Nearly a decade within the making, Earthside’s 2nd album, Let The Reality Discuss, unearths the band in fantastic shape. But the tale of its advent and next unlock has been peppered now not simply with international occasions, however private battles. Singer/guitarist Jamie van Dyck and drummer Ben Shanbrom talk about how they rose to the demanding situations of constructing a daring and therapeutic cinematic sound that defies all expectation.
The most productive-laid plans of mice, males and revolutionary rock musicians can incessantly pass awry. When Prog speaks with Earthside, at the eve in their go back to Ecu levels at Euroblast in Germany and ProgPower within the Netherlands, they’re just a handful of weeks on from the scoop that singer/guitarist Jamie van Dyck were recognized with testicular most cancers.
Nowadays, Jamie seems to be and sounds in just right well being and is much less fascinated with bemoaning his lot than in enthusing about his band’s go back to the pageant circuit, and their completely colossal new album, Let The Reality Discuss.
“We delivered the mastered album to the label in Would possibly, after which I were given the testicular most cancers prognosis in September,” he notes with a shrug. “It’s all came about very speedy. It used to be so simple as simply casting off the cancerous testicle, and if it had healed up smartly sufficient I may just pass to Europe as deliberate.
“It did make rehearsing and getting ready really feel very closing minute and really rushed. Whilst I used to be recuperating, I didn’t wish to rigidity myself out an excessive amount of, so we didn’t rehearse just about up to I believe we’d’ve sought after to.” He grins widely, obviously simply satisfied to be again. “Happily, after I write the tune, I give the laborious portions to everybody else!”
Launched in October 2015, Earthside’s debut A Dream In Static used to be an rapid hit with fanatics of recent, revolutionary heaviness. Van Dyck and his comrades obviously knew their manner round a djent riff, however epics Mob Mentality and Skyline had been anything else however generic. With a present for lavish preparations and skilful style mixing, Earthside stood out as one thing particular.
Van Dyck admits he used to be greatly surprised through the enthusiastic reaction to the primary album, however that a couple of lingering frustrations with the way it grew to become out had taught the band to be ruthless in pursuit in their loftiest musical ambitions.
Let The Reality Discuss outstrips its predecessor on each degree, veering from the snappy post-djent throwdown of Trend Of Rebirth (that includes AJ Channer from Texan rap-metal workforce Hearth From The Gods) to the absurdly thrilling prog-funk crossover sprawl of The Lesser Evil, which options soulful vocals from Larry Braggs, previously of each The Temptations and Tower Of Energy.
“Yeah, this is a a lot larger album. Whether or not that used to be a sensible selection or now not, I don’t know! But it surely surely performed a task in why it took so long as it did,” says van Dyck with amusing. “Additionally, how layered it’s, how collaborative it’s, and the scope of other people curious about making this file: it used to be a quest to seek out a few of these other people, some that we didn’t know existed.
“However we were given to some degree of desperation the place it had already been virtually 5 years since we launched A Dream In Static and we had slightly any of the visitor vocalists covered up.”
They were given it looked after finally, it kind of feels. A number of the different notables chipping in on Let The Reality Discuss are TesseracT frontman Daniel Tompkins, Canadian singer-songwriter Keturah and, brilliantly, former Georgia’s Were given Ability contestant Gennady Tkachenko-Papizh, who sings along Tompkins at the indulgent grandiloquence of the identify observe.
“Probably the most benefits of being Fb buddies with revolutionary tune fanatics is that they know a large number of tune, they usually’re tune fans who love tune and musicianship normally. They love nice composers they usually love nice enjoying, so it’s now not simply restricted to the revolutionary tune style.
“So I wrote this put up soliciting for suggestions, and requested everybody to concentrate on other people outdoor of the prog names we already know, and I were given over 1000 feedback. Some had been simply recommending themselves or their bandmates, however a few of them had been recommending other people from a ways corners of the tune trade, like Gennady.
“Someone had observed him on …Were given Ability – we wouldn’t have identified anything else about that. Discovering him totally gave an X-factor to a music that we concept used to be most probably the most productive music at the file. We realised lets upload that aspect to it and it gave the music additional personality and emotional weight.”
Each time there used to be that call level, ‘Will we get it nearer to the best way we would like it, or can we simply let it pass?’ we selected to pursue the best way we needed issues to be
Jamie van Dyck
Earthside are a beneficiant lot. Let The Reality Discuss is 78 mins lengthy and completely stuffed with moments of audacious cross-pollination. They’re nonetheless a thunderous prog steel band at middle, however their 2nd full-length has expanded their remit to incorporate, smartly, absolutely anything that takes their collective fancy.
From The Lesser Evil’s startling foray into funk, to Denial’s Aria’s somnambulant trip-hop odyssey, Let The Reality Discuss is what occurs when nice musicians forestall giving a shit in regards to the naysayers and purpose as prime as imaginable, and rattling the effects.
“Other people say, ‘You’re by no means gonna reach perfection,’” says van Dyck. “Neatly, at the first file, after we may just’ve were given it nearer to the best way we needed it, we didn’t take the chance. We didn’t wish to really feel that manner once more so this time we took 8 years!
“Each time there used to be that call level, ‘Will we get it nearer to the best way we would like it, or can we simply let it pass?’ we selected to pursue the best way we needed issues to be. I in truth suppose we’ve glad and satiated that compulsion now. We may’ve picked the incorrect file to do it on! The follow-up in your debut is supposed to be well timed, from a strategic profession point of view, isn’t it?”
When Earthside’s grand musical plans in spite of everything got here in combination, they nonetheless had to to find one thing to write down lyrics about. Thankfully, the closing 8 years had been a rollercoaster trip for all of the international. As drummer Shanbrom notes, the introspective observations of A Dream In Static have advanced into an outward-looking worry for humankind and the planet.
There used to be a way that, ‘K, we’re psychos and we all know we’re psychos, however we all know this has cleared the bar!’
Ben Shanbrom
“We nonetheless grapple with private problems, however it kind of feels there’s a wider and extra pervasive drawback, various issues, which can be figuring out on a world scale and which can be such a lot larger than ourselves,” he states. “I believe that we will really feel so insignificant in face of that, and it’s simply crippling and paralysing.
“How do you live to tell the tale with all this taking place? How do you progress ahead? The primary file used to be very a lot an ‘I’ file. It used to be browsing inward. This can be a ‘we’ file. It’s about humanity and the sector round us.”
“The pandemic deepened that feeling,” provides van Dyck. “We’d already written lots of the album through that time, however there have been nonetheless some lyrics left to write down. Perhaps that’s why it nonetheless works as a 2023 album. Thanks, Covid, you made our album related! We wouldn’t exchange a factor!”
Having ’fessed as much as being mildly disillusioned with the best way their debut album grew to become out, Earthside are all of the extra keen to substantiate that they’re deeply, profoundly pleased with Let The Reality Discuss, and reasonably happy with themselves for being mad sufficient to aim such an overblown mission within the first position.
“After we wrapped the album up, there used to be a way that, ‘K, we’re fucking psychos and we all know we’re psychos, however we all know that this has cleared the bar!’” says Shanbrom. “With none shadow of a doubt, we were given it over the end line to the level of high quality we needed. On long run recordings, we simply wish to have a extra environment friendly procedure and to split ourselves a bit of from the mystique of the tortured artist!”
“We additionally must consider that we will make one thing particular with out all this opulence,” provides van Dyck. “That grandness and largesse of sound are essential portions of who we’re and there are more than one techniques to reach that, however it’s now not the one factor that we carry to the desk.
“So we want to consider that we will create one thing significant with no need to torture ourselves over 8 years once more! However at this time, the whole lot we do looks like a win. We’re simply stoked to be right here.”
