What
can we expect from the new album?
Charlie: It kind of takes off from where the last one started,
I guess, but we took the heavier stuff we were doing and
made it a lot heavier, and then we took the kind of more
chilled out stuff and, I guess, made it more sound-scapey.
I just think that the song writing on this record has progressed;
I think they’re better songs. I love the last album,
but I think we have endeavoured to make a better record
this time around. I’m really interested to hear the
fans reactions because it is something a bit different.
What
has influenced this new record?
Charlie: Oh, so many things, man. I guess it’s a lot
more of a personal record. I’d just come out of a seven-year
relationship when the lyrics were being written so that
gives that a big theme on what’s being talked about,
but then in general I guess global warming has had an influence
on the record; the wars going on at the moment has had an
influence – just the general state of play with our
human society. The album title – 'One Day Son This
Will All Be Yours' – is kind of derived from, you know,
everything we do now is going to have consequences on our
kids’ generations, so it’s kind of taking responsibility,
I guess.
How
do you combine so many influences – in terms of the
music – into the one record?
Charlie: That’s a good question.
Omar: That’s why our records are so broad – it’s
because we do draw on so many influences. If you were to
put every single influence into one track, God knows what
it would sound like! Maybe that’s kind of what we’ve
always been striving for. 'Tannhauser' is pretty much that.
Yeah, there’s one track on the album that, I think,
for me it’s actually probably my favourite track on
the album after listening to it a hundred times in the last
month. It’s called 'Tannhauser Gate' and it’s
just… It’s brutal but it’s really beautiful
at the same time, so I think that’s the kind of combination
we’ve been looking for for a while.
Charlie: I think the way we do it is we draw from all our
personal influences and they range from such a vast landscape
– we’re into Sigur Ros as much as we’re into
Machine Head and Meshuggah, so I think it’s kind of
taking all the elements and try to put them into one thing.
What
would you say was your favourite track on the album?
Charlie: For me, it’s probably a track called 'Deathcar',
I reckon.
Omar: For me, it’s 'Tannhauser Gate'.
What
is the meaning behind the title of the album?
Charlie: 'One Day Son This Will All Be Yours' was taken
from a picture I saw. It’s kind of... the state of
things in Iraq at the moment, and it was just basically
saying that with everything going on at the moment, whether
it be global warming or the wars, or anything in peoples’
personal lives – the actions we take now, we’re
not really going to... The repercussions of it, a lot of
the things that us a human race are doing at the moment
– we’re going to see the consequences in fifty
years when we’re all pretty much old and ready to pop
our clogs. It is our kids and our kids’ generations
that’ll deal with it.
Omar: It’s a play on the old saying as well. A rich
father turns to his son and says “One day, son, this
will all be yours,” but nowadays, it’s not...
If we’re talking socially, none of us are really that
rich any more; there’s not much left in the world for
future generations to take hold of and use, so it’s
kid of a play on that saying.
Charlie: It’s not all negative – there are positives
to it as well, but I guess it’s just a warning to people.
Omar: Yeah… Take heed!
'Grand
Unification' was received really well over all, especially
with the media. Do you feel that you’re under any kind
of pressure to get a similar if not better response this
time around?
Charlie: Yeah, definitely. I think that if there wasn’t
that pressure there’d be something wrong with you.
I think every band should strive to better themselves. As
I said, I’m really proud of the first record. There’s
definitely a kind of apprehension towards the reaction,
but I think that as long as you’re proud of it that’s
all you can do, you know? You’ve got to hope that everyone
else likes it as well.
Omar: I think with the last record we did have the pressure
of trying to prove ourselves in many ways to people who
had it out for us in many respects, but this time around
we’re kind of over that a lot. It’s more doing
it for purely musical reason on this record, there wasn’t
any worry of ‘are people going to get the wrong idea
about this?’ It was just this is what we’re doing,
this is the flow – nothing really interrupted that.
What
have you been up to over the past year, or rather, since
the October tour of last year?
Omar: It’s been really busy, what we’ve been up
to.
Charlie: We haven’t actually been in the country that
much. Since Christmas – we were in America for about
four or five months. We did two months in LA recording the
album, went on tour for two months around the States with
Funeral For A Friend, and Madina Lake, which was awesome.
We came back, like, a month ago and we’ve pretty much
been gearing up for the record release. It has been a mad
year. In England it would have seemed like we kind of disappeared
into a hole for a while, which we did – it was just
on the other side of the world.
What’s
the story behind We Apologise For Nothing?
Charlie: I guess it’s you have to stand up for what
you believe in, and fight for it whether it’s on a
political front, or just at home with your wife. If you
want to get things done, you have to stand up for them and
you have to believe in them. I think that it’s all
so easy to just sit back and think ‘it’s not working
out – just give up on it’ and whatever circumstances
you’re under. I’m a firm believer that if you
really put your whole heart and soul into something then
you’re going to achieve results, so I guess that’s
what it’s about.
How
much creative control do you have over your records and
videos?
Charlie: The album – we had full creative control.
Videos – in the beginning, you know, Dan [bassist]
had a big hand in the direction because he makes films and
video games, so he’s well equipped with CG animation.
With these new ones, because we’ve been away and we
haven’t really been here, and hadn’t had that
much time to be hands-on with it, we have gone to outside
directors this time so we haven’t had as much of a
hold on the videos as we did on the last ones, but I think
they’re cool; we’re pleased with how they’ve
turned out. Obviously, the busier you get the less control
you have over promotional tools.
Omar: It’s part and parcel of, really. It’s like,
you know, you strive to be a bigger band and people sometimes
turn around and slate you for not being able to deal with
every little details on a day to day basis. Once you start
touring, like, in America or going to Australia or Japan,
and things like that – it’s impossible to be in
the loop with every little details of everything. I mean,
that’s partly the way the machine works – you
kind of have to grow to get used to it and accept it. In
the beginning, as you probably know, we were always really
intent on keeping everything within the four of us –
everything had to go through the four of us before it went
out to anyone else. Now it’s just so busy these days
that it can’t be like that. It’s a shame, but
we trust the people in our camp enough to deal with those
sorts of things.
Charlie: Anything directly related to the record –
like artwork – is still totally within our control.
Omar: Yeah, the artwork, music – everything. Mixing,
mastering – down to the sticky label that goes on the
front of the album – we always make sure that’s
100 percent gone through us and we’re happy with it.
Which
track are you most looking forward to performing live [from
the new record?
Omar: Me personally, I’m looking forward to playing
'Tannhauser'– my favourite, but we’re not really
going to be playing that until the October tour.
Charlie: There’s a track tonight called 'Amaze Us',
which I find fun to play. It’s kind of like a real
90s throw-back rock song and fun to play.
Which
band would you most love to support on tour?
Charlie: Deftones, Deftones, Deftones, Deftones, Deftones,
Deftones, Deftones...
Omar: Deftones, Deftones, Deftones, Deftones, Deftones...
Or Tool.
Charlie: Tool would be cool, but Deftones, Deftones, Deftones.
For sure, man!
Omar: There’s no doubt, really.
Charlie: The day we get a Deftones show I will pee my pants.
Omar: I’ll stand there with you and do it too!
What
does H.I.P mean?
Charlie: Ask Dan…
Omar: It’s the Human Instrumentality Project –
it’s actually to do with a film that Dan, Al…
and we’re all involved as a band in it, we’re
making it at the moment. It’s not a full feature-length,
but it’s getting close!
Charlie: It started as like, a ten minute short.
Omar: Now it’s getting longer and longer – big
production, lots of gore, lots of shooting and killing,
and fun. It’s kind of like a S.W.A.T-film-goes-a-little-bit-crazy.
Look out for it! That’s what it stands for – Human
Instrumentality Project. You’ve pretty much got an
exclusive, there!
