I had the privilege of sitting down with Clive from Desolation Angels, to talk about the band. the music business and the new album:
- How do you think the band has evolved over the duration of your career?
“Two things really, in this digital age, bands can use social media, to promote themselves, but they also face the risk of their product being downloaded against their permission, so they have to be ahead of the curve. Live show wise, a lot of the time things have to be watered down due to health and safety, there aren’t the big cabinets of yesteryear most things are mixed through an iPad now. Back in the day, you’d get your experience and your name by playing live, a lot, and some bands wanted to make it in the US by heading to LA. As a result, playing live so much back then has given us a chance at a second life now.”
- What was the writing and recording process like for the new album? Are there any songs on the new record you are particularly looking forward to playing live?
“We did an EP in 2014/2015 which had five songs on it, which were a good indication of the direction the band was going. We took our time constructing the songs on the record. I think they sound amazing, they were constructed bit by bit, with emotions that were relevant at the time and still are today. Our producer Chris, who unfortunately passed away recently, really nailed down the production.”
- Where do you seek inspiration for lyrics and music?
“The riff of the song is what really drives it, and then from there we bring up emotions, experiences that we’ve all gone through over the time period, and we try to transpose those experiences into the riffs and the songs we write. With this album it all sort of slotted in together, we had two years to write and record and prepare this album, and I think it went really well.”
- What plans do you have for the future?
“We signed with Dissonance Productions, so they’ve given us a much bigger sales range and audience, initially we self released our new album with a blue cover, it was brighter, but then we signed with Dissonance and they wanted something darker so they went with red. They’ve gone a great job. We’ve got a lot of shows lined up, we’re playing a release show on the 23rd February, then we’re touring London, Norwich, France, and will be going elsewhere as well. That’s the good thing about having played so many shows before, it gives you experience and the ability to get the audience hooked.”