Canadian
Sludge/Stoner Metal mob – OLDE – will be releasing their
excellent new album Temple via STB Records (Vinyl) and Medusa Crush
Recordings (Cassette) on August 11th 2017.
Temple
is a different beast compared to OLDE's debut album “I” released
back in 2014. As OLDE include harsher vocals and riffs on this album.
It's more progressive but that hasn't stopped OLDE remembering to
play melodic Sludge/Stoner Riffs to rock out to.
As
with all STB Records releases, Temple will be released on a variety
of different vinyl packages that STB Records are now legendary for.
I
managed to catch up with Cory McCallum (Bass) from OLDE where we
discussed the evolution of the band and the new album.
Can
you give a brief history of how the band came about and where it is
today.
None
of us really knew each other very well or at all yet we all had one
major thing in common: at some point in the past we had all recorded
in other projects with Greg Dawson at his BWC Studios.
After
Greg had recorded Ryan in Sons of Otis a few years back, he wanted to
put together a unit made up of people he had enjoyed working with and
focus on playing more deliberately slow, low and heavy in order to be
able to really concentrate on tone and dig in to the riffs and the
grooves. So, he reached out to the various members who have been with
the band ever since and really sold the idea with a simple "it
should be great, and even if it isn't, it will be fun". And he
was 100% correct.
What
can people expect with your new album – Temple.
The
album, to me, is a really good indication of what we do, both in the
grand scheme of things and as a live band. It is actually very
simple, straightforward, sincere, blunt...There aren't a lot of
studio tricks or extra bells and whistles. This is what we wanted the
band to be when we started, this is what we wanted the record to
sound like while we were making it. There's not a lot of posturing or
any type of stylistic attempt to be anything other than what we are
as a unit. We want it to be a given that when people here "Olde"
they invariably think "heavy" with no hesitation.
What
are the underlying themes of the album.
Doug
really wants people to read the lyrics and make of them what works
for them in their lives. That's not to say the lyrics have no
meaning; far from it.
For
me, "Temple" is about a lot of things surrounding the
survival of modern man. Who and what are we battling? Why is it so
tremendously hard to just get by? Who is the pulling the strings?
What do those puppet masters have to do to their own souls, what do
they tell themselves at night to be able to sleep?
It's
a deeply personal trip, and I think Doug is bang-on when he maintains
that listeners can almost have a psychological conversation with the
material. What keeps you going in the face of certain destruction?
How do you not tell your children you are giving them an entirely
broken planet? What mask do you have to don every morning to be able
to even open your door and not have everyone immediately recognize
that you are just hanging on, a trembling and shaken and angry human
being, too smart to not see what's going on but too stupid to turn
away towards ignorant bliss.
It's
dark, it's vicious, its relentless...it's pretty hopeless material.
Musically,
it's our job to make sure the music delivers the appropriate sonic
setting for these themes and balance that against wanting to still
deliver a song that people enjoy listening to.
It
can't just be a total misery trip.
What
influenced you when recording the album and was it hard album to
write and record for.
Musically,
this band listens to and loves such a ridiculously-wide swath of
styles that it would actually just confuse things if I bothered to
list them.
In
terms of heavy/metal, some of our collective favourites are Entombed,
early Rollins Band, Trouble, Melvins....standards like Sabbath and
Priest. Thin Lizzy. Saint Vitus. Trouble.
However,
to a person, I don't think a single one of us is actually trying to
ape any of our influences when writing our stuff. We want the next
Olde song to be the next Olde song. We want it to be influenced by
our previous material, staying true to what we are but also trying to
point the band and our fans down new alleys and side-streets.
We
have influences, of course, and we love those bands....but we want to
make these songs our own, we don't want to be "the new this"
or "a heavier that".
It’s
very different to your debut album. It’s a lot heavier especially
with the vocals. Was that the plan to release something different.
The
vocals on this record are, for me, one of our weapons. Doug is a
shredding bludgeoning beast on the mic. In my opinion, he's doing
stuff that not many in this scene can do, or choose to do. He is
attacking each song with malicious intent. Love it or hate it (and we
love it), Doug is simply one of the things that makes Olde unique. If
we had a smooth Ozzy-replicant, would we get more stoner shows?
Maybe. Would that new-Ozzy be able to impart the same level of dread
and desperation and flat-out scene-setting emotion that Doug puts
into each syllable? I doubt it. That's just me.
As
for music, we wrote heavier. We jammed heavier. We recorded heavier.
Everything we do, and I say this in all seriousness, we are conscious
of the heavy-level and how and where we can push it. I am 100%
certain the next record will be heavier again, because we will want
it to be. We'll find a way.
STB
Records is releasing the album. Did you have any other record label
offers to release Temple. Or was it a no-brainer to stay with STB
Records.
There
were some sniffs and offers, but when Steve contacted us it seemed
like a great fit for us and we did our due diligence, a little
research, we were quite happy with what we found and we felt
comfortable enough to stop looking and sign on.
The
artwork for Temple is incredible. Who designed it. Did you have much
input into the overall design of the cover.
Joshua
Wilkinson at thecompanykc.com created it. We were hooked up with him
through STB as he had done great work for them already and Steve said
let's give Josh a crack first. So, we tossed around some pretty vague
ideas...more than anything we gave him some words and thematic
lynchpin ideas and he ran with the visuals.
There
was some back and forth where he would show us a draft and we'd make
little suggestions, we mocked up a few ideas (me in MS Paint, what a
nightmare) which he then very adeptly turned into things much more
beautiful and solid. It was definitely a new experience for us, to
give away that level of control...it's hard. You have ideas in your
head that you can't put words to. Sometimes you can't say what it is,
but you certainly know what it is NOT when you see it.
We
try to be really respectful and thankful to the graphic artists we
work with. What a shitty situation us bands can put them in. Hey,
draw this thing I'm thinking of that I can't describe too well....NO!
THAT'S NOT RIGHT!!
What
does the artwork mean to you as a band and for the album in general.
We
are getting pretty picky about how we want our stuff to look. It's
important. You want people who don't know you to look at your stuff
and say "Damn...who is that?" and have a pretty good
hypothesis in what general area you are coming from. You also want
your own fans to see your stuff and think "Yep! THAT Is Olde,
THAT is gonna CRUSH!" Again, it's hard and it can be a chore
getting it right. But it is worth getting right. We are learning as
we go along. That's right...old metalheads can learn new things!
What’s
the song-writing dynamic within the band. Is it down to one
individual or is it a group collective.
Greg
wrote the first record and pretty much ironed out any arrangements
with Ryan, the drummer, as they recorded the beds.
"Temple"
we completely wrote together, in a room, looking at each other,
measuring everything in the moment. Greg still wrote the lion's
share, but Chris and I each have a song on there. Even with Greg's
songs, it was a lot more organic, more collaborative, more democratic
than ever before. Ideas given, criticisms, do THAT again moments. I
really think that change of process is what makes "Temple"
soooo much different than "I".
Will
you be touring this record heavily or will it just be individual,
one-off shows such as festival appearances.
We
would love to tour, but where we all are in our personal lives...it
is highly doubtful. We do intend on getting better and more
consistent with our weekend warrior Two-ers (two night tours; we just
did a great Two-er with Dragged In, one of Canada's best punk bands).
As
for festivals, absolutely, we want to play more of them. Everywhere.
Anywhere. Anyone out there reading this who knows the secret to
cracking that festival code....please holler. Maybe this next album
will help us get onto the Festival Radar. It's a tough scene to
crack. So many great bands out there want the same thing.
Do
you guys get the chance to tour regularly. Or is it only on certain
occasions.
Mostly
just weekends in places we can feasibly and realistically make it to
and from and be back to work for Monday. Canada is huge; there's a
lot of klicks in between the major show spots. Playing all the tiny
spots can be great fun, but you need more time and energy than we can
devote to pull that strategy off. That's a great way to build your
following (play EVERYWHERE) but it's a young person's game. We have
to choose our spots and just make sure that we hit those spots with
such ferocity that word spreads and drags people in from the smaller
locales.
What
have your been high points and low points being with OLDE or your
musical career in general.
For
me, opening for High on Fire and just chatting with Matt Pike as a
peer was pretty awesome. I've been playing out for a long time and I
don't get too star struck, but Pike is a legend and deservedly so. He
was great, we had a cool little chat. He was also pretty honest,
saying that he tried to catch nap through our set because he had no
idea who we were! I laughed. Hell, every band who plays late will
admit to doing the same thing!
Low
points.....it's all been pretty good. There's been some shit shows
(Hamilton, I'm giving you the stink eye) that make you regret leaving
home that night, but the next show comes along and you have a mint
time and things are all good again.
We
all know that STB Records always release incredible vinyls. Are you
happy with the packages that Steve STB has put together for your
album. Did you have any say into the design or colour scheme of the
vinyls. Or did you leave that all to STB Records.
We're
leaving that all to Steve at STB. He has that stuff on lock-down,
that's his bag. We had the little bits of say here and there in the
cover design phase in regards to colour, and Steve uses some of that
aesthetic in the vinyls themselves. We're pretty confident that he's
going to make it look extremely bad ass.
Does
OLDE have an advanced equipment setup when playing live or recording
new material in the studio. What equipment do you use to get the
trademark OLDE sound.
Various
stacks, various heads, we've tried a slew of different
pedals....nothing too out of the ordinary. Classic or at least pretty
traditional BIG amps and resources pushed to their limits. We jam
loud as all get-out, same with our records and the live show. You can
tell on the records; it's nearly every song that begins or ends with
some feedback that we can barely control. Ryan has two kits that he
loves and we try to use them exclusively for all of our stuff,
definitely in-studio but even live. We share gear when we can to make
everyone's life a little easier, but we are not going to sacrifice
our sound to do it.
Before
you go, do you have anything to say to your fans.
We
sincerely hope that you give our new record a listen. We hope you dig
it. If you don't, thanks anyway; that's all a band can hope for, and
we consider ourselves lucky and honoured to be able to reach so many
already. Stay gold.
But
if you do happen to like what you hear, we are quite pleased to have
you along for the ride. Get CRUSHED.
Words
by Steve Howe and Cory McCallum
Links:
