The Burning Colours are a three piece sludge/noise band from Brisbane. We find out more from the band in our interview with them.
Metal-Roos: We have followed the last 9 months of the recording process from the distance. You put a lot of effort into Seed. How does it feel to have the finished product in your hands?
It’s a very satisfying feeling, and I think we have all learnt heaps from it. Everyone has this concept of what they’re going to sound like beforehand, but it’s really about compromise and what’s best for the song. By the way, this was not nine months in the studio. It was more like a couple of recording blocks and some mix down time. Many hours and a lot of coordination went into it however, and I think it was an accurate reflection of where we were at for the time.
Metal-Roos: Where did you put focus on when you produced Seed?
We are tuned quite low, so that always creates problems with clarity. Some of my favourite bands who are also detuned have such a muddy mix on their earlier albums it’s difficult to make out what is happening at times. So clarity was a fairly large part of the focus, which is difficult when you start adding a guitar tuned low with a ton of fuzz on it. I think Tall Poppy did a good job of “getting it”.
Metal-Roos: Who writes the songs, and where does the inspiration come from?
At the moment, I have always produced the basic shell/concept, usually with a guitar and click track backed version of the song, and then the other guys bring their interpretation to it, and then we fit the rest of the song to that as it evolves. With the first release down, we are hoping to change it to more of a jam oriented approach, as the guys have some great ideas. I work in an office at the moment, but I think I will always have a hands on type mentality from many years of hard physical jobs. My low paying meatpacking job that was meant to be some cash for the summer holidays lasted for 4 years, which provided a lot of the material for Meathead. It was a scary place to work, and I remember a guy was stacking one of the frozen 30 kilo meat boxes above his head and it bounced back and knocked him out for a few minutes. But like a lot of musicians, especially in this style, my qualifications that would get me an actual job at the time were pretty non-existent. I could lift heavy things and that was about it, so I wound up in the few jobs where other angry, unskilled men were. Most of the songs were written from my personal experiences. However, Ahab was written after I read Moby Dick, just like Simian Grace is sort of about Planet of the Apes. Crow was about this waitress I saw in West End who I swear was planning how to poison her difficult customers while patiently wearing her fake smile and taking their orders.
Metal-Roos: What were the obstacles in making Seed?
We recorded with Gareth at Tall Poppy who was great, very experienced and had some good practical solutions to any recording type obstacles that we had. The obstacles were probably outside of the studio the more I think about it. We met the drummer 4 weeks prior to him heading to Germany, the guitarist was having a baby and I was studying as well as my fulltime work gig so it was a lot to cram in. It was a pretty crazy time with a lot of rehearsals, and we managed to squeeze a show in-between too. Plus it was our first time in a studio, and we all had to adapt to a tight budget. We learnt why people say “know your stuff backwards before you get in the studio”. It’s not a place to waste time or be unprofessional because it’s expensive. Everything was pretty much a first take. Another noteworthy obstacle was for the intro to Crow. I used to work with a Scottish girl with a great accent, and I thought it would be cool to get her to speak on the album. She was happy to, so I had this great idea which turned out to be not so great to get her to record it while we were at the 3 Monkeys cafe in West End. It was actually pretty noisy in the main area, so she had to go sit in the toilet with the recorder for a couple of minutes saying the “She’s a bit fucking creepy” opening line. All of the artwork was performed by local artists as well, and did it because I asked them. Most of these people worked and/or studied fulltime, so it was tough on them, and they all pushed themselves to create something cool. And I am not artistic AT ALL, so the best I could do was talk them through what “the vision” was, and send them lyrics and music. So that was a big obstacle for both me and them. They all came up with something brilliant and unique though.
Metal-Roos: When was The Burning Colours formed?
Probably about 5 years ago, and the lyrics for Two Stroke are where the name came from. The idea was of a person of unsound mind watching the destruction of the world and themselves, and all they could pay attention to was the colour of the flames. I guess I was looking for people who just wanted to play something heavy, and create something they were proud of, not just the endless stream of somewhat talented people running away from “the system”, their drug problems, responsibility, etc. Give me a choice between Layne Staley and a reliable guy who’s willing to work and learn his craft, and I’ll pick the reliable guy every time.
Metal-Roos: What type of metal are you playing?
Meathead was a sample track that we sent out to a few folks and the feedback we got was that it was Kyuss-y. I quite like Kyuss, but it’s pretty evident that we don’t sound like them once you get past the detuned guitars. I hear Sludge metal used as a genre with some of my favourite bands, who are definite influences like Buzzov-en, Crowbar and The Melvins, so maybe that’s what we are doing. It’s sort of like Stoner Rock’s ugly brother with more leaning to hardcore style vocals, and less of the “rolling, swaying” feel that Stoner has. Most of our stuff is coming right at you. I don’t want to pretend we are re-inventing the wheel, but we enjoy playing it, whatever it is. I am not really too worried about whatever box people put us in. We put our ideas out there as The Burning Colours, and the audience can interpret them as they like.
Metal-Roos: What is your musical background? How did you get into metal?
A friend shared an earphone with me on the bus to school once, and he was listening to some Megadeth. Blew my mind. Another friend heard I liked Megadeth, so he lent me some Death, which further blew my mind, and I was very much hooked by then, and started playing bass and later learnt some guitar. Bass was always my first love though. So far as background, my first job was as a roadie for a professional jazz & soul band who all sight read. So I know a little about reading music and theory as they pushed that pretty hard on me as soon as they found out I played, but what I really got out of being exposed to such solid musicians was a love of odd times. These guys were all so slick, and they could do that amazing swing feel that I will never have. Metal is always the polar opposite of that, or at least the kind of metal that I like nowadays. There are some progressive metal bands who blur that line and do very clever things but that stuff no longer makes my jaw drop unless it’s musical. I am always more interested in a band who can write a song that moves me, not just an encyclopaedia of clever musical ideas. But nobody writes songs like Crowbar. Kirk’s lyrics always hit me hard.
Metal-Roos: Who are your influences?
Influences and what I’m listening to tend to become inseparable after a while. The local Aussie guys I am listening to a lot of at the moment are Cryptic Abyss, King Parrot, Dark Order, Red Bee, Fat, Mark of Cain, The Meanies and always some Beasts of Bourbon. NZ is producing some gold at the moment though with Arc of Ascent and I love Beastwars. Those riffs are massive and his voice is phenomenal. Other stuff I dig that has had a big effect on my playing/composing/vocals is Sepultura, especially Roots era. Also Rollins Band, Black Sabbath, Electric Wizard and Metallica, especially And Justice for all, as it’s the first album I played the bass all the way through. Plus the other bands I named earlier, buzz oven, Melvin’s, Crowbar.
Metal-Roos: Any suggestions for the Australian metal scene?
I guess the thing is to go in with the right mind set when you see a local band. It’s not like seeing Black Sabbath. Odds are, you’re not going to know the songs, so just work out if you liked the songs and/or the show, and if you did, buy the CD. Or feel free to tell them you liked their set afterwards, especially on those nights when they’re playing to 15 people. And if you didn’t like them, maybe that band or that style isn’t for you. It’s really just about checking things out for yourself, and it’s not like it’s a tough obligation. You’re in a pub, there’s beer, there’s food, there’s music. Who knows, you may even make some new friends. It’s not a bad night out.
Interview Date: 2014-07-03
Interviewer: Anja