I exchanged some messages with Patric Farrell of Built for the Future in August 2022. The band then had two full albums to their name, the debut Chasing Light released in 2015, and the sophomore album, Brave New World in 2020. The band’s original core is Patric who plays bass, keys, drum programming, and his cohort Kenny Bissett who provides some wonderful lead vocals, guitar, and keys.
At the time, they were in the process of recording and creating their new work, and fast forward to August 2023, we have the awaited release of 2084: Heretic, the first in a three-part exposition of George Orwell’s classic dystopian warning to society, 1984.
Patric & Kenny have been kind enough to answer some questions for this website.
Let’s concentrate on the new album first, based upon 1984. There are to be three instalments. This is a major undertaking. Why three separate albums, instead of, say, a condensed single version in a double album?
PATRIC: Well, I began writing the idea, and got a bit inspired, or carried away depending on how you look at it!
I wrote upward of 30 songs, so my thoughts went through several options. One was to do a double album and sort of make it THE WALL, with transitional songs/pieces between the standard songs, and create that whole experience. But one of the objectives was to focus on the song again, and that epic/overdrawn approach I thought may bury the directness of the songs written. So, then I thought of a single long album, same feeling though, would detract from the direct impact of the songs. So, not wanting to shortchange the songs written, I decided in the best prog tradition, I would issue all the songs as a concept piece, just in three chunks so folks could digest and appreciate them in more palatable portions.
The current plan, 2084: Heretic, 2084: Oceania, 2084: Empire. Let’s see if we follow this plan! Heretic is first, but the idea is that you can listen to all three in order and it feels continuous, like a long version of the Wall. Yes, that is a model for us on this one.
There is, of course, the intention to finish and release OCEANIA and EMPIRE…the idea would be 6 months, then 6 months after that.
Oceania has a lot of the music laid out; I wrote around 30 pieces of music for the 2084 theme, and spread them out over the three theoretic albums.
Oceania is intended to be a suite, our pass at a long form piece. So hopefully that is what we will get when it’s done.
Empire will be, or at least is planned to be based on the songs already put in place, a much more RUSH like experience…for a lack of a better reference - a bit more busy bass and more variety on the analog keyboard side…we shall see.
The release of the album is later than originally intended, no doubt owing to a desire on your parts to produce a work you were wholly satisfied with. Talk us through the process of getting the final product out there, please.
PATRIC: TIME is always the pressure keeper when writing/recording/mixing/mastering an album.
In some cases, the delay was just due to our other lives getting very busy, we both have careers that can take up time.
Then in some cases the work was me re-tweaking, re-arranging, re-mixing things…sometimes it’s hard to STOP! Like the master Peart said: “Art is never done, only abandoned”. He is so right. And then the last time-consuming element was the mix and mastering, getting that just right. The mastering process was very smooth, Martin Schnella from the band FLAMING ROW mastered it, and he was very good…very efficient…and very effective.
The details sometimes can take the most time…the sound interludes, the overlaps, the vocal harmonies…etc….so we don’t rush. We want it to be as regret-free as we can muster up….but…invariably…there are always still regrets!!
Several artists have released music based upon this novel, for example Anthony Phillips, Rick Wakeman, Bowie, and The Eurythmics amongst many others. It is difficult to maintain a sense of originality when dealing with such a well-known work, so what is the unique Built for the Future take on this novel?
PATRIC: Agreed, it is definitely not the most original idea/content/source material. But, first off I was so inspired by the idea, watched all three movies (yes, there are three), read so much background and insights to the novel and ideas of Orwell that I just felt fired up. I took notes, Kenny watched and took notes, our video producer watched and got a feel…so we immersed ourselves in the ideas.
Now, the spin I took that I think allows us a newer angle, is that we advanced the future target to 2084, since 1984 is behind us. And looking at it this way, now my thought is that this is really where we are heading, rather than a reflection of just Orwell’s story, we are looking at our current state, and what that feels like in relation to Orwell’s predictions. So, the true mission was to use Orwell’s narrative as a thin veil for what we are in our world today. So, a double entendre so to speak.
Orwell wrote his work in the 1940’s, when 1984 seemed such a long way off, but he was obviously influenced by the geopolitical situation of the time, especially the strength of The Soviet Union and the Eastern Bloc.
Fast forward to 2023, and we have a distinct rise in populism in Western democracies at the same time as a resurgent violence from Russia by Putin and a strengthening and increasingly bellicose China under Xi. You have taken 1984 forward to 2084. I am interested in just how you see mankind developing as a global society by then. The victory of democracy, or the triumph of totalitarianism?
PATRIC: Well, it is easy to be pessimistic. And it is easy to be nihilistic. And truthfully those make for much better music! We both have children, so in our hearts we hope the world evolves in to a better…Star Trek like existence! But the world is a mess, humans are a mess, and I feel like things are so finite, and exponentially scaling upward that it’s inevitable that things get rougher. But when you look at things that are unfolding in our current state, you see very Orwellian elements.
It may be inevitable that these types of things evolve as power evolves, and the population grows and requires more conditioning to control. Ironically, I also think Huxley’s Brave New World is also a poignant prediction as well, as his future had the power for ‘intoxicating and satiating’ the population to the point of distraction to control them…I almost combined the two concepts, but chose to stay in the Orwell mindset.
KENNY: I am an idealist and generally a pacifist. Idealism is very difficult to navigate in times of political change and uncertainty. But I also tend to have faith in humanity, so I lean towards an improved future. While democracy has its faults, it is certainly better than totalitarianism.
Honestly, our insatiable need to consume is what I fear the most, because it can take us to a place where the type of government won’t matter as much as how we face a future of changing climate and violent weather events.
You released in August 2022 a teaser single, The Collective. I understand that this was originally intended for the third part of the series, am I correct?
PATRIC: Well, it was when we released the song! But the reaction to the song, and how it now feels in the context of the first album running order. It has now, indeed, been added to the first album.
It still fit the narrative, and the feel was ideal for a good change of pace on the album. So, we promoted it to HERETIC. I still think Kenny’s melodies and lyrics are so moving, dark and deceptively hopeful…when really, they are not.
I like it and the accompanying video, which I have embedded above. I especially love the haunting guitar introduced one and a half minutes in. There is an expansive feel to this, continuing I think the development of the project shown in the second album you released. Tell me, please, about the creative process, from writing, to performing, to recording and completing the album.
PATRIC: Well, that guitar is Kenny doing his thing! He is a great guitar player as well as a vocalist. The courage taken here was for me to just let it be spacey, and not add MORE guitar. The decision to allow that bass/E. Piano to just vibe the song seems to be what allows it to shine.
Our process is fluid and can vary. I write most of the music, and in this case all the music. This album began as me writing what I would have called a solo album. In response to both Kenny and David’s great solo works, I got inspired. So, I set out to write a more alternative/prog type album.
Having fun rocking the guitars, simplifying the songs and tracking, etc. Then it got to be where I loved what I was hearing and needed a GOOD voice on it instead of mine! So, I pitched to Kenny to build this into our next release.
Once songs are worked on, Kenny gets rolling and contributes vocal melodies, lyrics, ideas on guitar etc. He and I are so aligned that things click rather nicely.
We do have a performing line-up, with a great keyboard player (Peter Fithian), Drummer (Lalo), and stage guitarist(Joe Danz). We hope to do a show here in Texas and a release show.
Cooperate. Collaborate. Two words which are used especially by modern day corporates and public services that are meant to be soft, kind, and motivational, but, in my experience, carry with them an attendant menace – do as you are told, and think as we do, or else. A fair observation?
PATRIC: Very astute observation. There is an irony to the song, and it can be taken both ways. Hope in us working together and being led to concede and do what we are supposed to.
Standalone, it sounds like an anthem, in the album it will feel more like a creed and control element, I think…
Kenny wrote the lyrics and melody, his lyrics hit the target.
KENNY: The perspective for “cooperate” and “collaborate” can be from either side, I think. For the controlling party, it does have the feel of oppression towards the Proletariat. For those trapped under the thumb of the government, they can be words of hope. Of course, as the story goes, most of those people dare not even think of hope.
In a similar vein, when we move to “will the light” section, this musically is extremely uplifting, but this merely conveys the sense of a controlling mind motivating the populace who have an innate fear that The Collective will evaporate. This control fascinates me, and we see it daily around the world. So, tell me please, what was your personal motivation to write a set of lyrics around such a work and how your own life and views are imprinted upon the albums.
PATRIC: Kenny can speak to this better than I, but again the double-think of the thought of the light is so on point for the concept.
KENNY: I suspect that I would be on the hopeful side of thinking that there is a way out. The lyrics in the coda are intended to grant at least a feeling of possibility for those oppressed. The light represents hope and is also a metaphor for removing the darkness of oppression.
Subsequently, you released Diaspora & Supernational. Tell us about these tracks, the videos for which are embedded below.
PATRIC: Diaspora, which is loosely translated as the ‘dispersing of a people’ was intended to represent things that the powers at be do to separate us, to isolate, to weaken through fear…sound familiar?? Masks anyone???
Odd, that was a song that almost got dumped. It had a different verse, I loved the chorus, but the original verse was weak. So, the day I was going to just dump it, I thought I would try one more time to come up with a more suitable verse…and wrote it on the bass guitar. Thus, the heavy riff.
After we were done, and Kenny did his magic, I find the song, the mix, the arrangement to be one of the best things we have ever done. It just rocks. It is dark and heavy, so we decided that was another good teaser single that represented where the new album would be heading. So, we let it rip!
Supernational, or in Orwellian terms, ’two minutes of hate’, is about divisiveness. How the masses can be controlled by being programmed to hate the ‘other side’. Again, sound familiar? From the left and to the right…. wink!
We decided we wanted a rocker to kick off the release. The song to me is very FIXX-like, and I love the melodies and lyrics Kenny came up with. Just hits the target. The video was done by Kevin ’The K-man Kreusel’ here in San Antonio, and he did a great job adding to the energy and power of that song.
The album is difficult to pigeonhole musically, and I like this. There is an element of Floyd in terms of the background noises/voices, but there is so much more here, a wide range of influences. What other acts float the Built for the Future boat?
PATRIC: For this album, I was inspired by shorter-song artists meets Pink Floyd/The Wall concept. So, Steven Wilson, Failure, NIN, The Mute Gods, RPWL, The Pineapple Thief and of course as always Tears for Fears are in my writing psyche, so their new album made me feel love for the ‘song’ again.
I often create rules for myself when writing albums, and the basic rules on this one included: using my Fender Jazz on all songs (instead of my steadfast Rick), really only using the TRON as the keyboard with very few exceptions (e piano for example), and keeping the track count to a reasonable amount! And finally, the style of the writing I tried to be more straightforward on the first album, keeping the basslines as simple as I could muster, several times I was tempted to go Geddy on them, but I resisted!
Brave New World, released in 2020, was described by you as a lyrical continuity of the life journey initially explored on Chasing Light. Without wishing for you to bear your soul to the planet, it is clear to me that both albums are deeply and intensely personal, and I would be interested to hear what motivated them (I think especially here of the fine Build for the Future from Chasing Light, a wonderfully emotional song).
PATRIC: Bear my soul! My life changed in 2015, after 20 years, my marriage ended. Changed everything about me. Chasing Light, you can hear the crisis in every song almost. Leaving a dying world was the metaphor…and Brave New World was the next chapter, finding a new life. So, they coincide with each other in a very sci-fi way. It is prog after all! Not country music! lol.
Build for the Future was a play on our moniker of course, and I use that reference on both albums, I like that our name is part of our theme. But build for the future implies that the protagonist is looking forward. Starting again. Free. Kenny surprised me with the powerful middle vocal when we wrote that song, just blew me away.
Tell me, please, about the history of your friendship and collaboration with Kenny and where your musical journey started and developed.
PATRIC: Kenny and I have known each other since the 80’s, never really worked together until 2015. So, we say our friendship back in the 80’s was Built for the Future! Kenny can share the other points on how we built up our journey.
KENNY: Patric and I have known each other for many years, but it seemed as though we were pursuing different musical goals. We both played in local bands, and when those bands were over, we did a few jam sessions. It was in 2015 when we started collaborating, when he asked me to do some vocal tracks for a song. That went pretty well, and we decided to do an albums worth of songs for Chasing Light.
Kenny has a most wonderful, melodic, voice, doesn’t he? So full of expression. You must enjoy this collaboration very much.
PATRIC: OH YES. I do. He is what validates our sound. I am confident in the writing/arranging/producing…but no way am I confident in my singing as a lead vocalist, so all my music has always suffered my limitations. Kenny brings a professionalism and quality that allowed us to be legit. And the best part is he sounds like me. We sound pretty good together, and it allows me to do lots of harmony and backing vocals with confidence. Our voices feel like they were made to work together.
Also, Kenny and I work at a similar pace, and technically with a similar process. So, we work fast when we need to, and we study and scrutinize when we need to. We both like to soak up the songs, live with them on our own, and then drop ideas. Kenny always sends me his vocal ideas with the freedom for me to adjust, cut, move, layer etc. And…I do. lol. Sometimes he is surprised how his own vocals end up.
KENNY: How kind!
For Chasing Light, you had Billy Sherwood and Dave Kerzner assisting with the mixing and finalising of the product. Please give me some details about this and your interactions with these two fine musicians and any imprint they have left on you and the project.
PATRIC: Well, for Chasing Light I found a ton of tools/sounds/loops/virtual instruments from Sonic Elements, which Kerzner “Squids” owns/founded. He provided the palate from which the sonics were constructed since his SampleTank libraries were so great. And all his work with drum loops have given the ability to track drums at a high level. So, I thanked him on the album!
Billy Sherwood mixed some of the music on the Chasing Light and was sooooo nice to us. We did not end up using his mixes for continuity reasons, but he invited us backstage when YES came to SA and we got to hang with him. So…we thanked him too!
I really like the guitar contributions of David Peña and Chris Benjamin on guitar, and, indeed, the former was a welcome addition to the official band line-up on Brave New World. I understand, though, that he does not appear on 2084. Is there a reason for this, please?
PATRIC: Dave is my favorite guitar player that I know in person. We have been friends/music peers for 40yrs…his work on both albums, particularly BNW was so inspiring and creative. He adds so much magic. I get chills at times listening to things like Line of Sight (his lead), or City of the Sun (the heavy chording in the middle) …so brilliant.
He is a successful engineer in Austin, we are in SA. And that keeps him very busy. This round he was not only busy with his real job, but also deep in the works with his solo album, so he was very tied up. And logistically this was not feasible on our timeline, so he took a break for this one. He may resurface again!
Chris is another great friend who added some touches to Chasing Light, most notably the searing lead to Burning Daylight. Love that guitar part. Interestingly, Chris and I jammed songs early this year and three of his ideas surface on the 2084 project, so you will see FARRELL/BENJAMIN credits on The Thought Police, Diaspora and Secret Science (third album).
Conversely, your live drummer Lalo Herrera is namechecked on the new album. Give us some details about Lalo, please.
PATRIC: Lalo is our mysterious drummer. You can see him rock out in our Zenith/Breathe vids. The guy has chops. It is so hard to find a drummer in SA. We are lucky to have him. Like Ringo, we only call him LALO.
Tracks such as Radiowave, and indeed much of the debut album, shouts out at me as a glorious pop song, very much influenced by some late 60’s psych, a Squire-inspired deep bassline (to whom the album is dedicated), and in addition a feel of 1980’s pop-rock, Rush in their synth period especially, and on Running Man there is a distinct hint of not only a Rush influence, but Depeche Mode as well. Unlike many other prog or rock music writers, I enjoyed the 1980’s. There was a lot of good music in that decade, and I was still a teenager until 1984, so fond memories cry out at me.
What are your memories, experiences, and how did the decade influence you musically?
PATRIC: Well, Kenny and I and even Dave grew our love of music in the 80’s. Dave and I were in our band and Kenny in his during that time. So much influence comes from that learning. Chasing Light has a bunch of prog influences, but 80’s versions. More 90125 than Fragile, more Power Windows than Permanent Waves, more Genesis (“Shapes”) than Foxtrot…plus Tears for Fears/Ultravox/The Fixx type of alternative had progginess in it.
I must say, I don’t recall feeling like Depeche was pulling at me anywhere lol. But I get what you are saying. I really thought Running Man had a strong Genesis pulse to it, so much that I dropped a quick homage to ABACAB/the fifth synth in it.
KENNY: I have given up trying to escape the 80’s sound! I now hold it as a badge of honor when I contribute musical parts for Built for the Future, and in my solo work. I left high school in 1981 and went and bought a guitar. Prior to that I was really into the heavy metal from the late 70’s and early to mid-80’s. Judas Priest, Rush, Scorpions, Riot, Queen, and many more. The power of the guitars always made me want to drive fast!
When MTV and New Wave hit, I was hooked on more bands like The Fixx, A Flock of Seagulls, Peter Gabriel, U2, Tears for Fears and so many more. So, my guitar roots were influenced by heavy metal, but I couldn’t use that approach as I joined a band a few years later. Of course, I can’t sing like Rob Halford or Geddy Lee, so I stayed clear of the metal genre in my writing.
I think you would agree with me that Brave New World is a more “progressive” album than Chasing Light. However, there was a glimpse of this direction on the debut with the twelve-minute plus epic, The Great Escape, which fizzes in parts with emotion, and features a beautifully dirty guitar riff two-thirds in and a gloriously expansive denouement. I love this piece of music, and it is, in part, one of the main reasons I write about music to provide a platform for people to hear new music they would never hear on mainstream media. So, the twenty-thousand-dollar question – how do we widen the fan base of this music? Indeed, do we want to? How is success measured for an act such as Built for the Future?
PATRIC: Brave New World was a focused effort to expand. The four epic pieces are the favorites for me as well. We wanted to leave no stone unturned on that one, and it seemed to have paid off. Folks loved the long stuff. But we also love writing songs that people can connect with, so we will likely continue to bounce back and forth between epic writing and concise writing as we feel the itch. Thats the BEST part of being a prog artist, is the freedom to do it all.
The Great Escape was the metaphor for moving on. Letting go. It is a three-part song, likely my favorite verse on the whole album. And yes, Dave is on guitar in that middle lead section and just rips emotion through the air. The last section “Flight” is mostly me and my oldest daughter, who guests on all string instruments, violin/viola/cello! There is something so magical to me about the velocity of that piece, and the simplicity really of the buildup. Emotional stuff for me.
If I could answer the twenty-thousand-dollar question, I would have twenty thousand dollars!
We just keep trying to write what we feel, do it in the best quality way we can, we have a motto “everything matters”. If we do those things, then we trust we are doing our best. We have so much support from fans and folks like you that really show they get our music, which we are eternally grateful for. So, we hope to keep building that base and continue to hopefully reach more.
KENNY: We have discussed what success means to each of us, and we keep landing on the idea that being heard beyond our own friends and families is truly amazing. Now that we can place the music online to the entire world, we just keep thinking that “someone in Italy” just listened to our song! It feels great and keeps us grounded. We both have sources of income to provide food and shelter, so we are not chasing money, we’re hoping to move people with our songs. We place emotion at the top of the list when it comes to what a song should do for a listener, it should move them.
Further to this, Breathe is a track which really should be a hit single. It has pomp, majesty, and more than a hint of 90125-era Yes, which I love. The closing passage, especially, has a toe-tapping, head shaking invitation to enjoy. How difficult is it in modern day America to get airtime for tracks such as this from bands such as yours?
PATRIC: Well, it’s difficult in the US for sure. We are not aspiring to be pop artists thank goodness, otherwise we would be buried/invisible/non-existent. We do feel grateful for the play we get. And hope to build on that reach.
Kenny released a great solo album, and did some good strategic work on Spotify, got some reach for his songs. He can share that thought.
And I agree that Breathe is a song that we thought would just grab everyone. It got a great response, but because of the limitations of the music world, it just becomes a feeling of a missed opportunity. Kenny’s coda on that song is incredible. Full out power.
KENNY: Breathe is an excellent example of a song that should be able to gain some traction. We’re not marketing experts, so we continue to look for outlets and ways to be heard by more people. I think we both believe there is an audience for our work, we just must find it.
Brave New World is dedicated to Neil Peart, certainly the finest drummer I saw live, and the writer of some ridiculously good lyrics through all phases of the band. Please share your thoughts on the man.
PATRIC: Beside being our favorite drummer. Growing up with Rush. And feeling the loss. I will say that even though Chris Squire was my main influence (as a bass player), I realized how much of Peart I took in my work that included: concepts, lyrical rules, titles being important, graphics being important, themes, viewpoints (aligned with his) and his use of language. Wow, I wasn’t prepared for that reflection when he died, and though I am not a drummer, I realized how impactful the man was to me creatively.
KENNY: I read Ghost Rider by Peart. This was of course long after I had decided he was beyond the reach of most writers in terms of lyrical content and themes. I have heard that his lyrics are studied in college courses. But Ghost Rider moved me more than I could have imagined. Believe it or not, when I finished the book, I went straight to the BMW dealer to look at cross-country motorcycles! My wife shut that down instantly, but it was a fun dream while it lasted!
As a drummer, he played the song first - which is all you want from a drummer. Support the song, get the listener moving, and stick some flashy licks in here and there. He was amazing and will never be forgotten.
There are three epic tracks more than ten minutes, the title track, Distant Land, and Line of Sight. One just short of that is the very strong City of the Sun, which goes along at a fair old pace, features some very interesting mood changes and a beautiful old style mellotron at the close. I have embedded the video below for my readers to enjoy. We have dealt with the lyrical journey above, so please provide us with a sense of how the musical journey had moved on from the debut.
PATRIC: Brave New World/title track was designed to ‘start the movie’ so it has 4 minutes of instrumental before its settles (into the landing) and Kenny delivers one of my favorite vocals on the album, City of the Sun (all three of us count this as our fav) is the traveling and reflecting on seeking out the ‘new life’, ‘new home’ and how the journey feels so emotional, Distant Land was Kenny’s song, turned into a soundtrack about the actual journey as a visceral action, that guitar break is one of my favorite pieces as it’s Dave and I just creating this guitar journey as if a movie is playing…and then Line of Sight is the protagonist finding that new home, you feel the new world elation at the coda and the pounding vocals drive the feeling of home again. Mellotron is my weapon of choice by far. So moody, textures are great. The closing mellotron lines are a reprise of the opening mellotron lines from the beginning of the album.
Azimuth features your live keyboardist Pete Fithian and I like the dark swirling keyboards he brings to this track. Are there any plans to expand B4TF live work and, potentially, to tour in Europe?
PATRIC: Pete wrote that keyboard run and it HAD to be on the album. So, he recorded it and it’s his debut on our records lol. He really wants to play this one live, so if we do play live it’s in the set for his sake.
We played live in Texas in 2016-2017 in various towns here. It was a lot of fun, the Prog-Fest in Austin was great. But for the most part, in our area, no one really gets prog! So, we have two current aspirations for the live pursuit, one is to do a concentrated single show here in town as a release show…and the second is to play PROGSTOCK/NJ. That is our favorite festival, and we aim to play it one day. So…come on Marty! Send the invite!!
Distant Land is an interesting song. Lyrically, it strikes me as being rather yearning, leaving behind the old which is falling, and seeking a change of season to the distant new land. I find some of the atmospheres and noises created in the extended instrumental section to be very captivating. I gather this song was written by Kenny?
PATRIC: You nailed it. Kenny’s creation. He can share thoughts here.
KENNY: I was writing ideas for Built for the Future when Distant Land came about. At the time we didn’t really need more songs, and this one wasn’t exactly aligned with the Brave New World theme. I decided to make it into a potential solo song and beefed it up a little. It was not long after I shared it with Patric that he decided to take it apart and arranged it into what landed on the album. A brilliant work of arrangement art!
The core of the original idea is still there, and new lyrics were added to push it more towards the Brave New World theme. You would probably get a kick out of hearing the original!
Line of Sight closes an impressive album. The intro section is clearly strongly influenced by the power trio from Canada. As the song develops, though, there is a very impressive futuristic instrumental section, and when we come to the believe it’s your world passage, this strikes me as pertaining as much to the present global climate crisis as much as anything else, but then we move to the penultimate passage which calls to me of reaching the destination, both personally and on a planetwide scale. I find this uplifting before the closure brings us back full circle to the opening track. This was clearly deliberate, and I find the segmentation and structure of the album strong, and it is here that the progression from the debut was so noticeable. What are your thoughts, please?
PATRIC: That intro wasn’t in the song until NP passed away. I went in and changed two things for his memento. One was the title of pt.1 of the title track VAPOR TRAIL, and the second was to add this CYGNUS-X1 type of intro to Line. I just said screw it, I loved these artists and it hurts to know you won’t hear anything new from them again. So, I added the homages.
The progression was clear strategically. First album we focused on the song format, the second we tried our hand at all out Pink Floyd meets Rush meets Sci-Fi and let it just evolve. We love going back and forth and doing it feels fresh.
We allowed ourselves the pursuit of the epic on BNW. And we loved it. I still prefer to listen to the four long songs when I revisit the album. And of course, I worked hard to have motifs and revisit melodies etc. Those are prog rules, right?
The new trilogy touches three areas, the first is more direct like alternative/prog, the second is intended to be a suite album (we shall see) all entitled OCEANIA…and the third are the songs I felt more Rush-like for lack of a better reference.
All three we intend on transitional sounds/noises/dialogue (not too much) to give it that prog/The Wall kind of feel and cohesiveness.
Prog is so liberating.
There are some cracking drums across both albums, in parts sensitive, in others pounding and relentless, with some very complex loops and riffs. One fine example which really makes the listener sit up and take notice is The Sheltering Sky from Brave New World. You are credited with programming on the albums released. I have been fascinated with this process ever since watching an old documentary featuring Peter Gabriel discussing the recording of PG IV (Security) back in the day. I know my readers would be really interested in a dissection by you of how you create such a set of sounds within the composition and production of your music.
PATRIC: Let’s just say it takes me hours and hours to work to get them right. We have an electronic kit (Kenny does) and we add live drum work at times, but I use loops and electronics to build up the best I can. I cut and move and build. It’s hard work but worth it.
KENNY: Patric is a master at putting together the rhythmic backbeats and fills for our songs. I haven’t watched him do it, but I do know it is a tedious affair involving a lot of precision audio editing, testing, and listening. Then there is the mixing step where everything must fit together and support the song.
The artwork for both albums is impressive. Tell my readers a little bit about Michal Klimpczak, please, and where we might find some more examples of his work.
PATRIC: He is an incredible artist from Poland. He does sci-fi/dystopian photo-realism work. His work is online, feel free to Google him. I love his work. I did the work on Chasing Light, and he did BNW. He is clearly the superior artist! lol. I had hopes to tie into him as our signature visualist a la Hugh Syme and Roger Dean, but he is not available for 2084, so I will have to likely do all the graphics myself.
Michal is brilliant though. Inspiring just to review his images.
To conclude, thank you very much for taking the time to answer these questions. To close, can you provide us with an estimated timeline for the release of parts two & three of 2084?
PATRIC: For now, mission number one is Chapter One.
The plan is to allow the album to gestate for a few months, and then release Chapter Two. Then another few months for Chapter Three. The overall idea is once all three are out, you should be able to listen to them in order and it feels like a whole work.
And then in the midst of all this, Kenny is already working on his third solo album…and even Dave is releasing his avant-garde-synth manifesto at year’s end, so lot’s coming (we hope). We just hope life and the world allow us to follow the plan. Life is short, not promised, so we hope to make the most of it all.
Thanks so much for taking the time to ask us these questions. We appreciate you!