Weatherstate - Sound In The Signals Interview
I recently had the opportunity to interview Callan Milward of Weatherstate. We discussed the beauty of recorded music and how it captures a window of time sonically, his experience on Rude Records, writing and recording the band’s new song “Hangar”, lyrical inspiration, what’s next for the band, and more. Check it out below.
First, thanks for the interview.
No Problem! Thank you for reaching out.
You released your debut album, ‘Born A Cynic’ in 2019. What are your thoughts looking back at it now?
It's strange to look back at it retrospectively as a 2019 release. We actually recorded the record at the tail end of 2017. It's odd to say that those songs are mostly around 4 years old now already. It's a record I'm still very proud of. It's pretty much a straight-up punk rock record. Looking back in hindsight, of course I'd do some things differently. I think most artists would say the same. However that's the beauty of recorded music. It's a very cool window of time captured sonically. It was a learning curve don't get me wrong. I think we found our personality on Born A Cynic.
You signed to Rude Records late last year. What made this seem like a good fit and how’s it going so far?
It's been killer! They've been very welcoming to this point. It's also been cool to see that they've really enjoyed the strange and "out of the box" ideas we've come forward with. Not only that, they've ran a mile with them. Very excited for things to come.
You just released your new song “Hangar”. Can you tell me about the writing and recording process for the song?
Yeah, for sure! Like many other artists, we spent a lot of last year writing during lockdown. The initial idea for “Hangar” came about when I was jamming the intro riff at home and it seemed to have stuck with me. I ran with it and decided to lean into this almost hardcore like verse? I bounced that off Harry and he had come up with this killer melody. So we demoed it all, sent it out a bit for feedback and here we are now! It was produced and mixed by Alan Day and recorded here at home with Neil Kennedy.
The guitar sounds great in the song. How long did it take to write and record the guitar parts for the song?
Thank you! Glad you dig it. I think I may have spent like maybe a week working on the guitars here at home during the first lockdown. After we worked on pre-production with Alan, it ended up with an extended bridge with some more guitars and this breakdown vibe. In regards to the recording. We had a pretty tight window and ended up recording the track over just two days. I'm stoked with the results of it.
What was the lyrical inspiration for the song?
Harry's influence on the lyrics stem from a phone call he had last year during a pretty shitty time. Surprise surprise, it’s based around cynical themes haha. However, the positive message leans into finding our own peace within our own coping mechanisms. Especially with last year's events.
The artwork for the single is cool and very interesting. Who designed it and came up with the concept for it?
We ended up working with a super cool retro futurist artist named Julian Majin from Colombia. When researching some of the concepts and themes around the art I stumbled across his Instagram and I was immediately drawn into the scale of his artwork. It's a departure for anything we've done before, but suits the themes and vision of the story we're trying to tell through the campaign. Killer work from him.
What’s the overall meaning in the artwork imagery and the posters on the wall?
We actually contributed to the artwork by taking the photograph of the subject on his bed in his bedroom. We kinda let Julian run with it from there with the astrological themes as that's his area of expertise. He really nailed it. The artwork also reflects the visuals for some of the other ideas that we're hoping to be able to show off soon. As for the posters, they don't strictly "mean anything" sadly haha, but we wanted to have some nods to pop culture references relating to space.
What’s coming up for the band in 2021?
Right now we're just wrapping on some loose ends for new songs which we're stoked about. Recording should be real soon. Fingers crossed for some more stuff very soon!
Thanks for taking the time to answer the questions. Do you have anything else that you would like to add?
Just a quick thank you for these questions and your time! Keep an eye out for news on the socials and keep spinning “Hangar” where you can! Thanks again! :)
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