Two years after their sophomore release, “Vendetta” these Minneapolis natives are back with the first part of their new album “Masquerade”. We grabbed the chance and chatted with the guitarist AJ Sugar about the new album, the recordings & the band’s further plans…
Hey AJ… where do I find you? How are things on the band’s camp?
AJ: Hi Thanos!! Things are great on our end! We are going into a really exciting summer, new CD coming out here in May, tours, festivals, lots of awesome stuff going on for us!
Even though I was expecting your full-length album sometime soon, you surprised me by releasing only half of it. How did you reach this decision?
AJ: A lot of our decision came down to time. It’s been a while since we released “Vendetta” (read GR’s review here) and felt like we owed our fans something new! A full album takes a long time to do right though, so we thought we would split this into multiple parts… that will give us time to make sure that once the full album is released, it’s something we can be proud of and the fans can enjoy, instead of just half-assign 10 songs right away and being disappointed in it later if we rushed it.
Was using a fund raising platform like Indiegogo the best thing you could come up with since there’s no label to support you? Or do you believe that the fans should be part of the whole procedure and know how much work it takes to make an album?
AJ: We’ve seen a lot of buzz recently with the crowd-funding campaigns and thought we’d give it a try. A lot of the campaigns come off feeling like they are begging for money, and that’s not what we wanted to do. We wanted this to be a chance to get our fans involved and give them some exclusive merch and other things that we don’t normally have or offer.
Were you kinda disappointed when you didn’t reach the goal on Indiegogo? You see most of the times we see the good side of the fund raising platforms. But what happens when a band doesn’t reach its goal? Where did you decide to do then?
AJ: Of course it was a little disappointing to not reach our goal, but that didn’t stop us. We went into the campaign knowing not to depend on any money we made in it. We had budgeted what we needed to make the record and do all that, the Indie GoGo was just an extra chance to get people involved. When the campaign ended and we hadn’t met our goal, we fulfilled the contributions we promised in it, and continued doing what we were doing.
Let’s say a few things about “Masquerade: Part 1”? So, first of all, why did you name it “Masquerade”?
AJ: We’d been playing around with artwork ideas, and kept coming back to this ‘mask’ thing. Lots of ideology and metaphors that can be taken from it and it works well with what we wanted to do with this album. Masquerade stemmed from that a bit, a sort of mysterious party where no one is who they seem...
I presented a track by track review so why don’t you present each track as well…
AJ: Same with our last albums, we don’t like to give too much away with what we are writing about, so I won’t spoil it here, we like to give the listeners full reign to take what they want from the music and lyrics and find their own meaning. But I’ll give you a little rundown on the songs and how they came together I suppose…
“With Loaded Guns”: This one had been the opening track since we wrote it. It took a bit to make it really catch you right off the bat, but after tweaking it a few times, we got something we were happy to kick this album off with.
“I’ll Follow You”: This is one of a couple songs on this disc that are more acoustic-based, which is fairly new for us. Outside of “The Messenger” off of “Vendetta”, we haven’t done a whole lot of songs like this that are a lot more low key… but we challenged ourselves to do it, and got some really cool songs by doing so!
“Through Bright Red Skies”: I think this was one of the first songs we wrote for this album that stuck. It was the first one we recorded and have been releasing it around as a ‘single’ for quite a while now, all through the Indie GoGo campaign, and it’s up on BandCamp right now as a 3-song thing with a remix of “Treason” and an acoustic version of “Restless Souls”.
“Into the Blue”: This is the other acoustic-based song we did for this disc, and as a band, it’s one of our favorites! I don’t even know how it came together, but it’s an awesome jam with a lot of movement and changes in dynamic, again really stretching ourselves creatively to do something new and different with this song.
“Where Darkness Lies”: The last song on this part of the album was actually the last song we wrote for it, hahaha. I think we wrote it and practiced it maybe 2 or 3 times before bringing it into the studio? Sounds killer though and a great way to end this disc.
How did you take the decision to produce the album by yourselves? I guess it was a very difficult and strenuous process, right?
AJ: This was another area where we wanted to try to do it all by ourselves to see what we can do as just us. We loved working with Wally J. on “Vendetta” and have talked to him about some projects in the future; this was a chance to test ourselves though and really push to see what we can do as a band.
It was a very stressful thing to undertake all of the work ourselves, I couldn’t even count the hours that our bassist Timmy sat in the studio or at home mixing and tweaking the songs, but we survived and have an awesome disc to show for it! (extra props to Timmy again!!)
When will the second part of “Masquerade” be released? Are you thinking of doing another fund raising campaign for it or not?
AJ: We are hoping to have part 2 out this fall/winter, but we don’t want to set a particular date and have to rush it. That’s when things start to sound shitty and forced. We want it to feel natural and be exactly what we want it to be. There is always that chance that we will do another fundraiser, but we have no plans to do so right now. We will feel out the summer and see what happens.
I know that you love giving live shows and you play as often as you can. If I remember well, there’s a special live show that will occur along with the release of “Masquerade: Part 1”.
AJ: Yes! We are releasing Part 1 at the prestigious First Ave. Mainroom here in Minneapolis. It’s an amazing venue with a stellar history! Bands as huge as U2 and Prince have played there, and it simply has an amazing history. It is THE venue in Minneapolis, and we are proud to be able to bring a local show there. We want to show everyone that local music isn’t dead and we can bring it like the huge bands do.
Do you plan to play outside Minnesota at some point? I do not know if you have done so to date. Or even outside the US in the future?
AJ: We do play out of state a lot, we’ve done a few tours, and a few weekend dates around the Midwest. We are doing a lot of travel in those same areas this summer and hoping to be able to branch out and reach the coasts soon as well! Outside the US is a bit farther down the road, but it will happen, and it will be awesome!
Would you consider working with a label or management next time or you prefer to do things on your own and you will continue to do so as long as you can? Are there other perspectives in your mind?
AJ: We aren’t particularly keen on seeking out a label, but management is something we are considering. We’ve done a lot on our own, and will continue to do so. But we are open to the idea of expanding our team to include a ‘manager’ type person that can provide other connections we don’t have. Until we run across the right person though, we will continue pushing ourselves as hard as possible.
I guess this is part 1 of the interview about “Masquerade”. We close temporarily but we’ll be around to say more about the second part of your album and the band’s news in a few months from now… take care!
AJ: Cheers Thanos! Always a pleasure…
AJ: Hi Thanos!! Things are great on our end! We are going into a really exciting summer, new CD coming out here in May, tours, festivals, lots of awesome stuff going on for us!
Even though I was expecting your full-length album sometime soon, you surprised me by releasing only half of it. How did you reach this decision?
AJ: A lot of our decision came down to time. It’s been a while since we released “Vendetta” (read GR’s review here) and felt like we owed our fans something new! A full album takes a long time to do right though, so we thought we would split this into multiple parts… that will give us time to make sure that once the full album is released, it’s something we can be proud of and the fans can enjoy, instead of just half-assign 10 songs right away and being disappointed in it later if we rushed it.
Was using a fund raising platform like Indiegogo the best thing you could come up with since there’s no label to support you? Or do you believe that the fans should be part of the whole procedure and know how much work it takes to make an album?
AJ: We’ve seen a lot of buzz recently with the crowd-funding campaigns and thought we’d give it a try. A lot of the campaigns come off feeling like they are begging for money, and that’s not what we wanted to do. We wanted this to be a chance to get our fans involved and give them some exclusive merch and other things that we don’t normally have or offer.
Were you kinda disappointed when you didn’t reach the goal on Indiegogo? You see most of the times we see the good side of the fund raising platforms. But what happens when a band doesn’t reach its goal? Where did you decide to do then?
AJ: Of course it was a little disappointing to not reach our goal, but that didn’t stop us. We went into the campaign knowing not to depend on any money we made in it. We had budgeted what we needed to make the record and do all that, the Indie GoGo was just an extra chance to get people involved. When the campaign ended and we hadn’t met our goal, we fulfilled the contributions we promised in it, and continued doing what we were doing.
Let’s say a few things about “Masquerade: Part 1”? So, first of all, why did you name it “Masquerade”?
AJ: We’d been playing around with artwork ideas, and kept coming back to this ‘mask’ thing. Lots of ideology and metaphors that can be taken from it and it works well with what we wanted to do with this album. Masquerade stemmed from that a bit, a sort of mysterious party where no one is who they seem...
I presented a track by track review so why don’t you present each track as well…
AJ: Same with our last albums, we don’t like to give too much away with what we are writing about, so I won’t spoil it here, we like to give the listeners full reign to take what they want from the music and lyrics and find their own meaning. But I’ll give you a little rundown on the songs and how they came together I suppose…
“With Loaded Guns”: This one had been the opening track since we wrote it. It took a bit to make it really catch you right off the bat, but after tweaking it a few times, we got something we were happy to kick this album off with.
“I’ll Follow You”: This is one of a couple songs on this disc that are more acoustic-based, which is fairly new for us. Outside of “The Messenger” off of “Vendetta”, we haven’t done a whole lot of songs like this that are a lot more low key… but we challenged ourselves to do it, and got some really cool songs by doing so!
“Through Bright Red Skies”: I think this was one of the first songs we wrote for this album that stuck. It was the first one we recorded and have been releasing it around as a ‘single’ for quite a while now, all through the Indie GoGo campaign, and it’s up on BandCamp right now as a 3-song thing with a remix of “Treason” and an acoustic version of “Restless Souls”.
“Into the Blue”: This is the other acoustic-based song we did for this disc, and as a band, it’s one of our favorites! I don’t even know how it came together, but it’s an awesome jam with a lot of movement and changes in dynamic, again really stretching ourselves creatively to do something new and different with this song.
“Where Darkness Lies”: The last song on this part of the album was actually the last song we wrote for it, hahaha. I think we wrote it and practiced it maybe 2 or 3 times before bringing it into the studio? Sounds killer though and a great way to end this disc.
How did you take the decision to produce the album by yourselves? I guess it was a very difficult and strenuous process, right?
AJ: This was another area where we wanted to try to do it all by ourselves to see what we can do as just us. We loved working with Wally J. on “Vendetta” and have talked to him about some projects in the future; this was a chance to test ourselves though and really push to see what we can do as a band.
It was a very stressful thing to undertake all of the work ourselves, I couldn’t even count the hours that our bassist Timmy sat in the studio or at home mixing and tweaking the songs, but we survived and have an awesome disc to show for it! (extra props to Timmy again!!)
When will the second part of “Masquerade” be released? Are you thinking of doing another fund raising campaign for it or not?
AJ: We are hoping to have part 2 out this fall/winter, but we don’t want to set a particular date and have to rush it. That’s when things start to sound shitty and forced. We want it to feel natural and be exactly what we want it to be. There is always that chance that we will do another fundraiser, but we have no plans to do so right now. We will feel out the summer and see what happens.
I know that you love giving live shows and you play as often as you can. If I remember well, there’s a special live show that will occur along with the release of “Masquerade: Part 1”.
AJ: Yes! We are releasing Part 1 at the prestigious First Ave. Mainroom here in Minneapolis. It’s an amazing venue with a stellar history! Bands as huge as U2 and Prince have played there, and it simply has an amazing history. It is THE venue in Minneapolis, and we are proud to be able to bring a local show there. We want to show everyone that local music isn’t dead and we can bring it like the huge bands do.
Do you plan to play outside Minnesota at some point? I do not know if you have done so to date. Or even outside the US in the future?
AJ: We do play out of state a lot, we’ve done a few tours, and a few weekend dates around the Midwest. We are doing a lot of travel in those same areas this summer and hoping to be able to branch out and reach the coasts soon as well! Outside the US is a bit farther down the road, but it will happen, and it will be awesome!
Would you consider working with a label or management next time or you prefer to do things on your own and you will continue to do so as long as you can? Are there other perspectives in your mind?
AJ: We aren’t particularly keen on seeking out a label, but management is something we are considering. We’ve done a lot on our own, and will continue to do so. But we are open to the idea of expanding our team to include a ‘manager’ type person that can provide other connections we don’t have. Until we run across the right person though, we will continue pushing ourselves as hard as possible.
I guess this is part 1 of the interview about “Masquerade”. We close temporarily but we’ll be around to say more about the second part of your album and the band’s news in a few months from now… take care!
AJ: Cheers Thanos! Always a pleasure…
(to be continued…)