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By: Daniela Patrizi & Thom Laycock
A few weeks ago Blueneck released their sublime new album, King Nine. We sent Dani and Thom to catch up with Duncan & Rich from the band and find out a bit more about life in one of the UK’s most venerated post rock bands.
(((o))): When did you first began writing and playing music and who or what influenced you to do so?
Duncan: I fell in love with music at an early age, listening to the likes of Depeche Mode, ELO, Howard Jones etc (via my sister’s stereo), we had a piano in the house (we always have had) and I simply tried to recreate some of those songs. Ive always been interested in creating music, but didn’t start doing so properly until much later on in my late teens.
Rich: It was similar for me… Lots of eighties bands in my early years like A-Ha and Depeche Mode. I was always into music in a big way, but had no plans to play an instrument until I was about 16. My friends started a band and – not to feel left out – I took on the role of singer. It wasn’t a pretty sight, or a pretty sound. It was only later, around my late teens and early twenties that I started to put some real time into learning the guitar.
(((o))): What music inspires you?
Duncan: I’m a sucker for a good melody and an interesting rhythm, particularly if there are interesting synth elements. Radiohead, Blur, Arcade Fire, Why?, Cult of Luna, Smashing Pumpkins, Sparklehorse, Pavement are just a few bands that have influenced me in some way or another over the past years.
Rich: There’s just so much. Like Duncan I love compelling melodies combined with often more challenging instrumentation or lyrics. These days it seems to be more electronic music than rock, or old movie soundtracks. But it changes on a daily basis. This morning I’ve listened to – let me check my phone – Mariachi El Bronx, James Yorkston and Jon Hopkins’ Asleep Versions. Last night Duncan and I saw a great new doom band called Super Goliath… Probably the loudest band I’ve ever seen, and some incredible one note drop D riffs.
(((o))): Aside from musical influences are there any other art forms or specific artists who inform your work?
Duncan: Music is my only outlet…if I have spare time, then it’d be spent creating music… although I quite like drawing stick men fighting eachother with stick swords.
Rich: It’s primarily movies for me. I used to always have my head in a book too, but that’s been less the case over the last couple of years.
(((o))): Your music is often described as alternative and post-rock. How would you describe your sound to someone not familiar with these genres?
Duncan: We get asked this a lot….I used to find it a really tricky thing to answer as people wont have heard of the bands that I could compare Blueneck to. So I now simply say that a Blueneck track quite often will start as a quiet, delicate, vulnerable sound and gradually evolve into a huge crescendo….hmmm…although King Nine doesn’t do that all that much…so I guess I need to change my description…Rich probably has one…and so I can use his description from here on in. Rich?
Rich: I guess I’d say moody, melancholy, melodic songs and soundscapes.
(((o))): Do you compose lyrics in order to explore themes with personal significance or are you more interested in a kind of abstract storytelling?
Duncan: The lyrics always have personal significance to me, but I try to write them in a way that means they can be interpreted by the listener anyway they wish, so that it can be personal to them. I think that’s important.
(((o))): Your latest album King Nine has been very well received. How important is it to you to get positive feedback from your critics and your audience?
Duncan: I actually expected a more negative reaction to the album, and so I’m surprised so far….and it’s obviously really nice to have people saying that your music is great. In all honesty though, for King Nine , the main objective was to make a record that I was 100 per cent pleased with…which I am…its simply a nice bonus that people like it….if people like it and buy it then it means there’s a better chance that there will be another Blueneck record someday.
Rich: Positive feedback is important, I won’t deny it. We made this for ourselves but it undoubtedly means more if it touches other people as well. Financially it’s helpful too… We want Blueneck to sustain itself over the long-term.
(((o))): While King Nine bears the unmistakable signature of Blueneck, in many ways it is quite an aesthetic departure for you. Did you have deliberate experimental goals in mind or was the process more organic and spontaneous?
Duncan: Yes. Right from the outset, Myself, Rich and Mat (our producer) talked about this album being far more dynamic and perhaps exciting. I think its important for a band to evolve with their sound and not just make the same record over and over again (hello Oasis) , it keeps the band fresh and interested and also the listener too.
Rich: Yep the intention was to make a more vibrant and diverse album, and pay more attention to the specifics of production.
(((o))): For the artwork on King Nine you worked with the photographer Lasse Hoile, how did this come about and did you have a particular vision in mind or was the end product more collaborative?
Duncan: We met Lasse after asking him to produce the Sirens video for us. I’ve simply kept in touch with him for the last year, and we’ve become friends, sharing our love of music, films, tv and art. I’d sent Lasse a lot of the demo versions of the album and he was insistent that he should do the artwork…it was a no brainer…Lasse completely gets Blueneck.
(((o))): Do you have a favorite song from King Nine and if so which one and why?
Duncan: I genuinelly am really happy with all of them, but if I needed to pick out a particular track then it would probably be Man of Lies – simply because creating that track was really exciting as it came together so quickly. It was right at the end of the recording process and I wasn’t happy with the track that was going to be on the album and Man of Lies just kind of came to me, I demoed it, sent it to Rich , recorded and then mixed it all in the space of 1 week…VERY rare for a Blueneck track.
Rich: Like Duncan, I have a soft spot for all of them. My favourite might be Counting Out… Just because I was so happily surprised that we were able to make a song like that which juxtaposes really upbeat instrumentation and melody with a devastating lyric. I guess I favour anything on the album that made us push ourselves in newer directions.
(((o))): We saw you playing great sets at Beyond the Redshift and ArcTangent festivals respectively. How does your live performance differ from your studio work?
Duncan: I think live, we are quite different. We tend to approach the live aspect with a fresh outlook and try not to recreate the exact sound from the record. Everyone else has far more input into how to perform the songs live. In general, Blueneck live is perhaps ‘grittier’ than on record…I think that that’s only natural based on the sort of music we’re making.
Rich: Playing live is an often chaotic, messy, imperfect, unpredictable experience for us. And that’s where the joy and pain can lie… But usually a live Blueneck shows can mean more noise that you might expect. It’s cathartic.
(((o))): Who are you listening to right now?
Duncan: It changes from week to week, This week ive been re-visiting the Sparklehorse albums which I love, a little bit of Carter USM (which is a lot of fun), Beach House and also The White Birch.
(((o))): Do you have any favorite musicians or bands and would you consider collaborating with any of them?
Duncan: I’ve done vocals for a few people in the past, such as Alpha and Carmen Rizzo. Theres talk of me doing a couple of tracks with The Pirate Ship Quintet. But as for a complete collaboration with someone, if I’m honest, I’m probably not overly bothered about working with other people. I enjoy working with Rich and Ben in the studio, and in particular Mat Sampson (Blueneck producer) as the two of us totally get eachother and so its always a lot of fun. I wouldn’t rule out working with someone else…but they’d need to be super nice. 😉
(((o))): With the rise of specific online music groups and forums and the advent of festivals such as 2000 Trees and ArcTangent, do you feel that the so-called alternative, underground and post-rock scenes are strengthening? What has been your experience of this community as performing artists?
Duncan: Y’know I was thinking about this the other day. In some ways it DOES seem that the underground scene is growing, the likes of Arctangent Festival for example, but it does feel to me at times that its actually quieter than it was a few years ago…maybe its just me, but there seemed to be a lot more excitement 3 or 4 years ago. A festival like Arctangent really should be sold out within hours (its only 5000 capacity) but it doesn’t…and I think that’s a shame. Having said that, if you put Arctangent on in the middle of Germany then you’d more than likely be able to sell out 5 times over considering the quality of the bands they put on and also the quality of the festival.
Rich: I find it really difficult to comment on this, to be honest. I’m so far removed from the UK scene, particularly the live scene. The festivals you mention are great ones, and I suppose it’s healthier to have a number of small, slowly-growing independent festivals… Rather than the big ones like Reading and (ugh) V. I wish Arctangent and 2000 Trees nothing but the best… The people who run them are incredibly committed and kind.
(((o))): What do both the immediate and longterm future hold for Blueneck?
Duncan: We’re currently taking a breather…it seems like we’ve done nothing but tour or record for the last 5 years… and so I think we need to take a step back and re-evaluate things. So we certainly wont be playing shows in the near future…perhaps in a year or so….which I know is a strange decision to make when we have just released an album… at the moment we’re currently discussing how we want to take the live aspect of Blueneck forward and whether its something we want to do. Its important that we’re excited about what we’re doing.
We’ll quite possibly be in the studio for a really short time towards the end of this year…its that time of year afterall 😉
Rich: The rest of the year, apart from a bit of studio stuff, is definitely a break for us. Need to spend a little time focusing on family and friends and Christmas… I love Christmas. After that we can start looking forward properly.
(((o))): Is there anything we haven’t asked you that would like share with us?
Duncan: I think we’re generally pretty secretive…so no.
(((o))): Thank you for talking to us, and all the best.
Duncan: thanks for the interesting questions and ongoing support x
Rich: Cheers buddy.
