ALLERJEN
Questions asked by Jon Wilde, added to Rock Realms 4th December 2011.
Manchester, UK metallers Allerjen are releasing thir new album "Equilibrium" in February. Preempting the probable rush of interest around the band (check out the sound clips on Facebook to find out why), Rock Realms got in there early for a chat with the guys.
John Dower, Paul Wilkinson, Paul Tarbuck and Audie Harrison answer questions...
Hi Guys, thanks for taking a moment to answer these questions. Hope you are well?
John: Very well thanks.
Wilko: I have a mince pie, all is right with the world.
T: Tip top.
Audie: Think I’m getting the lurgy actually. I’ll survive though.
How did Allerjen start, and what’s the history behind the various members?
John: We actually started as a 4 piece nu-metal band called Sphere in 1999. After many, many line up changes we ended up becoming a 3 piece and shortly after changing the name and yet another line up change in 2003, the surviving members of Paul Wilkinson (Guitar) and myself (Bass / Vocals) and with Paul Tarbuck (Drums) joining, gave us the concrete line up until Audie Harrison (Guitar) joined in 2010.
Wilko: I joined Sphere in 2000/2001 when it was briefly a five piece, until that point the only instruments I had ever played were the recorder in primary school and ¾ scale acoustic guitar. After that first jam, I just never left.
T: I was actually a fan of Sphere and the early incarnation of Allerjen and attended a few gigs around the North West area. Pure fluke that I ended up in the band at all, but one of my best decisions was to join Allerjen.
Audie: I’ve played in a number of bands over the years, generally all of them different from the last, and I’ve done my time as a bass player in some outfits which was tremendous fun. Allerjen is the best band I’ve been in. Also the most suited to me, people and music wise.
Why the change from the original name “Sphere”?
John: To be honest, we just fancied a change! We’d not being playing that long under the name Sphere and wanted an original name no-one had, hence the birth of Allerjen.
Wilko: Sphere was a bit of a generic name, it was no surprise to find tons of bands with the same name. After a quick leaf through a medical journal we agreed on Allergen, changed the ‘g’ to a ‘j’ and the rest is (literally) history.
Who would you list as the band’s early influences?
John: Early influences for Sphere were bands like Korn, Orgy, Videodrone, Limp Bizkit as that was the “craze” at the time. As we’ve grown older and possibly wiser we just started listening to heavier and heavier bands. By the time T joined “As the palaces burn by Lamb Of God” had just been released, and completely changed my life!
Wilko: The band was conceived at the time where nu metal was at its most popular, listening to early stuff the influence of bands like Korn, Deftones etc are obvious. Becoming more interested in the genre and music in general our influences inevitably became broader.
T: By the time I joined in 2003, the music was getting heavier and a little more technical. ‘Nu Metal’ was dying and Allerjen was becoming a pure Metal band. Influences never really entered into our minds as we didn’t want to sound like a specific band or genre, but I suppose bits and pieces can be picked out of the different earlier songs that may have been influenced in some way by Lamb Of God, Machine Head, Megadeth, etc.
Audie: My first major influences were Sabbath and Metallica. They were the ones who made me want to pick up a guitar and play. Over the years my taste has become increasingly eclectic and I listen to too many artists and too many genre’s to list them all. I do generally look for a high degree of musicianship or compositional skill though in what I listen to though.
Did you already know what sound you wanted to make back at the start, or has your sonic output altered over the years?
John: Our sound has always constantly evolved since morphing into Allerjen and will continue under the new line up.
Wilko: Our first ‘Sphere’ recording will be 10 years old in December and although the music and playing ability have improved immeasurably that initial enthusiasm, passion and excitement are still as strong as ever.
T: With the two albums and EP’s we have very different sounds. We have always made music that we all like rather than jump on bandwagons and write material that sounds like the ‘band of the moment’ just to fit in and become flavour of the month. The sound we have now with the two guitars in place is crushing in my opinion, and we will always try to better the last song we write. When I joined it was all about how loud and fast we could play as a 3 piece, but over the years we have added more content to the songs to make it a lot more interesting for us and the listener.
Audie: I don’t think any of us envisaged what we’ve ended up as now. We knew we had something when we first got in the room together but what we came up with - and what we have on the go behind the scenes at the minute - has I think pleasantly surprised us all.
How would you describe your sound to someone who hadn’t heard you before?
John: Just give it a chance! It’s metal, that much we know. You can decide which sub genre we fall into, we’ve always been very difficult to pigeon hole, which we think is a good thing.
Audie: As John says, it’s metal. Hopefully were at a stage now where there is something in our music for most metalheads to like.
Your album “Equilibrium” is coming out early next year. How does it compare to your past release “No Guts, No Glory” in terms of quality and style?
John: It’s night and day. Wilko, T and myself are completely proud of the first album, but Equilibrium to us as people has really pushed our personal boundaries. We can’t wait for new people to hear it and our old school following are going to be like “is this the same band?” We just hope it’s well received.
T: No Guts was more a greatest hits if you like ha ha. There were a few songs that had done the live circuit and were updated for the album. Like John says, the 3 of us were and are very proud of the album but Equilibrium really is a bigger and better album. For me personally I wanted to play the drum patterns that I either didn’t feel confident with or physically couldn’t perform on the EP’s or last album. I’m very proud of Equilibrium!
Audie: Well these guys are really the most fit to comment on that one. But I can say that I’m really proud of what we’ve created with this album. In terms of style and quality we’ve moved such a long way from our first rehearsal together, and in such a short space of time. We found a “sound” that really seems to work for us right now.
Is there a deep meaningful story behind the title?
John: Without being too obvious, the album is about finding that balance, whether it’s in the band, life, the world or humanity. The album is a roller coaster of human emotion (not with eyeliner and fantastic hair though – haha!)
Where do you get your lyrical inspirations from?
John: Lyrically, I think I’ve mature ten fold since “No Guts…”. I get inspiration from my life, my friends, what I see. Even watching awesome bands give me ideas. Like the music, I hope people can look at the lyrics as much as the music and see the step up from the early years.
How do you go about writing songs?
John: We just wrote songs and hope people liked them. In many ways, that hasn’t changed from the early days. We don’t try and write a certain style, just bring some riffs to the table, see how they sound as a song and start work from there.
Wilko: I think it’s important to find the balance between refining and analysing the songs and scrutinising them to the point where you lose what made it special.
Audie: Hahaha. Oh man, if you only knew where I wrote some of my best stuff! I can feel myself setting a tone lower than my strings could cope with so I’ll just leave it at that.
Talk us through the construction of a typical track... What are your favourite moments on the album?
John: Since the arrival of Audie, we normally try and get round to someone’s house away from the rehearsal room to save money and wasted hours. Get the track to a rough level start to finish so T can play along to it. Record it at rehearsal, then from there we start arranging the parts as we can hear it all together, again away from the rehearsal room. As far as the album goes, I love it from start to finish, very proud of the whole thing.
T: My favourite tracks are Hunter and Embrace The Divine, just for the pure energy and power!
Audie: Just to expand a little on what John said - we begin with the “blueprint track”. From there we write parts deliberately to go with what we have already, there are a mix of spontaneous and pain staking note by note composition. Occasionally we have a whole song to work with from the beginning, though almost everything gets mangled and arranged to make things interesting for us and our listeners. Hopefully... there is a bit more to it but that’s the very basic process.
As far as a favourite moment goes, well, I couldn’t pick a favourite even if I was pushed. I listen through it and change my mind about what song I love most almost all the way through. I genuinely like them all and I’ll be a happy man if I can say that about the next album.
Do you enjoy or the recording process or are you more into the live scene?
John: I actually love both. As most bands, you rarely go into the studio compared to playing shows, so you get excited about studio time, regardless of the hard work.
Wilko: The recording process is as grueling as it is rewarding, if you don’t give it everything your record will fail. There is nothing better than engaging a crowd and making them part if the show, it’s the reason we continue to do this.
T: Love recording but prefer the live gigs. There’s nothing quite like looking up from the kit and seeing a crowd of people going absolutely insane to one of our songs. For 30-40 minutes, we will crush you.
Audie: I love both for different reasons. I like the crowd interaction and the performance element of a live show but I really like the challenges of the studio too. And hearing your tracks slowly take shape as you record another instrument is a very exciting thing.
What is one of your live shows like?
John: Like a bulldozer to the nuts!
Wilko: Like being mounted by a marble granite gorilla driving a juggernaut into the sun. in C#
What have been the highlights of your musical life so far?
John: Opening the main stage for the first ever Damnation Festival in 2005, supporting Sepultura at Manchester Academy 2 are big highlights for me! Hopefully the new album will give us some more highlights….
Wilko: Thinking up the aforementioned ‘gorilla’ analogy.
T: Being able to record and play with a band is something I never thought would happen, but here we are with 2 EP’s, 2 albums and a string of gigs and support slots under our belts. Damnation and Sepultura definitely the 2 biggest highlights, playing at Academy 2 in Manchester was amazing as I’ve seen so many bands play there over the years.
Any question you love being asked that I’ve missed?
John: When’s the album out? ...Equilibrium is due to be released through Brutal Elite Records on 20th Feb 2012 and will be distributed worldwide by Plastic Head in CD and digital formats.
What are you up to once you’ve finished answering these questions?
John: I’m actually going to see The Ocean and Textures tonight with Wilko and T in Manchester.
Wilko: Frag some noobs!
T: It’s 8:25am and now off to work, how Metal am I!?
Audie: I’m going to drink my coffee and take my guitar off for a few minutes to work on some new material.
Anything else you would like to mention?
John: Thanks for interviewing us! We have 3 tracks online now to start promoting the album. Check them out on the following links…..
http://www.myspace.com/allerjen
http://www.facebook.com/allerjen
http://www.reverbnation.com/allerjen
http://www.youtube.com/user/ALLERJENOFFICIAL
