AMPLIFIER (Eng.)
– Hi, thanks for your time. What are you currently up to? How is everything doing right now with AMPLIFIER?
Hi Tania – Amplifier is doing very cool thank you. Currently right now we are soundchecking for our show in Rock Kitchen Madrid. It’s gonna be a great show…
– You have just released your new album, «Echo Street». How is its feedback being so far (both from the fans and press)?
Echo Street is a milestone album for Amplifier – The songs are classics. A lot of people were expecting The Octopus part 2 – but they got something quite different. A lot of people were surprised – but no one has been disappointed. We are very very pleased with the album.
– I’ve read for this album you took inspiration from jam sessions record in the 90’s. Why did you decide to look back in that sense?
Echo Street needed to happen very very fast – We were working on another record called “Mystoria” – which is now being finished – but we needed to put out a record straight away – so I had to raid my memory banks to make it. Essentially Echo Street is made out of the seeds of ideas that were planted many many years ago. I have hundreds of cassettes of all the ideas and songs that I’ve thought about or half written since the 1990s. To make echo street I went through my head to find all the things that stood out in memory as being unfinished business. Because I could still remember them after all the passing years it meant that they were the strongest ideas. That’s probably why the album is so strong.
– In fact the record was done pretty fast, so I guess having that inspiration to look at had something to do with that?
It had to be done quickly – so I kept everything very very simple. That is probably why the record is so strong – the emphasis is on the strength of the songs.
– «Echo Street» feels to me like a really honest, organic-sounding and really emotional (specially melancholic) opus. Could you say the way you worked on it helped obtaining this final result?
The lyrics on the album were written very quickly so I didn’t have too much time to analyse them. I had to write something, but there was no big plan or concept, so I pretty much had to turn my brain off and just see what happened. I like them. They feel right for the record. I’ve not really analysed too much on this record. I had a hunch. I followed my gut instinct. It is definitely a bit of a sad story. But a kind of celebration as well. I am definitely a person that is thoughtful. I like to explore things and concepts in life through what I do. That is what music is for I think. It is a very powerful tool like Mathematics except it is for exploring things that do not physically exist in the universe, like happiness or sadness or understanding. It is a weird business. Actually – I’m not melancholic at all. The only thing
that makes me sad is assholes.
– It’s also a completely different album to «The Octopus» but, at the same time, it shares something similar, maybe the strong emotion behind it. Is each new album you release, a new chapter for AMPLIFIER?
Each album is a rebirth. And then a new death.
– That shows you are always looking and moving forward but, is there always room for musical evolution and growth? As I guess it may be also linked to personal grwoth.
Absolutely = music is the by-product of life – not the end result of life. As you change – your music changes. No one can accuse us of being a “style” or “scene” band. We just are what we are.
– This being said; what could you say are the main differences between «The Octopus» and this new «Echo Street»?
The Octopus was a very dark record – Echo Street is all about Nostalgia and about a shadowy golden time that you can half remember from your past. It is like taking a walk on a foggy day across an empty city covered in burnt snow. Echo Street is super accessible. It’s such an easy listen – well it’s almost easy listening! Not like The Octopus which is like a giant monolith of a record. I don’t think that Insider is an easy listen either. It’s so complicated. Echo Street is a bit like our debut album I suppose – that was pretty straight forward – just a rock record really – not a prog album at all.
– And how could you describe your new record in just 3 words?
Slow Motion Explosion
– You will be soon playing in Spain so, what are your expectations on those dates?
We have no idea – we have never really played in Spain before – It will be like starting from the beginning. Again.
– And what can we expect to see on stage? Which of the new songs are you playing live?
Currently we’re playing about half of Echo Street and half of The Octopus and about half of the debut album – so the set’s about 2 hours long. A really good dynamic show
– After this, what’s next for AMPLIFIER? If I’m not mistaken you have ready a new album, am I wrong?
Nope – just need to finish off the Mystoria album and then record it at the end of summer.
It’s gonna be fun…
– That’s all, thank you once more for answering our questions. If you want to add some final words; feel free to do it.
Tania – Are you really the Queen Of Steel!
Best Wishes!
