Hello there, and welcome back! We took a short (okay, long) break from interviews to get some things in order at the blog. Well, now we are back, and what better band could kick things back off than Azure, the skyrocketing prog band out of Brighton.
If you are unfamiliar with Azure, you’re overdue discovering this band. These guys have been on the scene since 2017 with their debut album, Wish for Spring. Now, they have just recently released two singles, Fire “Mistress” and “Ameotoko I – The Curse”. Both singles have brought well-deserved attention to these virtuosos out of Brighton. If fantasy prog is your thing, prepare to be blown away. Hell, if prog is your thing, prepare to be blown away.
We were lucky enough to interview these rising stars to talk about who Azure is, what they have coming up, the Brighton music scene, and more. Here’s what they had to say.
Thank you for taking time to interview with us! I’d like to start with Azure’s most recent single “Mistress”, which kicks ass by the way. From an outsider’s perspective it looks like the single has garnered a lot of attention within the prog scene. Do you feel that “Mistress” has been a catalyst to elevate Azure?
Chris: Thank you for inviting us! Honestly, the response to ‘Mistress’ has been extraordinary. After spending two years quietly working on our plans for 2021, we assumed that re-establishing ourselves in the progressive scene would be challenging. To combat this and get the ball rolling, we wrote ‘Mistress’ in December 2020, – short, dramatic, and brimming with our identity, it has totally gone beyond our expectations serving as a musical ice breaker!
For readers who might be unaware of Azure, how would you best describe the band’s sound and in your own opinion, what makes Azure unique?
Chris: To me, Azure is like Genesis, Iron Maiden, and Yes being squashed into one band, decorated by a modern, hyperactive synth-pop shimmer, all while singing songs about our favourite books.
Though they aren’t direct influences for us, we also get a lot of Rush and Coheed and Cambria comparisons – which is a massive compliment!
What is the band working on now? Can fans expect anything new in the near future?
Chris: Absolutely! I’ve never been more excited for the future than I am now. This is going to be a fast-paced, high output year for us; a lot of finished material will finally see the light of day. Additionally, an intense body of new Azure endeavours (musical AND non-musical) is in various stages of completion, and is looking to be the most exhilarating and uncharted territory we’ve ever entered!
How might future material compare to previous releases?
Chris: This year’s output is definitely some of the most guitar-heavy – and fantasy-centric – music that that we’ve released to date. It’s still enormously animated by synthesisers and general production, but unlike previous releases there are no programmed drums or bass guitars. With the help of Gareth Mason (Mixing) and Jonas Johansson (Mastering) from The Bakery, the band sounds more ‘live’ and organic than ever!
There’s some incredible talent in the band; from Chris’s vocals to Galen’s guitar playing. How long have all of you been playing music and, did any events or artists in particular inspire your musical journey?
Chris: Thank you so much! My parents inspired most of my formative music tastes, and my dad is a great singer, so I’ve been trying to sing since I was tiny. When I was about 10 I started playing guitar, and as puberty ruined my voice guitar became my main focus, learning all the parts to Iron Maiden songs, before trying my hand at Dream Theater. Once I became interested in forming bands as a teenager, I started trying to sing again! My mom is also completely responsible for my love of fantasy, and its inclusion in the project!
Galen: I started playing guitar when I was 16. Had a friend at school called Sam who showed me all the 80s shred stuff like Satriani and Vai, so I got really into technical stuff straight from the get-go. He also showed me how to practice and hold the pick and stuff so it got me off to a good start.
Alex: I’ve been playing bass for about 10ish years now, the moment that really made me want to pick up the instrument was when I heard Ryan Martinies bass playing and tone on Mudvaynes first album L.D 50. I’d never heard bass sound like that and be so forward in the mix and it just absolutely blew me away and still does to this day, most of the things I do on bass I’ve just ripped off from him haha.
Azure’s sound and lyrical content leans heavily into establishing its own mythos. How does this affect the writing process? Does lore directly affect composition?
Chris: That’s an awesome question! For the most part, it tends to work one of two ways for me. Either a song just writes itself, and is given meaning afterwards, OR I have a new character/story I want to introduce, in which case I would storyboard what needs to happen, and then gather lots of dedicated musical ideas and sections to be arranged accordingly. I adore writing music either way, but as the fantasy aspect of Azure has grown in importance (leading me to write over a whole book’s worth of narratives), I’ve found that we have the most fun (and write more effectively) by trying to bring characters and settings to life with sounds!
In a world where streaming services pay per track played, how do you feel about being a band releasing long-form standalone songs like 2018’s (brilliant) Redtail? Do you think that potential streaming revenues might incentivize a band like yours to split a long piece into multiple tracks or do you feel that would compromise your artistic vision?
Chris: This was definitely a consideration for ‘Redtail’, not only for splitting the streams, but also because it’s very normal to doubt yourself when it comes to releasing long songs. There is always a concern that people would be too busy, or intimidated, to indulge in a 20 minute long song by a band they might not have heard of.
We toyed with splitting it into two parts, or possibly even three, but eventually the idea of any of those sections being isolated from each other became illogical; even divided, the sections would still be at least 7 – 10 minutes long.
It would be all too easy to accredit the success of ‘Mistress’ with its snappy, re-listenable 3 minute runtime, but ultimately ‘Mistress’ also had a much better release plan, so who knows how ‘Redtail’ would have performed if released in the same way!
Regardless of losing streams, or potential listeners, I’m really glad we released ‘Redtail’ intact.
How has the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting social distancing and restrictions affected the band?
Chris: Though intermittent lockdowns and gig cancellations genuinely threatened and reshaped many bands’ careers in 2020, the delays gave us a lot of extra time to polish everything we already had. Remotely, I spectated most of Gareth’s mix sessions on the new material, and although I would have liked to have been there in person, we ended up getting into a healthy routine of screensharing the process and putting in late-night hours that worked best in the comfort of our own homes!
When it comes to planning releases, the restrictions became much more of an obstacle. It’s been a serious challenge trying to shoot music videos and prepare photoshoots etc while adhering to social distancing measures, and rehearsal space closures, but these restrictions are definitely necessary so we’ve just had to work around them!
There are also a few gigs I am really gutted about missing out on, including Novena’s Eleventh Hour album release, and Euroblast 2020, but hopefully similar events will be underway again before we know it!
In terms of touring, while we may not see it anytime soon due to the pandemic of course, are there any artists you’ve always wanted to perform with?
Chris: I’m still restlessly keen to perform alongside our lovely friends in Novena, as soon as we can! Collaborating with Aryeon would be a dream, and I also think that gigging with Pain of Salvation or Ichikoro would both be amazing experiences, for very different reasons!
What is the local music scene like in Brighton? Are there any local bands you’d like to shout out?
Chris: The Brighton art scene in general is the just most spellbinding, prismatic explosion of creative young individuals, all converging into multiple projects and having the best time! I think we owe a lot of our sound to the Brighton scene, and the people we’ve been lucky enough to meet here. I’d recommend both ‘CLT DRP’ and ‘Penelope Isles’ to anybody who’d like a taste of some incredibly fresh, creative music happening down on the UK south coast!
Galen: The Brighton music scene is great honestly. Know a lot of incredible guitarists around here. One of my favorite players locally is Levi Cano. Absolutely beautiful improviser. His ear for harmony is just amazing! He’s got some stuff online you can check out if you’re into players like Holdsworth, Plini and Eric Johnson.
Alex: The music scene is actually pretty good in Brighton, a lot of the bands know eachother pretty well and get on very well so it feels like a great little community. I’d have to give a shout out to Gurf, they’re just sick. No other words can explain it you just need to see them if you can.
More broadly, what has the band been listening to as of late? Anything you’d recommend to our readers, prog or otherwise?
Chris: In terms of big acts, it will come as no surprise that I still listen to Iron Maiden at some point every day, as well as The Weeknd, Queensryche and The 1975. I also listen to an unreasonable amount of Disasterpeace, which I would recommend to prog fans who also love 8bit synths and game soundtracks, as well as rising indie-pop legends Fickle Friends, and art-rock/pop innovators Everything Everything.
Galen: I’ve been listening to Patricia Taxxon and early Genesis pretty much exclusively for the last 5 months. Patricia’s this young prolific electronic artist, she’s put out like 60 albums or something in the last 4 years. She’s got a really punk approach to the distribution of her stuff online, and all of her albums just have such interesting concepts. Great sound design, clever composition and just generally really catchy, evocative stuff. Mistress, the solo in particular was heavily inspired by her work.
Alex: I’ve been absolutely rinsing Soften the Glare’s latest album Glint, they’re this mental jazz fusion three piece that’s unlike anything else I’ve heard so yeah I really recommend that. Then I’ve also been listening to Humanities Last Breaths new album which is one of the heaviest things I’ve ever heard straight up, and then to round it off I’ve had Steel Panther on repeat again because they’re just great.
Again, thanks for taking time out to interview with us. Azure has the floor now, is there anything that you’d like to add that any of the questions didn’t cover?
Chris: These questions have been so good – they’ve covered everything! I want to say thank you to everyone who has recently joined us on this new chapter, and for reading this interview! We have an unbelievably varied amount of music to share with you all very soon, and I’m so excited to for you all to hear it!
Azure social links:
Bandcamp: https://azureish.bandcamp.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/azuresongs/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/azure_the_band/
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1DtccHmhCsq6YANugr7Bqa
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjWKEUczIL2qzcPS0i1CbeQ
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