On The Record – Mere Theory
on September 10th, 2011It was launched a few weeks back to a packed Uni Bar in Adelaide just over a month ago, and now it’s available for purchase, the new album from Adelaide’s Mere Theory, titled ‘Walking In Storms‘. Nigel from the band has taken the time to answer our On The Record questions to give some insight into the new album. See below to take a read, and a listen to the album which is in stores now.
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Purchase CD online now via Waterfront Records [Here].
Purchase digitally now via iTunes [Here]
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Tell us about the title.
The title of the album references the feeling you get when you’re walking in a storm. It can be a challenge, but there’s a sense of excitement. You know the storm won’t last, but for now you’re engaged with the elements, and you feel alive. We relate it back to the making of music and art. It’s a struggle, but there’s great joy and excitement in making it, especially when you work through the challenges. It’s struggle that helps us realise ourselves, our art and music.
Tell us about the artwork.
I created the artwork for the album. I’ve designed all our album covers, but I try to detach myself from the band and provide my design and problem solving skills objectively. Without this approach it would be a difficult process of what ‘I like’ etc. There was a long search and exploration stage. It may have been several months work with around 100 different cover designs being created. Maybe 10 were shown to the band. We worked hard on creating the image we thought represented the album. The band chose the image of the diver in full helmet jumping off the jetty into the red sea. It represented the risk you take when you create art, charging with all of your will and integrity regardless of the potential for failure. Red and black represents energy, forward moving, activity, focus. People really like the image and the cover as a communication device for the album, so we’re very pleased.
Tell us about the studio and why you chose to record there.
We wanted to record in our home city and sleep in our own beds each night, so we made the album at Broadcast Studios here in Adelaide. Our engineer Evan had mentioned some techniques that aligned with our own thoughts, like tracking much of the music live and to tape, so it was easy to make the decision to record there.
Tell us about the producer / engineer and why you chose to record with them.
We have worked with our friend Evan James a lot over years. He’s a legend! Evan has worked with great SA acts including The Mark of Cain and Pharaohs, so he was our first choice for engineer. He’s a relaxed man with a considered approach. I co-produced the album with Evan and I think that is fair to say he created the sounds and I directed the vision. The band of course added thoughts, ideas and made decisions. The record was mixed by Richard Stolz (Bodyjar / After The Fall) in Melbourne. Richard also workd with us on the ‘Catalan Atlas’ record. We didn’t have an aweful lot of money available, so I originally asked him to mix the singles, but Richard was up for the whole show. We were pumped to work on this record with him.
How long did it take to record?
It took three sessions over a year to record the album. We had to record this way because of our financial limitations, but it was really nice to have the space to reflect on mixing, arrangements and so on. It was a real contrast to our last album, which was recorded and mixed over a few weeks.
Tell us a little about the recording process the band used.
We were well rehearsed so it was a casual experience; everyone knew what they had to do. As I said, we recorded to tape, trying to get the earthy stuff out of the kit and the bass. We were also out to capture the energy of the music, using lots of room mics.
Any guests involved? if so who, and what did they do?
We had cello, french horn, and piano all played by established Adelaide rock scene regulars, and there are backing vocals by members of Grenadiers, Secrets in Scale and Before the Aftermath.
Anything particular stuff outside your usual live gear used in the process?
Sure, we were continuously experimenting with microphones and various sounds, ways of capturing things, using non-guitar processes with guitars and so on. Evan had some great ideas, and it was a lot of fun.
Any memorable studio moments?
It really was a fun experience, lots of good feeling and positive attitude, as with any recording there were hard, tired moments, a lot of drinking and eating, but mainly on my behalf just focus and doing it.
Any additional tracks recorded that didn’t make the cut but may see the light of day sometime?
Yes, there are a few unreleased tracks. We will be releasing them on an EP soon enough. As stand alone tracks are awesome, but they just didn’t fit into the story of the album.
Now that it’s ready for release, what can fans expect of the album?
It is a progression for the band as a songwriting team. There’s the sound and songs you may come to expect from Mere Theory, but we have pushed things further, developing new ground for the band.
How would you compare the album to previous releases?
We feel this is the best album we have recorded to date. We still enjoy our other albums of course.
Any stand out track/s to you personally?
It seems people are enjoying ‘Breakthrough’. ‘Raise Your Sights’ is a big anthemic track that is a joy to put down live and it sounds great recorded too, ‘Remedy’ is a nice expressive piece that contains strings, and the band has an attachment to ‘All Walls’.
Anything else of note you want to say about the album?
The new record is in stores nationally and online September 9. Go grab it!
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