Sometimes, it’s really the small things that enrich our earthly existence – like for instance the life of a butterfly or a 32 minutes short post-rock record. The former was put into music on their debut „Where It All Began“ in a truly remarkable way. In the following interview with bassist Nick Suchak, you can read more about the background of the albums‘ concept, the way post-rock is influencing other genres as well as the special aspects of the music of COLDBONES.
COLDBONES, to me, seems to be a rather dark band name in contrast to your music. What’s this all about?
I wasn’t actually in the band when the guys thought of the name, but I believe it was one of few ideas, and this one just felt right at the time. There isn’t necessarily a reason or meaning behind the name, but we’re definitely open to peoples interpretations!
Is COLDBONES your first music project or have you already gained experience before?
We have all always been in bands in our local area which has been amazing for gaining experience with touring, playing shows and meeting people! We definitely think that this previous experience has been beneficial.
How does your songwriting work? Do you have a main songwriter or do you always do everything as a team?
Without a doubt, it’s a team effort. On our debut album ‚Where It all Began’ Jordy brought a lot of ideas to the table which we then developed as a band to create what the songs are today. For our next release that we are currently working on, I have partly taken on that role as the other guys have full time jobs and I’m self employed. My ideas are usually the basic start, and then as a band we all create the song.
You play instrumental post-rock. Why do you consciously refrain from singing?
When the guys started the band, I think it was just a natural thing as no one could sing. I was a bit confused when the guys first told me about the band. But I quickly realised how strong the instrumental scene actually is, and it didn’t take long for a lot of bands from the scene to become some of my favourite bands (Russian Circles, Mogwai, God Is An Astronaut). Additionally, we have always stood strong to the phrase ‘serve the song’, so if we ever felt vocals would serve the song, we wouldn’t hesitate to add them. We actually did this on our album for the song ‚Cycle’ where we got Wes from Napoleon to feature. It is vinyl exclusive though as we wanted it to only be accessible through an analogue source, not digital.
So you do consider probably using vocals sometime in the future?
Think I have already answered this in the previous question, but to clarify – if it was to serve the song, then 100%.
Instrumental post-rock has been very popular for some time now, there are many promissing newcomers. How, in your opinion, do COLDBONES stand out from other bands? And is that even important to you at all?
We love the instrumental scene, and have a lot of love for other up and coming bands in the scene. We have always been focused on aiming to bridge the gap between post-rock and mainstream. I think we currently achieve this is by writing shorter, more ‘to the point’ songs. Another element is that a lot of our influences aren’t from the post-rock scene, but more metal and rock which hopefully adds an element to our music that may not be heard in other post-rock bands.
I get the impression that even in pop music there are more and more subtle post-rock elements to be heard. Would you agree and if so, do you find this development is a good one?
I definitely agree, and I think it is great. I think combining genres to create something new creates the best music. And the more that these combinations can include post-rock, the better the music could potentially be. I personally think post-rock is the strongest type of music for expressing emotion through music – and I think that’s the aim for a lot of artists in other genres so it just makes sense to take elements.
Occasionally there are also some harder metal passages in your music. What kind of personal connection do you have to metal music?
Like I mentioned before, our influences come heavily from metal and rock such as Killswitch Engage, Trivium – most 90’s/00’s Roadrunner Records bands (laughs). It’s what we grew up listening too, and I’m so happy that it comes across in our music!
Post-rock in general is a genre in which production plays an important role. What is your opinion on that? How much do COLDBONES rely on production values?
We definitely feel that our songs come to life in the studio. It’s where your ideas and demos turn into what you intended them to be. The producer on ‚Where It All Began’ (Ian Sadler from Emeline studios) almost acted as a fourth member. I don’t think we necessarily rely on the production to create the song, but it helps moulding the song into its truest form.
On your debut „Where It All Began“ you set the life journey of a butterfly to music as a metaphor. How did you come up with the idea for this concept?
We had the idea to have this decaying butterfly for the artwork, and when we got the artwork back from the artist who produced it we instantly decided to make it more of a prominent thing throughout the album. From this point everything fell into place as we found the songs we had already written sounded like they were written for this concept.
With 32 minutes run time the record is quite short for a full-length. What is the reason for this? And why is it still a full-length album for you and not just an EP?
It is a short album for sure. But it felt right to us at the time, and we didn’t want to change what felt right just to fit in with what people thought was normal.
Is there a track on „Where It All Began“ that you would consider the core piece or a turning point?
For me, ‚Moments’ is the core piece of the album. To begin with, it was never going to be a single, but about 90% of people told us that that track was their favourite. This made me look differently at the song, and after I shot a video for it (which is my favourite video I have ever shot) I was fully sold that it is the strongest part of the album.
The artwork reflects the music and the concept very coherently. Who created it? And how did it come about?
Alice Urbino created the artwork. We had been a fan of hers for a while, and when we got the artwork back, we were so in love with it, the concept instantly stemmed from it.
How do you intend to continue with COLDBONES? Do you already have ideas for a concept for your next album?
We are currently writing the next album. We have another concept, which was thought of before the writing started, so it’s a different process to our last album. We also have a slightly new direction with it, which we’re all very excited about, and we can’t wait to take them to the studio and stage!
Let’s now continue with our traditional Metal1.info-Brainstorming. I’ll give you some terms and you just tell me what they make you think of:
Streaming: Spotify and how it doesn’t work with Siri
British humour: Ricky Gervais
Noise music: Erm… nothing really pops to mind!
Marmite: Never understood the love or hate idea – It’s just good (especially with dunking egg).
Brexit: A very upsetting thought, but what is more upsetting is how people fell for the propaganda created by the ‘brexit out’ campaign.
COLDBONES in five years: World domination?
Thanks again for this interview. If you would like to say a few words to our readers, you are welcome to do so at this point:
Thank you to everyone for taking the time to check out this interview, and thank you to anyone who has ever showed us support! We’re very excited to show you what we currently have in works.
20. Oktober 2018 Stephan Rajchl
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