Transcript of an interview I recorded with BRITTNEY SLAYES of UNLEASH THE ARCHERS - 20200825. Full article here. MAL-
Talking to Brittney from UNLEASH THE ARCHERS, Brittney, thanks for joining me. BRITTNEY- Thanks for having me. MAL- It's great to have you on. We'll get to your excellent new album in a moment. Let's just take me back here for a little while. When did you start singing Brittney? BRITTNEY- Oh long time ago before I really can even remember. I think I was probably like 6 or 7 years old. Then I joined choir and started musical theatre lessons and just kind of it's always been a part of my life really all through my youth and ever since I was little and music has been a big part of our family since the beginning, so yeah. MAL- Now when did UNLEASH THE ARCHERS form? Was it you and Scott right from the beginning? BRITTNEY- Yep, Scott and I are partners and he was in a band all through University and I loved going to their shows and hanging out and and that whole metal scene that was going on over there at the time. And so when their band broke up, I basically just said 'why don't we start something?' So we started UNLEASH THE ARCHERS together and found the rest of the band members in the local scene there in Victoria and yeah the rest is history. MAL- How was the local scene? Did things come pretty easily for UNLEASH THE ARCHERS or was it a struggle early on? What was the scene like there? BRITTNEY- Well, it was, you know quite a while ago. So it was it was a like a great local scene and really strong for shows and that kind of thing and we were something new and different, female fronted, power melodic death metal wasn't really a thing. So we kind of had a bit of a buzz and we had a lot of shows and we got offered a lot of shows and that kind of thing but breaking out of that scene was much more difficult. We moved to Vancouver in 2010 and just had to start all over again basically and then, you know doing cross-Canada tours slowly grew our fan base that way just hit the road every chance we got. There was a time there where I think we were touring Canada like twice a year. There's a bit intense. So yeah, we just kept working away at it. And yeah, but it definitely took time. I mean getting out of Canada took us six years because it's just it's difficult, yeah. MAL- Now I came on board around the 'Apex' album. How did that album go for you? BRITTNEY- It was great. It was yeah. It was really the first time that the four of us, the current lineup, were writing together just the four of us, because the the other records, you know had a different principal songwriter on them and and even kind of a combo of principals. And so this was the first time the four of us really sat down and said, okay, you know, let's do this together and it was a really great experience and we all know each other so well and we work really well together, so it was very well received by our fans and lots of people have discovered us because of that record. So, you know, we're thankful for that. MAL- All right, let's get onto the new album. When did we lay the foundations for 'Abyss'? BRITTNEY- Well, it's a concept record that is a sequel to 'Apex'. So the whole story that underlies everything was written back in 2016, but then we just wrote 'Apex' and then we came back to 'Abyss' in 2019 and really started writing the music behind everything just based on the story and how we wanted the listener to feel and on all that kind of thing. And we took the first half of 2019 off just so we could separate ourselves completely from what we had done before because we didn't want to write another 'Apex'. We didn't want to try and write the same record again. We wanted to write something completely new and to experiment with a lot of new sounds and instruments and that kind of thing. And so I think we succeeded at making 'Abyss' sound very much like a different record, but still having sort of the same undertones as 'Apex' so that you can listen to them in one sitting, you know, being that they are two sides to one story, but yeah it was a lot of fun. MAL- The album starts off, it caught me by surprise a bit the way 'Waking Dream' starts off, tell us about that one. BRITTNEY- So because it was a sequel to 'Apex', we wanted people to be able to listen to them back to back if they want, I mean, we're not saying that they have to but if they decide to do that, we wanted there to be an interlude almost in between the two of them. So 'Waking Dream' is not just an intro track to 'Abyss' but it's also a way to sort of I guess segue from 'Apex' into 'Abyss' without it kind of being a stark contrast right away. So we wanted it to be that acoustic feeling that you have at the end of the 'Apex' record and then build it up into the ethereal sort of synth sounds that you get on 'Abyss'. So we used that track as as an interlude between the two of them. MAL- Got a couple of you might say epics on the album as well. Tell us about 'The Wind That Shapes The Land'. BRITTNEY- Yeah, that one is one of the longer songs on the record and it has a lot of story that it needs to tell, it's all about the confrontation between our two main characters The Matriarch and The Immortal and in 'Apex' The Matriarch had betrayed The Immortal, so this is the first time he's finally seeing her and just kind of taken it to her basically and so this is this this epic moment of them seeing each other for the first time in you know, a few decades and the Immortals gonna take take his revenge out on her basically and it's this is huge crazy sort of battle between the two of them and then I don't want to spoil it for anybody but The Immortal finally gets her and feels much better about it in the end. MAL- How did you go recording this album the way things are with the world these days? Was it all wrapped up before lockdown? What was the deal? BRITTNEY- Luckily, it was yeah. We were in Denmark for the month of January and we recorded it all all at once, one big three-week studio session with Jacob Hansen at Hansen Studios, and it was still in China really at that time and it was starting to creep into Europe and we were just kind of like 'hmm. What's going on here? This is interesting. Have you guys, you know heard about this thing? Oh dear' and but it wasn't until we got home that it was at, you know the borders of Denmark and it was only about two weeks after we got back that we learned that Denmark had actually in fact shut their borders to travelers. So if we had taken, you know any longer of a time we would have been stuck there and it would've been very interesting but luckily. Yeah, we got it all done in January. Then we did the mixing, mastering process, you know, just by email and Skype and Dropbox throughout February and we had the the final product in our hands in March MAL- I saw a bit of a new film clip last night for 'Faster Than Light'. Tell us about that. BRITTNEY- Yeah. Well, so we put out two music videos already. We put out one for the title track 'Abyss' and then one for 'Soulbound' and they were, you know, pretty serious and I mean not super but definitely more along the lines of trying to show people what the new record is going to be all about, but because this one has been released after the record is already out there and everyone can listen and kind of form their own opinions we decided to do something a little bit more fun. And because it's called 'Faster Than Light' we decided that we were going to race each other but our director who did the 'Abyss' video actually was like, 'Why don't we do something a little bit more interesting than just running around a track' and he's like 'you guys ever heard of the book 'The Long Walk' by Stephen King?' We're like, 'No' and basically if you slow down you die. So that's what we decided to do. But it was just a lot of fun. We had so much fun filming it and I laugh so hard every time I watch that video that my face hurts and it's just, you know, we don't take ourselves super seriously. We're here to play music. It's not a day job. It's not something you know that there are rules to abide by so we just like to have a good time. And sometimes we put out music videos where we're just total goofballs. MAL- Excellent. Tell us about the internet concert you did the other day. How did that go? BRITTNEY- It was great. It was really, you know, it's different the playing to a bunch of cameras on the floor instead of people. So it was hard to keep the energy up you kind of had to constantly be present and a lot of times you can lose yourself, you know in the show and you're just looking at the crowd and having a really great time. But this one it was like you had to constantly make sure you were turned on and they're giving as much energy as you could into them into the cameras. So, you know, it's hard and also it's like, you got one shot you got to do it right, you got to do it well, so it was very nerve-wracking and I was definitely nervous the whole time and wanted to make sure I didn't screw anything up but yeah went really well had a lot of fans that enjoyed it and and a lot of great comments afterwards, great photos and memes that came out of it. So that's always you know, that's I love when that happens. So it's yeah, it was a success I'd say. MAL- Just take me back just a little while. Tell us about 'Northwest Passage'. When I heard that you'd done that I'm like 'Hmm. Okay, that's interesting'. Tell us about the decision to do that. BRITTNEY- So 'Northwest Passage' is a song by Canadian singer-songwriter folk musician Stan Rogers and he passed away back in the 80s. I think before I was even born maybe, but maybe not and he's just really he's a special guy to all of us up here. He's a national hero. So we all know his music very well and we listen to his music when we're on the road a lot, gets put on on the bus constantly, of course, we all live like to sing along so we just said to ourselves, 'Oh man, we got to cover this song one day. We got to put a bit of an UNLEASH spin on it'. So actually it was when we were recording for 'Apex' that we did it and we were going to do it as the bonus track on the record and then we heard it and we were just like, 'you know, what No, this needs its own its own special treatment'. So we held on to it. We recorded a different song for the bonus track for 'Apex' and then when there was a little bit of a lull there in the middle of 2019, we weren't touring or anything, we were just like I said taking a break so that we could focus on 'Abyss' and we had recorded another song 'Heartless World', which is a TEAZE cover, also a Canadian band from back in the 70s and put it out as a little 7 inch EP and filmed a couple of music videos for it. We had a really good time but those songs and they're just kind of something that we were hoping would tide fans over until we were able to start promoting for 'Abyss' and everything and just keep us top of mind and also kind of do as best we could to bring some attention to some Canadian artists that maybe otherwise wouldn't be known around the world. MAL- Right, what's the plan from here? You've got the album out now, how has the reaction been to it? The reaction here is very positive, I love it. How's it going elsewhere? BRITTNEY- I mean so far so good. We've had quite a few positive reactions. A lot of people seem to be liking it and enjoying it and understanding really what we did, what we were doing, trying to do at least. I mean, there's a few out there that are really big fans of 'Apex' and it's kind of hard to hear anything but that record and I get it. I mean there's a lot of bands where I have, you know, my one favorite album and they have yet to outdo that album for me personally, but you know, it's all just opinions so, so far. I mean I'd say just the general consensus is that people are liking it and yeah, I mean just going to kind of sit back for the fall, not much to do you when you can't tour, so probably do a couple more music videos and then hopefully everything clears up for 2021, and we can actually hit the road and do a real show instead of a live stream in front of cameras. MAL- All right, Brittney from UNLEASH THE ARCHERS, thanks so much for talking to us about your new album, 'Abyss'. Best of luck with that and hope everything all clears up in the world and you can get out on the road and play some real shows soon. Thanks for talking to me. BRITTNEY- Yeah, thanks so much. Yeah, I hope so, too. Comments are closed.
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AuthorMetalhead who hates bad parking. |