On The Record: The Smoking Hearts
on February 19th, 2012The Smoking Hearts released their new album ‘Victory!‘ last Friday via 3Wise Records / Sony, and this week they arrive in the country for the first time to play Soundwave Festival and Sidewaves with Underoath and Dream On, Dreamer. We got the band to give us a little insight into the new album by answering our On The Record questions. Expand this post to take a read. The album is in stores now, you can grab a copy online [Here].
Tell us about the release title.
It’s called Victory! We thought it was a fitting title as we’d had a shit year, the band nearly fell apart, but we came out fighting!
Tell us about the artwork.
The artwork features Michael Tierney, a great friend and occasional roadie, looking mean as hell. It was great to be able to use our best mate on the cover! And he was photographed by Al Overdrive (www.al-overdrive.com) an amazing photographer and another friend of ours. The layout and photoshop stuff was done by me. Just running with the victory theme I guess. Pretty self-explanatory.
What format/s will it be released on and how will it be packaged?
It will be available on cd (jewel case) and digital download.
Who will it be released through, and when?
It was released through 3Wise Records on February 17th.
Tell us about the studio and why you chose to record there?
We recorded at Fortress Studios in London. Fortress has a lot of history, but to be honest it was more about the producers for us than the studio itself.
Tell us about the producer / engineer and why you chose to record with them?
We recorded with Dan Weller and Justin Hill. Great guys and amazing at what they do. They were our first choice so it was a dream come true, their track record speaks for itself.
Did you go into the writing process with a clear direction in mind?
We didn’t have one direction in mind for the album, kinda the opposite in fact, we wanted it to take a few twists and turns in different directions. Nobody wants to listen to an album where every song sounds the same, we were very conscious of that.
Were you listening to anything in particular during the writing / recording process that influenced the songs at all?
Nah we were listening to a whole mixed bag of different music, which i think inspires you to be adventurous in writing, and try out different ideas.
Were there any albums you were referencing to aim for a certain type of sound production wise?
Yeah we gave Dan and Justin copies of a bunch of albums we liked the production on for reference. I remember ‘Group Sounds’ by Rocket From The Crypt and ‘Far Beyond Driven’ by Pantera were amongst them. Pretty ambitious i guess.
How long did it take to record?
It took us a total of about 4 weeks to get the whole thing recorded.
Tell us a little about the recording process the band used?
We recorded all the music with Dan Weller, who is an absolute perfectionist, and pushed us to really up our game in the studio. We then recorded all the vocal parts with Justin Hill, who is a bloody genius and really knows how to get the best out of everyone he works with. They normally work on individual projects, so to get the pair of them on board was extra special.
Was this any different to previous processes you have used?
Yes, we spent a lot more time on EVERY aspect of recording this album, and were very thorough in exploring different ideas and sounds. The previous record was all done in 14 days as that’s all the time we could afford, and the drums and bass were recorded live, which has it’s charm, but it was nice to have that extra time to get everything just right.
Any guests involved? if so, who.. and what did they do?
Pretty much anyone we encountered during the recording process was dragged in to do backing vocals, plus on the last day of recording, we invited a whole bunch of people to come down to the studio and take part in a massive gang-vocal session, think we had like 20-30 people crammed into the vocal studio on the day, it was a lot of fun.
Any particular equipment outside your usual live gear used in the process?
Yeah we used loads of different gear, for example we did some guitar parts on an old telecaster to get a certain sound, where as live we just have our Gibsons. We also had different amps at our disposal, a lot of parts were played through this amazing Blackstar head in the studio, which really made a difference. We just did loads of experimenting with different combinations of guitars and amps in order to get the best sound possible for every single part.
Any memorable studio moments?
Ben recorded most of his vocals is these horrible denim hot pants he made himself. They were FAR too short, and now that image is burned into all our memories forever. Great.
Any additional tracks recorded that didn’t make the cut but may see the light of day sometime?
Nope, sorry. But we will record more, don’t worry!
What track/s are you most looking forward to playing live?
There’s a track called ‘Natural Disasters’ which is very different from all other TSH songs in my opinion, really stands out, so i can’t wait to bust that one out live. We’re gonna work it into our set for our Soundwave dates.
How would you compare the final product to previous releases?
There’s so much more to it. Don’t get me wrong i love ‘Pride Of Nowhere’, but we really challenged ourselves a lot more with the songs on this record, and in my opinion it’s paid off big time.
Anything else you want to say or tell us about the release?
Like i said, it’s out on February 17th, please please check it out, and we’ll be appearing at Soundwave 2012 so come say hello. All other info at www.smokinghearts.com. See you in Feb!
Click to order now!
Catch The Smoking Hearts playing Soundwave Festival nationally [View Playing Times]
FEBRUARY
25th – RNA Showgrounds, Brisbane [AA] SOLD OUT
26th – Showgrounds, Sydney [AA] SOLD OUT
MARCH
2nd – Showgrounds, Melbourne [AA] SOLD OUT
3rd – Bonython Park, Adelaide [AA]
5th – Claremont Showgrounds, Perth [AA]
—> Full details at www.soundwavefestival.com
Also supporting Underoath / Dream On, Dreamer on their headline shows
FEBRUARY
27th – The Hi-Fi, Melbourne [18+]
MARCH
1st – Factory Theatre, Enmore [Lic/AA]
