So how are
things with you guys? What are you all up to today?
We’re good thanks! We’ve been in the studio for the past couple
of days working on some brand new demos, so today we’re just
chilling out, rehearsal tonight though!
As usual there's going to be people reading
this who don't know who you are, so lets get that out of the way and
in your own words fill us in on how you all met and the origins of
Altered Sky?
I suppose it started because Ana (vocals) had been writing her own
material for years but had no band to record/play with. We were all
friends of friends I suppose. Ana knew Amy (drums+vocals) and Ross
(bass) and Ross knew Rich and Neil (guitarists). Then we got together
for an initial rehearsal, ended up hitting it off, wrote more songs
together that we enjoyed and took it from there!
I'm just listening to your 'In This World'
mini album and you must be very pleased with it?
As débuts go it's certainly hits the ground
running, and sets the bar high for your peers in the genre. Is it
giving you all a warm glow?
Very pleased!
After having been gigging/writing for a year or so, it was great to
have a nice, polished record to give to our fans at the time. Bruce
(Rintoul, producer at LoFi Studios) was great to work with and we
really learned a lot from him: from the process of tracking different
instruments and vocals to his unhealthy obsession with Sainsbury’s…
You are all pretty young and the
musicianship, song-writing and production is all very accomplished.
Has it been a steep learning curve for you
from forming to getting to this stage? How much help, if any have you
had along the way?
I feel we’re constantly learning and growing as a band. I can look
back and see a definite improvement today from previous gigs and
recording sessions. There’s still lots to learn, but I think we’re
heading in the right direction. We’re entirely self-managed so any
help we’ve had I think has come from the people we directly work
with while gigging/recording. There’s nothing better than
surrounding yourself with professional people and absorbing their
knowledge and experience.
I was
looking at your very professional website, and unlike a lot of bands
who are at the level of being unsigned and trying to make a mark on
the world you seem to be trying hard to cover all the angles with a
solid approach to promoting yourselves.
It's as if
from the word go you are emulating bands who are already successful
with your own solid videos, a wide range of merch and a similar
internet presence. Is this deliberate? Is the idea to act like a
successful band and therefore you will be perceived as one? (That's a
sound move if it is the intent)
We decided a long time ago that if we wanted to be treated
professionally (i.e. paid!), we’d need to look and act as
professionally as we could. This doesn’t mean wearing suits and
being boring, more that we always make sure we’re organised, arrive
to gigs on time, generally treat people with respect and try and make
friends wherever we can.
It sounds cynical but the merch stall is our best way of making
money, so we aim to make it as attractive as possible, with lots of
things for sale in lots of bright colours! It’s also where we hang
out at the show, the best place for us to meet fans in person.
As for the website, I (Rich) built it myself after realising how much
it would cost to pay a professional web designer, so kind of making
virtue of necessity!
In my experience there's a great deal of
young bands who put a lot of effort into writing and recording, and
then sit back and lose some momentum as they consider the job is
done. So what's your next step now that the mini album is out?
How are you going to keep the ball rolling?
Currently dreams of rock stardom are being
eroded away by a number of factors. The main issue being the ongoing
demise of the major labels and their lack of faith in investing in
anything that hasn't got a guaranteed financial return on it.
Gone are the days when a label would hang in
their supporting an act until people caught up on how good they are.
With that being considered what are your dreams for the band, and how
do you think that you can achieve them?
Our next step is to play to as many different people as possible!
That means touring as much as we can and also finding ways of getting
our music heard online by as many people as possible.
We’re constantly working on new material as well so hopefully if we
play somewhere twice, we’ll have something new for people as well
as the songs on the EP.
We like to test out new songs on a live crowd: nothing like a bit of
pressure for us and we get instant feedback on whether the song is a
good one.
We’re also in the early stages of putting together a new EP,
recording in early 2013 and releasing soon after. Our dream is to be
able to make music our career.
At the moment we all have day jobs: juggling tours, recording and
video shoots around work schedules is a nightmare! From what we’ve
heard, labels want you to show that you can already make your own
music, arrange your own shows and advertise yourselves before they’ll
offer to step in and take you to the next level.
Normally in interviews the question of who
it was that creatively influences a band normally makes an
appearance, but instead of that why don't you each tell us who you
are listening to just now that may well influence others in the years
to come?
[Ross] At the moment I’m listening to a lot of Panic! At The Disco.
I only recently got into them and I fell in love with Brendan’s
voice; his vocal melodies are so catchy! Also a massive fan of Dream
Theater and Paramore, bit of an odd pairing, but hey it works for me!
[Rich] My music taste has gone nuts in the last couple of years: I
used to be very much into technical shred metal stuff, but now I find
myself listening to all kinds of things: enjoying the tunes more than
any virtuosity, though anyone that can combine the two is incredible!
(check out Marco Sfogli and Andy McKee!). I’m also a big Dream
Theater fan.
My favourite band at the moment is Muse – really loving their
latest album The Second Law – if you haven’t already, give it a
listen: it’s sort of like Queen meets dubstep (that sounds like a
horrific description, but believe me, it’s amazing!)
[Neil] Since my iPhone is broken it’s all about CDs just now! Which
is kinda cool because riding in the car, you tend to listen to whole
albums instead of just your favourite song. I kind of like that
because it lets you hear where the artist was at when they made the
album! But at the moment I’m listening to a fair bit of Linkin
Park, LostProphets, James Brown, Herb Hancock, Deep Purple, G’n’R
and Coheed & Cambria!
Oh and now I think of it, I dug Ascendancy by Trivium out from under
a car seat the other day! That record has some major riffage,
crushing!
Generally though I’m in love with Classic rock, Blues and Funk.
Rhythm and groove make a song for me!
[Ana] I’ve got Lost Prophets, Crush40 and lots of videogame music
(Sonic, Final Fantasy, Silent Hill…) on my iPod just now. I just
stick it on shuffle.
[Amy] Very much into my pop punk! Love Yellowcard, Paramore and Blink
182, I feel a lot of my playing is influenced by those guys.
I grew up listening to Fleetwood Mac, Dire Straits and The Eagles so
all of those bands still have a massive hold on me! Love a bit of
Prog Rock as well Rush, Dream Theater are AMAZING!!
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