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Periphery
Subba Quizzes Periphery guitarist Alex Bois on 21st century tech metal, and their awesome self titled debut album...
Among the most prominent of the current djent/prog metal bands springing up all over the world at present are Periphery, Maryland’s own masters of forward thinking, technical metal. Having released their self-titled debut album earlier this year, the six-piece have hit the road on the mammoth Thrash And Burn tour stateside, as we await an inaugural visit to our shores... We spoke to the band’s guitarist and backing vocalist Alex Bois to get their take on Periphery’s progress so far, the power of the internet, and why three guitars are definitely better than one...
Hiya, how are you? What are you up to at the moment?
I’m great, just relaxing in a hotel room in Albuquerque, New Mexico!
For those new to the band, what would you say were the defining characteristics of Periphery’s sound and ethos?
I’ve never been too keen on answering this sort of question. I think the individual listener can decide what defines Periphery for them. Everyone has their own perspective and they will take away what they will from our music. If someone is new to the band, they can hear us on MySpace! (
myspace.com/periphery)
You’re just about to head off on the Thrash and Burn tour over in the states... looking forward to it? How do you go about preparing for such a lengthy trip?
We’re very excited to be a part of this year’s Thrash and Burn tour. We haven’t met/toured with most of the bands yet so it will be exciting to meet all of them. The best preparation for this tour is making sure that our transportation is running properly. Our van will be running non-stop once the tour begins and we want to make sure we make the gigs each day!
How do you plan to adapt your sets for audiences who may not yet be aware of Periphery, and for the possibility of a shorter playing time than usual?
We plan on having about 25 minutes to play each day and in that time we want to represent what Periphery does to people in the best light (no pun intended). We will play the songs that are most popular but we also like to bring out new songs on each tour for the fans that have come to past shows. This way new fans and old can get a bit of love.
With the complexity of your music, have you had any trouble getting it across to new audiences on support tours?
Hahaha, great question and the answer is YES! Many "metal" fans out there like to bang their head to the down beat. Breakdowns are popular for a reason! We always have that downbeat but our polyrhythmic nature might disguise it a bit. When I look out into the crowd some nights, I will see seemingly confused faces. To remedy this problem, I try to bob my head to the down beat to help the audience along but seldom does it work :(
The self-titled is now available worldwide; how have you found the overall reaction so far? How did the album come together... I understand that some of the songs have been around for quite a while?
So far the reaction has been great! With the help of Roadrunner Records, Distort and Sumerian here in the US, we’re multi-platinum in 32 countries and 5 continents! I’m joking of course but sales have been amazing and we feel honoured to have our material released internationally. The album does contain material that’s been around since the forming of the band back in 2005 but also has (all new) material that was written in 2010. It took some time but eventually we were able to pick the songs that we liked the most and put them together to make a 73+ minute album.
What would you say are the main advantages and drawbacks of having a three-guitar line-up?
Why does a symphony orchestra sound so good? It’s because there's usually about 100 people/instruments playing at once. This gives room for glorious harmonies and layers that make the performance sound epic. For us and our music, 3 guitars is that happy medium between being able to achieve the live sound that we want and not having too many people in the band. As it is, we play smaller clubs sometimes and we can barely fit on the stages that they provide!
Your songs are multi-faceted and musically challenging... Could you talk us through the process behind a Periphery song? With the myriad elements that go into your music, does a song generally take a while to piece together?
On this debut album, Misha (Mansoor,Guitar) has been the main song writer when it came to the instrumentation. He is a drummer as well as a guitarist so he was able to convey the full song structure before the songs were actually tracked by the individual members. The whole band then passed around vocal ideas until we agreed which ones were best. Spencer then records the vocals leaving one step left for Jake. Jake would then go back and glue the tracks together with ambient transitions. Like I said before, we’ve been putting this album together for approximately 5 years so yes; this album did take a while to piece together.
What’s your view on the burgeoning worldwide tech-metal/djent scene at the moment? Over here in the UK bands like Tesseract, The Safety Fire, Cyclamen, and Chimp Spanner seem to be leading the way... do you think that technology has aided the sense of community that’s building between bands such as yourselves, and the aforementioned, from all over the world?
I think it’s great, I think that artists like us and the ones you mentioned are definitely taking advantage of the technological advances. The styles that we play (tech, djent, math etc.) get many views on YouTube and other internet outlets because they are difficult and interesting to watch/learn. Fans want to see how these artists perform the songs. No disrespect meant but I doubt many people search YouTube to find out how to play a 3 power-chord Green Day song on a guitar or how Jay-Z speaks English :) Fans of this type of music tend to be pretty internet savvy from my experience so I think it has created a bit of a community worldwide.
Some of you will be giving music lessons during the Thrash and Burn tour: what would be your top three pieces of advice to budding musicians, particularly those looking to achieve something along the lines of the sound you have with Periphery?
Top three pieces of advice would be:
1. Practice
2. Practice
3. Be yourself; watch your favourite artists but don’t try to carbon copy them.
I once saw a video of Extreme's Nuno Bettencourt where he was doing a lesson for a guitar magazine or something. He literally told the camera, DON’T WATCH THIS LESSON. I related to this because I started playing guitar at a time where I had to figure out songs by ear. This helped me to develop my own personal style. I think this is very important unless your musical dream is to play in cover bands! If you want to learn how to play Periphery style, search us on YouTube, there’s plenty to watch!
There’s a definite vein of humour running through your self-titled record, notably in the spoken interlude which ends ‘Icarus Lives’. Would you say that there’s an underlying theme to the album, or, given that it’s your debut, is it more of a mixed bag of your ideas up to this point?
I think there's a bit of both. Although the album is a mix of many songs written at different times over the past 5 years, there also is a theme. The underlying theme is that we’re introducing ourselves and yes, we do have a sense of humour amongst a stereotypically serious genre of music.
Have you had time to think about a possible follow up to the self-titled? Do you know how you’d like to develop your sound in the future?
We've already spent much time on the ideas for our sophomore effort. We will be writing and recording ideas for it immediately after the Thrash and Burn tour. It’s hard to say how our sound will develop over time. It’s been difficult to write together whilst dealing the line-up changes leading up to the release of our debut. Now that the line-up is in place, we’re figuring out how to write together in new ways and that synergy will hopefully yield positive results.
Are there any plans afoot for a visit to the UK?
YES, nothing is set in stone but we are doing everything in our power to get across the pond ASAP.
Could you tell us about a few US bands who we should be checking out over here, but might have missed out on?
Misha just produced a few tracks for our label mates in Born of Osiris. Their new songs are AWESOME and must be checked out as soon as they’re released. The new Tony Danza Tapdance Extravaganza record is amazing. I’ve recently been listening to a new UK artist called Monuments, they are a must listen also.
Finally, any words for the Periphery fans reading this?
Support your favorite artists. It’s extremely difficult to sustain a living as a musician these days and without the support of fans we can’t even afford food.
Cheers! Hopefully see you on the road soon.
We would love nothing more and thanks for the interesting questions!!
Check out the band's myspace...
Rob Sayce
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