By: Aaron Pickford
Today's guests released one of the albums of the year
in 2014 with the brilliant “12 Areas”, indeed
Colchester-based instrumental sludge/post-metal band Telepathy are one of
the underground's best kept secrets.
They play unique and ambitious music, not so much songs, rather complex compositions,
music to get
lost in, the perfect juxtaposition of beautifully mellow and hideously brutal
passages which they execute with a remarkable intelligence. Telepathy are musical
conjurors, employing masterful tricks within the construct of their music,
which they deploy in unpredictable ways throughout their art and that is indeed
what they create, art in the truest sense, you never know what’s coming around
the corner but you can’t wait to find out.
With their demo EP "Fracture" and 2014 debut album "12 Areas" (Devouter Records/Tartarus Records)
receiving rave reviews, the band are on the cusp of creating their masterpiece
and their dedication to do things DIY, subscribing to their own rules, the band
are in a unique position of being embraced by fans of post-metal, hardcore,
sludge and progressive music alike, which is testament to the bands imaginative,
off-kilter and ambitious musical expressionism.
With Telepathy having
begun recording their second album and with a short European Tour set to kick off
next week, as we enter the final quarter of 2016, the band are confident that
they’re sonically better and in the throes of some much needed momentum than will
catapult their unquestionable talent to become one of the biggest and best
talents the UK has produced. Let us get
Amped & Doomed with the instrumental transcendents that are Telepathy.
SL: Can you give us an insight
into how you started playing music, leading up to the formation of Telepathy
Rich
(Guitars): I began playing music back when I was around 12/13,
I remember vividly my mother gifting me with a boxset of the first 8 Black Sabbath albums
for doing my 11+ (British school exam) and wanting to do nothing else but learn
to play the guitar and write music after that!
From there I learnt to play, and went through the
usual high school bands playing Kyuss covers and some formative original material. My first
semi-serious band was playing local shows and recorded a two track demo whilst
I was studying music technology at college, but ended soon after. That’s when
three of us in Telepathy
met and began working towards something more experimental, and representative
of our collective taste in music.
Piotr
(Guitars): Myself and everyone in the band, were always
interested in and inspired by all sorts of music. From classical, electronic
and dance to the heaviest metal. I
believe it took specific characters to meet and start creating the music that
this band plays. We all definitely have a love of instruments and sound, from
guitar to the synthesiser and of course, the belief that there is no such thing
as impossible.
Ted (Bass): I’ve been
interested in performing since I was very young. I used to write plays and
perform them for my parents; I sang in the school choir and also took acting
classes for several years. I actually started playing guitar when I was around
11 years old. My step-grandfather had a room full of vintage Fenders that I was
fascinated with. It was a jingle on a kid’s after school TV show that inspired
me to ask him to teach me. The jingle was just someone ripping a rad bluesy
solo and I thought it was so cool. I actually hadn’t played bass guitar in a
band at all until I joined Telepathy.
SL: Can you remember who or what inspired you to pick up
the guitar, bass? Are there any bands, guitarists, bassists currently on the
scene that continue to inspire you and push you to try new things?
Ted: I’m not necessarily impressed by a player’s technical prowess, what
matters to me most is how hard the player throws down. I caught Slabdragger at Red Sun Festival in
Cardiff a couple of weeks ago and Yusuf’s performance blew me away. I play
pretty hard but he’s on another level. Glenn from Grand Collapse is probably one of the best
drummers in the UK right now for me; that man can shred.
Piotr: It was
simply the love of the sound of heavy guitars and epic melodies. Since I was a little kid it has always grabbed
my attention. Guitar wasn’t my first choice, it was thanks to my parents and
older brother who introduced me to playing guitar, and the fact that people
around me listened to good music. During
that period I heard many bands and artists for the first time like Jimi Hendrix, Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin and Pantera.
Rich: Sabbath,
Soundgarden, Kyuss and the Melvins were my
earliest inspirations to play guitar and write music. Out of the current active
bands, we’re of course inspired by the bands we get to share the stage with,
recently we’ve really enjoyed Svalbard and Conjurer, always tight and giving 100% each time. I’m also
really loving SubRosa
and JK Flesh
at the moment.
SL: Whilst we’re
on the subject of inspiration or heroes for example, do you have 5 records that stand out as favourites, what influence did
they have upon you and what is it about those records that particular resonates
amongst others?
Rich: Here’s a few favourites and one new discovery. The list is always expanding.
Mamiffer: “Mare Decendri”
I had the
good fortune to catch Mamiffer
along with JK Flesh
and Sumac in
London recently and they really stole the show for me. This album is a masterpiece: beautiful
arrangements, a deep and rich sound and a haunting atmosphere.
Beach
Boys:
“Pet Sounds”
The
density of the arrangements and how experimental the song structures are still
amazes me and continues to be an influence on how I craft songs. It’s an
eye-opening album for me, in the sense that music can be so inventive, dynamic
and compositionally experimental and still pack a huge emotional punch.
The
Cure:
“Pornography”
An
incredible album. Darkness permeates through every song, it could have only
contained “One Hundred Years” and it would still be one of my all-time
favourite records. Robert Smith is one of the most under-rated guitar players
of all time for me.
Botch: “We are the
Romans”
A classic.
“C Thomas Howell as the Soul Man” is one of the best hardcore songs
ever. Hydrahead Records
in particular has been, and continues to be, a big inspiration for me.
Fall
of Efrafa:
“Owsla”
A genius
first chapter in a conceptual discography. This record opened up a whole world
of underground crust and post-metal for me, along with the DIY subculture it
was birthed out of.
Piotr: It’s hard to choose only five, so I’ll only name rock albums.
Metallica -
“...and Justice For All“,
A big
inspiration on song structure
Pink
Floyd
- “Dark side of the moon“
Without a
doubt, amazing melodies.
Tool - “Lateralus“
Just
genius, isn’i it?!
Deftones - “White pony“
Atmospheric,
great drum beats, it is what I would call romantic metal, if that makes sense.
Micheal
Jackson
- “Bad“
Because it
needs to be mentioned as one of my first musical influences.
Ted: There are too many albums that I could list in my top 5. These are just
a few that spring to my mind immediately.
Pentagram- “First Daze
Here”
Led
Zeppelin-
“IV”
Black
Sabbath-
“Sabbath Bloody Sabbath”
Fleetwood
Mac-
“Rumours”
Converge- “Jane Doe”
SL: Can remember your first
electric guitar, bass?
Piotr: Yes, and it’s still on my bedroom wall, an Epiphone Les Paul.
Ted: Yes, It was an old Encore
Strat copy that my Dad bought for me I think. Pretty standard but it
did the job for a few years.
Rich: Yes. It was
a Stagg, in that old ZZ Top shape. Truly a
terrible guitar, The neck broke within a couple of months!
SL: What guitar(s) bass (s) are
you using today and how did you gravitate towards the guitar you currently use?
Rich
& Piotr: We both use Ltd Ec1000’s. We both really love Les Pauls and humbuckers, and the
Ltd’s are great, hold low tunings really well and are fairly light for Les Paul style guitars.
You can also pick them up at a reasonable price second-hand which is a massive
plus. In all honestly we are both continually expanding our sound, and for sure
there will come a time for different guitars and pickups
Ted: In Telepathy I use an Epiphone Explorer bass.
SL: What do you like about the
guitars you currently use and has there been any specific modifications to
it?
Rich
& Piotr: No modifications currently other than a basic
set-up to allow us keep our low tuned strings stable. We’re both toying with
idea of adding a single coil pickup though at the moment.
Ted: I love it because I’ve never seen anyone else use one and it’s just a
massive, gnarly lump of wood that looks rad when slung nice and low. I’m going
to have to change the pickups in it at some point because it runs so hot that
you get a lot of feedback if you play too close to your rig, so playing on a
small stage can be problematic.
SL: What amps and pedals do you
currently use? Do you use a combination of
amps, or a full half stack? Talk us through your set up both in the studio and
in the live environment?
These are all in a constant state of flux, but here
are our current set-ups..
Rich:
Guitar > Tuner - Vox Delaylab - Maxon od808 - Empress Heavy – Little Big Muff - Boss RV-5 > Orange Rockerverb 100
and Orange PPC412
cabinet
Piotr:
Guitar > Tuner – Digitech Whammy – Empress Heavy – EHX Micro Synth – EHX B9 Organ Machine – MXR Analog Delay – TC Electronic Flashback Delay
(mini) – EHX
Super Ego > Fender
MH Head and Cab.
In the studio, we’ve been tracking with Jaime Gomez
at Orgone Studios
who has a wealth of vintage gear. We’ve tracking with an 80’s Marshall JCM800 and Peavey 5150 blended for
heavy guitars and a silver
face Fender Twin Reverb for cleans. We’ve used our own boards and
guitars, except for some clean passages on which we’ve used a hybrid super
strat Gomez has knocking about. We’ve also used an old EPIPHONE acoustic Ted
has which sounds amazing. For bass we used a vintage Ampeg SVT and Fender P Bass.
SL: What one pedal could not live
without and why?
Ted: My Boss TU-2
Chromatic Tuner. Can’t go wrong with it.
Rich: Aside from a tuner, my Empress Heavy. It has two great, responsive gain channels
and has added in a lot of the low end that my Rockerverb was missing on its gain channel,
via its brilliant weight control. It’s also been great to EQ to different rooms
with.
Piotr: Tough one... I guess it must be
my Mxr Analog Delay
– it’s just too good!
SL: What are your amp/ pedal settings?
Rich: Orange
clean channel, bass about 2 o’clock, mids and treble around 12 (dependent on
what room we’re playing). Very loud. I use the Heavy Empress for both a crunch channel and
distorted channel
Piotr: As of this moment I’m using
my Fender MH
amp, my settings are around 12 o’clock for clean gain, with a lot of bass,
little treble and about half on the mid channel. When it comes to pedals, it is
the Heavy Empress
that adds all the heaviness, with similar settings to the amps just with less
bass and more gain.
SL: What tunings do you use and
why, and as a result is there a specific brand / gauge of string you prefer ?
We tune to BEDGBE for guitars. Ted tunes to
BEAD, it’s like standard 5 string tuning but without
the high G. He prefers that tuning because it allows him the freedom to move
through the scales without having to worry about any dropped strings. We all use
Ernie Ball strings generally.
Piotr: Ernie Ball
Heavy top Slinky Bottom
Rich: I use Power
Slinky’s but exchange the two lowest strings with a .42 and .54
Ted: I recently switched to Ernie Ball Power Slinky, they’re 110’s and I was using
130’s before. They’re just a lot better to play than the heavier ones
SL: Do you have any advice for up and coming guitars players, bands?
SL: Do you have any advice for up and coming guitars players, bands?
Practice, do whatever the hell you want musically
and most importantly play from the heart.
I’m sure there are many, most of which are based on
70’s excess and the boom years of the industry.
SL: Moving on a little then, what
can you tell us about any of your current projects, tours, cds, etc and anything
else band related we should know about?
We can tell you our next record is nearing
completion. We have been recording periodically throughout the year with Jaime
Gomez Arellano (Cathedral,
Paradise Lost,
With the Dead,
Sunn O)))
& Ulver,
etc)
We’re about to hit the road in Europe and have some
great off-shows coming up around the UK, including Noizfest in Manchester in October.
07.09.2016: LIEGE, LE GARAGE (BE)
08.09.2016: ANTWERP,
MUSIC CITY (BE)
09.09.2016: SIEGEN,
VORTEX MUSIC CLUB (DE)
10.09.2016: INCUBATE
FESTIVAL, TILBURG (NL)
11.09.2016: AMSTERDAM,
OCCII (NL)
SL: What springs to mind when you think about the completion of your upcoming
record and how is the mood in the camp at present?
Well, currently we’re
demo-ing overdubs and textures to add when we return to the studio on 23rd
August. We’re all incredibly proud of this new work, and the mood in camp has
never been better, especially after the addition of Ted on bass. We’re
currently buzzing to get back on the road in Europe for some headline shows and
a performance at Incubate
2016 in Tilburg.
SL: Who are some your favourite bands you have toured with and what have been
your proudest moments and/or performance of your playing career?
It’s tough to name just a few moments or shows, but
playing Desertfest
this year was pretty insane, there was a queue out to the street to catch our
set at the Black Heart
which was pretty crazy.
Incubate in 2014 was a similar situation, we ended up headlining our stage due to
a cancellation, and playing to packed room in Tilburg at such a prestigious
festival was an honour.
More recently, it’s been rad playing shows with Rosetta, Svalbard, Conjurer, Grand Collapse (two
words: water) and Latitudes.
However,
the thing we take most pride in is that everything we’ve achieved up until this
point has been 100% our own work, and we have never compromised our vision in
any way.
SL: What can
fans look forward to from you over the
next 12 months? How is your schedule
shaping up?
The release of a new record and A LOT of live shows.
Watch this space.
SL: Finally, do you have any final comments/word of wisdom you’d like to bestow upon us?
SL: Finally, do you have any final comments/word of wisdom you’d like to bestow upon us?
A big thanks to The Sludgelord for the continued support!
The End
