G’day .. ‘Major’ the new album is getting ‘life “affirming” reviews. What’s the feeling now that the album is completed? Relief, satisfaction, or working on songs/ideas for number 3?
Definitely satisfaction. I'm very proud of this record and the work the three of us did in the studio. It's also a really crazy feeling that no has heard the record yet.
As I write this, there is still another whole month before the album is released. I've listened to Major thousands and thousands of times and our fans haven't heard a note. That completely blows my mind. I can't wait for everyone to hear it.
We've also been working on some new material to keep busy and we still have tons of riffs we've been sitting on since our college days that definitely need to see the light of day. We have riffs on riffs on riffs.
What did you learn from recording your first album that you took into the studio for the new record?
One of the things that carried over from making the last record was the way we break up our sessions. We did about 30 days in the studio for Major broken up between 6 months. This way we could sit on things and think about how we wanted to treat the next session.
Going into this record we knew wanted to put a lot of energy into the production. During the recording of the Self Titled record we weren't able to spend the amount of time we wanted to mix because at that point we were funding the record ourselves. For Major, we had our label, Sargent House, behind us from day one.
They were extremely supportive and helped us achieve the way we wanted our record to sound. We also learned from the last record that if everyone in the studio is cracking up and having a good time it means you're on the right path. Recording music with
What is it like living the ‘Rock n Roll’ dream today.. Life in a band?
I think the Rock and Roll dream is very different today than the classic dream of the 60s and 70s. As opposed to striving for sex, drugs, and Godlike status, I think the dream today is to say something new in a genre that is nearly 60 years old. However, playing music onstage with my friends is probably the best feeling I've ever experienced and is positively a dream a come true.
Where did you play your very first gig as a band and what are the memories?
The first gig we ever played as
Any particular instruments, effects, or recording techniques that you would like to share with your fellow musicians’ that you used this time around?
A technique we used this time around was we made an effort to get our demos to sound as close to the way we wanted them to sound in the studio as possible. Using this method allowed us to track the core of a song quickly and allowed us the time to embellish and try out off the cuff ideas.
Recently in
That sounds awesome. I would love to go there. I'd really like to go anywhere and record music. All of our records have been made in
The band were formed in
There are so many bands in a such a small, concentrated area there are bound to be a few good ones.
If as a band you could go on tour with any band or artist in the world, who would that be?
Probably Prince so I could watch his show every night.
What were the albums that ‘blew you away’ at the time from School/College days that you exchanged with fellow students? Do you still play these records today?
My band mate, Jason, opened me up to the world of Metallica in college. They were always a band I dismissed growing up because I wasn't interested in metal. But their guitar playing is so excellent and their song structures are so insane.
They were definitely a starting point to some of the ideas we wanted to incorporate into our band. We still play a lot of Metallica in the van. Pavement, The Misfits, and Rush were also big for us in college.
Any advice for a new band just taking their first steps this year?
Have fun!
Favourite
I'm not a big fan of festivals. Everyone is stressed and it's tough to get really good sound. I had a lot of fun at the
Major by
Jason Bartell - Guitar, Vocals
Chris Georges - Guitar, Vocals
Marc St. Sauveur - Drums