On the Re-Release of Our First Album, 10/02/14
Today is the re-release of our first album, The Lights of Distorted Science, on Rocksector Records. This is very exciting, because it kind of marks a bit of a change in how we do things as a band.
Previously, we’ve done it all ourselves. Besides this album, we’ve done three EPs, and with every release we’ve put out, we’ve tried to drum up interest and support and reviews on our own. This is nigh-on impossible – you might genuinely believe your band are the best around, but why should anyone believe you? Why should they spend any time at all on the stuff you’ve sent them?
For this reason it was clear in 2013 that we needed a manager who cared about what we were doing, and could push us on to the next level. Enter Alan Savill, who pretty much immediately set us up a gig where we’d be able to play to Rocksector Records. A massive thank you to Alan for his efforts, and Rocksector seeing what we do and being impressed enough to want to deal with us is due in large part to his efforts!
Signing to Rocksector is a big step forward for us. With a label prepared to put their name against the stuff being sent out, there’s some validation that what we’re doing is worth listening to. We were especially pleased that they’ve agreed to release both the first album and the as-yet unrecorded second, because we’re incredibly proud of the first album but we think we’ve probably taken it as far as we can in terms of our own promotional efforts.
Rocksector were also eager to include a little something extra for the fans who might have already heard the album. So, the special digital edition comes with some bonus tracks which were recorded during the TLODS sessions and which didn’t make it onto the final album, the reasons for which I’ll try to explain below.
The River: this was left off the final cut of the album more or less because it was too heavy. We couldn’t find a place for it alongside the rest of the songs. This was a weird outcome for the song in a way, because when we started playing the material from this album live, this was the one we opened the sets with. It felt big, strong and stomping but on record we couldn’t quite make it sit in the flow of the album. I’m really pleased people are finally going to hear the recorded version. Whitty’s singing on this one is the sound of a man attempting to force his lungs out of his ears.
Ex Deus: this was left off the final cut of the album because it was… well, I’m going to say it’s just too evil. It didn’t really sit alongside any of the other songs and it has an extremely bizarre ending – we attempted to represent the death of God and the universe collapsing through the medium of a drum solo accompanied by maniacal laughter (stick with it, folks). The crazy outro posed a serious sequencing problem. Where could we really pick up the thread with another album song after that?
Patch: the acoustic and single versions of this are both twists on the first album version. It’s funny, because when Josh gave us the acoustic demo of this song I was adamant that making it a full band song would not improve it and that it should be left as a haunting acoustic ditty. In this, as in many things, I was wrong. The acoustic version here was recorded for Remembrance Day 2012, and the single version was released on the same day a year later.
We hope you like these additions. We’re extremely excited to head back into the studio later this year to record the next album – it’s shaping up to be some of our strongest songs ever and we can’t wait to see how they come out!
Alex
iTunes Link – https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/lights-distorted-science-bonus/id806809847
