Earth Caller are about to unleash their debut album, ‘Degenerate’, which is not only a solid effort for the band’s first release but showcases an array of special guests. Front man Josh Collard chats about the new album, plans for the immediate future and more.
“Prior to writing the album, and when I knew what I wanted it to be exactly about, I wrote the songs chronologically in the same order as what’s on the album. They were specifically written to be like that,” he explains about ‘Degenerate’. “I know people like to go in with more songs than that but at the end of it I was confident with the songs that were there.”
There’s also a cast of many on ‘Degenerate’, stretching from Andrew Neufeld (Comeback Kid), Dre Faivre (Hellions) to Matthew Wright (The Getaway Plan). Collard explains their inclusion. “We met the Hellions guys one night when they were still The Bride. Our friendship blossomed more so when they were Hellions. They were more than keen to jump on and help with the video shoot and Dre was keen to jump on the track.
“With Matt Wright from The Getaway Plan, he’s one of my oldest friends in the music industry. He’s been a really good mentor to me, especially when I was going through a not so prosperous time five years ago. With Andrew (Comeback Kid), it was a similar kind of thing. I met Andrew when he was on tour with his other band and we bonded over drinks. Ever since then he’s been a really close friend. I actually learned how to yell by mimicking him when I was younger. I did have those people in mind when writing the songs, although I guess it was just a happy bit of luck that everyone wanted to do it.”
According to Collard, ‘Rise’ was first cab off the rank for the album. “When I first started writing the album, it was at the end of 2012. We didn’t have members at that point. I just went about writing the album, hoping to find members along the way. There’s been about twenty people in Earth Caller but I don’t consider any previous incarnation to be Earth Caller aside from the guys we have now.
“At the time that I started writing the album, the things I was going through were the closest I had been to finding myself. I wanted to write an album about what defines that and the adversity that comes along with that. With ‘Rise’, it’s about being trapped by where you’ve been born into and how hard it is to break that social fabric. I think defining where you stand politically on things and defining what you consider to be justice and injustice. The cool thing is, songs that I was writing a couple of years ago ended up helping me out with the challenges I faced down the track.”
Earth Caller will be on tour with Deez Nuts in June. ‘Degenerate’ is out 1 May via teamtrick.
Tour Dates
Thursday 4 June – The Brightside, Brisbane (18+)
Tickets available from http://weareunified.oztix.com.au
Friday 5 June – The Bald Faced Stag, Sydney (18+)
Tickets available from http://weareunified.oztix.com.au and http://gobookem.com
Saturday 6 June – Red Rattler, Sydney (AA)
Tickets available from http://weareunified.oztix.com.au
Sunday 7 June – Magpies, Canberra (Lic/AA)
Tickets available from http://weareunified.oztix.com.au
Tuesday 9 June – HQ, Perth (AA)
Tickets available from http://weareunified.oztix.com.au
Wednesday 10 June – Amplifier Bar, Perth (18+)
Tickets available from http://weareunified.oztix.com.au
Thursday 11 June – Fowlers Live, Adelaide (Lic/AA)
Tickets available from http://weareunified.oztix.com.au and http://moshtix.com.au
Friday 12 June – Arrows, Melbourne (AA)
Tickets available from http://weareunified.oztix.com.au
Saturday 13 June – Corner Hotel, Melbourne (18+)
Tickets available from http://weareunified.oztix.com.au and http://ticketscout.com.au
*Relentless not appearing in Perth
