magenta albums. He did it. He just came over and did it in two days. He had no idea what it was all about and all that, but he just played so well on it. I didn’t want to change any of it. It’s lovely and sounds great. But then when we came to do it live, I spoke to Tim and he had moved on from all this stuff. He’s teaching and stuff. So the obvious candidate to me was to use the rhythm section from Magenta, which is Dan Nelson on bass, who plays on the album and Giffy Griffiths that plays with Magenta now. So that’s the lineup and we’ve got our first show in four weeks, four weeks away. I started learning it and it’s breaking me at the moment because I haven’t done a gig for about two years. And this is the first gig in and it’s we played the whole album end to end. And I listened to it and I think, Why did I write all those keyboard solos? Why did I use a hundred tracks of keyboards on this album? Cause I got to play it live! So it’s a bit of a roast, really. But it’s going to be fun.

In a live context will Pete be playing either additional guitar or keyboards?

Rob Reed: He’ll play everything! Everything! Drums, bass, you know! [laughing] I desperately wanted Pete to be the singer in it because I’ve seen him in so many other bands where he’s surrounded by so many keyboards, guitars and sax and everything. Right. And in the Cyan videos it’s great to see him just sing it, you know? So I think, I think we discussed a little bit, I think Pete‘s going to play a bit of guitar and obviously sax. But obviously, you can play it all better than us!

Well, it’s even fun just watching The Sorcerer video to see what you chose to mime-playing on the keyboards when there’s actually a lot more going on in the background of the studio recording…I’m just watching, I’m watching your fingers saying, Oh, he chose to do THAT line and ignore those other keyboard parts.

Pete Jones: [lots of laughter] Oh! Well, that’s some dedicated viewing there!

You mentioned Genesis before and so I am always interested when someone takes a well-known song title like “Snowbound” and then makes it your own. Was there a reasoning, a connection between the two songs there?

Rob Reed: [laughs] I mean, it must have been influenced by it. I don’t know why we were so blatant as to lift the title of it. But, um, I think when we did it, I think someone put a video of people skiing and stuff to it. Cause it’s quite a sort of crazy track, it’s quite fast and, you know, manic. And I think we just called it that. I think it was more the musical ideas that were definitely influenced by Genesis.

In listening to the lyrics of “Man Amongst Men”, in the past decade here in the States gun violence has just had a huge rise with all these incidents. So I’m wondering if that sort of changing landscape impacted you at all as you rerecorded “Man Amongst Men”, which of course deals with an act of gun violence.

Rob Reed: That’s a sort of strange song where the lyrics have undergone a lot of rewrites on that, and sorting out. When I wrote the lyric on that back in the day, no one quite sort of knew what it was about. Cause it was so badly written. I think Pete sort of came in and sorted it out so it made more sense to people, so they could actually understand what it was about. But at the time when I was writing it, it was more sort of like the Battle Of The Epping Forest in a Genesis kind of vibe with its characters and stuff. But as you said, in today’s climate it’s kind a bit of a reality, unfortunately. It was a lot more innocent when it was written…he was more sort of a Maverick and tongue in cheek, but it’s undergone a lot of rewrites to make it work.

And of course there were two additional Cyan albums after For King and Country. Do you think you’re going to be revisiting some of that material as well? Or what do you think the future might hold for Cyan?

Rob Reed: In an ideal world, I’d love to do a lot more shows with Cyan and recording-wise, if anything, the songs were even better on the second and third albums. There’s some great songs on there that, given this lineup, would go through the roof. On the third album in particular, there’s some great songs. So they are there, ready to be cherry-picked and to be redone. But I think with the songwriting capability of the members of the band, I’d love to write something new. Possibly we do both old and new, cause I’d love to write new ones, because me and Pete have never written anything together. It’d nice to sort of hand Pete an unfinished track and say, Here you are, do what you want with it, and then he could hand me something. It’s such a great lineup.

With you reconnecting with Luke now, do you think there’s ever a future for Kiama or do you think that was a one-off?

Rob Reed: Again, that was a great lineup when we did it. The idea of that band going back to the sort of 70s rock and prog like Rainbow, Queen and Led Zeppelin was really good. But it was a timing thing where one member of the band had something else to do, so he couldn’t do it and then when he came back another member didn’t have time. And it sort of fell apart, really.

Pete Jones: You’ll just have to stick to your seven or eight projects that you’re doing at any one time.

You’re a fine one to talk!

Pete Jones: [laughs] Set myself up for that, really!

Rob Reed: What’s nice for me is that I’ve done Magenta for 20 years and I love it and that will carry on. We’ve just been to Peter Gabriel’s studio. And actually Pete came down, we did an EP with Magenta and Pete came down the weekend and play sax on a track. So that was an amazing experience.

Pete Jones: Yes, it was a fantastic day, just being in the hallowed studios. It was just fantastic. Because I’ve been there with Camel to rehearse a few years back, but to go back there and be in the studio and watch Magenta sort of laying the track down and watch it come from nothing into something. And then doing my little bit as well, which is great to be involved in it.

Well, you threw me for a loop there for a second, Rob, when you just said where we were at Real World and Pete came down, I was thinking you were referring to a different Pete for a second.

Rob Reed: [laughs] Oh! No, the real Pete – Pete Jones!

Until you said he played sax, then I was like, wait, wait a minute. Okay, I see.

Rob Reed: No, he wasn’t there! He was there the week after, but we missed it.

And Rob, I see that you’ve now announced that Sanctuary Part Four is actually The Ringmaster part one, is that right?

Rob Reed: Yep. Yeah. That’s coming out. I just like having to have these different things, it cleans my musical palette so I can do like Magenta and then I can go into the Sanctuary stuff, which is completely different, and then do the Cyan stuff, and then I can go somewhere else to an electronica album or whatever. It allows me to come back to, whatever band I come back to sort of enthused. If I was just doing one project all the time, I’d get so bored by the end of doing a project. So the Ringmaster is coming up in October. I’ve split the record so that they’re coming out in two parts, one in October and one in December. Cause I hate long albums and I have like a hundred minutes of music and I thought, no way am I going to inflict that in one go. I wanted to have like 45-50 minutes, really enjoy it, want more and then not have to wait two years for another record!

And Pete, did you just get to perform this past weekend?

Pete Jones: Yes. Yes, I was at the HRH festivals on Saturday and Sunday with Tigermoth Tales which is the first gig we’ve done since February last year. So yeah, it was a great way to bounce back, so to speak. I think someone said there was about 400 people, which for me at a Prog gig is loads of people. It was just great to come back and to play songs like “Still Alive,” which obviously was very topical at the time and still is to a degree. To get the audience singing along, we sort of had them sing along to this particular part and it felt like I was doing “Hey Jude” or something. So yeah, a real buzz from doing that. And of course there were some fantastic bands on as well. Frank Carducci and Colosseum, The Enid, Mostly Autumn and all these fantastic acts. Great to see people enjoying live music and great to be able to get out there and do it.

Now that we’ve heard from Reed and Jones, let’s explore this new album ourselves. What stands out immediately is the consistency of the material and the mastery of the musicians. While a degree of re-writing has taken place for this upgraded version, there is plenty of proof available that Reed had some serious talent even as a teenager, penning the original material while still in school. Those moments that still were awkward or “didn’t work” in the first go-around 30 years ago have largely been corrected and improved so that it can stand confidently alongside most other contemporary prog albums, if not an inch or two higher.

And what of those musicians? Luke Machin relentlessly appears to defy the laws of guitar physics, his fluid and inventive guitar runs elevating the material to the extraordinary. Simply put, he’s one of the best. Dan Nelson proves himself to be a great match for this style of music, too, with engaging bass lines which support Reed’s and Machin’s licks. As we’ve learned from the interview, the recorded drum tracks are a decade old, delivered by Tim Robinson even though Jimmy Griffiths will perform them live and from here on out. Robinson provided great work in just a few days’ time and it’s a nice surprise to see his efforts finally come to light. Reed’s talent almost needs no additional mention, so consistent is his skilled composition, layering, performance and production. He is the bedrock around which everything else flourishes. And then there is Pete Jones, whose voice absolutely shines in this setting. As Reed has said, the number one priority is the singer – the voice – and in Jones, Cyan have a stunning vocal powerhouse which promises endless possibilities ahead for their future.

Most readers will have heard the first two singles released and thus already have a good sense of the approach of the album, as these are good representations of the entire playlist, not just cherry-picked gems. “The Sorcerer” enters as a full-on prog “single” at 15 minutes, a scorcher of an epic. The upgraded 2.0 version gains four additional minutes on its predecessor which is largely given to Machin during exciting instrumental passages where he and Reed sometimes trade solo runs. Yes, the lyrics are perhaps “too prog”, with tales about King Arthur and wizards at this point being a true cliche of the genre. Despite that obvious critique, the music herein is just too fantastic to give much of a care, and Jones’ voicing transforms even trite lyrics into beckoning gems of storytelling. As he opens up a new section singing “Hatred and fear will die, open your mind,” the prog-lover can’t help but be sucked into the fervor and swoon. Orchestral strings balance out the rocking organ solos provided by Reed, along with his signature lead synth playing. His younger teenager-self would have been delighted to hear how far this creation has come.

In addition to long-form pieces, Magenta always had a knack for writing shorter pop ditties that packed a surprising punch, as evidenced by their excellent “Singles” collection. We see where that talent came from via these earlier Cyan songs like “Call Me” and “I Defy the Sun”, shorter pieces that are instant ear-worms and yet retain a flourish of musicality that satisfies. If the trio version of Genesis worked for you, it’s hard to imagine not digging these examples of fine songwriting, especially when Machin lends his hands, offering “Call Me” a glorious final couple of minutes both on the electric and acoustic. “I Defy the Sun” is the closest thing to a ballad on the album, backup singer Angharad Brinn providing a nice balance to Jones’ lead as they deliver an uplifting message of love. Reed plays an intriguing blend of 70s and 80s keyboard choices while Machin continues doing what he does best.

A couple of instrumentals also pop up which deliver just as many thrills even without Jones at the mic. He still gets into the action, talented multi-instrumentalist that he is, on sax, flute and goodness knows what else…the man is legend. Nelson serves up inventive bass lines, especially on “Snowbound” (no, it’s not a Genesis cover), bass always being an important aspect in making this Prog with a capital P. Meanwhile, “Night Flight” (no, it’s not a Zep cover) sees Robinson really pounding the skins as we travel through different styles, from acoustic latin-tinged guitar playing to Jones taking a great sax solo to Machin’s fretboard flights of fancy.

A few mini-epics are included to sweeten the deal even further. “Don’t Turn Away” may be the best of the lot, offering a grand symphonic run for nearly half of the song before Jones comes in with the first verse, delivering one of the best melodic lines of the album. The extended “Man Amongst Men” has a lot going for it musically through multiple sections, including more stratospheric soloing from Machin, beautiful female vocals from Brinn and energized bass playing courtesy of Nelson, though the storyline still feels somewhat unclear. Finally, the title track serves up an almost-anthemic closing with a more focused subject matter. Jones once again delivers a convincing performance as he belts out “I hear the battle cry, fight on, fight on for King and Country!”

As an initiation to his future life as full-time musician, Reed’s writing on “For King and Country” is quite impressive. As a full-throttle 2.0 version 30 years later, it can stand proud as one of the best of 2021. It’s taken quite a journey to get to this point, but it’s been worth the wait. We can only hope that Reed not only gives the same treatment to some of the high points on the subsequent 2 Cyan albums but that this incredible band also writes new material together. They may even give Magenta a run for their money. Apparently, whichever colour Reed chooses to paint ultimately turns to gold.

The post Interview with ROB REED and PETER JONES + Cyan – For King and Country (Album Review) appeared first on Sonic Perspectives.

Rage is back from isolation with their always dependable blend of thrash and melodic metal. Their new album “Resurrection Day” was released last Friday, September 17th, and features a revamped lineup, with two guitar players.

After last year’s departure of guitarrist Marcos Rodriguez, Stefan Weber (ex-Axxis) was enlisted, followed just a few weeks later by Jean Bormann (Angel Inc, Rage & Ruins). The fourth band member is of course drummer Vassilios “Lucky” Maniatopoulos, who has been with Rage since 2015. This lineup was introduced to the public for the first time on the song “The Price Of War 2.0”, a re-recording of the same-named song from their album “Black in Mind”, from 1995.

On “Resurrection Day”, the band’s first full-length effort with the new members, Rage continues their victorious path, and rewards the long-time followers with a very inspired collection of songs. From the thrashy vibes of “Virginity” and “Extinction Overkill”, to the melodic overtones of the title track and “Mind Control”, there’s something here for fans of every era of the band. Much like its predecessor “Wings of Rage”, there are definitively nods to their past, but they relentlessly forge ahead with a renewed sense of energy and excitement.

Sonic Perspectives interviewer Rodrigo Altaf sat down with Rage’s main-man Peavy Wagner to discuss how the new lineup was put together, the writing process of the new album, touring plans and much more. Listen to their conversation below and remember that for more interviews and other daily content, make sure to follow Sonic Perspectives on Facebook, Flipboard and Twitter and  subscribe to our YouTube channel to be notified about new content we publish on a daily basis.

The post PEAVY WAGNER Discusses Heaviness of RAGE New Album “Resurrection Day”: “I Don’t Know Why Took Us So Long To Add a Second Guitar Player” appeared first on Sonic Perspectives.

At 74 years of age and a career spanning seven decades, one would think it’s time to slow down…unless your name is Carmine Appice! He is currently a member of Vanilla Fudge, Cactus, and ours with his brother Vinnie doing percussion shows. In addition to that, he’s doing a podcast series with his brother, entitled “Hangin’ & Bangin'”.

Carmine rose to fame with Vanilla Fudge in the 60’s and they were pioneers of the psychedelic rock genre. Their versions of “Ticket to Ride”, “Eleanor Rigby” and most notably “You Keep Me Hanging On” were hit on their first album, and they influenced acts like Uriah Heep, Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple. Carmine‘s distinctive drumming style did not go unnoticed, and he went on to be a part of bands as diverse as Ozzy Osborne and Rod Stewart, and to record sessions with Stanley Clarke, Pink Floyd, Paul Stanley and many more.

Carmine was also part of the inception of Cactus, Beck, Bogert & Appice, King Kobra and was once a member of Blue Murder. His technique influenced the likes of John Bonham, Neil Peart, Tommy Lee, Nicko McBrain and Ian Paice. With so much history, it’s no wonder he had a lot of anecdotes to tell. He took on the task of putting all his experiences on paper, on his autobiography “Stick It!: My Life of Sex, Drums & Rock ‘n’ Roll”.

As 2021 is reaching its final quarter, Carmine has a few things to promote: first of all, Vanilla Fudge released a single called “Stop! In the Name of Love”, the last ever recording of their late bassist Tim Bogert. More recently, his partnership with guitar player Fernando Perdomo, an album entitled “Energy Overload”, was released to critical acclaim.

In a very spirited interview, Sonic Perspectives collaborator Rodrigo Altaf sat down with Carmine Appice to discuss his recent endeavors, Tim Bogert‘s legacy and influence, touring plans and much more. Listen to their conversation below and remember to subscribe to our podcast in any of the several platforms we publish them in, to listen and be notified about new interviews and contents from the world of music.

The post Legendary Drummer CARMINE APPICE Discusses Last VANILLA FUDGE Song Recorded with Late Bassist TIM BOGERT: “We Wanted to Get Him On At Least One Track Before He Was Gone. It Sounds Old School and Classic” appeared first on Sonic Perspectives.

After releasing the highly acclaimed double concept albums “The Similitude of a Dream” and “The Great Adventure”, The Neal Morse Band are back with their eagerly anticipated fourth studio album “Innocence & Danger”. The new release sees them changing their name to NMB and returning to writing an unrelated collection of individual tracks that span through two discs containing 100 minutes of music.  

Last August 27th, fans got to hear the most collaborative NMB effort to date, as well as the record that brings to the next level the alternation between lead vocalists and the richness of the harmonies that up to four members pull off. Also, “Innocence & Danger” has not only one but two epics that will be the delight of enthusiasts of longer tracks, an approach that has not appeared on a NMB album since the debut album “The Great Experiment”.

Contributor Brian Masso sat down with multi-instrumentalist and singer Neal Morse to talk about the reason behind changing the band’s name and the different characteristics between NMB’s music and Neal’s solo work. They also chatted about “Innocence & Danger”, its creative process, how collaborative it turned to be, and the advantages that creating a non-conceptual album provided them. In addition, they spoke about how Morse’s role has evolved over time within the band, some of Neal’s favorite contributions on the record from other members, and the importance of writing about certain themes. Furthermore, they talked about some details regarding Morsefest, if they intend to continue offering a live stream option for future Morsefests, and the possibility of adding more dates to their upcoming tour. Finally, they talked about whether there are plans for upcoming releases with Flying Colors, Transatlantic, and as a solo artist, or the possibility of venturing with different musicians for a new project or band, among other things. 

Listen to the full interview below, and make sure to follow Sonic Perspectives on Facebook, Flipboard and Twitter, and subscribe to our YouTube channel to be notified about new content we publish on a daily basis. 

The post NEAL MORSE of NMB Discusses “Innocence & Danger” Album: “Music Is the Language Of Emotion, So We Want To Tap Into That As Much As We Can” appeared first on Sonic Perspectives.

If the light at the end of the tunnel could be converted into sound, you can bet it would sound exactly like Leprous. Over the last two decades, the Norwegian mavericks have produced some of the deepest and most rewarding music imaginable, steadily evolving from their beginnings as exuberant prog metal explorers, to their current status as one of the most unique and fascinating bands in modern heavy music.

Opening their creative account with kaleidoscopic debut “Tall Poppy Syndrome” in 2009, Leprous have always exhibited a profound desire to make music that sounds like nothing else on Earth. Maturing via the critically acclaimed likes of “The Congregation” (2015) and “Malina” (2017), front-man Einar Solberg’s extraordinary songwriting talents have taken his band to new heights with each successive release. Similarly revered as a jaw-dropping and heart-stopping live band, Leprous have been enthusiastically embraced by a wide variety of music lovers, from diehard metalheads to old school prog fans and, in truth, anyone that demands a little bit more passion, power and elegance from their music

Although unmistakably the work of the same band that made “Pitfalls”, their seventh album “Aphelion” immediately stands out as a radical statement by this endlessly inventive band. Veering from some of the heaviest and most intense material of their career to some of the most delicate and heart-breaking music in the Leprous canon, it is an album of beautifully crafted and meticulously arranged mini-masterworks, offering a wide range of material which should please much off their fanbase, combining lush strings with hard-hitting staccato section and concise yet accessible songwriting.

In this half-hour interview with lead singer and songwriter Einar Solberg, Sonic Perspectives’ progressive rock resident contributor Scott Medina explores the inspirations for the songs, the recording process and even some of Solberg’s techniques to keep his voice in shape during a tour. You can listen to the streaming audio, download as a podcast, or read the transcription below. Remember that for more interviews and other daily content, make sure to follow Sonic Perspectives on Facebook, Flipboard and Twitter and  subscribe to our YouTube channel to be notified about new content we publish on a daily basis.

Welcome everybody. This is Scott Medina with Sonic Perspectives. We are really excited for a new album coming out from Leprous and to have Einar on the phone here with us. Great to be able to talk with you, Einar. How are you today?

Yeah, likewise. Good to talk to you too. I’m doing very well. Just came from quite a long mountain hike today. So I’ve been out in nature today, so

Nice. You have beautiful surroundings there, huh?

Yeah, definitely. Where I live now, I moved out from Oslo, like a while back. So now I live much closer to all of it. I mean, there is nature in Oslo too, but not that many mountains.

Right. I live in Boulder, Colorado, and we’re just surrounded by beauty here.

Yeah. Colorado is definitely the place for hikes as well!

I’m glad you’re getting inspired in that way. Wonderful. Yeah. So let let’s, uh, let’s dip in for first of all, “Aphelion” is quite the album title. It really carries a mysterious and enigmatic sense to it.

In the beginning we wanted the album to be called “Adapt”, because that’s the kind of the meaning we went for, but, uh, it doesn’t really sound very interesting! So, we just went for something more interesting-sounding and took the meaning behind it [laughs]. The meaning is like when basically the sun is furthest away from you, so whenever the light is furthest away, there are still things you can do. And that’s where the word Adapt comes into play. So you adapt, instead of thinking that you wished that you were much closer to the light and that everything was much easier. You just adapt and you do whatever you can with what you have.

Sounds really fitting for the past year that we’ve all been through.

Exactly, exactly. That’s where it came from.

It sounds like the album itself was recorded sporadically in different studios over the past year.

Yeah, exactly. In the beginning we didn’t really plan to make an album out of this. We had a couple of songs that we were planning to build an EP around. We started composing some more and fixing some old songs that needed fixing before we could present them. And then COVID happened. So suddenly we had no touring coming up, no nothing. So we suddenly had a lot of time on our hands for composing and for doing music in a different way than performing live. So at some point during this last summer, we decided to make a proper album out of this, and so we did the album kind of day by day and built it that way. The reason why we did different studios is that the studio where we’ve recorded our last album is in Stockholm and we were not allowed to go there anymore because of the pandemic. So we just had to check out some places here in Norway, and we’ve heard a lot of about Ocean Sound studios, for example. So we went there to do one song first, “Castaway Angels”. And we fell in love with that studio, did some more songs there. Then we wanted to try out another studio we heard really positive things about, so we went and recorded a song there and some drums for a couple of other songs. So it was just like kind of a relatively relaxed process compared to before, because it was just like, Yeah, let’s just build this album gradually. Instead of doing everything in one process, we have like 10 smaller separate processes.

What inspired you to give us the song “Castaway Angels” over half a year ago as a kind of like standalone song?

At that point we had decided that it would be an album, but we didn’t decide that when we decided to release it as a single. “Castaway Angels” was kind of the decisive song for that. By then it was starting to look like something that could develop potentially into an album. So we decided to release it as kind of a Corona-era treat, to give people something new to listen to during that time. I believe that time last year was a really tough time for many people, It was before the vaccine started working. At least here in Norway, it was one of the worst periods, even though the pandemic never hit Norway as hard as it did many other more populated places but still it a difficult times. When we released “Castaway Angels”, there were still several songs for the album that wasn’t finished yet. Then some songs hadn’t even been written at that point, you know? It’s a relatively warm song to have in cold months!

So it sounds overall like the impact of COVID actually helped your recording process because you had a more , relaxed, spacious time. You didn’t have to worry about touring or things like that.

Yeah, and it was good to try one album like that. Basically where you just do things in different ways where you just don’t have any pressure on you whatsoever. You just go and have fun in this studio and whatever happens happens. We did a lot of stuff together in the studio that we’ve never done before. It’s always been like, Okay, now it’s drums, and then it’s usually just me and Baard there, for example. And then it’s bass. And then it’s guitars, like everything layered one thing after another. But here it was just like each song was built in a completely different way. Like some songs were recorded more or less live together in the studio. Other songs were recorded in three different studios. I would say COVID had, in a way, a positive impact on our creativity because you had more time on your hands and, and suddenly you were forced out of your regular routine. And I think that routines are never that great for creativity! I believe we will see a lot of albums coming out in the time to come from bands.

So “Aphelion” and “Pitfalls” both transmit a very personal accounts of your struggle with anxiety and depression. How is that journey reflected differently in these two different albums?

So where “Pitfalls” is in the more early stages of discovering that you’re struggling with it, and kind of panicking a bit and not in acceptance of the situation whatsoever, “Aphelion” is in a much later stage when you’ve gotten to work a lot with it and gotten further and gotten to accept the fact that it’s something that you probably have to live with during your life, but that it is something that gradually fades more and more in the background. But of course in some of the songs I’m singing about some setbacks that you have when you thought that everything was going so well now that it almost seems like a distant memory that you felt that bad, and then suddenly you take some wrong turns and then you find yourself back there again. So there are some setbacks, but at the same time, it’s a much later stage in dealing with these problems. So I would say that “Aphelion” definitely has more light in it.

A song like “On Hold” really goes into almost a diary-like account of your experience.

Yeah. Yeah. And that’s quite interesting because that’s something I actually wrote during the Pitfalls period. But it fit perfectly together with the songs. Because that’s one thing, people often have this Disney-like version of how anxiety or depression works, that it’s just like, Okay, he battled it and then he got out of it and then everything was good and he lived happily ever after, you know. It doesn’t work like that. It’s a gradual process. And sometimes you will fail and go back into the same patterns. But you still slowly but steadily get better if you make the right choices, basically. So, definitely “On Hold” is very fitting for the COVID times. I think many people felt they were on hold this year.

There’s also so much musical diversity here, even sometimes within the same song themselves. Like “All the Moments” starts off with this almost classic rock vibe with a slide guitar, and then there’s this hypnotic verse and then you go into the chorus, but then it suddenly takes a drastically different direction with this extended middle section of balladry there.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. That’s a very interesting song because when we built a skeleton for that song, we had no plans on writing or recording a song. We just had one and a half day extra in the studio after “Castaway Angels.” So we said, Okay, let’s just see what we can come up with and we’ll just record something. Something that just needs to be a skeleton and it can just be in different sequences and we don’t need to record it as a whole thing. And so we just recorded some sequences. Then I started getting some plan in my head of where to take this, I wanted the first verse to be kind of grungy, flowing with the vocal lines in a major scale. And then I wanted the second verse to be a completely improvised melancholic piano where the only similarity with the previous verse is that the vocal lines are pretty much the same, except that I seen them in minor scales. So that was kind of an idea that I had in my head. And then I came back a couple of weeks later to kind of sew everything together and put it together as a song. That’s how that song was built. So it kind of started out with more or less been improvised, and then you kind of just make the structures later, basically. It was the first time I’ve kind of had an idea in my head like that. And the only place that the idea existed was just in my head basically. So it was a very interesting to work like that.

Thanks, that’s fascinating. The song “Nighttime Disguise” is such an intense way to close the album and even sees you descending into growl vocals at the end again.

Yeah. [laughs] That was the song that we wrote together with our fans. We had this project in the studio where we invited the fans and they kind of bought tickets to partake in almost a one week long live stream of us composing and recording a completely new song. Through a poll that we sent to them in advance, they gave us the parameters for like the time signature, the vocal style, the dynamics, the key, the tempo and all the instrumentation. And then we had to work with these parameters that they gave us and try to make a song out of it…while everybody was watching us in real time while we did it! So it was actually a 24/7 stream going for six days, of course we were not active in all 24 hours obviously, but the cameras were still on in the recording room and the control room. So it was a super interesting experience. So you kind of have to take all these parameters that you get when so many different people are voting, it becomes quite random. And then you try to make something out of it with that many restrictions, basically. So it had on there that I had to use all of my vocal styles, including screaming. So I said, Okay, I guess I have to then [laughs], so we found a place that we actually really liked to have those vocals. So, it was to find that sweet spot where we followed whatever parameters they set for us, but we actually really liked it ourselves, too. So we had to find that sweet spot somewhere. I think we got it, yeah.

That’s such an amazing project. I absolutely love it. How many fans did you have on that?

I think there were a few hundred people participating on that project. It was of course a project for the more really hardcore core fans as it’s a very time consuming thing for someone to follow in the middle of a work week! And for the VIPs there, we had this 24/7 Zoom session going too, so they were talking quite a lot with us directly asking us questions here and there. So it was a really different type of project.

Well, it certainly paid off. I think that’s one of the highlights on the album, it’s just an incredible piece. So well done, under pressure!

[laughing] Haha, well I wouldn’t say they helped us…they just made everything much more difficult! But in that way, you become really concentrated on making something cool. And the most hard part of it was to write in three different keys in one song that have nothing to do with each other! Because people voted for three different keys, I think it was B minor, E flat minor, and F sharp minor. So those don’t fit together whatsoever! So I remember I spent so much time trying to modulate from one to another, and then I came to an Aha, that the only way to glue this together, to make it into a proper song is to only modulate to the chorus and then modulate back again to the original key on the verse again, and then to modulate AGAIN to a new key on the second chorus. So that’s kind of what we did. So I spent quite a lot of time to try to make it sounding effortless.

Yeah, it does, you’d have no idea. That’s incredible.

Uh, thanks!

I saw you said that you felt the first single “Running Low” could easily unite your old and new fan base. Could you talk a little bit about how you see those two different groups of fans?

Yeah. Of course there are a lot of in-between fans, too and there are a lot of old fans who love our new stuff as well. And also some new fans who love our old stuff. So it’s kind of a bit simplified of course, to say that we have the new fans and the old fans, and they are having very different preferences because it doesn’t necessarily work like that. But we do have a fan base who really want Leprous to be a prog metal band. I have to be honest and say that none of us from Leprous listen that much to prog metal. We started out as a prog metal band and I still like to be in that genre because it feels quite free in what we can do and everything. But for us it’s never been a thing to try to please the old school fans and try to be whatever someone wants us to be. So we always just wanted to make the music that we want to make. But I think that due to the nature of how this album was written, it’s so free and loose that I think there’s definitely something for every type of Leprous fan in there. Even though maybe some people will never come to that point where they will admit that, because it’s not old enough [laughs], and for some people it’s more about it being old than it being good, you know? The reason why I think it can be a unifying album is because it has a lot of versatility. It covers a lot of the ground and showcases in a quite good way what Leprous is about, what we do as a band. And “Running Low” has some of that darkness that Leprous used to have before, but at the same time it’s accessible enough to work for the people who don’t like our most proggy type of music. But then again, I also feel there is a misconception about prog because people often think that prog is when you make the most obvious changes in your music, like very sudden and very extreme changes. Whereas I feel there is some more art in making the changes in the music more subtle so that it takes more time for the listener to actually know it. So that they eventually say, Aha – this is what’s going on here…I didn’t notice that right away. All the details are more subtle. It’s not so flashy.

The strings carry such an important role throughout this album, especially with Rafael on the cello and then you also have Chris on the violin. How much do you account for the string section in your head while you are songwriting?

Most of the stuff on “Aphelion” – except “Have You Ever?” it was Simon who did the string arrangement – but on the other songs, I already had everything more or less planned out and I sent them the sheets so they could record it more or less as I had it composed and arranged. Except for the Running Low solo where Rafael got to completely make his own solo and do his own thing. So that’s how I went about it. It’s become more and more natural for me to just always include strings. Sometimes I replace the keyboards with strings, for example, because I always really loved string sections. It has a very emotional strength to it.

Will Rafael be coming back out on the road with you?

Yeah, definitely. Whenever we will be touring, I’m sure that he will. He mainly joins us on tours and on albums because we live on different continents, so it’s a bit difficult to do one-off shows to fly over all the way to Norway or somewhere else in Europe, just for a one-off show. But all the tourists we’ve done since 2017, he has been a part of.

And speaking of touring, considering your vocal range and how much you push it, how do you take care of your voice when you’re out on the road?

What I realized – and this only works, of course, if you don’t get sick, if you get sick, then it’s a different story – but if you manage to not get sick (which doesn’t happen very often!) what I normally do is that I take at least three weeks before a tour to get my voice properly in shape. And then it’s no technique or anything, I just gradually get my voice used to doing a full Leprous show. I sing a full Leprous show every second day, for example, for three weeks. Then when I go on tour, my voice already has the stamina that I need to go ahead and do all these shows in a row. Then I should be fine if I also do the warmup exercises before the show, which can be like a minimum of 15 minutes and a maximum of 45, depending a bit on how my voice works. And then I do a gradual warmup where I gradually increase the intensity.

Well, I hope you don’t get sick too often… That must be a real struggle.

Yeah, it’s a struggle, but it’s a struggle that I’m very used to, and I have some techniques in how to still being able to go through with the show. There’s always a way to make the show go on.

Since you’re the primary one playing keyboards or bringing in a lot of the string ideas, I think a lot of people have the idea that a lot of the newer material is really focused on you. And I’m curious how much the other band members relate to the arrangements. You know, you’ve got two guitars, a bassist and a drummer in the band, so how do they relate to the more the keyboard textures coming in and the strings and the arrangements and all of that?

I’ve been the main composer of Leprous for quite a long time and I would say that if you compare the new album to an album like “The Congregation”, for example, I had a much more dominant role on “The Congregation” than what I have right now. Of course I have the dominant role now as well, because I’m the main songwriter, but back then, I kind of wrote more or less all the guitar parts exactly finished how I wanted to have them. And even quite many of the drum parts, quite many of the bass parts, exactly how I wanted it to be. But now there is a much bigger freedom for the members to do their thing. I play with people who are super experienced and the common thing for very experienced people is usually they don’t have this super big need to always show what they can do at every single section, you know? So they tend to make choices that are to serve the song and not to serve their own ego. So it’s always about the song and if there is any need for a guitar section or a guitar riff, someone will do a guitar. If there is no need for, we’ll not do it just for the sake of it, just because it’s boring to not play basically. So everything needs to be there to serve the song.

I see right before the album comes out, you announced that you’re actually doing a live stream, a live performance of the album. Is that right?

Yeah, that will be quite interesting! We started rehearsing and we have still quite a lot more rehearsing to do before we can go on that stage and do it. It will be a thing we’ve never done before to live stream an album before it’s even out. It’s a bit scary for us, but hopefully we’ll pull through and make it happen.

Yeah. That really innovative. Is there any live audience there or is it all a studio experience?

Yeah, there will be some live audience there. I don’t know how many, but I guess at least like a hundred, hundred and 50, maybe even 200, depending a bit on the situation at that point.

Well, Einar thank you so much for taking the time to speak with us. It’s a fascinating process you guys are in, and it’s an incredible album that you’ve come out with.

That’s awesome. Thank you so much, man. I really appreciate the interview and have a nice day in Colorado.

Thanks. We’ll close by playing “The Silent Revelation” in full, is there anything you want to set up to talk about that piece?

Yeah, “The Silent Revelation” is quite interesting because it was made out of leftover parts from Pitfalls. So we wrote a song that was also called “The Silent Revelation” for “Pitfalls,” but we were not happy with it. We were just happy with a few sections. So we threw away a big, big part of the song. We kept the verses and we kept the drums and then we built everything else from scratch again and ended up being really happy. We’ve never done anything like that before. So that was very exciting. It was one of those times when you cook a leftover dinner and it ends up tasting really good! You know, when you just mix the leftovers you have.

Yeah, brilliant. Thanks,, we’ll cue that up for everyone to listen to and hope to catch you out on tour later at the end of the year.

Awesome. Cheers.

The post LEPROUS Singer EINAR SOLBERG Talks Creative Process Behind “Aphelion” Album: “For Us It’s Not About Trying to Please The Old-School Fans, We Want to Make The Music That We Feel We Should” appeared first on Sonic Perspectives.

For the past decade-plus, Big Big Train have increasingly grown their fanbase and the size of their band. Almost on the verge of becoming a supergroup, the membership was so chock full of talent that it was continuously on the verge of tripping over itself. The pandemic and other factors brought some changes to the personnel, whittling down the core membership to the size of a quartet. But you would never know that, given the creativity and skill displayed on new release “Common Ground”. To the contrary, the band is ready to tackle new musical avenues as well as new venues – they’re preparing for extensive touring including their debut trip to North America.

Sonic Perspectives’ progressive rock resident contributor Scott Medina had a chance to talk with lead singer David Longdon and drummer / vocalist Nick D’Virgilio about the latest evolutions of the band, including their songwriting contributions. You can read the transcription of the interview below or listen to the audio. Great ready for the Big Big Train to arrive at your station in early 2022!

Remember that for more interviews and other daily content, make sure to follow Sonic Perspectives on Facebook, Flipboard and Twitter and  subscribe to our YouTube channel to be notified about new content we publish on a daily basis.

Hey everybody, this is Scott Medina with Sonic Perspectives. We are really pleased to have not one but two members of Big Big Train. We’ll just call them Big Train, I guess, for the moment [laughing] since they’re half of the band, from both sides of the pond. Welcome gentlemen! First to start off with, who IS Big Big Train at this point in time? You essentially are a quartet now, yes?

David: I guess we are. Yeah. As a result of the pandemic, we narrowed down to a quartet. Which was great because it enabled us to reinvent ourselves to a certain extent and be able to have more space…because usually space is a very rare commodity in Big Big Train with all people kind of piling in. So now we were able to do something a little bit different, but also retain some of what we’re known for, too. It’s been good, a great experience. It’s something different. It’s fresh and that’s what we needed.

Nick: And even though we’re a quartet, I guess officially, we still had a lot of other guests help us out in the recordings. When we go out and play live, we’re still gonna have 11 people on stage. There’s not just going to be a four piece. So even though we say the band is technically a four piece, we still employ and bring in a lot of other people, too.

David: Yeah, it has been so far. For this record. And as you mentioned, you’ll be augmenting the band to include several other players live and it sounds like some of them also did perform on the album as well, in addition to the five-piece brass ensemble.

Nick: We had Carly Bryant who’s going to be playing keys and guitar and singing. She’s doing a few things. Dave Foster, who’s going to be the second guitar player, he’s playing on a few things here and there. So yeah, we definitely had people help and add their voices to the recordings. We wanted to get them involved from the beginning so they’re not just feeling like they’re just hired guns and stuff. You know, we try to be a family and get close to everybody. So it was a cool thing to just have them sort of dive right in. They got to actually record with David at Real World studios where we were all supposed to record, but of course we couldn’t because of this freaking virus. So, they actually got together to record during our original recording session, they couldn’t cancel the session. So, they actually went and did some vocals and a few other things. And Carly and Dave got to go and hang out with the boys and do some recording.

David: Yeah. That was great, it was good fun. On the album, we also had Aidan O’Rourke who’s from a band called Lau, on violin. He’s really good. He does some great things but he’s won’t be joining the band, he’s gotta be back up on the stage with Lau, that’s what he does, that’s his thing. We’ve also got Claire Lindley on violin. We didn’t want to lose the sound of the violin in Big Big Train. That’s a very important factor.

And, even though you mentioned Dave Foster adding some guitars, did it come down to Rikard to do the majority of guitars and keys on the new album?

Nick: Yeah, Rikard really got to step out and shine on this record. He really did a lot of stuff. I mean, we already knew that he was great, but he really got to show… the dude’s pretty phenomenal!

David: Yeah, he’s amazing.

Nick: He added some great flavors to the songs.

The sound is so full, whenever I’m hearing all those layers of keyboards and guitars and everything, I’m just thinking, man, he was really working it on this album. Although we’re focusing on where Big Big Train is headed in the future, is there anything that you two care to share about the former members who chose to leave the band in the past year or two and how that shift happened?

David: They’re all in the UK and they’re all friends. So there wasn’t any animosity between any of us. I think just with what we were going through with the pandemic and all of that, I think it brought a lot of things to a head. It was a very intense time, really. Rachel went because she decided she wanted to train to become a nurse. And Danny‘s an old friend of mine and he just decided that he was going to step down…he had thought about it, and eventually he did go for that. And for Dave, again, I think there just comes a point where we wanted to do more live playing at that time. Dave stepped back because we were about to go off and do an American tour. That tour didn’t happen but in principle, once we’re back up and running, it will happen. I think Dave just was thinking about that, you know, and whether or not he wants it to be, to be doing that.

Nick: We love all them and we always will. They’re fantastic people and we had a great run together and thankfully the band kept going, which I’m very thankful for. We’re all very good friends and will be for the future, for sure.

The new album, “Common Ground,” is labeled as being split into two different parts, part one and part two. And I especially found the first part to be finding you guys sporting some new sounds. Was that a real focus that you wanted the beginning of the album to bring in some new elements? You know, Nick is writing and there’s a lot of new voices. Was that a concerted effort from the get-go?

David: Yeah, we just wanted to do something different. It was a great opportunity, so we said, Let’s bring it. Let’s see what we’ve got. Let’s show people from the get-go that we’re doing something a little bit different.

Nick: Yeah, I got a chance to write more, which I’m very excited about and it just adds a little bit different flavor than Greg writing so much of the material. He’s an amazing writer, but we got the chance to kind of lend our voices a little bit more. And I think we found that we kind of liked what we were getting. It’s a little edgier to the sound. I still think it sounds very much like Big Big Train, we’re just adding a little spice here and there that wasn’t there before, and it’s totally working.

David: It’s a very direct sound this time around. We’re getting to it, you know. It’s rockier, definitely, which is not a bad thing. You know, it’s where we find ourselves with who we are at the moment, so that’s okay. That’s all good. It’s just different.

Let’s explore one of those tracks that really heads into some new places. There’s one written by Nick, “All the Love We Can Give”. Musically it weaves a lot of different styles into it and also finds David going out of his usual vocal range as well. I’d love to hear from both of you a little bit about that song.

Nick: So, I’m a huge David Bowie fan and David Longdon doesn’t do it very often, but I love the character of David‘s voice when he sings low. I think he’s got just a very sultry, beautiful tone to his voice when he sings low. So, when I was coming up with the vibe of this tune, especially at the beginning part, I just had in my brain the inspiration of 80s-era Bowie, like the Let’s Dance sort of record, and some of those vibey tunes like “China Girl” and stuff where he sings that sort of low register and it’s mellow, but deep sounding. That’s just kind of what I had in my brain. Originally David was a little afraid to sing that low but I think once you went for it, it worked. It’s about coming together and finding love for people that you might have a tough time finding love for. You know, coming together as people and respecting everybody. Dignity for all, that kind of thing. So the song sort of weaves about that, you know, in the end we can all give love and if you just treat people like you want to be treated, boy, life is so much easier! And so the song gets to weave through a little bit of that until you get to that point at the end, where the guy sort of has to find that he’s got love to give, and then it gets a little bit dark in that sort of rock section in the middle and it eventually ends where we’re all sort of together. That’s kind of a theme about this record is kind of coming together as people. So, it sort of fits in that vein.

It’s funny, you mentioned the Bowie reference cause I did pick up on that as I was listening. It kind of has that sort of Bowie swoop in there. So David did Nick let you know that that’s what he was going for and put that in your mind?

David: Yeah, he did, absolutely. What tends to happen when I rehearse is I go into rehearsals and it’s not only about when you sing a set, there’s the recovery time afterwards and things like that. So, after I’d done it a few times for a few days, it sort of starts to go lower. So during rehearsals…I think we even did “China Girl” in the past and maybe that was when Nick thought, Okay, yeah, I like that. So it takes a while to get there, but Nick sort of knew I could do it.

Nick: David was working on changing the melody when he first got the song, he thought it was too low to sing. So he was working on different melody ideas, which I was totally going to go for. The melody he came up with was cool and it was totally working, but then I think it was in the Real World session, your voice was sort of finding that spot. And he went for it with the melody I came up with.

David: At the end of the day, when I work on Nick‘s material, I want to please him. I want to give him what he’s after, you know? That’s the point of it. We’re all trying to get towards whatever vision the writer has got for the thing. Nick, Rikard and Greg and I have been together for a long time as a band. And we have that trust in each other, you know, we’ve got that, we root for each other.

And then later in the second half of the song, we go into a whole different section, a nice rocking section. Nick comes to the fore with the vocals at that point. How do you guys decide when anyone other than David’s going to be doing the lead vocals?

David: Well, Nick‘s very magnanimous for this thing, as indeed Greg is. I think I made the call because it just sounded like Nick. So let’s let him do it. Cause it just sounds like Nick. I think I did record vocals in some of those parts, but it just sounded just like Nick‘s thing and the words as well, the lyrics, what he was saying sounded like something that Nick would say.

Nick: I was happy! [laughing] And the song is about people, so having different voices sort of works in the story, you know. It’s the proggy thing, so the song goes through sections. So when the guys said, Yeah, we think you should sing it, I thought, Cool! I mean, I’m happy to do so. I love singing, so the more I could do, the better. I appreciate that.

The next track on the album, “Black with Ink” continues on that vein. I think we’ve got four different singers singing verses on that.

David: Yeah, that was an odd track. We had an ill-fated concept record called “Hope” that got abandoned in the earlier days because as a band we were becoming more and more popular. So this would have been a really big undertaking to do and we thought, well, we actually need something that addresses where we are. We need an album out so that the album ended up being “Folklore“. So lots of material got shelved from that record. So this is a track that Greg wrote but the lyrics are different. The initial title of the song was called “Edmund Ironside“, which was a character in part of the story. But anyway, it’s a great song that has to do with the destruction of a library. When this ancient library was destroyed, they threw all the books in the library into the river and the ink from the books turned the river black. So it’s the destruction of all that knowledge and insight, and the idea of enlightenment in the sense that we get enlightenment by knowledge, by learning, by reading. And we find common ground by being enlightened by reading and seeking things out. So destroying it is not good for civilization. That’s the message behind it.

And once again, it takes pretty adventurous turns, musically-speaking, throughout that song, too.

David: Yeah. Well, we’ve got these great singers in the band with Rikard and Nick for years. So it’s good to let us all have a go at it and just get us all just firing. But this song has lots of words, loads of words. Greg can write lots of words, and sometimes it’s good to make them overlap. So I just said to Greg, why don’t we get people just to record as much as we can. And then when we got Carly in the studio, we realized she’s got really good voice. It’s a different voice to Rachel‘s voice. Rachel‘s got a great voice, and Carly‘s is a different thing altogether. So she, brought something different again, which is what this album’s all about.

It’s funny, as that song begins, I always think of the song “Turn It On Again”. [laughter] I expect Nick to count in the band like Phil does. Well, since we’ve been talking about the theme of the album already several times, why don’t we dive into the title track here, David where I believe you were doing the songwriting on that one?

David: Yeah, I did. In the last year, the world’s kind of gone in a very nightmarish direction and we’ve all found ourselves in extremely awful predicaments. A lot of people been tested. These have been very fearful times and at certain points, no certain outcomes, either. It’s been horrendous really. “Common Ground” was written just before the pandemic. It’s about my partner and I, Sarah Ewing, who’s the artist for Big Big Train. We got together and as I’m 56, we decided that, you know, we were embarking on this relationship, at our time in life. And so it was really about finding our common ground with each other. So it’s written about two people and it’s real, it’s these real people finding themselves in that situation. When I started writing for this record, I told Greg that “Common Ground” was one of the tracks that I’ve got for it and I’m writing about the moment. I think with everything that has gone on with the world, I found what was happening was so shocking that I just couldn’t have time to go read “The Tempest” or research the life of William Shakespeare, I haven’t got time for that! I just got enough to go through each day. And I thought, well, I need to write about the now. And the same thing went on with “The Strangest Times“, which is really about living through the pandemic. In fact, a friend of ours said “The Strangest Times” sounds like a Pete Townsend song, it’s kind of got that anger to it. So, the difference for me on that record is that I’m writing about the current situation and it’s still current. I’m really looking forward to when I can sing it in hindsight and say, Remembers those awful days? And they’re well behind us. When I never have to sing that song again, that’d be great. I’m good with that!

Although it’s a love song, a very personal love song, that theme does take on more of a global context, especially with the album cover you’ve got and the video for the song too. It really transcends even just that personal love.

David: Yeah, we’ve got the idea of the helping hands on the album cover. The amazing about this whole pandemic thing is the resilience of the human spirit. It’s just incredible, you know. You see it time and time again, every story that you hear on the radio. And that’s great. That’s what we’re about. I particularly like the album cover. In many ways it looks like one of the hands is helping up the other one. It was originally just about Sarah and I finding out what we had in common with each other, and how we’re going forth. The idea of the line in the chorus, “We claim our common ground” is not something that just happens to you. It’s also something you’re in command of, it’s something you choose. In our cases, we need to have it now because we don’t know how long we DO have, especially in light of the pandemic, and also in terms of years. You just never know. You just never know what’s around the corner. If one thing the pandemic has taught us as a species is that you better get on with it, you know, the clock’s ticking. Get it and enjoy it while you have it.

There’s a track on here, the “Dandelion Clock” where the band takes a decidedly XTC-ish turn, and yet the song comes after Dave Gregory has left the band. That’s sort of ironic, it seems.

David: Yeah. There’s a bit of XTC in “Common Ground” as well with the opening chords. Yeah. But they were always a big influence on me. I’ve known Dave a long time, he’s a close personal friend of mine. When I was a young struggling musician, he gave me his time and the fact that he encouraged me, he gave me that hand up, and I’ll always be grateful to that. So the idea of having an XTC-ish-ness about certain things within our writing, that’s fine. I’m good with that. They’re incredible band.

We’ve also got this killer instrumental called “Apollo”. Nick, it’s really exciting that you’re continuing to write instrumentals for the band, like “Pantheon” was on the last album. So what led to the creation of this track for you?

Nick: This band rocks, in my opinion. We’ve got a group of killer musicians in all these different areas. And even though we haven’t had many instrumentals like specific instrumentals – we have a lot of great instrumental sections in our extended songs – I wanted to write the band’s quintessential sort of instrumental. Sort of like Genesis has “Los Endos“. You know, they ended every show with “Los Endos“, they still do. And it’s just one of those tunes where it shows off the band. The melodies aren’t too inaccessible. It’s still sort of straight ahead. There’s singable melodies through it, but it’s a chance for the band to stretch a little bit and a great show closer. And that’s kind of what I set out to do with this tune. That was my inspiration. Once I got the beginning sort of going, I was just laser focused. I worked on nothing for three or four weeks until I sent the guys the demo. Cause I was just so excited about the whole thing. And they were into the tune, everybody liked it. And once everybody else started putting their flavor onto the original demo, man oh man, it just took on a life that I just couldn’t be happier with the way the tune turned out. From Rikard to David‘s flute to the way Greg played bass, Aiden‘s violin, my gosh, it’s just killer! It really turned out well and I love it.

The drums are massive on it, and I know you’ve got the whole Sweetwater support there. So is there anything you want to mention about the specifics of the drums on that track?

Nick: The drums are a little bit different on this tune. I used a small drum kit throughout the whole record, just a regular four-piece drum kit. But we used a ton of different snares to get the sounds. We have a great engineer here named Sean Dealy, who worked with The Counting Crows for a long time. He’s been on the road forever. He works here as one of our main engineers and producers now, and he’s a drummer by trade. So it’s almost like I had a drum tech in the studio with me. I think we had like 15 different snare drums and went through each one to just dial in that sound since the snare is like the main body of any song, as far as the drums are concerned. So we really tried to focus in the sound for each tune and gave Rob Aubrey – our engineer, the guy who mixes all our stuff – lots of options as far as microphones and sounds to work with. It’s just fun to work here. I got to really kind of experiment on things.

So, like “Los Endos”, do you think you’re going to have that be your show closer from here on out, or you’ll have to wait and see?

Nick: I mean, I don’t know about forever, but definitely the tours that we’re going to be doing next year, yeah.

David: It’ll be fun to play, definitely. It’s a great piece of music. Yeah.

Speaking of touring, finally you’ve got UK dates booked and you are finally coming across over to North America as well.

David: And we can’t wait! We’re really looking forward to it.

Nick: For North America it’s going to be – you know, I know nothing’s announced yet – but it’s a fairly extensive run of shows going all over the country from the east coast to the middle of the country – which is unusual for a band to tour in the States for the first time and actually hit some of these cities in the middle of the country which is great – and then up and down the west coast. So we’re really kind of tackling a bunch of cities and a couple in Canada as well. For me, of course, being the only American in the band, I’m super excited about bringing this band over here finally after all these years. I mean, I’m really eager to play this music for an American audience,

David: It’s going to wild. I mean, imagine it. These are the first dates we’ve done since coming out of the pandemic. It’s going to be so joyous! I can’t wait.

Nick: And a lot of the guys have never been here. David‘s never…have you been to the States?

David: No, no.

Nick: And Greg‘s only seen a few things, a few cities in his life. Sarah‘s probably traveled a little bit more?

David: Sarah‘s been in the States. She used to work for George Lucas.

Nick: Right. So a lot of the gang has not seen a lot of this country. And since we’re literally going to be driving all the way across and pretty much all the way back, they’re going to see a lot of things they’ve never seen before, which is great, and have experiences, which’ll be fun. We’re going to do some rehearsing here in Fort Wayne first. They’re gonna come to Sweetwater. So they’ll get to hang at my house and come to dinner. I’m always over there, you know, going to their houses and stuff. So it’ll be great to have the gang over. Tiffany will make sauce and we’ll have a big dinner, and I’m excited about these things!

David: So am I. I’ve heard about this sauce!

Nick: Oh, it’s good.

Even I’ve heard about the sauce! [laughter]

Nick:  Come on over, man, you’re welcome!’

Well, this is an amazing way for you guys to experience North America. I’m really excited for you. And knowing about the songwriting approach of the band, another album or two down the road might encapsulate some more American stories in them.

David: Yeah. I guess so. Cause it does, doesn’t it? I mean, look how much what’s happened in the world has impacted this record. So as we broaden our horizons, I’m sure, absolutely. There are songs to be written, I’m sure!

Now that you’re releasing this excellent new album, as you look back over the past 10-plus years, how would each of you define the band’s evolution at this point, over that time you’ve been in the band?

Nick: To me, it’s been fun to see how this band – which was already around for a number of years before I joined and before David joined – to see the incremental growth and just the joy of making music. Being in progressive rock for a lot of my career…It was always one of these things where you had to say, Oh yeah, I’m in a progressive rock band and the response was always like, Oh, you play THAT kind of music? But BBT were always an unapologetic, progressive rock band. This is what we do. We hope you like our music, if you don’t that’s fine. That kind of thing. The earlier records had a lot of the English storytelling that they did. That’s what we did. And it resonated with people because they thought it was very honest. We just did what we loved first. And thankfully the band was very talented. So the quality of music was good. And just to see it grow, our friendships grow, our music grow. And then once we played live that first time at King’s Place, I think we all kind of said, Man, we should do this some more. And that was really the stepping off point to try and really grow the band. And it’s just been nice to kind of live this incremental growth over the years. Really, it’s a very joyous experience for me as a musician.

David: It’s great because the bigger it gets…it’s an odd thing. You know, it’s very idiosyncratic thing as well. It’s that if you look at what we did and how we did it, it just doesn’t make sense. When you think about it on paper, it’s just a ludicrous scheme. But in some way it just does work. And idiosyncratic in a way that probably Jethro Tull or Genesis or Yes or those sorts of bands just were. But it is interesting to see how it grows. How we’re going onto the next step, now going over to America. It’s a wonderful thing for BBT. There’s future there, there’s life to be lived. Also seeing how people change as well, the growth in people as individuals. I mean, when you think about what we were like when we first met, we’ve both had such different experiences. It’s been wonderful seeing people come to the fore, like on this album Rikard‘s come to the fore and you can hear what he does. And it’s undeniably Rikard. I’ve been in it for 11 years and it feels like we’re just getting started. It’s ridiculous. Just feels like there’s so much potential here.

What does the rest of 2022 look like in terms of either live shows or future activity?

Nick: We still want to go play continental Europe. We’ve only had a couple of gigs in Germany at the Night of the Prog, you know, that kind of stuff. So we haven’t explored. It’s a big world out there. I think there’s a lot of places for Big Big Train to play if we have the opportunity. So it’s just a matter of things opening up and there’s political things, and visa things, and there’s always kind of stuff that’s a pain in the ass to try and figure out. And they all cost money. That’s the biggest part of it all is that we’re at a point where we’re able to do this, but we still don’t have enough in the coffers to not have to worry about it. It’s a consideration. So all of these things just sometimes get in the way of where we want to go, but it’s just a step-by-step process. What’s really great now, too, at this point in the band’s history is that we have a team behind the band that is really focused on getting us to the next place in the responsible, proper way. So we’re not just hemorrhaging money and we’re doing right stuff for promotion. And all of those things, we have a nice team with us now, too. We’re not just doing it all ourselves, which is great. It helps out a lot. Like Sarah is helping with promotion, aside from the artwork and publicity and stuff, cause she’s so smart and she’s been in the film and music business her whole life. So she has a ton of knowledge. So she’s helping. And our manager, Nick, and all kinds of stuff. So it’s really taken us to another level. As far as the business part of it is concerned

David: And Steve does the web page and the Passenger Club and all that kind of thing. That’s Steve’s baby and he’s made a massive difference to Big Big Train.

Well, the arc looks good for where you guys are headed. Gentlemen, thanks so much for chatting with us. I know everyone’s going to be ecstatic about the new album and then getting to see you next year.

Nick: Awesome, thank you man.

David: Thanks a lot, Scott.

The post BIG BIG TRAIN’s Members NICK D’VIRGILIO and DAVID LONGDON Talk Upcoming “Common Ground” Album: “We Were Able to Do Something A Little Bit Different, It’s Fresh and That’s What We Needed.” appeared first on Sonic Perspectives.

Contrary to popular belief, metal bands and fans do not walk around with frowny faces all the time, looking like they want to murder someone. In fact, humor and metal have walked hand in hand since forever. From Ozzy‘s stage antics and weird facial expressions with Black Sabbath, to Spinal Tap, S.O.D. and Steel Panther, it seems us metalheads have always found a way to laugh at ourselves.

BangerTV, the YouTube channel of the Canadian production company Banger Films, have just added yet another entry to an ever expanding catalogue, and once again, humor plays a key role in how this story is told. Their eight-part series “Heavy Metal Hitchhiker” follows the journey of Mitch, a metal fan who hitchhikes across Canada to deliver a lost guitar to the fictional band Rägr. Each episode shows a ride with a different character, and as the Rägr show time approaches, Mitch gets closer and closer to his final destination. Or does he?

The soundtrack of Heavy Metal Hitchhiker features a myriad of bands, and showcases an interesting mix of new and old acts: Power Trip, Earthless, Pale Mare, Cancer Bats, Carcass, Protest the Hero, Exciter, Possessed and others. Funny enough, there’s only one Rägr song, and one couldn’t help but wonder if there are more to be discovered. The script leaves plenty of room for more episodes to be filmed, so we might see more of the band down the road.

In a very spirited interview, Sonic Perspectives collaborator Rodrigo Altaf spoke with Garret Jamieson, the man behind the character Mitch, and the two discussed how the character was created, Canadian humor, the possibility of more episodes and much more.  Listen to their conversation below and remember to subscribe to our podcast in any of the several platforms we publish them in, to listen and be notified about new interviews and contents from the world of music.

The post Comedian and Actor GARRET JAMIESON Talks Recent “Heavy Metal Hitchhiker” YouTube Series: “I embodied SpongeBob While Performing as the Series Main Character” appeared first on Sonic Perspectives.