4.52am Issue: 043 20th July 2017 The Only Echoes Remain Issue

Tell us about the big gigs you’ve
played and how did you enjoy
them?
“Oh man, we’ve been super lucky to play
with some amazing bands in our first
year. I think one we were all super
excited about was supporting Totorro –
they’re an amazing band and lovely guys
too. The Old Blue Last was pretty packed
for that one and there was a really great
vibe. We’ve played with loads of amazing
bands though – Toska, Her Name Is
Calla, Poly-Math – it’s all been brilliant.
Our album launch show recently was
pretty awesome too!”
What was the first thing you
recorded?
“We did a live video session of
Descent/Impact in our rehearsal studio
fairly early on. That was super DIYbodged,
we multi-tracked using a Zoom
portable recorder and sub-mixing the
drums into one input using the PA mixer,
using mostly SM58s. It came out pretty
well for all that though I think! In terms
of serious studio recording though, we
jumped straight into a full album as our
debut release, The Exigent, which came
out just a few weeks ago.”
Where did you do the recording?
“One of my friends, Sam Jones, was
doing a course at the Abbey Road
Institute, so we were lucky enough to be
able to record at Abbey Road! All the
mixing was done by Sam at the Institute
as well.”
When was it?
“Given how busy Abbey Road is and that
priority was obviously given to the big
clients, we ended up recording
sporadically over a few months. Basically
a lot of last-minute notice late nights and
stolen time from December through to
February – if a studio ended up free, Sam
would shoot us a message and we’d dash
over to grab whatever time we could
get!”
I think there will be a lot of bands
reading this and feeling quite
jealous. Was it what you
expected/what would you change
now?
“It was amazing being able to use Abbey
Road’s space and equipment, but the
sporadic nature of the recording process
did take a bit of getting used to – I think
we’re all interested to see what a more
residential/block approach to studio time
would be like for the next record.”
How did you find working with the
producer?
“Simon and I essentially produced the
album ourselves with Sam; being so close
to it made it a painstaking but highly
rewarding experience. Full credit to Sam
though for being so patient with us – we
had a very specific vision for the record
and it took a lot of fine tweaking, but Sam
listened to us the whole way and helped
us realise that vision.”