After a while away from any recorded material since 2008 (although everyone in the band has their own band outing in the quiet piece), I Killed The Prom Queen have recently found themselves with a different approach to constructing songs on their new album, titled Beloved. Guitarist Kevin Cameron from the band chatted with Philippe Perez for more insight.
Your last release before Beloved was released eight years ago. What are your thoughts about releasing something under the I Killed The Prom Queen name after such a long time?
It feels a little weird, to be honest. The last album we wrote in about April 2005. Even then, many of us in the band moved on personally from that style of music. Coming back to it now, getting into a similar headspace was strange, because I don’t even listen this style of music anymore. This maybe has it’s own advantages, where you are coming in it at a different perspective. Getting the chops up again to get the riffs happening was interesting. The riff-orientated stuff is different to what I usually play now.
At the same time, all of us have grown up as players and what makes it through the quality picture is a different thing. We just make it more intuitive actually, rather than just going part/part/part/part/part. That made it a lot better to be honest! [It’s] almost a little easier [to compose] than our last few albums. [Those albums] were a bit naïve. We were like ‘this is what we have got. We need to do this, have to have this, cut this’ and filter things a little bit more. We also tried to be a bit more democratic, [trying to] not step on each other’s toes if we didn’t like someone’s idea.
You also mentioned that you moved away from listening to the style of music that I Killed The Prom Queen made. Can you explain to me how you dealt with getting back to listening to metalcore when you’ve listened to different genres of music?
I guess for me personally – and I think for Jona [Weinhofen] as well – the main influences never really changed. We like all the European death metal kind of stuff, like Soilwork, Dark Tranquility and bands like that. When we started to do these records, it was all about taking that influence and then taking bands that we grew up with like Hatebreed from the hardcore side. We wanted to blend those two genres together, but I’m not trying to say we created a style. At the time though, I think what we were doing was unique, even though we weren’t amazing songwriters or anything.
I had that mentality going into this stuff as well, which was all about capturing some melodic European feel with some other outside influences, and then taking the leap from there. It was all about taking the headspace of “I’m listening to metal from the 90s” and then transporting to something modern to release.
I guess we all just have eclectic tastes with what we listen to recreationally. The last show that I went to was a Sarah Blasko show and I’m going to see The National on the weekend, so that can give you a bit of an indication about what I’m talking about. I think the older you get, the more open you become to enjoying old classic soft rock sometimes or things of that ilk. For me, I can’t listen to metal 24/7.
Could you explain further about how you tried to not step on each other’s toes?
I guess the previous album we’d have (lead singer) Jona write his half, and I would write another half. I wouldn’t say we were competitive, but it was like: “This is how my song is going to be. This is how your song is going to be” and it didn’t really work if someone else had a suggestion.
This time around, we worked a little more together. There are probably only three songs that I wrote everything for and three songs that Jona wrote everything for. Everything else is more of a group effort, really. Jamie [Hope], the vocalist, even wrote guitar parts for a couple of songs. Everyone was more involved. We’d jam out more with Shane [O’Brien], our drummer, and James being able to bring what he wanted too.
It’s interesting that you say you jammed out. I have known bands that have generated whole albums simply from jam sessions.
To be honest, we were happy with the jamming. There were songs that we hadn’t played whatsoever as a band yet. It would be one person and Shane would jam it on drums. The song “No One Will Save Us” was a bit of dark horse because I wrote that in half an hour, put it into Garageband and then we didn’t actually jam it and Shane hadn’t played along with it ever in his life until we got to recording it in the studio. So he’s listening to it on what I’d made a skeleton of and he’s gone, “Oh well, I guess this is what I put down for the album, for eternity, or whatever”.
There were a few songs like that where it’d been the general idea put down and we’d just go for it in the recording session. There were other ones where we’d spend a lot of time trying to make it a little bit different in the style in the room, and then come out with ideas on the fly and just happening to have an iPhone there with the recording thing on to remember what we actually did in the jam. It wasn’t as improvised as what many other musicians would do it, I suppose. It had elements to it though.
TThe track “To The Wolves” stood out to me a little bit. It went through a few tempo changes and moods throughout the song. In a songwriting/composition sense, was that something you or Jona wanted to do with that track?
That was a bit of a dark horse. There was a skeleton of the song hanging around for a fair while. I think Jamie came up with some of the initial rhythmic pattern of it, like the intro and the last part of it. It was a song where there was something a bit missing. We just jammed it out like I explained earlier and I ended up changing the verse riffs a fair bit. Even when we were in the studio, I think I change a little scale a bit to give it a different flavor. The end product turned out strong I thought, which was surprising due to where it came from.
In terms of all the tempo changes – I don’t really have a conscious answer for that. It just happened. Sorry I can’t be more specific on that! We were on a roll and it felt right.
Did the fact that the band in the past had so many different members in the past contribute to how this album was produced?
It’s an obvious, unavoidable issue. Being immersed in it [makes me] think that it’s not that drastic, especially for Jona and me. Jamie has also been in the band three times longer than the last vocalist, so it wasn’t an issue with me. When Shane (drummer) and Ben [Coyte] (bassist) joined, it wasn’t a spread out thing. They came on board around similar times.
Knowing Shane’s skill from playing in other bands and stuff, it was a selling point. We knew he would write at the drop of a hat and he does that. I think, because being a guitar-based metal band, it hasn’t changed the sound too much at all, really. The thing I notice when I hear it back, is namely the drumming is a different style than what (former drummer) JJ [Peters] had. I think people that listen to it all have been commenting on that. Shane is a very hand-based player, while JJ was a very foot-based player.
With Jamie playing guitar as well, he had a lot of say in what should change musically too, like changing a verse to be ready for the vocals. Ben also added a lot as well when he came through halfway in the writing and he was a fresh set of ears. Like I mentioned before, it was all diplomatic and getting a few new ideas by working together rather than in various solitary ways.
What was it like recording in Sweden with (producer and guitarist for the band Dream Evil) Frederick Nordstrum?
We did our last album there as well. It was in a building though. The last time we went, I think I was 18 or 19. This big scary metal producer who recorded Dimmu Borgir and all that kind of stuff that was huge then intimidated me a little. At that time, we didn’t really have any kind of friendship. It was more a business relationship, so we were sitting there wondering if he’d like our songs. It was nerve wrecking. Now, being a lot older and having recorded with him before, it was just like having your crazy uncle along the ride. It was a stupid atmosphere where we’d spend the day joking or laughing. We’d be sitting there waiting to record a track and he’d be playing X-Box or something like that! Because the relationship had grown, he had no problem telling you if you played something terribly. He’d rip you to pieces but in a hurtful but funny way.
I suppose that’s a good indication of a good, fair producer – being able to constructively criticise while joking around. Do you think that of him?
If we hadn’t had the previous relationship, I think we’d all be like, “How dare he say that about us!” We trusted him. He’s obviously been behind a lot of great music for the last 20 years or so. It was good knowing that when working him too.
What was it like being in the country, in terms of what atmosphere Sweden provides?
A lot of people have asked that! It’s something that I can’t put into words. It is somewhere that I could see myself living. I don’t know what is, everything is so fresh. I guess that might have helped with the mood of the album as well. It was just a wonderful country.
The city we were in, Gothenberg, is similar to the city we’re from, Adelaide. I think it was a shipping-based city, so we would take some time on the weekends to look around at the big boats and all that. I wish I could put it into better words, but that’s the best way I can explain it.
You’re touring with Soundwave later this month. What’s it like touring a festival circuit after a long time playing in clubs?
Yeah we haven’t really done a festival run since a couple of years ago. We did a bunch of festival through Europe all that time ago. I don’t actually think we’ve done an Australian festival run. It’s definitely a different plan than the club shows. We start rehearsal for it next week where we haven’t really played any of the new songs together in months. That’ll be interesting for a week before the tour. It should be good though. It’s a great way to push the album, and there’ll be thousands and thousands of people everyday and a lot of those people might not have seen you before. It’ll be an experience.
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I Killed The Prom Queen is touring as part of the Soundwave line-up around the country, head to www.soundwavefestival.com for more info. The band is also playing a sidewave alongside A Day To Remember and The Ghost Inside on February 25th at UNSW Roundhouse in Sydney and February 27th at The Forum in Melbourne.
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