Push to Fire: No Made Sense Interview

Push to Fire Interview: No Made Sense
by Lucy Pryor
press shot
Hailing from Reading in the UK, three piece No Made Sense have been likened to The Dillinger Escape Plan, Mastodon, Tool and Cult Of Luna - an ideal choice, therefore, for Hellfire in November 2009. Lucy Pryor took some time to speak with the band at the festival.
Congratulations on being part of this years Hellfire Festival! Can you sum up the music people are going to hear from you this weekend?
Leo: 25 minutes of…?
Joe: One song haha!
Haha well your songs are quite long aren’t they?!
So your new album (you’re going to have to help me pronounce this) The Epillanic Choragi...
(All cheer)
Sam: You’re the first person to say that right! We usually have the epileptic something or other!
It was released in March this year and was received extremely well by fans and critics alike. It’s also a concept album, as a band was this something you always wanted to do?
Leo: Err yeah, a lot of the concept didn’t come out until midway through recording, I’ve always liked bands like The Mars Volta and Coheed and Cambria and really liked concept albums, they’re a bit of fun, it can add another dimension to the tracks. I think it avoids talking about the boyfriend/girlfriend or whatever.
And what influenced this album? I read one fan review that said you were influenced by what you hate about the music industry and being the opposite to that rather than what you like about it?
Leo: I think we do steer clear of certain trends in music, it’s only because we think they’re shit.
Joe: We’re very easy to anger haha!
Sam: You said it
Joe: What did I say again?
Leo: Yeah I’m sure it was you?
Joe: Oh right haha it must have been me then, yeah basically so many things annoy us in music. There are so many easy ways out when it comes to writing a song; I think we ended up just doing something completely different. Not that we sat down and said right this is what we hate about this, haha we’re just so bitter about everything really!
Leo: And if you take too many influences then everything just ends up being a carbon copy of everything else, you just want to avoid that and do your own thing. I think it’s a case of not being afraid of doing what you want to do, rather than thinking oh hey this will bring in the girls or the bullshit fans.
Joe: We were the kids at school you didn’t know were cool until you’re older, so when I’m 50 everyone will be like oh yeah he was alright
(All laugh)
And I’ve read a lot of conflicting stories about the concept of the album, one even which included an alien trying to save his home planet! Is this true and if not can you shed a bit more light on the story of the album for your fans?
Leo: Yeah, it is! Well it's not like aliens with a triangle head and big eyes, it’s basically about a fictional planet and a fictional galaxy and it's just about some guy who builds a tower.
Sam: haha don’t go into the story!
No do, do!
Leo: Well these aliens come to him and tell him the world, well their world is going to end, and there is a way out and tell him to build a tower into the sky so he sets about building the tower and none of the other villagers believe him so he does it by himself, if you buy the album and look at the album and listen to the album you can kind of get the rest of it.
The album also includes a 16 page pull out booklet which illustrates the story of the album. Was having the booklet to go with the music part of the idea from the start or did that develop after the album was finished?
Leo: No, I think a lot of that came with recording, we kind of made it up as we went along, there were no cement plans. It took us from the pint of writing to recording the album to it being released was a good 13 months so we did take our time getting stuff right, did take our time with the artwork. It just seemed like if we have this 74minute album about some doomed planet then we may as well make some effort with the artwork.
Sam: actually you are the only person he’s ever told that story to so you should feel privileged
I do definitely!! And how did Top Two studios go about coming up with the ideas for the illustrations? Did you have an input with the artwork or was it as simple as they listened to the album and that’s what they came up with?
Leo: the art direction was by us, how it was laid out, the colours and what the images would be, we just told them what we wanted to do. So yeah we came up with it
Sam: (to Leo) because you drew it yourself didn’t you?
Leo yeah I made a mock up of it.
Joe: Yeah we were Jim Henson to their Kermit haha!
Sam: that’s perfect!!
What’s the hexagon of coloured jewels or circles about?
Leo: there needed to be one of the pages that worked upside down, so I left that blank and left it to Top Two Studios to sort that out, but it should be the other way round so it didn’t really work out with it being really complicated. It was supposed to work one way to the other, because there are 6 gems and 6 chapters to the album, there’s a colour scheme for each one of the chapters so they are physical to the story, they’re just there as a tool really.
And is the booklet essential to the album as I’ve noticed if you download your album from i-tunes you don’t get the booklet?
Leo: that’s supposed to be the draw to buying the album really
Well that was going to be my next question actually; did you do this to encourage people to buy the actual cd rather than the digital copy?
Leo: I think it's important to make an effort with the physical copy of the album, especially in these times you are lucky if people even buy the album if they download it.
Do you feel the digital music industry is devaluing the music industry or do you feel it gives people who couldn’t normally get hold of specialist music a chance to listen and explore?
Leo: well before, I’m not sure was Napster before iTunes?
Yeah I think so
Leo: yeah before when there was just Napster, and I don’t agree with file sharing at all, but I think there was a time where you could understand it and if you wanted to listen to that bands music you could go and download it. There’s the odd occasion where I’ve downloaded an album and listened to it but then gone and bought it afterwards. I think prior to things like MySpace that might have been an excuse, but now if you want to listen to someone you can go on their MySpace or if you go on Amazon or Play.com they give you clips so there’s no excuse for that. That excuse doesn’t really fly any more. I think there’s the fair-weather sort of Coldplay and U2 fans and they don’t really give a fuck and they just download, download, download all the albums and don’t really care about like the booklet or anything.
Joe: I love buying a CD, I love looking through the booklet,
Sam: yeah reading the lyrics and singing along!
Joe: I think that’s why we wanted to make our CD more of a package, downloading is too instant it’s almost too easy really. Downloading isn’t like going to the shop and walking home and going oh my god I can’t wait to get home and hear this!
Leo: it's like looking through CD’s you look at the cover and think ooh that looks alright and it's only like 12 quid, and now it's almost like there’s too much choice, it's like I can have anything, there’s nothing like finding a hidden gem in a record store or discovering a new band.
Joe: it’s like having an I-pod with too much music on it, that’s why I don’t like I-pods, if I put my songs on there I’d keep flipping the track every 30 seconds
Leo: yeah and just keep changing the tracks, that’s why I don’t like I-pods, I’ve got like a shitty little MP3 player and I can fit like 20 albums on it, if I had my whole music collection on it, I would spend the whole time trying to decide what to listen too. Yeah I’m not a big fan of downloading music. Hopefully the people that would be more willing to listen to our music would be more interested in enjoying having the booklet and stuff. For the next album we’ve got some big plans for the package when you buy the album next year.
Ooh and when’s the new album going to be out then?
Leo: I think we’re recording it next year to be honest. The first album will have been recorded 2 years ago as of March,
Joe: (laughing) sorry don’t you think he looks a little bit like Brian Harvey?
Haha Brian Harvey?
(Joe and Sam start laughing at Leo)
Leo: yeah yeah Brian Harvey, ooh I better go take an ecstasy pill, anyway what were we talking about? Oh yeah the 2nd album! Even when the reviews were coming out for the 1st album, because most of it had been recorded 14 months ago, it was like ugh don’t listen to that …
Joe: (laughing) and nobody did
Leo: (laughing) yeah they all took my advice! So yeah I’m really excited about getting the next album out and doing it while people know our name, not like some other bands…
Joe: ooh where did that come from!!
What do you think of Hellfire having to cancel the Friday date for this weekend? I’ve read it was due to low ticket sales, do you think this is a reflection on people’s musical taste at the moment, and that perhaps metal as a genre has had its day?
Joe: I think it’s quite hard; it’s almost pot luck I think with metal. I mean the worst band in the world can release an album and then get massive…
Leo: I do think that anyone who has bothered to turn up this weekend, well done, but you know I think people don’t turn up cause they can't be arsed, they sit at home and download the album for free, they go to a gig if it's their mates band, they get pissed, watch the band they know and then don’t sit and watch the bands afterwards, no one can be arsed to be honest. I think the scene actually comprises of bands that want to make it and no one caring or wanting to listen!
(All laugh)
Leo: It is, it is! Everyone here is in a band, I think anyone ever at a gig is in a band, it's ooh look we’re playing to a crowd, no it isn’t it's just a bunch of other bands all dreaming of something that will never fucking happen. It’s just a loss cause.
Joe: haha it’s just Groundhog Day!
(Laughing)
Are you perhaps a tiny bit bitter?
(All laughing)
Leo: nah we’re not bitter!
I know you have a few tour dates this month after Hellfire Festival, including one where you are playing the whole 74 minute album?
Leo: that’s next year, I think it's something we’ve wanted to do for a while, but due to not having 70 minute sets it’s not been something we could do. Plus it’s like drawing a line under the album, so I think we’re going to do 2 or 3 album shows, then draw a line under it and crack on with the next album. Maybe after we’ve written the album before we go into the studio we’ll do a few tour dates and see how if feels, see what people think.
Joe: we’d like to go to Europe, we went to Europe last May and we really enjoyed it, the people were a lot more open minded
Leo: European festivals seem to be much more diverse. I saw a poster for a festival when I was is Spain and it was the Mars Volta, followed by the Black Eyed Peas?! It’s mental, but you wouldn’t have something like that at say Download, it's great.
I think things like that are great though. I think when bands only listen or are involved in one kind of music they get stuck in a rut really and you listen to their stuff and just think ugh
Joe: well this has come up a few times now but we all listen to Take That.
What? Really?
Joe: yeah we love Take That they’re wicked song writers!
Leo: yeah we don’t actually listen to a lot of metal. On the way here we had on the Paramore Live album so yeah…
Joe: and then we got to Hellfire Festival haha!

Thanks to James M for organising this for us and No Made Sense for speaking to Lucy. Find more info and music clips on their MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/nomadesense.

Push to Fire Interview: No Made Sense by Lucy Pryor Hailing from Reading in the UK, three piece No Made Sense have been likened to The Dillinger Escape Plan, Mastodon, Tool and Cult Of Luna - an ideal choice, therefore, for Hellfire in November 2009. Lucy Pryor took some time to speak with the band at the festival. Congratulations on being part of this years Hellfire Festival! Can you sum up the music people are going to hear from you this weekend? Leo: 25 minutes of…? Joe: One song haha! Haha well your songs are quite long aren’t they?! So your new album (you’re going to have to help me pronounce this) The Epillanic Choragi... (All cheer) Sam: You’re the first person to say that right! We usually have the epileptic something or other! It was released in March this year and was received extremely well by fans and critics alike. It’s also a concept album, as a band was this something you always wanted to do? Leo: Err yeah, a lot of the concept didn’t come out until midway through recording, I’ve always liked bands like The Mars Volta and Coheed and Cambria and really liked concept albums, they’re a bit of fun, it can add another dimension to the tracks. I think it avoids talking about the boyfriend/girlfriend or whatever. And what influenced this album? I read one fan review that said you were influenced by what you hate about the music industry and being the opposite to that rather than what you like about it? Leo: I think we do steer clear of certain trends in music, it’s only because we think they’re shit. Joe: We’re very easy to anger haha! Sam: You said it Joe: What did I say again? Leo: Yeah I’m sure it was you? Joe: Oh right haha it must have been me then, yeah basically so many things annoy us in music. There are so many easy ways out when it comes to writing a song; I think we ended up just doing something completely different. Not that we sat down and said right this is what we hate about this, haha we’re just so bitter about everything really! Leo: And if you take too many influences then everything just ends up being a carbon copy of everything else, you just want to avoid that and do your own thing. I think it’s a case of not being afraid of doing what you want to do, rather than thinking oh hey this will bring in the girls or the bullshit fans. Joe: We were the kids at school you didn’t know were cool until you’re older, so when I’m 50 everyone will be like oh yeah he was alright (All laugh) And I’ve read a lot of conflicting stories about the concept of the album, one even which included an alien trying to save his home planet! Is this true and if not can you shed a bit more light on the story of the album for your fans? Leo: Yeah, it is! Well it's not like aliens with a triangle head and big eyes, it’s basically about a fictional planet and a fictional galaxy and it's just about some guy who builds a tower. Sam: haha don’t go into the story! No do, do! Leo: Well these aliens come to him and tell him the world, well their world is going to end, and there is a way out and tell him to build a tower into the sky so he sets about building the tower and none of the other villagers believe him so he does it by himself, if you buy the album and look at the album and listen to the album you can kind of get the rest of it. The album also includes a 16 page pull out booklet which illustrates the story of the album. Was having the booklet to go with the music part of the idea from the start or did that develop after the album was finished? Leo: No, I think a lot of that came with recording, we kind of made it up as we went along, there were no cement plans. It took us from the pint of writing to recording the album to it being released was a good 13 months so we did take our time getting stuff right, did take our time with the artwork. It just seemed like if we have this 74minute album about some doomed planet then we may as well make some effort with the artwork. Sam: actually you are the only person he’s ever told that story to so you should feel privileged I do definitely!! And how did Top Two studios go about coming up with the ideas for the illustrations? Did you have an input with the artwork or was it as simple as they listened to the album and that’s what they came up with? Leo: the art direction was by us, how it was laid out, the colours and what the images would be, we just told them what we wanted to do. So yeah we came up with it Sam: (to Leo) because you drew it yourself didn’t you? Leo yeah I made a mock up of it. Joe: Yeah we were Jim Henson to their Kermit haha! Sam: that’s perfect!! What’s the hexagon of coloured jewels or circles about? Leo: there needed to be one of the pages that worked upside down, so I left that blank and left it to Top Two Studios to sort that out, but it should be the other way round so it didn’t really work out with it being really complicated. It was supposed to work one way to the other, because there are 6 gems and 6 chapters to the album, there’s a colour scheme for each one of the chapters so they are physical to the story, they’re just there as a tool really. And is the booklet essential to the album as I’ve noticed if you download your album from i-tunes you don’t get the booklet? Leo: that’s supposed to be the draw to buying the album really Well that was going to be my next question actually; did you do this to encourage people to buy the actual cd rather than the digital copy? Leo: I think it's important to make an effort with the physical copy of the album, especially in these times you are lucky if people even buy the album if they download it. Do you feel the digital music industry is devaluing the music industry or do you feel it gives people who couldn’t normally get hold of specialist music a chance to listen and explore? Leo: well before, I’m not sure was Napster before iTunes? Yeah I think so Leo: yeah before when there was just Napster, and I don’t agree with file sharing at all, but I think there was a time where you could understand it and if you wanted to listen to that bands music you could go and download it. There’s the odd occasion where I’ve downloaded an album and listened to it but then gone and bought it afterwards. I think prior to things like MySpace that might have been an excuse, but now if you want to listen to someone you can go on their MySpace or if you go on Amazon or Play.com they give you clips so there’s no excuse for that. That excuse doesn’t really fly any more. I think there’s the fair-weather sort of Coldplay and U2 fans and they don’t really give a fuck and they just download, download, download all the albums and don’t really care about like the booklet or anything. Joe: I love buying a CD, I love looking through the booklet, Sam: yeah reading the lyrics and singing along! Joe: I think that’s why we wanted to make our CD more of a package, downloading is too instant it’s almost too easy really. Downloading isn’t like going to the shop and walking home and going oh my god I can’t wait to get home and hear this! Leo: it's like looking through CD’s you look at the cover and think ooh that looks alright and it's only like 12 quid, and now it's almost like there’s too much choice, it's like I can have anything, there’s nothing like finding a hidden gem in a record store or discovering a new band. Joe: it’s like having an I-pod with too much music on it, that’s why I don’t like I-pods, if I put my songs on there I’d keep flipping the track every 30 seconds Leo: yeah and just keep changing the tracks, that’s why I don’t like I-pods, I’ve got like a shitty little MP3 player and I can fit like 20 albums on it, if I had my whole music collection on it, I would spend the whole time trying to decide what to listen too. Yeah I’m not a big fan of downloading music. Hopefully the people that would be more willing to listen to our music would be more interested in enjoying having the booklet and stuff. For the next album we’ve got some big plans for the package when you buy the album next year. Ooh and when’s the new album going to be out then? Leo: I think we’re recording it next year to be honest. The first album will have been recorded 2 years ago as of March, Joe: (laughing) sorry don’t you think he looks a little bit like Brian Harvey? Haha Brian Harvey? (Joe and Sam start laughing at Leo) Leo: yeah yeah Brian Harvey, ooh I better go take an ecstasy pill, anyway what were we talking about? Oh yeah the 2nd album! Even when the reviews were coming out for the 1st album, because most of it had been recorded 14 months ago, it was like ugh don’t listen to that … Joe: (laughing) and nobody did Leo: (laughing) yeah they all took my advice! So yeah I’m really excited about getting the next album out and doing it while people know our name, not like some other bands… Joe: ooh where did that come from!! What do you think of Hellfire having to cancel the Friday date for this weekend? I’ve read it was due to low ticket sales, do you think this is a reflection on people’s musical taste at the moment, and that perhaps metal as a genre has had its day? Joe: I think it’s quite hard; it’s almost pot luck I think with metal. I mean the worst band in the world can release an album and then get massive… Leo: I do think that anyone who has bothered to turn up this weekend, well done, but you know I think people don’t turn up cause they can't be arsed, they sit at home and download the album for free, they go to a gig if it's their mates band, they get pissed, watch the band they know and then don’t sit and watch the bands afterwards, no one can be arsed to be honest. I think the scene actually comprises of bands that want to make it and no one caring or wanting to listen! (All laugh) Leo: It is, it is! Everyone here is in a band, I think anyone ever at a gig is in a band, it's ooh look we’re playing to a crowd, no it isn’t it's just a bunch of other bands all dreaming of something that will never fucking happen. It’s just a loss cause. Joe: haha it’s just Groundhog Day! (Laughing) Are you perhaps a tiny bit bitter? (All laughing) Leo: nah we’re not bitter! I know you have a few tour dates this month after Hellfire Festival, including one where you are playing the whole 74 minute album? Leo: that’s next year, I think it's something we’ve wanted to do for a while, but due to not having 70 minute sets it’s not been something we could do. Plus it’s like drawing a line under the album, so I think we’re going to do 2 or 3 album shows, then draw a line under it and crack on with the next album. Maybe after we’ve written the album before we go into the studio we’ll do a few tour dates and see how if feels, see what people think. Joe: we’d like to go to Europe, we went to Europe last May and we really enjoyed it, the people were a lot more open minded Leo: European festivals seem to be much more diverse. I saw a poster for a festival when I was is Spain and it was the Mars Volta, followed by the Black Eyed Peas?! It’s mental, but you wouldn’t have something like that at say Download, it's great. I think things like that are great though. I think when bands only listen or are involved in one kind of music they get stuck in a rut really and you listen to their stuff and just think ugh Joe: well this has come up a few times now but we all listen to Take That. What? Really? Joe: yeah we love Take That they’re wicked song writers! Leo: yeah we don’t actually listen to a lot of metal. On the way here we had on the Paramore Live album so yeah… Joe: and then we got to Hellfire Festival haha!
Thanks to James M for organising this for us and No Made Sense for speaking to Lucy. Find more info and music clips on their MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/nomadesense.