Hey guys. Hope your all having a good week. Today we've got something different here on Music Onslaught. SANGUINE have become something of a staple feature of this blog and I hope they continue to do so in the future. Now you can read about the ins and outs of the new album 'Black Sheep' which is out now on all platforms. Read more to find out how it was made:
Musically, what would you say inspired 'Black Sheep' to be created?
Tarin: After our first album Sanguine was released back in 2012 we knew we wanted to spend some time creating and properly recording the next album as our first album was very DIY! We set out to create the next album with a vision: 1. We wanted the songs to be a soundtrack to your life and 2. We wanted to make an album that listeners can listen to in its entirety….without getting bored!
Nick: Yeah, we knew we wanted to create songs that had a soundtrack vibe, because of this each song was really important to us. We didn’t want to write an album that had 10 songs on it that sounded exactly the same! We got bored of listening to other band’s albums where there were no surprises on the record…we got fed up with the 1 single and 9 other tracks that sound exactly the same format that most albums are recorded like these days. It’s about time someone changed the format!
Tarin: It's so strange how this album came about as we were so lucky....after the first album was released we got contacted by Jesper Strömblad (ex-In Flames guitarist) and Daniel Flores (Producer) asking if we would like to try writing together! Of course we said yes!!! So we flew over to Sweden and started writing together, it went so well we ended up writing 2 songs together Empty and Breathe Out. It was these two songs that outlined the breadth of the next album.
I heard that there's a story behind the sheep skull on the cover. Anyone care to explain how that image came about?
Nick: Yeah, it’s a bit strange! Long story short - I was looking at bone carving as a hobby...this was a skill that a Maori tribesman taught me. I wanted to try carving something a bit bigger and ended up challenging myself to carve an animal skull. Living near Dartmoor I went looking for an animal skull and stumbled across a sheep skull which I brought home. I will spare you the gruesome details but after a lot of cleaning up I started carving the patterns into the skull….this is the skull you see on the front cover of the Black Sheep album.
Tarin: We were so lucky that Nick does strange things like this! It took him hours to do. Just think that poor dead sheep has no idea that he is now immortalized on the front cover of the Black Sheep album!
What were your greatest memories that came about when filming the music video for 'Pretty Girl' in Las Vegas?
Nick: Driving up and down the Las Vegas Strip on a Friday night was mental, and flying over the Strip at night in a helicopter has to top it off!
Tarin: Yeah we met some crazy people hanging out on the Strip, Vegas really is a town you can party in and there wasn't much time to sleep! We also had a great helicopter pilot who understood what we were trying to film and he treated us to some pretty crazy helicopter manoeuvres. Luckily none of us were sick!
Nick: Overall filming Pretty Girl was a real epic adventure...we drove to Vegas from LA via Route 66 in a convertible Mustang...now it doesn't get much better than that.
With the new music video for 'Save Me' now released what would you say was the link between Johnston's scenes from his short sci-fi 'Lunar' and your song 'Save Me'?
Nick: Like most songs the video gives the song a new meaning, we originally wrote Save Me about the individual struggle against religious beliefs, political beliefs and personal salvation. When we saw Johnston's short sci-fi film it seemed to match the meaning of the song.
Tarin: Yeah Lunar really illustrates how these state belief systems can ruin a person’s life. Lunar is set in the future and in the film the main character is sent to prison for stealing a loaf of bread in order to feed his unregistered child. In the future all prisoners are sent to the Lunar (moon) prison penitentiary and no-one ever returns from these prisons. Because of this he is forced to kill in order to escape. I think this paints a very scary picture of the future and this is what Save Me is talking about.
What was the experience like collaborating with Johnston when filming 'Save Me'?
Tarin: Amazing! Tyson is such a lovely person....he's young and really passionate about what he does so it's no wonder he's making waves in the film/TV industry. Tyson was so easy to work with because he is a fan of the band...that helps!
Nick: Yeah we were so excited to meet him in person as we had already spoken via email. So when we arrived in LA we met with Tyson and went to a Pornstar Karaoke night...that was the same night we met Ron Jeremy the famous porn-star...it was insane!
Lastly, how have you matured as a band since releasing your self-titled 2012 release and creating the new album 'Black Sheep'?
Nick: Well we've learnt a lot about the music industry...you've got to remember that Sanguine has always been a very DIY project. Everything you see is created by the band...we never had anyone helping us and I think that this passion shows.
Tarin: Yeah we've absorbed a lot of information, learnt new skills, worked with some amazing people...for example Daniel Flores our Producer really taught us how to arrange strings, Jesper taught us how to layer guitars...everything we do we learn something new. The first album was a collection of demos and self-recorded songs...this time around we actually recorded with professionals in a professional studio. Everything has been a step-up for us! We still like joking about so maybe we aren't any more mature just a little wiser?!!
Thanks to Alison and the band for answering these questions. It was a great experience being able to interview the band about the album. If any other bands would like to be interviewed concerning album releases please email me at rachelcolley@msn.com and we can sort something out. Thanks again to Alison and the band for giving up their time for these questions.
Hope you enjoyed this blog post,
Rachel.
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