Sunday, November 4th, 2012
Brand New Album From GODSTICKS, "The Envisage Conundrum" The band continue to forge originality with style and present 12 new tracks on this, their second studio album. After a well received debut album, a fresh approach was taken and a heavier sound began to make itself apparent within the new music, something which lies deep within their collective influences. The Envisage Conundrum showcases a broader spectrum of music than the band’s previous releases; packing a hard punch in places, whilst maintaining a steady move forward in musicianship and writing. In July 2010, the band released their debut album ‘Spiral Vendetta’ which took almost 2 years to write and record. The lengthy production was worth the effort and the results were described as ‘mesmerising’. As with the EP released a year earlier, the sheer originality of the music was greeted with delight, with ‘imaginative’ and ‘original’ frequently used to describe the band - two words that Godsticks are proud to be associated with. The very first review of 'Spiral Vendetta' eloquently sums up both the album and band: "Spiral Vendetta has it all in spades with chops, emotion, musicality and imagination, the songs pack a breathtaking amount into concise pieces and the album in no way outstays its welcome." | |
A worldwide distribution deal was secured on the strength of the album and the band completed a number of short tours and festivals, supporting such acts as ‘The Pineapple Thief’. In March 2012, Godsticks were also the supporting act on a 5-date UK tour with ‘The Aristocrats’; featuring world-renowned guitarist Guthrie Govan. The tour was a huge success and introduced the band to a much wider audience. At the end of that tour, the band went into the studio to record the ‘The Envisage Conundrum’. The recent and extensive live work had an influence over the newer material - it became much heavier and more guitar-driven. None of the band's originality has been lost, but the new album sees a more focused and settled band, still offering an eclectic array of songs but in a much more accessible package. 'The Envisage Conundrum' will be released on the 4/2/2013 and is available to pre-order here. |
EXCLUSIVE ALBUM PRE-ORDER OFFER Those who pre-order the new album will receive 2 exclusive tracks, which will be sent out at the beginning of December 2012. The first is an exquisitely arranged (by Steve Roberts) piano & vocal rendition of ‘Clinical’ – a track that featured on our original eponymously titled EP. The other will be re-mix of a song from the new album. Both of these songs will be produced by The Pineapple Thief’s Bruce Soord, and will only be available to those who pre-order. |
The Envisage Conundrum – In our own words Considering that the tracks for ‘The Envisage Conundrum’ were completed at the end of April this year, this album has taken a long time to complete. Had it not been for the belief and affection we have for these songs I think we’d have skipped this, our second album, and moved straight to the third!! It really has been that difficult to make. However, the pain and suffering has been worth it. The songs on this album, we think, are quite different to our previous releases; although we wouldn’t say it’s a complete change of direction for the band. The songs we write tend to reflect our musical mood at the time, and this time around we were in a rockier frame of mind during the 18 months it took to write it. That said: don’t expect a typical rock album (as I’m sure anyone who subscribes to this newsletter wouldn’t!). Prior to the release of ‘Spiral Vendetta’, Godsticks as a band had very little experience in the live arena. In fact, before that album’s launch in July 2010, we’d played a grand total of 3 shows. Thankfully, many live opportunities arose in 2010 and 2011 and we began to grow as a live unit. Steve and I have always had a pretty good chemistry, but before we gave birth to Dan we hadn’t really performed our songs as well as we knew we could. The reason we mention the live work is because it’s this more than anything else which had an impact - albeit subconsciously - on the songs that were written for ‘The Envisage Conundrum’. These songs were never ‘conceived’ or ‘designed‘ for the live stage, but given that this was the first time in the band’s brief history that newly-written material could be rehearsed as a full band, the songs ended up being very enjoyable to play and very much suited to the stage. That’s not to say these tracks are stripped down rock-songs - far from it - it’s the vibe and energy of the songs that reflect the chemistry that now exists between us as players. I speak for the entire band when I say that making this album was one of the most difficult and frustrating experiences we’ve ever had (musically speaking, obviously). We fought tooth and nail to achieve the sound we wanted and our hope is that eventually, the band and Joe Gibb (our producer) realised our ambitions. As mentioned in the above press release, those of you who pre-order will receive a soon-to-be-recorded version of ‘Clinical’ (from our first EP) that Steve has arranged for piano and vocals. We’ve performed this version live a few times, and I can honestly say that Steve’s piano work is a reminder of why I love music above everything else. Awwww! We’re currently rehearsing harder than ever to ensure our live show is as good as we know it can be, and will be out on the road in March 2013 with none other than ‘The Mike Keneally Band'. Hope you can make it to one of these shows. Speak soon Darran, Steve, and Dan | |
Tuesday, April 17th, 2012 - Tour Diary
The Peel, London 07/03/12 We arrived in London on Wednesday after spending the previous day picking up the tour gear (which was mostly Bryan's!) and immediately set off for the venue. Helping the Aristocrats set up was initially a surreal experience if you take into account the fact that these are three musicians we've looked up to and been influenced by. However, that surrealism soon disappeared once we realised the amount of hard work both physically and mentally that would be required for the next five days. The Peel set went very well and we played better than expected given we'd only played once in four months (due to album rehearsals). The crowd was very responsive and it turned out to be great fun. We also gave a debut to a forthcoming album track called 'Borderstomp Part 3' which was very well received and very enjoyable to play, even if it was a little shaky. The Aristocrats went down a storm; I remember someone remarking that if that is how well they played with jetlag, imagine how good they normally are! We were about to find out... I met a great few people at the London gig not to mention - name-drop, name-drop - Steven Wilson, who despite (and obviously) not knowing who the hell I was, proved to be a very humble and friendly person. | |
The Robin 2, Bilston 08/03/12 Not the full house that we had the night before but a good turn-out nonetheless. Both bands were given a great reception and for me personally, this was the moment that I decided to get rid of my guitar amp (more on that later). This was also the first time I had the chance to watch 'The Aristocrats' which I did from the side of the stage. 'Blown away' would be an understatement. Earlier that day Bryan presented a bass masterclass, playing through tracks he recorded with Steve Vai and Dethklok. Listening to those parts in isolation reveal just how frighteningly good he is! | |
Night n Day Cafe, Manchester 09/03/12 'Night 'n Day' was a hot and sweaty venue - a musician's delight in many ways! I loved the Manchester show and I spent a great deal of the set insulting Dan (I would call it on-stage banter but that would imply two-way interaction). During the set I tested out the age-old theory that most Mancunians were Manchester City supporters rather than United supporters. I was disappointed to learn that wasn't true. I also found out that I miss being able to lord over United fans that Liverpool had won the league more times. First time I had played in Manchester and I sincerely hope to play there again soon; great crowd. | |
The Cluny, Newcastle 10/03/12 The strict itinerary on this tour meant that there wasn't a single second to relax. The stress of keeping to the schedule was compounded by the fact that we clipped a post box when turning onto the road our hotel was situated on, resulting in the side-window being shattered. Steve did a great job creating a window out of gaffer tape and cardboard though; he may also have used some empty washing-up bottles, I'm not sure. Accompanied Guthrie to a Master-class organised as part of the tour at the Newcastle students union. Given my own memories as an 18-year old guitar player, I was expecting the questions to be variations on 'how can I play really fast?'. The questions turned out to be more about how to incorporate techniques and theory into your playing, so my prejudice was unfounded. Guthrie also treated the audience to his own personal insights into traditional Indian music which I, as an Indian music lover myself, found very interesting. The Cluny was another great venue. We enjoyed it very much and I personally enjoyed listening to all the Geordie accents, as it's one of my favourites. Whereas rock stars will sometimes look to score illegal mind-altering substances after a show, I spent a good hour looking to score a box of 'Kellogg's Special K', as I was down to my last bowlful. Unfortunately, the only shop open near the venue was a petrol station which seemed to be disproportionately stocked with frosted-type cereal flakes (surely this is some form of negative discrimination?). Either way, I couldn't find anything so I used the cocaine I had with me instead. Kidding, of course... | |
The Voodoo Rooms, Edinburgh 11/03/12 Arrived for another meet-and-greet with Guthrie in Guitar Guitar. This time Guthrie was greeted by a five year-old boy politely informing Guthrie that 'Waves' was his favourite song. I took umbrage at this and told him that anyone with even half a brain would realise that the title track 'Erotic Cakes' was far better. Luckily, the boy's father intervened before things got out of hand. Only one part of that paragraph is actually true. I drooled over all the expensive guitars while Guthrie answered questions from the people gathered there to meet him. Thankfully I had no money, so another regrettable purchase was not on the cards. The Voodoo Rooms in Edinburgh is quite a beautiful venue, although that's no surprise when you consider the architecturally stunning buildings all around you. Edinburgh is probably my favourite city in the world too: so clean and relaxed, and full of Scottish people (unsurprisingly). Another great gig, and another one spent trying to erode Dan's self-confidence. I have no children myself, so given Dan's relatively young age I'm using him as an experiment to determine whether I'd actually be a good father. I've been advised that publicly humiliating your offspring wherever possible is not regarded as good paternal instinct. Pfft! It's character building as far as I'm concerned. | |
Lessons Learned There were a great many things we learned from this tour. I personally learned (all non-guitar geeks run for cover now) that my current amp (Mesa Mark 5) simply wasn't cutting it live, especially in its current 1*12 format. Due to the fact that not many people like oddball music, we don't often get the opportunity to gig on consecutive days, so the five days in a row that we played revealed to me that my uninspired lead sound cannot be blamed upon the venue or my playing anymore. In contrast, and playing style aside, the sound coming from Guthrie's simple 1-channel set up was simply phenomenal. Without being ageist, it was great to see so many young faces in the crowd. The frightening part of prog music is that you very rarely see any new faces at gigs, which to me indicates to me that one day there will be no prog fans left! That's not meant to sound like I don't appreciate the fans that do turn up; I suppose if anything I resent mortality! What can I say about the Aristocrats? Well, I wasn't necessarily a huge fan of their album but (for me) it turns out that those songs were designed to be played live, because after this tour I can sincerely claim to be a fan of their music. They are an outstanding musical outfit; one of the best live acts I've ever witnessed in fact. Like Jazz (again, for me), this music is meant to played live and is best appreciated that way. In saying that, I returned to their album after the tour and really enjoy listening to it now. Marco Minnemann. In a venue full of guitar-players, how on earth can a drummer almost steal the show every night? I confess to watching Marco from behind the stage nearly every night and being mesmerised by the enthusiasm and skill he displays behind that kit. What an incredible player! And a very entertaining person too: probably the only German 'Father Ted' fan in the world! A good many trips were spent discussing our favourite comedy programmes. I rarely watched Guthrie and I'm glad I didn't - I accidentally discovered that it's better to listen. Sometimes you forget just how soulful a player he is because you get distracted by his fingers' flights of fancy. However, the feel with which he plays, the dynamics he employs, the chord voicing, the phrasing, and the TONE are far more mesmerising that any feats of technical prowess. And let's not forget Bryan Beller. Often overlooked, and that's probably how he likes it, he defines and underpins the band's sound. Take him out of the equation, you'll still have a great band, but the groove just won't be the same. I've been a fan of Bryan's since I first discovered Mike Keneally almost ten years ago, and if anything, I'm a bigger fan after that tour. For me he's the definition of a professional musician - and his attention to detail both musically (and as co-tour manager!) is awe-inspiring. Indefatigable is the word best used to describe him; it's six syllables too. As an insincere, full-of-shit musician I probably would have said all of these nice things anyway. However, I'm not often prone to sentimentality, so you can be sure that the praise lavished upon those guys is 100% genuine. It was one of the most enjoyable experiences I've ever had. I think that the whole experience of this tour will result in a 'new and improved' Godsticks live show in the future - hope you'll be there to witness it! |