How would you say you have progressed as a band since the release of 'Sans Souci' ? As song writers, I feel we are better, and as musicians we have improved. There is a part in a new song where Tim is looping guitar, playing guitar and playing keyboards with his feet at the same time. We would have laughed at that when writing Sans Souci. I guess the most obvious progression is our open mindedness to experimenting. I touched on it above but we are using a lot of electronics and samples now. There are vocal parts from German lullabies, gregorian chants, UK Garage songs etc as well as a heap of interesting instrumentation from different genres, but all done in a very tasteful, "Brontide" way.
Can you tell us about your recording process so far then? We are still at the writing stage so far. We have about five songs finished and three written that need finishing. It is flowing wonderfully and we can't wait to see peoples response as we feel we have already trumped Sans Souci.
Last year you got to perform with Thrice on their Farewell tour in London, so as you guys are influenced by this band how was this experience for you, and what are your favourite memories from this epic night? The Thrice show was wonderful. They were a big influence on us when we were growing up, especially Riley's drumming for me. It was an honour to be personally invited to play. We had a really great show and we went down very well.
Also, back in July you guys hit America for a handful of dates, so how was this for you, and what do you think you learnt the most from these shows? We just got PR and an agent out there and we decided we would go out and just have a go. We only played three shows to see how we would go down and the response was better then we expected. Quite surreal to see people recognise our songs on the other side of the world! I think we realised that touring out there isn't out of the question at all and that with enough time, we could play some exciting shows.
As an instrumental band, can you tell us how a song comes together for you guys? Usually Tim our guitarist emails us a song or an idea and we all work out what we want to play around it. Then we meet up in a rehearsal room somewhere and play it out. We've had a lot more time on this record to actually get together and write, which we have all enjoyed. Songs are very much just a heap of ideas and then we have to just work out how one section will go into another. The average pop song has an ABABCB structure, where as we never repeat sections. It's very much ABCDEFG.
Also, as an instrumental band, how do you guys go about making that connection with your fans when you perform your music live? We are show offs. Tim and Nathan stare at people and do loads of riffs one handed, and I hit the drums harder then I need to to give something else to look at. We understand that visually, we have to be impressive as we need to pull people in without words. We do spend a lot of time putting together our live show. Every note, interlude, fill is in place before we go on stage. We look at the set as a song. It has movements and should flow in the way a song should. We hope all these little things come across when people watch us.
You guys have come a long way in such a short time, but what do you think has been your biggest achievement so far as Brontide, and why? America was obviously a highlight. We've always had a rule that we don't do things unless we need to, and we were asked to go out to USA and didn't just go for the sake of it. Festival season was a real highlight too. We had four or five weekends in a row where we played to 600+ people who knew our material. For a band with no management, UK agent or funding, it was fantastic and a real "keep going" moment.
What do you want 2013 to do for Brontide? Release a wonderful album and play some big headline shows.