Originally meant
for publication in Molten Magazine, this is an interview feature with Between
the Buried and Me vocalist Tommy Rogers about new album The Parallax II: Future
Sequence. Twice this year I’ve had the pleasure of interview a BTBAM member,
and while it’s unfortunate that this interview never made it onto the page,
please read and enjoy. I should also preface this by saying the interview was
conducted while the band were on the Summer Slaughter tour, months before the
new album was released. Also, I’m going to see BTBAM in London this Friday. If
you are too, hit me up! Anyway, read on.
Future Sequence: Tommy Rogers interview
“We’re very
anxious for the world to hear it,” says Tommy Rogers about Between the Buried
and Me’s latest opus The Parallax II: Future Sequence. It’s their sixth album
and since their 2002 debut, the North Carolinian band has matured and grown in
ways once unimaginable, bringing them to a standing as modern progressive metal
kings with a far reaching appeal. One of the very few bands that have toured
with both Dream Theater and Cannibal Corpse, it’s with the latter that BTBAM
have spent the summer of 2012, co-headlining the Summer Slaughter tour, with
Periphery, The Faceless, Exhumed and more filling out the bill.
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It’s from
Milwaukee on that very tour that the vocalist and keyboardist is speaking with
us. Eagerly waiting the moment when they can unleash their new album upon us,
the band has to settle with playing just one new song in the live set – ‘Telos’.
Unsurprisingly
a lengthy epic number, ‘Telos’ is, if anything, an appropriate introduction to
the vast sounds on The Parallax II: Future Sequence, the band’s first concept
album that swoops in and out of staggering peaks and troughs, much like all
Between the Buried and Me albums. Beginning with last year’s EP The Parallax:
Hypersleep Dialogues, the concept tells an evocative tale, according to Tommy,
coming to a climax and conclusion on this long player.
“The basic
idea of the concept is that there is another planet exactly like ours,” he
explains, “either in the past or in the future, and there’s an identical
version of yourself.”
“It revolves
around these two characters that we find out are indeed the same person but
from different time periods. They come together and the universe is in their
hands,” Tommy continues. “Paul [Waggoner,
guitarist] initially came up with it. He came to me with the idea and I thought
it would be something cool to work with. I thought it was something that I, as
a lyricist, could elaborate on. It’s been a fun little process for sure.”
Writing
lyrics for such a concept must surely have differed, when trying to tell a
specific tale with a flow and logical timeline of events?
“I wanted to
make sure certain things were happening in the story that fit well with the
music. It was like doing it in reverse – not writing music to a movie, I was
writing a movie to the music,” he admits. “The lyrics changed a lot. Usually
when writing lyrics, I just write and write and write and I don’t even look at
what I write for a few days, then I go back and analyse. It’s a big process.”
Concept
albums, by their very nature, are more demanding listens and the process, as
Tommy puts it, is “big” but in the case of Between the Buried and Me, their
trusted tools have been utilised again. “It’s been the same process pretty much
since Colors [2007]. It really works for us. We always start our records off
writing individually”, he explains.
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| "We just do our thing and that’s our approach" |
Each BTBAM record marks a stunning evolution for a band that
rose from hardcore and metalcore backgrounds and with every year that
maturation becomes clearer and clearer. “It’s just like any job or any art”,
Rogers states. “The older you get and the longer you work with people, the
better you get at it. I think with every year we’re in a band together, the
more comfortable we are. We just click really well; the chemistry improves with
every album and I think that’s very important in a band.”
“The more we write together, the more we understand and the
better players we become. It’s all about getting older and pushing yourself and
becoming better at what you do. We just do our thing and that’s our approach.”
It’s an approach that serves them well. The Parallax II: Future
Sequence is a breath-taking journey that lunges through brutal metal,
glistening melodies and hats tipped the classic prog of the 70s that has always
influenced their sound in some way. The album’s climactic moment is the
sprawling 15 minute epic ‘Silent Flight Parliament’, which allows everything
that’s come before to manifest itself in beautiful clarity, and musically
pushes the five men of Between the Buried and Me to new limits.
But there’s a sixth man involved that has given the band the
room to unfurl their sound, producer Jamie King. “Jamie is just perfect for
us,” enthuses Tommy. “He’s great at helping us achieve what we want with our
sound. At this point he’s almost the sixth member of the band.”
Lending his production desk wizardry on every full-length from
Between the Buried and Me, last year’s EP marked the first time he didn’t hold
the studio reins over a BTBAM record. For once, the band enlisted famed producer
David Botrill who counts Dream Theater’s Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a
Memory among the albums on his CV.
“We wanted
to try something new and we figured the EP was a great way to try it. It was
great working with David but travelling to Toronto was a headache in itself. We
felt like we were barely getting by with the record, but with Jamie, it’s very
relaxed and we had more than enough time if we needed [it]. He understands us;
he’s been working with us forever.”
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| "Just because you love something doesn't mean anything..." |
So despite
the vast amount music within its 12 tracks and tricky lyric writing process, The
Parallax II: Future Sequence was a relaxing recording experience once again,
with King at the helm.
“It was so relaxed. There was no kinks, it was just”, says Tommy
before a brief pause “… everything went smooth. It was fun and that’s
important, after doing it this long you want to have fun with it. We love
writing music and we love recording music. You want to make sure you’re in a
studio that’s relaxed and fun. We definitely achieved that with this record.”
This is an album
that marks another zenith conquered for a band that has done nothing but grow,
particularly since 2007’s acclaimed Colors, an album that didn’t so much open
doors for the band but rather forcefully kick in.
“When you’re
in band you… you just write music and hope people like it,” explains Tommy. “Just
because you love something doesn’t mean anything. We’re very fortunate to have
a fan base that really loves what we do and get excited with each release and
when we try new things.”
“You can
only take it one step at a time; and do as well as we can and keep writing
music that we love. Hopefully the future will be bright.
