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These
past few months have been bursting at the seems with us discovering
cracking new bands to wrap our ears around and listen to their fantastic
anthems. One such band that's really put a smile on our face and
some metal on the speakers is Liquid Sky, a band that although not new
by band standards, are totally new and very exciting for us to discover.
With this in mind we catch up with guitarist Jonathan Craven to find out
more and perhaps introduce this band to a few more 'virgin ears'.
MM
- Would
you like to start by introducing the band to us and giving us a
little bit of history on how the band started.
Jon - The
band consists of Tiffeny Joyce on vocals, Jonathan Craven on
guitar and vocals, Andy Midgley on guitar, Rick Ogden on
keyboards and vocals, Stuart Wright on drums and Den Constable
on bass guitar.
The very first incarnation band was formed in 2000 when Jon
responded to an ad in a music trade paper looking for a
guitarist and songwriter. There wasn’t really a “band” to
speak of at that point, just a singer with some song ideas so
things developed pretty quickly from there, with other musicians
(including Den) coming on board pretty quickly until the band
reached the point of having enough material to start gigging.
Since then, the band has evolved through various line-ups into
what you can see and hear today! |
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MM
- How would you best describe your music to any of our readers who are
currently unfamiliar with your music?
Jon
- Well, there are elements of familiar metal, gothic, progressive and
rock music throughout the LIQUID SKY sound. It would be easy to
name-check lots of bands who we have similarities with but the easiest
thing to say is that we have a heavy sound but with very melodic vocals
and (hopefully!) catchy and memorable hooks in them, both vocally and
musically.
MM - Did you all agree on your
particular sound at the very beginning or were there any clashes over
musical ideas?
Jon
- The LIQUID SKY sound has evolved considerably since the band first
formed. When we started out, we had a lighter, more rock-orientated
sound than we do today. The evolution has been a steady and conscious
one I think and while there haven’t really been “clashes” in
musical ideas, some of the changes in direction have come about through
band members arriving or departing and the new mix of influences that
has produced.
MM - Are there any bands in
particular, past or present, that you guys look up to or get inspired
by?
Jon
- To be honest, it’s very difficult to pinpoint specific influences,
as we all have so many and they tend to be very varied. Obviously
we’re very inspired by any bands that have made a particular success
of themselves in our genre.
MM - With the release of your
new album ‘Identity’, how are the band feeling right now and what
feedback have you had to date from the fans and media?
Jon
- The feedback we’ve had since the album’s release in January 2008
has been fantastic! We’ve had really positive responses from both the
press and public alike. It was such a huge endeavour for us, so we’re
really pleased that people like it so much as it seems that the hard
work all paid off! We’re very proud of our achievement as well, as it
is very hard for a band in a position like ours to produce an album to
that standard so we’re glad we took the time and effort to achieve it.
MM
- Have you had a chance to think about how you will approach your follow
up album or is it too early to say?
Jon
- (laughs) We’ve already started writing material for it actually. A
couple of the songs that are currently in our live set will very likely
be on the next album and our plan is to finish the writing in the next
few months and record the album some time next year. It’s a long
process though, so that’s why we’ve started already!
MM - Can you tell our readers a little about some of the songs that
feature on that album. What subjects to the lyrics deal with?
Jon
- The lyrical content of the album is very mixed. It covers all kinds of
subjects from escaping the rat race that is the normal 9-to-5 of human
existence, people having to wear a “mask” just to exist in society
even if that is not what they’re really like, loving and losing,
death, loss, self-esteem – pretty much all of the human condition!
Generally though, we try not to give too much interpretation about our
lyrics as we prefer people to listen and make their own minds up. It
tends to be reasonably clear what they’re about if you read the lyrics
carefully but each person might have a slightly different take on them
and that’s what we like to promote!
MM
- What are your own personal favourite song (s) off the new album?
Jon
- It’s very difficult to pick out a personal favourite song or songs
from the album – the whole thing was such a labour of love for us, we
love them all! I’m sure that it’s different for each band member but
if I had to pick a couple, it would be “Watch the ocean” as I wrote
the whole thing a very long time ago and it’s really stood the test of
time as a great song, and “Dawn’s pale light” – we don’t play
that song live too much but I’m very proud of it and it features what
is possibly my favourite guitar solo on the album!
MM - How long did the album to
be created from its initial conception to its final release?
Jon -
The whole story is far too long for one interview but basically what
happened is that we effectively recorded the album three times! We
started on the first “go” at it in August 2005 and it was eventually
released in January 2008, so it was an incredibly long and arduous task
getting it completed! However, we’re VERY glad that we did finish it!
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MM
- The band has seen a few line-up changes since releasing
‘Identity’, how did you go about replacing the previous
members?
Jon
- Getting new band members is always a difficult process and
this time was no exception. Indeed, it was probably the most
time and effort we’ve ever put into it – we were very strict
with ourselves and we set some very high standards and we were
lucky enough to get two musicians that fit the band perfectly
and complement the direction we’re taking incredibly well.
We’ve always prided ourselves on the fact that every time
we’ve had to find a new band member, we’ve always improved
the band when we’ve done it, so hopefully that will work in
our favour again this time. It certainly seems to be so far! |
MM
- How have things changed with Liquid Sky from the beginning to now? How
has the band’s sound matured?
Jon
- As I mentioned before, the sound of the band has evolved quite a lot
from the band’s inception until now. We’re certainly a much heavier
band now than previously but we’ve retained the very melodic edge to
our sound too, so we’re still writing material that is catchy. I think
that the sound has “matured” inasmuch as we’re much better
song-writers now because we’ve had a lot more practice at it (!) and
we’ve got a much clearer idea in our own heads of what we want
ourselves to sound like. I think it simply takes any band a while to
find their sound and that’s all that we’ve done really!
MM - Is the whole song writing
process covered by one individual or do you generally all have inputs in
to the material?
Jon
- Song-writing tends to be quite a collaborative process for us but due
to geographical restrictions, we don’t necessarily all get together to
write very often. What usually happens is that a couple of us will put
some ideas together that the rest of the guys will then add their input
to. That way, it doesn’t take us six months to write one song but also
everybody gets to have their say in how the song turns out!
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MM
- Where do you hope to see Liquid Sky in five years time?
Jon
- Hopefully, we will have a record deal with a major label, have
released our fourth album and be touring the world playing to
lots of people! It’s not much to ask for really!
MM
- Do the band have any live dates lined up? If so how can our
readers find out more about these?
Jon
- The band has actually just finished its second headline tour
of the UK this year and we’re taking a much-needed rest!
However we do have a few more live shows before the end of the
year that people can come and check us out at and they are
always advertised (as soon as they are confirmed) on our MySpace
profile page – www.myspace.com/liquidskymetal.
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MM
- Are there any particular places that you guys would want to tour or
anyone you would like to tour with?
Jon
- (laughs) Anywhere and everywhere! Seriously, we are more than happy to
consider playing in any venue with any band – we’re very open-minded
about that kind of thing and we’re just very keen to get our music out
there for people to hear and for them to see us live! We would obviously
love to tour abroad and hopefully that will happen next year, as we have
quite a few things in the pipeline for then. Also, touring with any of
the major metal bands would be a great experience and a honour –
we’re just waiting for the call from Iron Maiden now!
MM - When supporting another
band, how hard is it to attract new fans?
Jon
- Fortunately, we’ve always found that we’ve never really had too
much of a problem attracting new fans! Unlike a lot of other
female-fronted bands, we’re happy to play shows with almost any other
genre or style of metal or rock bands and we feel that we can more than
hold our own as well, so basically we hope that we win fans through the
quality of our song-writing and the show we put on, regardless of the
genre-specific audience.
MM - Can you remember what
magical musical moment in your life made you want to become a performer
in the first place?
Jon
- I can’t remember one single moment to be honest – I think that it
simply comes from my involvement in the performing arts from a very
early age. I think that I always wanted to be a musician though – I
even asked for a guitar for my second birthday!
MM - If you could ask one of
your heroes/someone who’s inspired you a question, who would it be and
what would you ask them?
Jon
- I suppose that this would be different and personal to each member of
the band. From my perspective, I would probably like to speak to one of
my guitar heroes, maybe somebody like Steve Vai, Dave Gilmour or John
Petrucci. I’d probably ask them a bunch of questions that would be
deeply uninteresting to a non-guitarist! (laughs)
MM - Does music dominate your
life or do you get time to relax in between? If so how do you like
to chill?
Jon
- To be honest, music pretty much dominates my life! I spend virtually
all of my money on guitars and other musical equipment, CDs, music DVDs,
etc and most of my “free time” (such as it is!) is spent on
band-related stuff. Most of the band members have at least two music
projects on the go at any one time and we’re always up for trying out
new projects as well, so I think that we’re all pretty busy with music
most of the time! We all do have other interests as well though, but we
do very much like to keep them separate!
MM - What would you most like to
be remembered for?
Jon
- Very simply, writing music that people enjoy and remember and putting
on shows that people can come to, get into and hear great music at. And
hopefully, doing something just that little bit different!
MM
- Finally are there any words you’d like to pass on to all our readers
out there or anything that we might have missed that you’d like to
mention?
Jon
- Thanks to all of you for your interest and continued support! Please
check out our album if you haven’t already – it’s available from
our MySpace page (www.myspace.com/liquidskymetal)
– and come and see us play live near you when we’re passing; we’d
love to see you!
Also, please come and chat to us, either online on MySpace or at a gig
– we’re nice people and don’t bite!
MM - We'd
like to thank Jonathan for taking the time out to chat with us today and
can't wait to see the band live in action again soon. Like the man
said, if you spot them playing near you be sure to check them out, you
too could be rocking in the aisles like we were! |