Metal-Roos: Earthess have been re-inventing Jam music and bringing it to new audiences around the globe, releasing their latest album Black Heaven then backing it up with From the West a live album which showcases some of the new tracks and some old favourites, and now bringing their extended solo’s to Australia for a deep tour.
Thanks so much for speaking to me today.
Man, it’s great to be spoken to!
M-R: You guys are no stranger to our shores, coming a few times over the past, in your opinion why do Earthless connect with Aussie fans so strongly?
I don’t know! I think you got to ask them! Hahaha, people have always just given us a lot of love, I mean, do a lot of international bands go to Australia? Is that why? I don’t know, I guess they just resonate with the music more, but yeah, the crowds have always been a really warm to us so it’s a real treat.
M-R: When you guys had a two year hiatus from touring, Australia was the first port of call in December of 2012, why was that?
I think we all needed a break. I was playing with a different band at the time, I just needed to do something different. I was going through a lot of changes at that time, but when it feels natural to do something like that, with anything in life, you should do it. But I think that it made us (Earthless) be able to go longer.
M-R: You guys are definitely making full use of your time in Australia, visiting towns like Wollongong, Narrabeen and Geelong. What was the driving factor behind that? Are you driving to the towns or flying?
It’s just the way the tour was booked and getting to play more, instead of playing the four or five major cities, we want to get into the actual country and I’m down to do that! I like sticking round in Australia a lot longer than just a week!
I think we’ll be flying unless it’s something super short like Brissy to the Gold Coast, I mean we’ve driven a few times doing the crazy long drives out there, the hours aren’t so great, by the next show your ass is always hurting after driving 12 hours and got a play that night…so this time we’re going to take the opportunity to fly when we can.
M-R: Mario Rubalcaba said that Black Heaven is different for Earthless because you had more input, how does writing usually work for Earthless?
It usually starts with Mike having a riff or something, but it does vary, like, he and I will go back and forth writing riffs, tweaking things and making changes Mario will chime in of course. Where this one I actually wrote a couple of songs in full, like, made a demo and showed it to the guys, so it started like that first but usually it’s a lot more collaborative effort.
M-R: Mario also said that you took a risk bringing in the ideas, how did you feel about the situation? Where did the motivation come from to bring these songs forward?
I knew we needed some songs to make a new record! So, I just took it upon myself to write whatever came out. I just feel that a lot of my writing doesn’t quite match what Earthless is. I’ve written tons of songs for other bands, but nothing really felt like an Earthless song with an Earthless vibe or at least what I think or thought what Earthless is. I was always hesitant and what showing them but this time it was like, well, I got some songs so, we’ll see what these guys make of them.
M-R: When writing your guitar solos, do you ever have a basic plan of what you will do? Or is it all just feel and experimentation?
It’s pretty much all in the moment and experimentation. There are some parts to songs where I want to be specific on what I’m doing melodically, there might be something that I want to say and that will be kind of the staple for that song kind of like Sultans of Swing. If you don’t put it in there, it’s not going to feel right, but most of the time if I don’t have a melody line in my head it’s going to be all in the moment.
M-R: With the organic nature of Earthless’ music, how do you know when a studio track is finished?
I guess until it feels like there’s nothing else to say! You don’t want to over-do it with stuff, you know. It’s nice to get the ear-candy in there, but as long as it tells its own story you know when it’s done. I really like the recording of the song Uluru Rock, it’s all live, just drums, bass and guitar, with, tiny smatterings of a Juno synthesizer and nothing else needed to be done just one little part. We know when it’s too much or too little.
M-R: What’s the similarities or differences between communicating with lyrics and melody?
Yeah, there’s a connection for me, I feel like I communicate best with melody. I think creating tension with a chord in a melody then to release that tension, to me that’s everything, that’s worth more than words. I’m not a great wordsmith, I wish I was but I’m not, I listen to a lot of guys like Dylan who have a really great way with words. I would love to get close to them but they’re at the top of the heap for me. It’s something to work on, but for me if you can say something musically with just notes and a melody line then that’s fine.
M-R: Earthless are the definition of a live band – your live sets and improvisation sessions are legendary, how important was it to release the live versions of the new songs in From the West?
I don’t know how important it was or even if it was an important thing for the band, but we thought it was the right thing to do. I think I made the label happy and made us happy too. Looking back, it was definitely a good move, but to me the recording sounds good! I think the playing on that was really inspired, I think it’s awesome. I guess, in a way, it is pretty important to have the live format released, because, people that are listening to the new record Black Heaven… and they’re like ‘oh no there’s vocals, it’s not the same band’ you know, we get alot of that, so when hearing the live record they’re like ‘oh they’re still the same thing they just have a couple of songs with vocals’. I think it’s important we show people that.
M-R: During these improvisation/jam sessions, how does the band know when the music is going to shift? Is it just chemistry or time on stage together, do you guys just feel it?
Kind of all of it, we know what the sections are and sometimes Mario and I will look each-other and we kind of agree to move on to the next part, because, it’s exhausted what you can do with that part. We kind of just look at each other and communicate. Sometimes Mario shakes his head saying no when I want to change and sometimes, he catches me off guard when I want to change. It it’s kind of fun though, it’s like a pitcher and catcher in a game of baseball.
M-R: How closely related is losing yourself in music and losing yourself in meditation? Do you see a connection?
Oh man, it’s kind of the same boat for me, it’s just getting to a really peaceful clear space. I guess it’s pretty personal. Music is fun because you’re doing it in front of people and you kind of controlling the voyage that everyone is collectively on that voyage. Meditation is kind of trying to think and not think at the same time on the individual level.
Black Heaven is out now. Earthless will be hitting venues all over Australia end of Feb beginning of March. Get your tickets here.
Interview Date: 2018-12-05
Interviewer: Jonathan Hurley
