I
originally reviewed today's guests début EP – Eyrie – back in
April 2012. To tell you the truth I forgot all about them as it's
been a long while since we have heard from them. Shame on me as I
have revisited Eyrie the past few weeks now as I have been preparing
for this interview.
BEAK
are about to release their eagerly awaited full length record - “Let
Time Begin” - in Sept 2014. I have been hearing a lot of great
things about this record. I declared these guys as one of the next
breakout stars of the post-metal scene back in 2012. High praise
indeed but BEAK actually do have something about them to make them
one of the best upcoming bands from the burgeoning Sludge/Post-Metal
scene.
I
can't wait to review this record which we will be doing soon as it's
been ages that we have featured BEAK on Sludgelord HQ. But all that
is going to change with this interview and a future review of Let
Time Begin.
These
guys are going places so before then lets see BEAK has to say to
ourselves.
Q1
– Hi all. Thanks for doing this. How are things with you today.
Hi
there. Things are great. We’re excited to finally be releasing our
follow-up. We are honored by your praise and glad to talk.
Q2
– Can you tell our readers a brief history of how the band came
about and where it is today.
We’ve
been playing music together for around 10 years now. When I joined up
with Jason and Chris, they were
the Timeout Drawer, playing another kind of post- or something music.
Back then there was a lot of experimental
electronic and rock going on in Chicago. It was back in the days you
could be in a band with a pair
of CD players and a mixer.
We took elements of what we were hearing
around us and made our own brand
of instrumental rock. After our final record Nowonmai and its EP
Alone, we decided the form was too rigid
and we wanted to strip the music down while focusing on the
heaviness. We were getting older and angrier
and we wanted more catharsis in our music. These days we get together
as old friends and push ourselves
to make the best heavy music we can.
Q3
– So it's been a long time since your début EP – Eyrie – was
released. 2.5 years. What have you been doing
since then.
Yeah
well working at jobs for all of us. We’ve played a lot of shows in
Chicago and neighboring cities. Jason and
I made other bands that play around on occasion. Chris got a baby.
Opened for some of our favorite bands.
We wrote Let Time Begin and recorded it in the midst of all that.
Q4
– I praised Eyrie to high heaven when it was released back in April
2012. What was the overall response to the EP. And where you happy
with responses that it received.
The
record was received the way that all of our material has been
received it seems. Critics who listened to it
and wrote about it gave it a lot of praise. We got a lot of positive
response from friends and fans. We’re very
grateful for the attention it got when it got attention. I can’t
say we did much more than break even financially,
but in this climate breaking even is a win.
Q5
– Finally you’re about to release your début album – Let Time
Begin. Bet you guys are excited it's finally being released upon to
the world. What can people expect from the album.
I
think there is a lot more confidence in this record than Eyrie. When
we wrote Eyrie, there were 10
songs
we tracked. 5 of that 10 didn’t make it because they were part of
our transition from post-rock to the
heaviness. The 5 that made it had a sound that we were just
discovering in ourselves. We took that momentum into this record and
evolved it. Much tighter arrangements. More melodic. Those who’ve
heard it
tell us it sounds like we mean it this time.
Q6
– Was it an easy or hard album to write and record for.
The
writing was easy. Like I said we came out of Eyrie finally knowing
what to go for. The concept was there from
the start. We almost called Eyrie Let Time Begin, but I’d written
the title track to Let Time Begin by the time
we got around to titling Eyrie, and I wanted to build the record
around the themes the title suggests. Almost
all of the basic ideas for Let Time Begin were in place as Eyrie was
being released.
That’s
the writing. Then comes the tracking and mixing. We are very
methodical about our recording process. We also have to work around
everyone’s tightly packed schedules, and that prolongs the process
even further. Add healthy amount of second guessing at every
milestone and here we are 2 years later.
Q7
– What influenced you when recording the album.
The
title came from the book Legion by William Peter Blatty. It’s part
of the Exorcist series, and Jason can’t get
enough of that guy. There’s a theory the main character has in the
book that the Big Bang was Lucifer and
his minions falling from heaven. Earth as we know it was made from
the light they brought with them, and
we are all a part of that fall. I took that and added passages from
Paradise Lost (Milton), Leviathan (Hobbes),
and other collected phrases I keep for the writing process. I’m a
subscriber to the “cutout” method made famous by the likes of
William Burroughs and David Bowie. I tried to maintain an underlying theme
of the Big Bang itself. I wanted the concept to suggest these massive
universal forces and our place as
frail temporary forms of life despite them.
Q8
– I have read the album is going to be a prequel to Eyrie. Was that
an easy or hard decision to do. Is your sound different or a natural
progression to Eyrie.
I’m
not sure that what you read came off perhaps the way we might have
intended. The concepts around Eyrie were around the idea that
everything fades and all things must end. At some point life as we
know it won’t
be sustainable on this planet, etc. Big surprise. Metal band shouts
about the apocalypse. I’d like to think
that I have my own spin, but I’m sure all the other metal bands
would also like to think that.
Since we based
this record on our universe coming into being, you can see how
conceptually this record precedes Eyrie. Musically we were just
trying to make more cohesive songs while trying to maintain what we
liked about what we did with Eyrie.
Q9
– It's being released via your drummer Chris record label –
Someoddpilot Records. Was that another hard or easy decision to make.
Did you have any other offers to release the record. Or does this
maintain some
sort of self control and ownership of your music.
Honestly
we didn’t want to take on the monumental task of self-releasing our
record. It’s part of what took us so long. At the same time we
didn’t trust a majority of the prospects of which we were aware. We
did try to shop it to a select few of the labels we did respect and
trust, but in the end the best option was for us to release it
ourselves. Today’s labels don’t give you anything more than
street cred and maybe a little financial support. Maybe. SomeOddPilot
already has the same distribution the other labels have, and Chris
can make images that bypass the need for any introduction. The rest
is the legwork and that’s on us. With a label it would still be on
us.
Q10
– I love the freaking album cover. Mysterious, bleak, hostile and
very cold. Chris – What influenced you to design this cover. And
did you have much input from the other band members.
CHRIS
- Thanks for the kind words. I'm glad it has impact. One of the
best parts of being the drummer in the band and artist, it allows me
to have a completely immersive understanding of the music concepts,
and I find the ideas for our covers coming straight out of me, almost
naturally. The other guys trust me to do that, and of course I am
being led by Jon's concepts.
I've
done 40 album covers over the years, and I've come to understand them
backwards from the moment they are lifted out of the bin at the store
- what's the most iconic impactful form the concept could have when I
first pick it up? That's what I'm thinking. Often that involves
ambiguity - my favorite thing about this one is that you can't tell
if the pyramid is rising or being submerged.
I
admire Storm Thorgerson, who designed nearly all the big rock covers
of the 70's and 80's and was a master of the mysterious narrative,
and Factory Records designer Peter Saville who is equally the master
of the simple and iconic. I took the photograph while vacationing in
Wisconsin, atop a 200 ft cliff looking down at Lake Michigan. I knew
the record was about the beginning of time, and the vast body of
water - the scale of it! - just screamed something to do with
origins. I had a crying baby with me, and I had little to no time to
get this picture. Such is life!
Q11
– What formats will the album be released on. Please say VINYL!!!
I
really want to say vinyl. I do. At first at least we’re going to do
a small run of CDs and downloads of course. We’re going to get a
feel for the market and hopefully we can find a way to get it on some
vinyl shortly thereafter.
Q12
– What is the song-writing dynamic in the band. Is it a group
collective or down to one individual.
Most
of the songs come from a riff that Andy or I have. I get pretty
involved with the arrangements because that comes from the lyrics and
vocals of which I’m in charge. Most of the songs I’ll get to the
almost done point and we will then play the shit out of them and
changes will emerge or not. In the end it has to be a consensus and
the band has to be satisfied. Into The Light was the most
collaborative I think, and I think it shows
as it’s one of the more dynamic and complicated tracks on the
record.
Q13
– Which bands and artists influenced you as musicians. Any
particular band or album stand out that influenced
you to become a musician.
These
days it’s all over the place. I would say a couple of the most
influential bands for this record would be Enslaved
and Killing Joke. The self titled record of Killing Joke they
released in 2003 has been with us from the beginning. Enslaved keeps
getting better with everything they release. We look up to them or
their attitude
and their musicianship especially. I think everyone would agree on
those two. Any other influential bands
would be different for each of us.
Q14
- What is your musical set-up when playing live or recording your
music. Any hints and tips would you like to give to the budding
musicians out there.
I
personally am never satisfied with my sound. I’m always trying to
get at something I never feel is perfect. Andy
has had his sound dialed in since day one. Jason has a love/hate
relationship with his keyboards. Chris has
played on the same drum kit for close to 20 years now if you can
believe that. My advice to budding musicians
would be that it’s in the playing. That is after you’ve at least
done enough for your setup to make it
work for you. But it’s the playing that makes the difference. As a
band. You don’t even know what you’re working
with until you can play as a band.
Q15
– Do you like being classed as part of the Post-Metal scene. As
some bands are really annoyed by that term. How would you describe
your own music.
I
guess I don’t feel one way or another about being classified as
post-metal. If that makes it easier to write about it then it is what
it is. We never sat down and said “let’s make post-metal now”.
We were playing what
we felt and it turned out to be called that. I don’t have any other
thing to call it, so it’s fine.
Q16
– Do you play many gigs in Chicago or do you have to travel further
afield to perform regularly.
We
get enough shows in Chicago to keep us pretty busy. We’ve branched
out here and there and it’s been hit
and miss. Because there’s no money for bands at our level, it’s
hard for us to get out there as much as we would like. We are
grateful for what we can do however.
Q17
– What is the local metal scene like in Chicago. It does have an
affinity with Post-Metal with bands such
as Pelican and Russian Circles coming from that area.
There
are great heavy bands everywhere, but Chicago does seem to have some
of the most interesting. I really enjoyed the Bloodiest record and I
keep hearing great things about the latest Lord Mantis record. There
is a lot of talent here and Chicago breeds an energy that is perfect
for heavy music.
Q18
– What is your whole view of the crowd-funding scene. It's very
controversial at the moment with theHard Rock/Metal scene. Some bands
are for it and some are against it. Would BEAK ever participate in a
crowd-funding project.
You
mean like Kickstarter? Shit man, if we didn’t do that Kickstarter
project for our first record, we’d be in debt
for it no doubt. To be honest I was against it when the idea was
proposed, but in the days when music is
otherwise free, it makes sense to at least tell the people that it
costs money and time to make the music they’re
listening to. It’s another form of what bands do when they
distribute their music. Just more direct.
Q19
– If you could give any advice to someone wanting to start a band.
What would it be.
Play
a lot. Play all the time. Make it your religion. Make it fun. Be good
to each other and respect that the other
dudes or ladies in the room are all there to make music. Get over
yourself. The sooner the better.
Q20
– Will you be doing an extensive Tour to promote the album. If so,
when will you be touring.
We
have an east coast tour in November we’re looking forward to. We
hope that momentum will pick up from
there. We’re down for whatever.
Q21
– The last thing before you go, Do you have anything else to say to
your fans.
Shitsya.
Thanks for listening. We know you have many other choices when you
fly, and we are honored when
you fly with us.
BEAK
thanks for doing this interview. As I said before I can't wait to
hear the album. All the best with the albums
release and forthcoming tours. Been great talking to you.
Yeah
again thanks for giving us the time.
Thanks to Jason Goldberg for arranging this interview.
Check
BEAK from the links below. Our review of Let Time Begin will be
published very soon.
Written by Steve Howe
