An interview with Point Taken
An interview with Point Taken
What inspired the name of the band? What are your influences?
Naming the band was a tricky one. The three of us making music collaboratively had existed for a while before our band officially formed, and we had gone by several temporary names before that point, so when the time came to name ourselves it was difficult to decide our favourite or pick a new name. We all gave ideas until eventually, the name Point Taken came up. We all really liked it, it was short, punchy and several meanings could be taken from that one phrase. We all agreed on Point Taken! very quickly from that point onwards.
I’d like to think we all take our influences from different places. Between all of us I’d say we listen to almost every genre of music collectively. More recently, I feel as if we’ve all been taking heavy influences from the progressive metal/math rock scene. Bands like Dance Gavin Dance, Covet, Snarky Puppy, Animals as Leaders and Chon have all featured heavily on our playlist rotations recently and has definitely started to come across in our music.
How do you approach songwriting? Are there any themes that you are keen to explore when you start off?
We usually have quite a collaborative approach. All of us are fairly sure of ourselves creatively, so songwriting usually starts with one of us bringing an idea to the group. This could be a sheet of lyrics, a piece of music written or even just a general feeling or emotion. We typically try and talk through the concept first before going straight to writing. We discuss, make sure we’re all aligned and have the same motives and goals for the song. We then usually go to a “mood board” phase you could call it – just trying to let some words or ideas flow out of us. Typically we write those down on a big board. From that point forward we start to think out loud and craft a more tangible song collectively, while trying to stay true to the original creator’s vision. At first this technique was a bit awkward and it was hard not to step on each other’s toes. However, I feel like recently we have gotten into the flow of things quite nicely and this process actually seems to speed up our songwriting now.
How do you approach songwriting? Are there any themes that you are keen to explore when you start off?
We usually have quite a collaborative approach. All of us are fairly sure of ourselves creatively, so songwriting usually starts with one of us bringing an idea to the group. This could be a sheet of lyrics, a piece of music written or even just a general feeling or emotion. We typically try and talk through the concept first before going straight to writing. We discuss, make sure we’re all aligned and have the same motives and goals for the song. We then usually go to a “mood board” phase you could call it – just trying to let some words or ideas flow out of us. Typically we write those down on a big board. From that point forward we start to think out loud and craft a more tangible song collectively, while trying to stay true to the original creator’s vision. At first this technique was a bit awkward and it was hard not to step on each other’s toes. However, I feel like recently we have gotten into the flow of things quite nicely and this process actually seems to speed up our songwriting now.
Why do you write the sort of music that you do?
The short answer: we love it! All of us in the band have been involved in many different creative projects over the years, and as I’m sure many of you will know, being in a creative group requires a lot of compromises. I think all 3 of us have been involved in too many groups over the years, with too many compromises. While those experiences are great and taught us a lot, I think we all came in to this project not wanting to compromise. As a result we have decided to make music that we enjoy making and listening to. This is the type of music we have all wanted to make for a very long time, but never found the right group to make it with. Now that we have finally found like minded people to play with, I feel like the ceiling we can reach getting higher and higher! (and the tunings getting lower and lower).
How do you decide what songs to perform live and how do you transpose them into that live setting?
Well that’s a tough question. Because of the pandemic we haven’t been able to play live in over 13 months but when we do, we ask ourselves a couple of questions before we put the set list together: How long is our set? How big/small is the venue? How crowded will it be? Who’s playing before/after us? Etc.
If the show is a more multi-genre one, we usually pick a more subdued set list and leave out one or 2 of our heavier pieces, and at a full on rock show, we try and make sure we have songs to rock out to in the pit, with one or 2 songs to enjoy over your water break.
To bring our songs into a live setting, we only make small changes to arrangements like leaving out an extra guitar part or a few vocal harmonies. Our guitar tones usually get a bit grungier at our gigs than it comes across on the record. Ultimately I think our live sound is very similar to our recorded sound, just with a little less polish and a little more grit.
How do you decide what songs to perform live and how do you transpose them into that live setting?
Well that’s a tough question. Because of the pandemic we haven’t been able to play live in over 13 months but when we do, we ask ourselves a couple of questions before we put the set list together: How long is our set? How big/small is the venue? How crowded will it be? Who’s playing before/after us? Etc.
If the show is a more multi-genre one, we usually pick a more subdued set list and leave out one or 2 of our heavier pieces, and at a full on rock show, we try and make sure we have songs to rock out to in the pit, with one or 2 songs to enjoy over your water break.
To bring our songs into a live setting, we only make small changes to arrangements like leaving out an extra guitar part or a few vocal harmonies. Our guitar tones usually get a bit grungier at our gigs than it comes across on the record. Ultimately I think our live sound is very similar to our recorded sound, just with a little less polish and a little more grit.
What plans do you have for the future?
Well it’s hard for us to make any plans for 2021. Ireland is currently under a strict lockdown and we have no time frame for when venues will be allowed to open up again. A couple of festivals are going virtual this year so hopefully our applications go well. If everything is still closed when our album gets released, we’re ready to put on one hell of a livestream show.
As for the further future, we’re determined to keep producing and creating music as much as possible, given the quarantine guidelines we still have to adhere to. We’re slowly but surely grinding out an album and our most immediate goal is to get that finished and released. Our longer term goals include setting up a tour of Ireland and possibly a UK tour, networking, and collaborating with as many great local artists as possible when things finally start to open back up again.