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By: Kevin Feazey
Next month sees the release of Berkana, the second album from Bay Area psych quartet Golden Void, featuring Isaiah Mitchell of Earthless fame. Kevin Feazey, bass player from The Fierce And The Dead and long time fan of Isiah’s work, caught up with him for a chat.
(((o))): Can you describe the song writing process in the band? How formed are the songs when they’re presented to the band? The arrangements sound very fresh on this album?
Isaiah: For this album Justin, our drummer, brought 5 almost fully realized songs to the table. I brought a couple that we’re pretty finished. We’d play the songs and tweak things here or there to get the flow right and to make it work with the vocals. If there was any freshness heard I’d think it’s because the album was written pretty close to the time we had to record so the songs were fresh to us.
(((o))): Am I right in thinking that all the members of GV have been friends for a long time? My band is made up of friends and we have a very fluid way of communication using reference points no one else would understand. Do you have a similar thing and how much do you think this contributes to the GV sound?
I: Justin, Aaron and myself grew up together since jr high school and I’m pretty sure Justin and Aaron have known each other since elementary school. My wife Camilla is in the band as well, so this band has a lot of close energy and old history that I think adds something to the sound that not having this relationship couldn’t bring to the table.
(((o))): This album has quite a different sound to your début, much bigger, and I see that it was recorded with a different philosophy than before. Could you tell us a little about the two different production styles, how that decision was made and how it affected the songs?
I: the first record was recorded and mixed in 4 days, all the songs were ready to go, we used simple microphone techniques because we recording onto a 16 track…… With Berkana, we had twice the time for recording and mixing the record compared to our début, a lot of the songs weren’t finished when we got to the studio and we recorded onto a 24 track machine so we could mic things differently and fill in space.
The only conscious decision I can think to differentiate the two albums recording style was to record with Tim Green. We needed help finishing some of the songs and Tim is a tried and true producer, engineer and sonic alchemist so we felt he was the one to help us get our songs fully realized. Listening to Berkana I can really hear Tim on the record, and I think it’s a good thing. Always a pleasure working with him.
(((o))): When you’re in the studio how much is the ‘live’ sound in your mind? Berkana is a much denser record, how will you represent it live?
I: so far the songs we’ve played live carry over well from the recording. There’s some more songs we need to put on the table and I feel they’ll translate well. It’s great having keys in the mix. They can cover a lot of space if I need to stray from rhythm duties.
(((o))): You’re a very busy man with a lot of bands/projects on the go, what does Golden Void give you that the other projects don’t? I’m interested to find out if you allow them to bleed over into one another or do you try to keep them separate?
I: I get from Golden Void my poppy melodic song outlet 😉 I love all kinds of music and I’m a sucker for a good chorus and catchy melodies. I’m never one to forcefully keep projects separate. I think there’s a little bleed from each of them into each other. Forcing separation seems unnatural. I don’t think about it too much.
(((o))): There are some great guitar sounds on Berkana, do you have to experiment a lot with your equipment to see what works best or are you able to replicate what’s in your head pretty quickly?
I: I knew going into this recording I didn’t want to use a lot of pedals. I had them out and ready to go but didn’t want to rely on them. All the rhythm tracks were cranked Marshall’s and old Ampegs. You don’t need to colour up those amps. They sound amazing as is. The overdubs were kept pretty simple. Just used a compressor, wah wah and a couple of different fuzzes. I wanted to let all the textural sounds be taken care of by flutes and synthesizers. I wanted to take emphasis off of the guitars a little bit on this record to open it up a bit. It’s nice getting out of a guitar dominated sound…….even though there’s still tons of guitars all over the record.
(((o))): I’ve seen bands such as Pentagram mentioned as an influence for you. They seem to be finally getting some of the attention they deserve, a big influence on my band for sure. Why do you think that post-Sabbath sound has become popular again?
I: I think it’s popular because it’s good music and it’s rebellious. The 60’s and 70’s look and sound I don’t think has ever gone out of style.
(((o))): What bands/artists were you listening to when making this album? And what are your lyrical influences?
I: I know Camilla and I were listening to early Gilmour Pink Floyd during the making of the record. Not sure what else. I was listening to a lot of our demos so I could figure out lyrics and extra instrument parts. I don’t really have lyrical influences that would translate to the lyrics on the album. I don’t really like my lyrics. I wish I could write like Bruce Springsteen:) I thought I channelled Jack Bruce on a few of the tunes.
(((o))): You’ve been called ‘Psychedelic’, would you agree with that? And what does that term mean to you?
I: I think everything is psychedelic if you see it in a certain light. I know what the general public’s idea of psychedelic is and I can see why we’d be lumped in. Throw in abstract lyrics, fuzzy guitars, delay and reverb on everything……. you’ll get dubbed psychedelic.
(((o))): So will you be bringing Golden Void to the UK/Europe any time soon?
I: I hope we get across the pond very soon!!
(((o))): Let’s end on a deep note. What was the last profound thought you can remember you had?
I: the last profound thought I had was that I vow to myself that I will never be a professional sheet rock layer.
