Push to Fire: TesseracT Interview

Push to Fire Interview: TesseracT
by Lucy Pryor
TesseracT by Kristell Gathoye
Since 2008, TesseracT have developed a reputation as a great live act. By the summer of that year the band was headlining the Scuzz stage at Bloodstock Open Air, and also made appearances at Offset and Caos Emergente in Portugal. Lucy caught up with them at the UK's Hellfire Festival in November 2009 to see how things were doing.
Congratulations on making it onto the bill of this year's Hellfire Festival, for anyone who doesn’t know your music, what can they expect from you this weekend?
Amos: Something very different and I’m not just saying that because it's us, we tend to stick out. We’ve got dynamics and depth and we’ve also got a lot more melody than most of the bands that are going to be here this weekend. You know it’s obviously a ‘metal’ weekend, but we try and inject a lot more orchestration into what we do so it's not just distorted guitars, drums and heavy vocals. There’s singing, there’s melodies, there’s clean guitars, there’s lots of delays, synths and samples too so we’re going to be slightly different, something away from the norm.
And this weekend is equally as exciting for you as a band as it is for your fans as it’s the debut performance of your new front man ‘Dan Tompkins’! Are you/is he nervous?
Amos: Yeah our new singer! (Points to Dan)
Dan: hello! Yes I’m definitely excited, debut performance and the NEC, I couldn’t ask for a bigger gig really!
And I’ve read that Dan has written majority of the vocals for your new album too?
Dan: yeah well all of them really.
And I’ve heard that’s going to be called ‘One’ as well?
Amos: possibly, yeah? It’s a working title, until it gets printed up and released obviously, but at the moment it’s called one.
Do you have a released date for it yet?
Amos; the first quarter of next year basically.
And what’s influenced this record?
Amos: There’s very clear musical influences, erm Messugah, Textures, but also older things like Pink Floyd, we’re very much into that, we like a bit of Dad rock! Just stuff that’s a bit progressive, a bit off the wall, like Tool, you might not hear it directly in our records but the rhythmical element is there.
Acle: and also the atmosphere that Tool creates I think.
How will this record be different if at all from your previous records? Do you feel as if you have developed your sound?
Amos: well our previous demo obviously had our previous singer on it and was spread over quite a long period of time, where as we pushed this one (although it’s taken a while to record), into a very short period so it has a very cohesive thread. It’s a lot bigger than it was in terms of dynamics in the past but yeah, we’re hoping it’s going to reach the epic proportions that we’ve kind of set up!
Also congratulations on making it on to the cover mount CD of this month’s Metal Hammer magazine, with your album teaser track ‘Lament’. How did that all come about then?
James: yeah they just contacted us and said do you wanna stick a track on our CD and we were like yeah brilliant!
Dan: it wasn’t quite as simple as that! The guys called me up and said we need you to write some lyrics for a song in less than 24 hours, so Lament was born in less than 24 hours! We had like literally 2 weeks to do it, and in that 2 weeks it had to be written, recorded, mastered,
You are playing a few dates with No Consequence this year and Asymmetry Festival next year in Poland, have you got any other dates planned inbetween?
Amos: yes nothing is confirmed at the moment, in the terms of we haven’t put it down in ink but a tour of the UK and then to Europe and then some dates in India we think. Very cool.
New singer, new album new single, do you think next year will be your year?
Amos; we’d love that, that’d be cool. We’ll be a lot busier with touring and the album but yeah that’s be cool.
There are a lot of kids out there who would love to be in your place right now, have you got any advice of how to get there?
Dan: hard work, perseverance, determination! All the regular things you’d expect if you’re in a band and you want to take it seriously
Amos: yeah work, work, work really
Finally, 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? Has metal as a genre has had its day?
Amos: no I think you have to realise that last year Hellfire was held at the Islington Academy, which holds an 800 capacity. This year it’s at Music Live and the Birmingham NEC where you’re looking at 5000 in the main room and there’s also an event next door so it’s quite different. I think they’ve chosen the right place just the wrong headliners for the Friday, CKY are cult but that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re...
James: good?
(All start laughing)
James: no I love them love them really
Amos: what was their last album called?
(All start laughing again)

Thanks to Kristell for organising this and TesseracT for speaking to Lucy. Find more info and music clips on their MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/tesseract.

Push to Fire Interview: TesseracT by Lucy Pryor Since 2008, TesseracT have developed a reputation as a great live act. By the summer of that year the band was headlining the Scuzz stage at Bloodstock Open Air, and also made appearances at Offset and Caos Emergente in Portugal. Lucy caught up with them at the UK's Hellfire Festival in November 2009 to see how things were doing. Congratulations on making it onto the bill of this year's Hellfire Festival, for anyone who doesn’t know your music, what can they expect from you this weekend? Amos: Something very different and I’m not just saying that because it's us, we tend to stick out. We’ve got dynamics and depth and we’ve also got a lot more melody than most of the bands that are going to be here this weekend. You know it’s obviously a ‘metal’ weekend, but we try and inject a lot more orchestration into what we do so it's not just distorted guitars, drums and heavy vocals. There’s singing, there’s melodies, there’s clean guitars, there’s lots of delays, synths and samples too so we’re going to be slightly different, something away from the norm. And this weekend is equally as exciting for you as a band as it is for your fans as it’s the debut performance of your new front man ‘Dan Tompkins’! Are you/is he nervous? Amos: Yeah our new singer! (Points to Dan) Dan: hello! Yes I’m definitely excited, debut performance and the NEC, I couldn’t ask for a bigger gig really! And I’ve read that Dan has written majority of the vocals for your new album too? Dan: yeah well all of them really. And I’ve heard that’s going to be called ‘One’ as well? Amos: possibly, yeah? It’s a working title, until it gets printed up and released obviously, but at the moment it’s called one. Do you have a released date for it yet? Amos; the first quarter of next year basically. And what’s influenced this record? Amos: There’s very clear musical influences, erm Messugah, Textures, but also older things like Pink Floyd, we’re very much into that, we like a bit of Dad rock! Just stuff that’s a bit progressive, a bit off the wall, like Tool, you might not hear it directly in our records but the rhythmical element is there. Acle: and also the atmosphere that Tool creates I think. How will this record be different if at all from your previous records? Do you feel as if you have developed your sound? Amos: well our previous demo obviously had our previous singer on it and was spread over quite a long period of time, where as we pushed this one (although it’s taken a while to record), into a very short period so it has a very cohesive thread. It’s a lot bigger than it was in terms of dynamics in the past but yeah, we’re hoping it’s going to reach the epic proportions that we’ve kind of set up! Also congratulations on making it on to the cover mount CD of this month’s Metal Hammer magazine, with your album teaser track ‘Lament’. How did that all come about then? James: yeah they just contacted us and said do you wanna stick a track on our CD and we were like yeah brilliant! Dan: it wasn’t quite as simple as that! The guys called me up and said we need you to write some lyrics for a song in less than 24 hours, so Lament was born in less than 24 hours! We had like literally 2 weeks to do it, and in that 2 weeks it had to be written, recorded, mastered, You are playing a few dates with No Consequence this year and Asymmetry Festival next year in Poland, have you got any other dates planned inbetween? Amos: yes nothing is confirmed at the moment, in the terms of we haven’t put it down in ink but a tour of the UK and then to Europe and then some dates in India we think. Very cool. New singer, new album new single, do you think next year will be your year? Amos; we’d love that, that’d be cool. We’ll be a lot busier with touring and the album but yeah that’s be cool. There are a lot of kids out there who would love to be in your place right now, have you got any advice of how to get there? Dan: hard work, perseverance, determination! All the regular things you’d expect if you’re in a band and you want to take it seriously Amos: yeah work, work, work really Finally, 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? Has metal as a genre has had its day? Amos: no I think you have to realise that last year Hellfire was held at the Islington Academy, which holds an 800 capacity. This year it’s at Music Live and the Birmingham NEC where you’re looking at 5000 in the main room and there’s also an event next door so it’s quite different. I think they’ve chosen the right place just the wrong headliners for the Friday, CKY are cult but that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re... James: good? (All start laughing) James: no I love them love them really Amos: what was their last album called? (All start laughing again)
Thanks to Kristell for organising this and TesseracT for speaking to Lucy. Find more info and music clips on their MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/tesseract.