Interview: Novena

Hello reader, we’re back with another interview – our reviewer Andrew lobbed some questions at Novena guitarist and bandleader Harrison White, who provided some very detailed answers in kind!

Novena themselves are an emerging force within the UK prog scene, featuring big names including Haken vocalist Ross Jennings, Slice the Cake vocalist Gareth Mason and Slugdge bassist Moat Lowe among others. Having released a debut EP, Secondary Genesis, in 2016, the band is finally following up with their debut full-length album – Eleventh Hour, on Frontiers Music. It’s an ambitious effort that intersperses catchier songs with some massive epics, and manages to accomplish a lot in its 73-minute runtime. Expect a review in our March edition of Reports for the Underground, but give the album a good listen or two hundred when it releases on Friday!

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Hi, glad to have you, thank you for taking the time to do this interview! To begin, for our readers that may be unfamiliar with Novena, what can we expect from your upcoming album, Eleventh Hour? 

Eleventh Hour is a big album, running at 73 minutes over 10 tracks. We worked really hard to give every song a distinct identity – something to sing along to in every track, and we had a lot of fun experimenting with different genres, just generally being playful. We really do go from fragile piano ballads, all the way up to Meshuggah-esque death-metal, too, so strap in for the ride.

What are some of the main differences between Eleventh Hour and your 2016 EP Secondary Genesis? 

I once joked that ‘Eleventh Hour’ was “twice as long, and half as good”. The first half is certainly true – I’ll leave it to the second to decide the second! I’d say on ‘Secondary Genesis’, we were very much still figuring things out. It was our first go at writing music, and we didn’t yet have an established membership. Now we do, and we were able to write specifically for our members’ skills. We built on what we learned on ‘Secondary Genesis’ and used it to explore new sounds on ‘Eleventh Hour’. It’s more extreme in every direction, but hopefully, and perhaps paradoxically, more consistent and coherent too!

Is there an overarching theme, concept, inspiration or idea behind the new album – and if so, does the title have a significant meaning? 

There is! Without giving too much away, as I like for listeners to be able to delve into the story and apply their own meaning, ‘Eleventh Hour’ tells the stories of people in the last chapters of their lives. Death is one thing that connects us all, but our experiences of it will all be so unique. We wanted to explore that through these characters (some based on real events, some fictional) and stories on the album which intertwine, all in the ‘Eleventh Hour’ of their lives.

What are some of the biggest influences on Eleventh Hour?

That’s a difficult one! I was barely thinking about musical influences at all whilst writing this album. We all listen to a wide range of musical styles all the time, so it would be hard to pin point something as being more influential than the other. I’d say the main ‘influence’ on the album would be a number of personal experiences relating to members of the band which inspired some of the stories. Beyond that, we’d love to hear what you think it sounds like stylistically!

You personally have a background in theatre – how does this impact on the songwriting and visual decisions you make within the band? 

I love telling stories – I always have. I think it’s one of the reasons I’m attracted to progressive music, just as I am to cinema and theatre. Working in the theatrical paradigm has really taught me a lot about classic stories, the structure of them, where stories come from, how characters work, etc; I try to harness these ideas when writing music for the band. Often the story comes first, and the music later, to try and give it a more cohesive dramatic arc. As for visuals, we’re all very, very ugly, and it’s difficult to polish a turd, so I gave up on that before I started.

It’s been nearly four years since the release of Secondary Genesis – what are the main challenges you faced during the writing and recording process of your debut LP? 

The writing process was quite a joy from start to finish – it took a long time, but everyone was on board with why, and I have to be really grateful for everyone’s patience. One of our main challenges is just scheduling. Everyone in the band has commitments elsewhere – Ross with Haken, Gareth with Slice the Cake, myself with theatre etc – so communication needs to be watertight. Fortunately, everyone gets on well and we understand the situation, so it’s just a matter of attention and patience!

How did Novena originally form?

Novena was born out of the ashes of a previous band (who I see, reading ahead you’ve heard of*). When that band broke up, Moat and Harrison decided to keep performing together, and using threads of music leftover from that previous music, continued to develop it. Eventually, the music was written. We met Cameron and Dan in Brighton soon after, and the instrumental section was complete. Finding (a) vocalist(s) was tricky, and proved fruitless for a year or so. So, we spoke to Ross and Gareth (who were both friends of ours within the scene) and invited them to perform on the recording of ‘Secondary Genesis’ in a guest capacity. The idea was we’d use those recordings to help find permanent vocalists – we knew they were both busy and didn’t expect they would want to join permanently. However, after enjoying the session so much together, they both decided they’d like to go forward with it, and here we are today!

*Editor’s Note: The band in question is Bleeding Oath, known mainly for having Mikael Åkerfeldt of Opeth tell them to “fuck off.” They also have some music.

What was the inspiration behind naming the band “Novena”?

Honestly, I’d love to give an inspired answer to this, but I flicked through a dictionary looking for ‘Cool sounding words’ and there it was. It’s a nine-day cycle of prayer in Catholicism and also the Spanish word for ‘Ninth’, but that wasn’t a part of the decision process – those discoveries came later.

Novena has a couple of pretty big names in the prog sphere – namely Ross Jennings of Haken and Gareth Mason of Slice the Cake sharing vocal duties. What’s it like working with both of them?

One things for certain: There is no rooms for ego in Novena. Whatever we do, we do for the good of the band and of the music. Fortunately, everyone gets that, and we’ve never had any particular trouble. Ross and Gareth are both exceptional talents and also both bloody nice guys, and the chemistry between the two of them as performers, and between the six of us as a band and as friends is great. Everyone contributes to the band and it wouldn’t be the same without them!

How does the band approach splitting the vocals? Is it decided who will sing each part of a song in the writing process or experimented with when time for recording arrives?

On Secondary Genesis, the idea was to have a very clear Duality: Gareth handling the death vocals, and Ross handling the clear vocals. This was largely a conceptual choice to heighten the split in the character’s psyche. However, as an aesthetic choice, we thought it worked well too. We’ve taken that a little bit further and are really trying to exploit the wide range of vocal talents Gareth and Ross have. Expect death vocals, soaring melody, poetry and spoken word performance on Eleventh Hour. Harrison handles the majority of the vocal arrangements in advance of recording, but experimentation and new ideas in the studio are always embraced, and a number of new things came about in the studio!

In Ross’s case, is it hard working around his schedule given how frequently Haken tours? Will it impact your own ability to tour?

We’ve always understood that his participation in Novena has to be balanced against his commitments in Haken, and that’s okay. They’re a busy band, and we hope to be too! We all communicate continually online and over the phone etc. So, we work with what we have, manage our expectations, communicate well and make plans. So don’t worry, you’ll be seeing plenty of us in the future!

Speaking of touring, what can you tell us about potential upcoming tours in support of Eleventh Hour, or any current concert commitments?

I can’t comment on any touring plans just yet, but I’d love to draw your attention to two shows we’ve announced:

1. Our Album Launch Show, taking place in London on 3^rd April. Tickets are only £10 and we’re playing ‘Eleventh Hour’ in full. Don’t miss it!
2. We’re delighted to be back at UK Tech-Metal Fest 2020, where we’ll be playing alongside lots of our friends and favourite bands. 

Are there any bands that you feel deserve more attention?

Supporting us at our Album Launch Show are Shattered Skies, Tiberius, Ihlo and Azure. You should definitely check all of those out!

Anything else you would like to add in closing?

It’s been a pleasure to talk to you! ‘Eleventh Hour’ is out on 6^th March via Frontiers Music Srl. Grab yourself a copy here!

One last thing: FUCK OFF, BLEEDING OATH!

We heard you, we listened, and we obliged. Bleeding Oath have fucked off forever.

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Novena’s social links:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/novenabanduk/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/novenabanduk

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/novenabanduk/

Website: https://www.novenaband.uk/

Label: http://www.frontiers.it/