TRUTH AND ITS BURDEN

PHOTOGRAPHY BY KENNETH ELLIS
WEBSITE: www.myspace.com/truthanditsburden
COUNTRY: South Africa STYLE: Hardcore / Progressive / Metal

BEING AN INDEPENDENT BAND WHAT ARE THE ADVANTAGES OF GOING OUT THERE AND CREATING YOUR OWN OPPORTUNITIES AND NOT SITTING AROUND AND WAITING FOR PEOPLE TO GIVE YOU A CHANCE?

ASHLEY: Well ultimately, it’s a simple idea really; the early bird catches the worm type thing. If you put your heart into something, rewards should follow. I can’t understand how a band can claim to be passionate about music and just stand one side waiting for hand outs; it makes absolutely no sense at all. We make our own opportunities by being very DIY based, I book the shows for us and manage the band related concerns, and that way we have control.

I read a thing a long time ago I think on Truskill Records’ demo submission section on their website. Read something like this “if we don’t know your band, you’re not working hard enough; we’ve never signed a band from a demo submission”. In essence that statement stands true and carried a lot of weight for me. I’m proud that we do things in the manner that we do, we’ve toured SA a few times, I have done so with a couple bands I have played in and it’s all self booked, self financed tours. There’s a lot that can be said for that, just from a self/band achievement point of view.

CALVIN: I think there is a time and place for everything, and if you’re a hard working band that puts a lot of heart and effort in what you do, there will be people out there that enjoy it and want to support your efforts. Of course your success will feel a lot greater because as a band you won’t just be sitting around waiting for things to happen, and like everything, what you achieve depends on how much work you put into something.

DID YOU GUYS JUST “CLICK” AT THE BEGINNING OR DID IT TAKE TIME FOR YOU TO DEVELOP YOUR SOUND TO THE POINT WHERE YOU ARE NOW?

ASHLEY: We really just clicked from day one, that’s the gospel truth. I actually helped the band out in a Battle for the bands contest; they were then called “The Halo Effect”. I free-styled the set after one practice and it really worked out well. I really enjoyed the easy going attitude that existed with the members and the style was something I wanted to be a part of. We work well as a band of friends too, which is really great, it’s really important to be friends.

WOULD YOU SAY THAT THERE IS A CERTAIN THEME RUNNING THROUGH ALL OF YOUR SONGS LINKING THEM ALL TOGETHER IN SOME WAY?

ASHLEY: A lot of our songs sometimes brush past negative aspects of the world or life in general. We address these negative aspects and try to find a positive outcome through either changing our own outlook on life or changing our lifestyle. Some topics would talk about the degradation of the world as a whole, where others would talk about more personal issues, taking the listener to a place of self realization where they can find their own solutions to issues. Our soon to be released debut album “Sending the hope home” encompasses these songs pretty well with a general theme of Hope as the key idea behind solutions to our problems. Without hope, it seems pointless to try and search for answers.

CALVIN: From my part my writing all depends on mood and events that have happened in my life lately, and I’m sure you can hear it in a lot of the songs if you knew what I was going through when writing a particular track. Although there is always a lot of influence from bands that we are currently listening to and what Ashley brings to the table before we start writing, we always try base a song around a lyrical point of view because 90% of the time it is what the rest of us are feeling anyway.

HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR SOUND TO PEOPLE AND WHAT WOULD YOU SAY ATTRACTED YOU THE MOST TO MAKING THIS TYPE OF MUSIC?

ASHLEY: Our sound is very aggressive on the whole; we do have a lot of off timed technical rhythms and beats. Its epic at times with melodic singing parts to help that along, but heavier at the right times. The songs flow very well with the lyrics. We mould a lot of our songs to the lyrics, that way songs pick up pace and drop to melody at the right times in the songs. We have a very story type writing style where songs don’t really have repeating parts or choruses. It makes writing a lot harder because your parts need to be well considered while at the same time they need to still feel one with the rest of the song.

The main attraction to this writing style comes from a feeling of just pushing your own personal boundaries as a song writer and musician, it’s good to beat your last best song with the writing of a new one, it’s always a challenge and the rewards are in the end product.

YOU GUYS ARE RELEASING AN ALBUM IN THE SECOND PART OF THE YEAR. CAN YOU TELL US ANYTHING ABOUT IT YET LIKE WHERE YOU ARE PLANNING TO RECORD AND WHO IS PRODUCING?

ASHLEY: We’ve recorded our album at Anti Motion Studios in Sandringham with Jacques Du Plessis as the Producer (Tonight We Die, Rife) and Assistant Engineer David Grevler who is also the owner of the studio. We’re currently in the mixing process of the recording, then it’s got to be mastered, we hope to have it out by mid year, but it could potentially take a little bit longer.

IN WHAT WAYS ARE YOU PLANNING TO TAKE THE BAND TO NEW HIGHS WITH THE RELEASE OF THE ALBUM?

ASHLEY: We are also planning to shoot a music video for a song called “Obstacle” which we hope will be aired on MK. We are booking a launch tour, and of course the album will be released through my record label Hope Haven Records. I will be doing my best from that side to ensure the release has got distribution in South Africa, and have already worked out distro through Blood & Ink Records in the US for the release.

We also do plan to get our release across to Australia and possibly Europe. Being a debut release for both TAIB & Hope Haven, it’s important to be real about things and to try and use the release as a paving brick rather than a ground breaking release that will get us signed to a major label overseas. We will try and use it to secure an overseas tour early next year though, and hopefully we can pull that off.

YOUR BAND ONLY HAS ONE GUITARIST WHICH IS A BIT RARE FOR A METALCORE BAND, HOW DO YOU BALANCE WHAT YOU RECORD WITH WHAT IS CAPABLE IN A LIVE ENVIRONMENT?

CALVIN: Well being the only guitarist I try to make our recordings as live as possible, playing only what I play live and adding a little bit more here and there to fill up the space. But at the end of the day we are a band with only one guitarist and I think every band should be well represented on what they record. I think our live sound has become much tighter and clearer, and all the kids that come out to shows understand where our music is coming from a lot more being a four peace band.

SO FAR YOU HAVE MADE A NAME FOR YOURSELVES MOSTLY AS A LIVE ACT. YOU ARE ON THE LINE UP OF THE GIVE LIFE TOUR THAT HAS COVERED MOST OF THE COUNTRY SO FAR. WHAT ARE SOME OF THE HIGHLIGHTS THAT COME TO MIND?

ASHLEY: We have a really strong presence on stage as a band, I guess its important for bands to have a sincere live show, which is something I believe we do have, its not us trying to be entertainers by throwing ourselves around a small stage and swinging guitars in every which way. For us it’s a very real experience, a total release. I guess for us, it’s a little hard to pick out a lot of highlights because essentially most of our shows involve us only where the audience does not know what to do with themselves, but a real big high point for us was playing Harvest Church in Durban last year on the 387 Revival tour.

We played to a packed house, all ages show and the kids were really into it, they carried us around in the crowd, tackled me, sang along and really enjoyed the show. I think when you have that at a show, you really feel at home, warm and fuzzy. I think Durban also has a really vibrant and positive scene, which works well with our message and what we’re trying to achieve as a band.

CALVIN: My highlights like most tours I’m sure, is that we all just get to meet new people and chill with each other, we are like a family after all. Whether the shows are good or bad I feel we are always growing as a band and always put in as much effort as we can. We’ve had some really good shows and some really bad ones but, that’s life.

THE POSTER FOR THE GIVE LIVE TOUR READS: “PUTTING OUR MESSAGE FORWARD. GIVING BACK THE HOPE THEY HAD. POSITIVITY IS OUR ONLY RELEASE”. IN WHAT WAYS DO YOU THINK HEAVY MUSIC CAN HELP TO SPREAD THE MESSAGE OF POSITIVITY TO PEOPLE?

ASHLEY: Really good question, it’s strange because we booked the tour and a lot of people tend to think that positive message has no place in heavy music…Go back a couple years to Sepultura, one of the worlds strongest bands, singing about your roots and being real about who you are, about standing up against beings that wish to oppress people. Those same people that talk about heavy music only being negative have never read a lyric sheet of any metal band, because even though Obituary sang about world demise etc, they sang about it with an intention to encourage change, that’s positive, just with a negative approach.

Today bands like Shai Hulud sing about the same stuff with a bitter taste and it encourages you to think about your actions, it encourages change.We’ve had a lot of positive and negative response from doing this Give Life Tour. Music is the most commonly done thing in the world, people listen to music everyday without even thinking about it, so having a positive message can definitely change perception, it did for me, and has done so for so many others before my time. You just need to look at what Straight Edge has done for millions of mis-directed youth to understand the positive reaction has had on a generation.

GOING THROUGH YOUR BAND PHOTOS ON FACEBOOK YOU SEE EVERYTHING FROM MOSH PITS TO WHAT LOOKS LIKE A BUNCH OF FANS MAKING A HUMAN PYRAMID. IN ALL OF THE PLACES THAT YOU HAVE PERFORMED, WHAT TOWN OR CITY SEEMS TO HAVE THE WILDEST FANS IN YOUR OPINION?

ASHLEY: Durban, without a doubt. The kids have heart and they have a real interest and understanding for what we are about as band. We’ve had good responses in Johannesburg as well, but really nothing that comes close to Durban for us.

CALVIN: Durban

SOME PEOPLE ARE STILL COMPLAINING ABOUT THE STATE OF LIVE VENUES. WHAT DO YOU THINK OWNERS AND PROMOTERS CAN DO MORE OF TO IMPROVE THE SCENE AND THE QUALITY OF SHOWS?

ASHLEY: Promoters need to be transparent with bands on how the deal works; they need to be up front with bands. Too many promoters are hiding behind closed doors giving bands small fees and taking the high cuts for very little work. I book our shows and ran an events company years back called “Gorrilla Productions”. It was a transparent business; we took money at the door, counted cash in front of bands, and paid out fair amounts. When shows were bad, the bands understood and we all lost as one. We had a huge sense of trust invested in the whole thing back then and it’s really missing now days.

Out of any venue out there, I would say that Black Dahlia, if you book a direct show with them, run things as transparent as I’ve mentioned, they count cash with you and help punt the shows, they print nice monthly posters, and send out news blasts. They are really working hard to be the best live venue and to be fair. They will be really hugely successful because they as band members themselves understand key factors that are of high importance to bands. Good in house sound, with a competent engineer, paying what you agreed to pay, helping advertise and punt, being approachable good dudes, having drink specials etc. It all contributes to success for everyone. We have had many good shows at that venue.

WITH SO MANY BANDS TRYING TO MAKE IT IN THE MUSIC BUSINESS DO YOU THINK THAT THEY SHOULD STRIVE TO BE LIKE THEIR MUSICAL HEROES OR STRIVE MORE TO BE THEMSELVES?

ASHLEY: Be yourself, try and find what works for you very early on. We’ve all been hugely influenced by bands and it will come out in the music, no band can say their sound is completely utterly unique, Shai Hulud outright admit their main influence as Strong Arm and if you’ve heard both bands you can see how true that is, yet Shai Hulud have been lucky enough to build on a good sound and find their very own writing style and sound, now they’re genre defining, so it does work that way, but as said earlier, try hard to find your sound early on.

CALVIN: From my part I would always strive to be yourself and write music that best represents yourself. We all have our favorite bands and I think it is really good to be influenced by them. But I think it takes time for musicians to develop their own unique style because in the beginning everyone wants to sound like their favorite band, but from my part I realized later that writing music that represents me is a much better feeling.

ANY LAST COMMENTS / ADVICE OR PEOPLE YOU WOULD LIKE TO THANK?

ASHLEY: I would like to thank the people that come to our shows, who reach out and speak to us after shows. The people that share experiences with us. The people that give us nice compliments and encourage us as a band, the bands and promoters that are real about things, thank you all!

CALVIN: I would like to thank everyone that we have met so far and shared experiences with, anyone that has faith in the band and has made a effort to come out and support us and support other bands in the scene, And all the venues that make shows possible. Advise that I could give to any band is that, if you work hard and are passionate about your music, it will pay off in some way or another.