Five years (and one day!) after the release of their sophomore album, Lunar, Without Waves will release the follow up in the shape of new LP, Comedian. The album brings together ten expansive tracks that chart the emotion-heavy few years that the Chicago-based band have experienced together.
Embracing the multiplicity of ways to interpret the label ‘progressive’, Without Waves have created an album that would nestle comfortably in the record collections of fans of both the Dillinger Escape Plan and Devin Townsend, Gojira and Porcupine Tree. Their dynamic, experimental take on heaviness is evocative, thought-provoking and unconventional.
Comedian will be released on March 18th through Prosthetic Records, and the band kindly told us about their main musical influences….
Dillinger Escape Plan – Ire Works
Anthony Cwan (vocals/guitar): Our band has always been drawn to this album and I love the story behind it. They lose their drummer, lose their other guitar player, yet still make it all happen even when things look like they might fall apart. I respect the tenacity. You can hear that on the record. I remember seeing Dillinger Escape Plan for the first time at a small club in Chicago back in 2008. I invited Zac (Lombardi, Without Waves’ guitarist) along as he had not listened to them previously. We were obviously both blown away by the live performance and have been huge fans ever since.
Soen – Lotus
Garry Naples (drums): This album came out not long before we started tracking drums and I was definitely listening to it frequently as we prepared the songs for the studio. I have always been a fan of Martin Lopez’s drumming between the Opeth records and now with Soen, and the mix of powerful rhythms with a large variance of interesting colors around the drum kit was inspiring as I nailed down the drum parts for Comedian. Songs like ‘Sleight In Shadows” and ‘Set & Setting’ require quick changes in feel throughout, so I’ve always been drawn to records and drummers that master that.
Ministry – Psalm 69
Anthony: This is a desert island album for us. To this day, everything about this record is draped in lore…from changing the face of heavy music, to the almost unbelievable recording environment. We worked with someone in the past who actually engineered on the record. He shared a great story about an intern that loved to suck on pens. Apparently Uncle Al noticed this and decided to systematically shove every pen in the studio up his ass. After months of working, Al proudly confessed to the intern that he’d been sucking on ass pens the entire time. This might seem silly, but that’s how greatness works sometimes. There’s no rhyme or reason. All of that chaos yielded one of the most unique heavy records ever written. This is why we love it and why we recorded a cover of ‘TV II’.
