SOURCE – A War Against You came out in January, it was really well received by fans and critics alike. In hindsight is there anything about the album you would have changed?
Brett Rasmussen (Bass) – Probably only the fact that it took so long. It would have been cool to release this album a few years ago.
SOURCE – The new album was produced by Cameron Webb; who is famous for his work with: MOTÖRHEAD, SOCIAL DISTORTION, ALKALINE TRIO, PENNYWISE. How did it feel to be working with such an acclaimed music producer?
Brett Rasmussen (Bass) – We started working with Cameron in 1999, before he was working with Motörhead. Cameron is a very important part of Ignite and I don’t think that we would ever do an album without Cameron as the producer. We basically had the same team of people work on this album as we did the last album, so when we got in the studio there was definitely a sense a familiarity and a comfort level that we were used to. You always hit bumps along the way, but all of us have the same final vision of making a great album in mind, so that is the common ground for us.
SOURCE – Why is there a 10-year gap between releases?
Brett Rasmussen (Bass) – Well, that is a question that we are going to be answering a lot over the next few months. We released Our Darkest Days in 2006 and we began touring on that album immediately. After 2008, the band kept growing in popularity and we kept getting bigger and better festival opportunities and chances to play new places that we had never been before, so we kept touring up to the end of 2009. At that point, as everyone knows, Jim left Pennywise and Zoli was asked to join PW. This was a very cool opportunity for Zoli, Pennywise and Ignite and they made a great album and over three years they did some really great tours together. At the end of 2012 PW reconciled with Jim and that gave Ignite the opportunity to start talking about writing new album in 2013. We entered the recording studio in May 2014 and finished recording the new Ignite album in June 2015. It was a very busy 10 years for all of us.
SOURCE – You guys are going to be with EMP Persistence Tour 2016. Are you guys excited? Is there anything that you’re really looking forward to?
Brett Rasmussen (Bass) – It is always cool to get out on the road with your friends in bands like H2O and Terror. I am also looking forward to seeing the bands I have never seen before live like Twitching Tongues and Iron Reagan.
SOURCE – The music industry has changed beyond recognition since you arrived with Ignite. What do you see as the biggest challenge facing bands today and do you have any advice for bands that are starting out?
Brett Rasmussen (Bass) – You have to really work hard at every aspect of being in a band and you have to be good. There is so much competition out there with all the other up and coming bands in the world that you really have to shine brighter than the bands you are competing with. When you see a great band that you have never heard before and they blow you away with a live show or a certain song, it is impressive and it is undeniable. Practice playing, practice writing, work hard on everything.
SOURCE – The music industry has changed considerably the last couple of years which affects both bands and labels in various ways, yet it also offers unforeseen opportunities. Would you guys ever consider putting out an album independently, for instance? What are your own views on the current developments?
Brett Rasmussen (Bass) – At the end of the day the only thing that really matters is writing great songs. That is the sole focus when we get together and collaborate on music. All the songs have to be great. All the songs have to move us. All the songs have to inspire us first before we could even think about putting them on an album. All the other things that your record company needs you to do, things online, promotion or anything… none of that matters without a great album first. The industry will always change, but good songs stay around forever.
SOURCE – There’s a lot of melodic hardcore out recently on the market. Compared to about 20 years ago, it’s starting to be recognized. How do you feel you’ve impacted the melodic hardcore scene?
Brett Rasmussen (Bass) – We don’t really pay attention to that, we just write the music that inspires us and the music that we hope will inspire other people.
SOURCE – Given the actual saturation of the metal/hardcore scene, what do you think makes you stand as an act people would want to listen to and see live?
Brett Rasmussen (Bass) – I think that is one of the lucky things about Ignite is that we crossover to a wide audience and we always seem to fit the bills that we are playing whether it is with Motorhead or Bad Religion or even on nights where we play acoustic sets and we are playing with mellow bands. Our music is aggressive so the punk and hardcore fans like it and Zoli has a clear singing voice, so there is appeal to the metal fans. We hear a lot that Zoli sounds like Klaus Meine from The Scorpions, so that is probably where a lot of that somes from.
SOURCE – Are there any goals that you guys want to meet that you haven’t yet?
Brett Rasmussen (Bass) – We would like to keep expanding the international audience for Ignite. It always really cool to travel to new countries and meet people who have been fans of Ignite or a long time and also to introduce Ignite to new fans around the world!
SOURCE – In closing. Do you have a message out there for all the Ignite fans out there, both old and new?
Brett Rasmussen (Bass) – We hope to see you soon at an Ignite concert!
Link:
Ignite site
Video: