SOURCE – Your new album, Incarnation comes out in a few days. How are you feeling about it upon the release?
Ben Nairne (Guitars) – I feel like it’s only natural to say that this is the most excited we’ve been about a release because it’s our latest works, but this one really does feel special. This is the first album we’ve released since parting ways with our clean vocalist and bass player Kyle. This really forced us to come up with creative ways of getting melody into the music and having choruses that stand apart from the rest of the songs. We pushed ourselves to the absolute limit and we can’t wait for everyone to hear what we’ve been working on.
SOURCE – What will be your strongest memory of working on this album with Josh Schroeder?
Ben Nairne (Guitars) – Josh knew how much this album meant to us and the fact that we flew from Australia meant that he allowed us to work pretty much every single day for 7 weeks. Spending so much time in the studio can be pretty draining so we’d always find time to have a break and do some fun stuff to clear our minds. We’d play Kan Jam, pinball, Mariokart and plenty of other things in our breaks and had so much fun, definitely some of the strongest memories!
SOURCE – Tell us about the track “Hollow Bone” and the video you shot for it. How important are videos in the promotion process these days?
Ben Nairne (Guitars) – Hollow Bone was the first single we released off Incarnation and it’s the first time we’ve all sung on a track together. It felt super powerful having all of our voices come together to create a chorus melody and we really wanted to portray that power through the music video. We’re a band that’s always given a lot to music videos and although I feel like things are shifting and music videos aren’t as crucial as they used to be we still love the process and being able to release something visually creative to compliment the music.
SOURCE – With the guest appearances on Incarnation. How was it working with those guys (Parkway Drive’s Winston McCall, For the Fallen Dreams’ Chad Ruhlig and The Color Morale’s Garret Rapp) and did you always plan to have them featured on the songs they did?
Ben Nairne (Guitars) – It’s always great collaborating with other artists and we’ve known all those guys for a long time so it was special having them on this album. The concept for Incarnation came about because we wanted to explore the second 11 Tarot Cards in the Major Arcana after using the first 11 in our debut album Divination of which all 3 of these guys featured on. Early on in the process we thought it would be really cool to have the same guest vocalists on Incarnation to help complete the cycle although the specific songs they were featured on didn’t become clear until about halfway through the process.
SOURCE – In the digital age, music consumption and distribution have changed significantly. How do you see the role of physical formats like vinyl and CDs in the context of your music, and how do they contribute to the overall experience of your releases?
Ben Nairne (Guitars) – I think it’s really important to still have something physical that people can hold on to and have on display. Since our last release we’ve come up with CD and Vinyl packaging that is completely environmentally friendly and carbon neutral and during that process we’ve actually come up with a physical product that’s unique and really nice to hold.
SOURCE – Are streaming music services harming piracy more than they’re harming sales?
Ben Nairne (Guitars) – I don’t know a lot about this subject but I can say that I don’t know anyone who downloads music illegally these days. Although music streaming services make it really difficult for artists to make money off album sales and streams they have made music very accessible to people at a reasonable price that most likely has slowed down piracy.
SOURCE – How have you and the other band members been keeping busy when you were not writing and recording this album?
Ben Nairne (Guitars) – We all have jobs that keep us busy when we’re not doing music. I like to play golf when I have time and Jake and I play soccer for our local club so that keeps us pretty busy. Eaven has been producing and recording other bands in his down time which he really enjoys and Conor has a 2 year old that keeps him busy when he’s not at work or doing music.
SOURCE – Other than the album promotion what other plans do you and the rest of the band have?
Ben Nairne (Guitars) – We’ve got our Australian headline tour for Incarnation kicking off in early September and then we’re heading to the US with Miss May I in October for their 15th Anniversary tour of Apologies are for the Weak. That’s all we have planned right now but we’re definitely trying to get to Europe at some point next year!
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