Imagine there's a heat wave, much like the one in the
UK now, and today, like every other day for the past few weeks, it's really
hot. You're walking outside and although you can see some clouds, you don't
think it'll rain as it hasn't done so in several weeks. But then you feel
something drop on your hand, something cold, something unexpected. Rain. It's
just a couple of drops tumbling down at first and slowly but surely, it gets
heavier and heavier. Before you know it, you're drenched- your hair, your
clothes, your skin, everything. After all this time of relentless heat, you
suddenly feel cool and my, oh my, it feels wonderful.
That is Morain. They are the breath of fresh air, the
hidden gem amongst all the bands who promise individuality yet are predictably
generic. I had the pleasure of interviewing the lead singer, Wil Frost, so if
you want to know more about this wonderful band, read on. They do not disappoint
so make sure you give them a listen and follow them on twitter here.
1.So generally, how have things been going?
2.As an introduction for people who haven't heard of you, could you describe Morain for us?
3.Last year you released your EP Are We Lost which has a very uplifting if not enlightening message to it. However, you also released the B-side Free Again in comparison is quite different. Was this intentional so you show that you don't play only one type of music?
4.However, something which they do have in common is their raw emotion and power. Do you think you'll always keep this element in your music?
5.You also mentioned that you'd be going into the studio shortly so how's this going?
6.Are We Lost received really good reviews. Although this should have given you confidence, do you feel a little bit of pressure to keep up your reputation?
7.Will you be recording with Roni Szpakowski again as you had once described him as the fifth member of your band?
8.You guys are based in Wakefield and although you do quite a few gigs there, you haven't really been able to tour to other places that much. Do you find it a bit frustrating?
9.You were talking about the money side of things - we all know it's hard to break even when you're on tour. Do you generally think there isn't much money left in the music industry?
10.Do you think this has ever affected any of the band decisions, due to the reality that you could possible not make it / be successful?
11.What you're saying seems quite like the song "The World We Live In" in the sense of it having a very positive attitude. Would you say this song represents what Morain is?
12.Do you think it's essential for bands to have labels?
13.What's been your funniest gig experience?
14.What music video did you enjoy making the most?
15.Could you tell us an exclusive about the album?
16.What's your favourite word?
Yeah, very
well thank you. Did a tour with Canterbury in April which was amazing. We've
just started a new management deal which was really positive. We're in the studio
this month doing the next EP so just gearing up for all that stuff at the
minute but yeah, it's good. Exciting times.
We're an
indie rock band but we've got a big anthemic sound that's very commercial with
big sing along choruses. It's like your typical indie rock band but it's got a
bit of a twist on it which is a bit different, I think, from what a lot of
other people are doing.
Free Again
was recorded as part of that Are We Lost session and like you said, it didn't
really fit with the theme of the EP It was touching on the same subjects but it
had a different story to it and shed a different light. Also, stylistically, it
was a bit different; it had a bit more of a rocky sound to it so it didn't fit
but by no means did we want to waste the song and for it to never come out so
we thought it would be nice to put that out a few months after we put the EP
out.
We've been
a band for quite a long time before we actually did the "Are We Lost"
EP so we've learnt a lot from playing with each other. Usually bands record the
first EP when they've just got together and it's quite a new thing but for us,
we were quite experienced so we all knew exactly what we wanted and that is the
foundation of what Morain is. Definitely, moving forward with everything we do,
we'll always have an emotional side. The music is always going to change
because obviously it's always going to evolve but I think there'll always be
that raw sound that you heard in the "Are We Lost" EP All the
emotional stuff will always be there is some form, definitely.
Yeah, really well. We're in
two minds at the minute because we've been writing a lot of material for the
past year. The band's still growing and we want to do a few more tours before
we look at putting out our first album. We're probably going to record an
album's worth of songs but then put out an EP first just as another kind of
side of the band for people to latch on to and for us to move forward before
looking at the album. Writing loads of stuff and it all sounds very Morain-y
but there's a lot that sounds nothing like anything on "Are We Lost"
but it all ties in. If you're a fan of the "Are We Lost" EP, you'll
definitely be a fan of what we're doing but there's also another side for people who maybe didn't
like stuff on "Are We Lost", there's still some different sounds that
we've been experimenting with. It's going to be interesting to see the follow
up to the first thing we did goes down really.
For
me personally, as the key songwriter, it's a definite pressure! I definitely
believe that what we're writing is really good but at the same time, we had
pretty much no bad press from that EP and it was the first thing we ever put
out and when you hear like all these people - I bought Rock Sound every month a
year and then you're in it and you've got some really good review and you're
like "Woah." Then it's like "But what if they don't like the
next EP", like that's going to be a bit heartbreaking. There's definite
pressure but at the same time you've just got to forget about all that really
and just do what you want to do and honestly, other people will like it.
Yeah,
we definitely will be. He is the fifth member of Morain! We've been working
with him for a few years and he's always 100% understood what we want to do and
every time, with any song he's helping out with, to help us get to that final
thing and get it to exactly how we wanted it and it's good. It's so important
when you're working with someone so closely that they completely understand
what you are trying to do as a band and you've all got to be on the same page
because if you've got a different idea of what Morain should be then it's not
going to work because it's going to end up having this mix-match of ideas. But
definitely, we'll be working with Roni on the next release.
Yeah,
it's the biggest frustration really. Getting on tours, like good tours, is so
hard and it's just about people you know really and who will do who a favour
and it's just finding those connections. With the Canterbury tour, that came
about because we were playing a festival with Canterbury and Luke, the singer,
just so happened to stumble into our room and watch us play. I saw him in the
hallway and he told me he had just discovered us and was a big fan of the band
and I just kept in touch with him on twitter. Then it was him liking our band
so much that he wanted to take us on tour. It is frustrating because there's no
point us booking a tour in say Bournemouth because the amount of money it costs
us to put on a gig and then all that stuff, it's not worth your time. You're
always waiting for those bigger shows and waiting for some kind of tour to come
up next.
I
think unless you're an absolute megastar, making money off albums is very
small. People just don't do it anymore; the majority of people have Spotify or
download it illegally. People just don't buy music anymore though there is a
ton of money in being a live band. If you can build up your fan base and keep
growing and playing bigger shows, selling out bigger venues then that's where
the majority of the money comes from really. Also getting your music on and
advert or films and radio play - where people used to make all the money from
making an album and selling it, those days have kind of gone. There are
different avenues that people go down and different ways to generate money so
it's just about finding opportunity.
You
get to a point, especially in a rock band, where you either catapult forward
and become really big or you just do well for a year or two and you have a
spark but it kind of disappears. I wouldn't say it's affected any of our
decisions; as every band says, we're four best friends and we're just playing
music because we love to do it and we've had good feedback from people who have
a strong opinion in the music world. You get to forty years old and be like
"Oh, we should have tried that band stuff, it could have been something."
You've got to try it and keep believing.
Yeah,
definitely. There's that one and on the next EP that we're going to be
recording there's a track called
"Alive" which is very much like "The World We Live In" with
a positive message. "The World We Live In" was just written about how
everyone's always complaining about all these issues and blah blah blah but at
the end of the day, we're living in a stupidly incredible and interesting
place. You've just got to go out and discover it for yourself. There's so many
things to do and obviously everyone has different circumstances and it can get
boring living in the same town for all your life or whatever but there's so
many opportunities in the world. If you're bored, go do something else, go find
something you're passionate about and work at it and you'll probably enjoy life
more.
Having
a label on board, whether it's a major or an indie label, is good if they're a
good label and have the concepts to get your music distributed, get the right
marketing campaigns behind it and actually put some work in. It doesn't matter
who you sign to, if they don't believe in you or they're not too bothered then
they'll never really get anything done. Stupidly as it is, the more money you
have then the bigger and better you can
promote your product and the bigger and better it can be. You can sign with a
major record label and have a £10,000 video
and you can sign with an indie and it'll only cost a thousand but that
means nothing if that label isn't going to promote that video. At the same
time, a lot of bands have set up their own labels which is them doing it
themselves which is really good. I think to do something like that, you already
have to be something and have a fan base and your audience, your starting point
to really do something yourself.
We
played in Blackburn at a college graduation evening, mainly for the money but
we thought " Oh yeah, it's college, it's graduation - 18 years old are
probably be into radio indie music so this could be quite good." We showed
up and it was literally full of 40 to 50 year olds and it was in a really weird
venue, it wasn't like a venue in any sense. We were playing and the look on
everyone's faces was like "What are these guys doing?" And obviously
we don't play covers so we were just playing all our own songs and they just
couldn't get into it and it was getting to the point where we were finishing
songs and no one was even clapping! So, that was the most awkward and in
hindsight the funniest gig we've ever done but it was very awkward at the time.
Animals
was the first video we ever did and it was when we had really bad weather in
November time. We did it outside; we were outside for about 8 hours, going over
and over this performance scene and it was -8 degrees so our hands were barely
working. The Are We Lost video was really fun to do just because we were more
experienced after doing the Animals one so it was nice to feel a bit more
confident and put in a bit of a better performance without feeling quite
nervous with cameras in your face. I really liked the story behind that video;
the director captured the song really well. The World We Live In video we did
ourselves - that was just a little idea
we had, a little visual for the song. Everyone was doing lyric videos at the
time so we tried to find a way to put our own creative spin without spending a
fortune on doing something good. I'd probably say Are We Lost is my favourite
video.
One
of the songs on there is called Fighting With The Devil and that is a world
away from anything anyone has ever heard our band do. It's an acoustic-y track
and it's got a large string quartet on and we've got a guest vocalist on that
as well which is pretty cool but I'm not going to tell you who that is.
Mine
is pellico and that's Italian for film or cling film, one of the two. We were
thinking of EP names and I found this word pellico and I thought "Oh, it's
actually got quite a nice ring to it." Then we looked at the meaning and
we were like "No, we can't have that." I like the word so there you
go.
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