A Q&A with Sounds Escape

Expressive, cinematic instrumental rock…

What’s the title of your latest release, and what does it mean to you?
The new record is called ‘Electric Love’, which is a celebration of the complexity of emotions expressed through the beauty of clean electric guitar.

What was the hardest part about putting this release together, and why?
The hardest part was getting perfect performances on the clean electric guitar while recording. Mistakes, poor playing and average choices can be hidden in distorted guitars — but when it is just the guitar and the amp, every finger noise, every poorly fretted note, it all stands out horribly. So often the simpler, cleaner parts took the longest to get “the take”.

Sometimes too, it is hard to capture the energy of the original idea or demo, so on ‘Fade Out’ the opening guitar is actually the very original demo idea — no click track, no editing, just me playing the idea. You can hear some of the bad fingering, but in this case it actually made the part more beautiful.

Who produced the release – what did they bring to it? If you produced it yourselves what do you enjoy most about producing your own material?
Danny McCrum produced it, and he is an unbelievable guitar player. So even playing guitar in front of him was a mental hurdle that took a couple of sessions to get past. His knowledge of music theory and what the guitar can do when recorded was incredible, because often I would have 95% of the idea, but struggle with transitioning a part to the next, and he would say “try B flat minor” or something, and it would be just what the song needed.

He also didn’t let me get away with anything. The take had to be THE TAKE or he would make me do it again. He was not going to let any part be “good enough”. It had to have something special. So it worked me extremely hard, but it is also my best guitar playing by far.

What do you want the listener to take away from listening to your music?
That you can be moved by music — you can feel something and connect with it without needing a singer to tell you what to think or feel. You can lose yourself in the music and feel what you want to feel.

How does a track normally come together? Can you tell us something about the process?
Each release of mine follows a similar creative process. I spend a couple of months learning new scales, new music, trying to explore other music or artists — a big push on my personal development.

Then I spend a couple of months having a couple of beers in the evenings and just chasing down the ideas that come out (the beer helps turn off my inner critic — otherwise all ideas would go in the bin). Then I record the basic ideas in my loop pedal and play around with layering sounds. Once I have something I like, I create a “cheat sheet” chart so I can remember my hand positions and some of the basic chords used. When I am ready to start creating a record, I go into the studio and spend a couple of days recording scratch tracks. This gives me a reference to record the drums to.

Then comes Drum Day — a whole day capturing as many parts as possible. I usually do a “skeleton take”, then “the take”, then the “f*ckaround take” where I go wild on fills and ideas. We pick the best parts and do drop-ins to refine them. Next comes the rhythm guitars and bass. Then leads, solos and melodies. Lastly keys, synths and atmosphere to lift the song in certain parts or create emotional connection. Then we sit with the songs for a week or two, go through the reduction phase, then mixing and mastering.

What band/artists have influenced you the most since you started this project, and why?
Since I started this project, the most influential would be Dominic Miller, Deftones, John Frusciante, Victoria De Angelis, Third Eye Blind and John Mayer.

What countries would you like to tour? Are there any standout venues you’d like to play in?
No — I hate playing in front of people. It is like getting naked and letting everyone judge you.

If you could pick one track for our readers to listen to in order to get a taste of your music, what would you pick, and why?
‘The Dark Side of Melody’ is a track that has everything — clean electric, wild drums, heavy electric, Spanish acoustic, everything. It is very diverse and moody with layers, melodies and harmonies.

The most surprising is ‘Shimmer’ as there are no drums. It has two duelling pianos and the electric guitar is mainly one take, played through beautifully from start to finish. It took me many, many attempts to get it, but I think it has a gentle magic to it.

What ambitions do you have for the band/your career?
My dream is that a film producer somewhere discovers my music and uses it in a key moment in a film — the soundtrack to THAT moment, where it becomes the soundtrack to people’s nostalgia. That would be my dream come true.

I don’t have ambitions to be famous or successful. I just want to keep making the music I enjoy making, with the freedom to make my art how I want without compromise.

Finally, as you leave the stage, what are your parting words?
Thank you.

Find out more about Sounds Escape at soundsescape.com