Interview of Earthside by CDW
*Interview did on Facebook , 04/28/2016
*Facebook Translation*
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Charles: first : Hello Jamie , i would like to say you a big thanks you for giving me the opportunity to have this little tchat with you , first of all , can you describe in some words Earthside , the concept behind the music , and your influences ?
Jamie: Thank you for having me! We in Earthside describe ourselves as a cinematic rock band. We aim to have the epicness and emotional dynamics of a film score. The music is a result of the four of us collectively expressing ourselves and working towards something ambitious that we’re very proud of. Our influences come from a diverse array of artists/composers in classical, film score, metal, hip-hop, funk, new age, and post-rock. We grew up together and also had a huge influence on each other’s’ musical development so I’d say that my bandmates were a major influence on my tastes and what I most enjoy writing.
Charles: I was really impressed by the album , the songwritting is excellent , do you think being a progressive musican is a way to keep you free as an artist ? it's a kind of "open minded" style that allow you to explore a lot of sonorities ...
Jamie: Absolutely. We don’t pigeonhole ourselves as a prog band, but we allow ourselves to do exciting/interesting things that end up making our music generally progressive. We want to have the musical freedom to create whatever we are inspired to at any given moment. There’s no restriction as far as how heavy or how mellow our next record may be. We may write a song that’s 2 minutes or 20 minutes. We will do whatever is best for the song and compose with whatever instrumentation and mood moves us.
Charles: We are in 2016 , it's like everything in Metal was done before , and there are so many bands , so many styles , how is it possible to sound fresh ? is it the hardest thing for a new band ?
Jamie: I don’t think we necessarily tried to sound fresh so much as we resisted the temptation to follow current production and songwriting trends. It would have been easy for us to program all the drums, crank all the velocities to 127, use the most massive sounding samples, record with amp sims, noise gate all the rhythm guitars and sound like every “djent” band today. A Dream In Static on the other hand took more than 2 years to write, record, mix, and master so that it sounded natural and authentic. We combined so many influenced that enriched our rock sound in a unique way that I think adds more dimensions and emotional breadth over the course of our full record. We are happy to hear that the record sounds fresh and new as we certainly hoped that we were creating a unique listening experience for our listeners.
Charles: A Dream In Static is a massive instrumental album , with a lot of really impressive musical Parts , i was really surprised to see that i didn’t feel the need to hear someone sing. Is it for you the proof that you did the job well ?
Jamie: Yes, that would be a chief indicator for sure. We wanted our instrumental pieces to be able to hold up on their own. We also wanted to make sure that the vocal songs weren’t so different that they felt like the radio sellout songs on an adventurous instrumental record, but rather of the same ilk. We hope that it all creates one cohesive experience and that the instrumentals have enough melodically and rhythmically happening that they hold the listener’s attention. That being said, we’ve had plenty of vocalists say that they could sing all over our instrumentals, which is nice to hear that they feel so inspired – typical singers wanting everything to have vocals, right? émoticône wink
Charles: It's very strange but when i listen to the album , it's like the music take life before my eyes , what can you tell me about this feeling , is it the thing you want to procure to your listeners?
Jamie: We want the music to have a visual, multi-sensory quality. If it feels like an experience or a living, breathing thing that develops and changes or takes you on some sort of journey with peaks and valleys, builds and climaxes – each section a new tableau. Many different people have told me their unique experience with it, whether it be associating a color with each song or picturing different celestial bodies such as galaxies, stars, planets, nebulae, etc. It’s very interesting to hear these interactions with the music! It wasn’t intended to evoke any specific reaction, but we certainly encourage people to engage with it and hope that it is meaningful to them.
Charles: Talking about music scene of nowaday , is is an album that really impressed you recently , when you are not playing what are you listening to ?
Jamie: It’s fitting that I say this now as we are just about to hop on a tourbus with these guys in Germany in a few days, but the Leprous album The Congregation has been a major record for my bandmates and me these last months. Another band whom we really admire over the past handful of years is Karnivool, but they haven’t released a new album in a couple years now. There’s a Dutch band called Our Oceans whose music I’ve become a pretty big fan of recently.
Charles: Pour conclure , aimerais -tu dire quelques mots à nos membres en Francais?
Jamie: Mais bien sûr! J’aime pratiquer mon français. J’espère que nous jouons beaucoup de concerts en France. Nous nous réjouissons de vous rencontrer, mes beaux et mes belles! Il faut que nous partageons ce que nous aimons le plus – la camaraderie et la musique. À bientòt!