A few questions about Still

[batmura]

Hi,

I just received a promo copy for review of Still and have played it a good many 15-20 times and I have some questions to ask to the band. I hope you guys will take the time to enlighten me a bit...

1. How much of an influence did your new keyboard player have on the songwriting (as on "And She Slowly Dies")? And what bands did he play in before?

2. Are the "processed" vocals and acoustic parts on songs like "Bleeding" and "Taste of Sand" (with its great symphonic-like opening) influenced by later day Porcupine Tree in any way? I don't think I've heard you guys were fans of Steven Wilson or any of his projects, but I feel there is a good dose of his "feel" on this disc.

3. "And She Slowly Dies" is so uncannily Pink Floyd-ish it's amazing. Stefan, you've never sung with so much confidence before, but what's even more amazing is even your melodies evoke Gilmour's style to me, not to mention the amazing guitar work. Very slow, slightly blues-inflected... another new thing on Still. But I'm amazed at how much Pink Floyd I can hear in this. Are you guys big fans? I always knew about Fates Warning and Queensryche, but Pink Floyd... that's certainly new for me.

4. Are the drums on "Sleepy Town" real or programmed? Slightly electronic, with thick Radiohead-ish arrangements and vocals by Stefan that rip and slay. My God - the lyrics are great too. Ah, whatever, this thread isn't meant to review the songs. Just curious about the drumming on this track (or any other for that matter). I feel the drumming is relatively less complex and "in front", especially compared to The Window Dressing. Also the drum tone is VERY different from previous albums. Was this a conscious effort? Again the solo is David Gilmour to the bone to these ears. Comments?

5. What is "Liar On The Mount" about? What do those spoken segments imply?

6. Could you talk a bit about the lyrical themes explored on "Nothing More"? I feel this song will appeal to fans of Pain of Salvation circa Remedy Lane quite a bit. Excellent dynamics.

Cheers!

 

[losbjer]

Hello!
First of all, thanks for the kind words!

1. Actually, it's our former keyboardplayer Andreas Baglien that plays on the album since Per joined the band this year and we recorded the album last year. So Per hasn't been involved in any songwriting yet, but he will!
Per has formerly been a member of a prog-rock band called Jolted Jester.

2. Speaking for myself, I hadn't heard Porcupine Tree until some weeks ago and I don't think the other guys in the band have heard them that much either, so it has to be a coincidence!

3. I'm a big fan of Pink Floyd, and I know Thomas is as well. Maybe there are some influences shining through, but I guess very unintentional though since it's Mikael that has done most on that song. I don't know how much Mikael listens to Pink Floyd though.

4. The drums on "Sleepy Town" are looped, and they're a mix of real drums and an electronic loop. I guess the drumming is less complex than before, but the complexity is also more "hidden" in the beats than before. There's still lots of things going on in the beats that you may not think of at first. But you're right that it's more straight-forward than before. Speaking of the tone, it was a conscious effort to have a more full and natural sound than before, I think we've acheived that.

5. "Liar..." is about people that abuse/misuse political or other sorts of power. We used some quotes of George W Bush to state an example of just that.

6. The lyrics on "Nothing..." is about someone struggling for something his/her whole life but finally don't see any other way out than giving up on life. Simply put, it's about suicide. I guess there are other ways of seeing it but this was my intention.

/Marcus

 

[Domine]

Just a quick note about "Liar...". Marcus is right about the abuse of power but it's also about abuse of religion and the two together. I don't like it when people incorporate religion into their powerplay or their powerplay into religion. It's very easy for people that does that to say they do something in a god's name (I say "a god" since tis isn't limited to Christian beliefs) and, although I'm not a believer myself, if there is a god I don't think any human has the right to say they do anything in his/her name. Again, Bush happens to be a good example of this but you could also draw parallells to a few leaders in the Middle East and other places in the world.

 

[Unsumed]

2. Are the "processed" vocals and acoustic parts on songs like "Bleeding" and "Taste of Sand" (with its great symphonic-like opening) influenced by later day Porcupine Tree in any way? I don't think I've heard you guys were fans of Steven Wilson or any of his projects, but I feel there is a good dose of his "feel" on this disc.

Steven Wilson has been a big influence for me the last few years, ever since I first heard "Lightbulb Sun". "In Absentia" was, for me, the ultimate album when it was released, so it's possible that Mr. Wilson and Porcupine Tree were part of my inspiration when I wrote the opening for "Taste Of Sand"... But only the Wolverine guys know why that intro was written in the first place. Right guys?

And I agree about the vocals on "Bleeding". When the processed ("radio") vocals and the acoustic guitar come in it really reminds me of later day Porcupine Tree.

Just thought I'd add my peas to the pod.

/Bagge

 

[batmura]

Bagge, are you someone from the band? Just curious.

 

[Unsumed]

Bagge, are you someone from the band? Just curious.

I was in the band until recently . I played keyboard. I'm the one playing on "Still".

 

[batmura]

Ah now I remember... you're the cool dude that used to post on the Savatage message board. And I still think that a particular piano section on The Window Purpose comes from your love for Jon Oliva.

Glad you're still around... you have a new band now?

 

[Unsumed]

Hehe... Yeah, that sounds like it could be me .

If you're talking about the piano on "Release" I totally agree with you. I even hesitated playing that piece for the band because I thought it sounded too much like an Oliva rip-off . I actually gave Jon a copy of The Window Purpose last time I saw him, and haven't recieved any lawsuits yet, so I guess I got away with it .

I just finished putting together a new band this weekend. The working name is "Ephemeral Pleasure", but we'll see what it ends up being. We haven't rehearsed yet, but I have a few songs finished already so we'll start with those .

Other than that there's always DorfTrottel. A less than serious project that me and some friends toy with when there's free time in the studio .

 

[ProgMetalFan]

I love love love the looped drums on "Sleepy Town".

 

[Domine]

I really want to look into the possibilities of playing that track live. It needs to be rearranged but hopefully we can perform a decent version of it next month when we do our mini-tour with Anathema in the UK. We'll see what happens!

Glad you like the track! It's one of my favorites off the album as well.