THIRD ION (Eng.)
1- Hello, thanks for answering to our questions. What are you guys currently up to?
At this very moment, Aaron (Edgar, drummer) and I are holed up in his home studio in Winnipeg, working on songs, videos and everything band related we can get done. The main focus this week has been preparing our Kickstarter campaign and pitch video.
2- First off, could you make some history of the band?
We are a brand new band, but it’s something we have talked about doing for a number of years now. I met Aaron pretty much by random chance when I was doing sound for a random show at the Exchange (Regina, SK) and pretty much from day one we talked about starting a band. At the time, and until last fall, I was playing with Into Eternity, and while that band wasn’t really doing much, it was still enough to keep me from diving into something like this full on. A few months after I left that band, the timing worked out with Aaron and myself and we booked a week to start working on tunes, and it has just snowballed since then. We wrote our first record by April, and are starting to finalize all the recordings and have booked several shows for September, from central to western Canada. I met Mike in a similar fashion, a couple years ago, he was on tour with the Matinee and we just became instant friends. I’ve known Tyler for about 4 years, and I always kind of figured I’d do something with him singing on it. Glad it worked out!!
3- How could you describe your sound?
Overall quite progressive, with a super wide range of levels of technicality. Vocally, it is %100 melodic. Quite possibly the first band I’ve ever been in with zero screaming or death vocals. At the moment, that just feels like the right approach with this band. People have made comparisons to Dream Theater, and also to Alice in Chains or Queens of the Stone Age. If they’re right, that’s a pretty odd mix but I love those bands, so that’s okay with me.
4- What are the band’s main musical influences?
I am a pretty huge Dream Theater fan, and we all are in love with bands like Katatonia and Opeth. Bands we grew up listening to like Pantera, Alice in chains, and Black Sabbath are still relevant influences. I absolutely love the 2009 release “Human Condition” by Saga too, that album alone has been a big inspiration for me musically. Being a huge fan before I joined the band, I can safely say that Into Eternity is still a big musical influence for me – Tim is one of my favorite guitar players, and I’m super lucky to have picked up a thing or two from the guy over the years. Also – video game music!!
5- How is the feedback for your new album being?
We have only released teaser clips, and one full song so far. The response has been amazing, though, and people message me every day asking when will they
be able to hear more. Which, the answer is luckily, very very soon!
6- And are your personally satisfied with the final outcome?
So far, absolutely. Capitol Spill is, in my opinion, one of the best mixes I’ve ever done as a producer. I know, I am a bit biased, and emotionally invested… but still!! So damn proud of this!
7- How could you describe this opus in just 3 words?
Melodic groovy insanity
8- How has the production process for your new release been?
It’s been a bit different than normal for me. Aaron has a lot of great studio gear, which has been fun for me to use, and it’s a bit different. We are recording chunks of it in Regina too, at Blue Door Recording, so working on it in a few different places is really fun and adventurous, and really gets the creativity flowing. I’ve also never been in a band where everyone is so involved in the overall sound and the outcome. Mike has thrown in some amazing surprises along the way, like … here you go, here is a Mellotron part I played for most of Capitol Spill. It really MADE that song, in my opinion. Vocally, I am happy to have someone whom I’ve worked with in the studio a number of times before. I’ve approached the vocal production with a solid plan every time and Tyler just nails everything, it makes my life so easy, and it truly inspires me.
9- And how do you use to work on the songwriting?
It started out with me writing riffs and demoing in Pro Tools by myself, but it quickly became a total 50/50 thing with Aaron and I. We wrote most of the album together in his studio in Winnipeg from January to April, over only a handful of sessions. Recently we had everyone in Regina together, and we completed a new song written almost entirely by Mike, so that is keeping things super fresh. So far I have written all the lyrical content myself, but I’m planning on getting Tyler more involved. His solo material is incredibly well written, and his lyrics are super clever!
10 – Finally, what are you near-future plans?
Immediately launching a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds to release the album, as well as try to fund a bit of our touring expenses. We have 4 or 5 dates pretty well confirmed at the time that I write this, and an official announcement will be made very soon. For the winter, we will keep writing album number 2 and just keep the material and ideas coming. So far, there seems to be no shortage!
11- That’s all from our side, thanks again for taking your time to answer our questions. If you now want to add some final words; feel free to do it.
Thanks for the interest and helping us spread the word!!
