Because we try and be as professional (most of the time) here at Already Heard, we always research bands we’re set to interview. We like to know what they’ve done, where they are now and what they have planned. However when it came to Surrey’s Chisel Beeches, we struggled to find hardly any information on the quartet. They’re that new! Nevertheless one thing we do know is that they delivered a stellar slice of melodic alt rock in the form of ‘Take You Home’ last month.
Having impressed us so much, we wanted to find out more the Carshalton-based four-piece. Thankfully bassist Matt was up for discussing the bands background, their forthcoming mini-album, and why making videos should be fun.
AH: From doing our research on you, there isn’t much out there about Chisel Beeches, so help us out. What’s the story so far?
Matt: Sure thing. We’ve been around for a little while now, since 2014 in fact! We came together from pretty diverse backgrounds. Steve was in a straight up metal band, and the rest of us were in a pop punk band! It’s taken us a while to figure out what we want to sound like clearly.
AH: Your latest single, ‘Take You Home’, has been compared to bands such as Coheed & Cambria and Lower Than Atlantis. As a band, who do you consider as influences?
Matt: That’s a very flattering comparison! We love both of those bands. We listen to a lot of different stuff between us, which we try to incorporate in to our sound in one way or another. We’re all big fans of Canterbury, those guys really made us want to nail some harmonies! We love the way that Arcane Roots blend the heavy riffs with the big melodic stuff too. Personally, I get very excited about Down I Go, I’m sure something of theirs has crept in to our sound too.
AH: I hear the track is dedicated to designated drivers. I’m guessing it’s something you’ve experienced in the past?
Matt: Yes! The song is very much based on a true story! I can’t say too much about it, but I can assure you it is horrendously dramatic! I’ve been the designated driver pretty often in my time and it can be a very… educational experience. You learn a lot about your friends that maybe you didn’t want to!
AH: The track precedes a mini-album. First of all, how is it coming along?
Matt: The mini-album is pretty much done! We’re just working on the last few details at the moment. We’re super proud of it. We recorded it over the course of 2014 and 2015 in 3 separate sessions with Chris Coulter (who produced the latest Arcane Roots EP, as well as loads of other records we like), which is a pretty interesting way of writing for a record. Since you’ve got a long time between recording you’ve got plenty of time to work on the sound of tracks, so each one sounds pretty different, but you’ve also got lots of time to over-think.
AH: Stylistically what can our readers expect from the mini-album?
Matt: The mini-album has loads of hooks and some sweet harmonies, so our mums love it, but it also has some big riffs and is really exciting for us musically. Almost all of the tracks are based on true stories and there’s kind of a narrative that threads through the tracks. It’s unintentionally turned in to something like a coming of age story, since a lot of the stories are about stuff that happened when we were younger and dumber.
AH: The UK is awash with emerging melodic rock bands, does it make it difficult for bands like yourselves to stand out?
Matt: To be honest we haven’t really found that so far! In fact if anything it’s been helpful to us! Where we’re from there are loads of bands playing melodic rock who are taking really different approaches to us, and the scene is so friendly! A lot of our fans know about us because of our friends in other rock bands, like Best of Enemies and Bellevue Days, and it’s easy to put together a decent show with bands that sound good on the same lineup.
AH: From seeing your videos for ‘Take You Home’ and ‘Bloke Next Door’, you look like a band who like to have fun when making videos?
Matt:
Yeah, that’s important to us! Being in a band should be fun, right? That’s the point! There are quite a lot of bands out there who don’t look like they are having a good time, be it in their videos or up on stage, and that seems to work for them, but it definitely wouldn’t work for us. Plus if we’re having fun, we feel like people watching are more likely to be having fun.
We’ll close with this – why should Already Heard keep an eye on Chisel Beeches in 2016?
Matt: 2016 is going to be a busy year for us I think. We’ve got the mini album coming out soon, we’re already working on material for the next EP and we’ve got more music videos planned too. Which we guess is probably pretty much the same answer that every band gives. But we’ve got a video going up on our YouTube soon where we make horrendous giant sandwiches. Beat that, Fall Out Boy.
Chisel Beeches links: Website|Facebook|Twitter
Words by Sêan Reid (@SeanReid86)
