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They Come From a Land Down Under: A Conversation with Andrew of Highroad No. 28 By Brian Campbell  |
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 They have a brand new full length and are planning on branching out and touring overseas in the near future.
Get eXposed: Brian: Where did the band name come from?
Andrew J. Cantwell: It sounded good, it was original and November 28th is my birthday. The band name has a profoundly strong and spiritual significance inherent to it (at least for me). It’s all about going on and persisting when everything seems so bleak, useless, hopeless and even absurd.
GE: How did the Highroad No. 28 sound develop?
AJC: In a plethora of ways. As time has gone on I have improved musically and, as we all do, changed and developed as an individual. The way the sound has developed is a manifestation of my emotional, psychological, spiritual and musical changes/developments/journeys. I think for every musician, who plays for love of music, it is similar: our emotions/psychology is embedded within what we write. When I started things in 1998 I was really in heavy groove rock…I loved that Drop D guitar sound and only ever played/wrote in Drop D. That being said, the first EP in 1999 was in C sharp. All the riffs I constructed around drum beats- I have been a drummer since I was about 8 or something like that. I still do work in this way to a great extent, but have more appreciation for melody. Things continued in this way for some time, but I always did want to develop. I tried some new things on our second EP in 2002. I was very happy with the release, but still felt there were certain things I was not ‘saying’ with the music that had to be said. I think, at that time, the sound was indeed growing, but not to the extent to what I wanted. In a way, we were confined to one genre and I never want this band confined to any genre. The first album, “Unsteady and Steady State,” marked a definite change and edification to the bands’ sound. Certain things about the way it came out were not consistent with my vision for the album. I realized that in order to reach this vision of musicality I had to a tremendous amount of work. So now, nearly three years later, I have just released “Stumbling to Divinity.” Both musically and lyrically it makes the statements I very much intended for. I am extremely happy with the album.
GE: Tell me about the recording process of ‘Stumbling to Divinity’
AJC: It was extreme. The recording process was not a matter of simply rehearsing for a year, doing some pre-production, then recording. I started writing it way back in March or April 2007. Over a period of six months I wrote over 20 songs, music and lyrics. After writing all the guitars, I started on the vocal melodies, then added keyboards, loops, samples etc. I started, in many ways, from scratch, in terms of the logistics/processes involved in recording. There was a lot for me to learn in a short amount of time. Until the very last day we entered the recording studio I was editing my tracks in the mini studio I have made, and adding certain elements to thicken the sound. I added all the processing then put the mastering suite over the all the songs (which later was removed due to headroom problems). We went in and bass was nailed first. It was such a rewarding process, and I think we all did a really great job. It was very arduous but, because we had a lot to do in a short amount of time. The engineer very much acted as part of the band. After we finished it all I had to go back to correct a few things, but they were not major things. So, after all that, I went and got it mastered.
GE: Who produced it?
AJC: I produced all the sequencer tracks at my home. We added some more samples and effects here and there in the studio to those pre-existing tracks, but that was very minimal. Once all recording was done, myself and the engineer produced it. I did most of the vocal production: I pretty much knew the equalization settings I was after, and with the processing, myself and the engineer winged a lot of it. We split the rest of the production between us, both throwing in ideas. On the band’s prior releases I didn’t play such an active role in production.
GE: Was it important to find just the right producer?
AJC: Yes. It took quite a bit of time to find the fellow we ended up working with. When I spoke to him, I knew straight away he was the guy. We both used the same software, he knew his outboard gear inside out, and we very much saw eye to eye on what would happen during recording. He was a nice and relaxed person too which always helps. He was very much open to my ideas and didn’t cut any corners. He put himself within the music, so to speak. It was very important.
GE: Tell me about your live show. What can fans expect from it?
AJC: They can expect a lot, and a big change. It’s all about energy, and letting go. Something that is inherently intangible. I have not been satisfied in the past by a lot of our live shows, and I knew when this record was being written things had to change in order to pull off the show that really shows what this band is about. A lot of preparation has been done to get things just right; we are running an orchestra of sounds now: vocals, guitars, drums, bass, woodwind, keyboards etc. The shows are more than just playing the songs from the record; they are about being absorbed in the actual soul of the record. I think the greatest thing we can do in a live show is to give people an emotional high, via the music. Or if they feel depressed, they can listen to a song they can relate to and, once again, associate with it and put themselves within the song.
GE: When will you be touring overseas? Do you have dates?
AJC: Late next year, so I can’t announce any dates as yet. We will play in Japan, in addition to other countries. It is greatly contingent upon how our album is received in various countries.
GE: Who are some of your biggest influences as a band?
AJC: I listen to anything- anything which emotional ‘stirs me’. Any genre, any era. I’m actually listening to some old stuff at the moment- Foreigner, Hall and Oates, Chris De Burgh, etc. The other chaps are into a lot of heavy metal, but they are open minded to all types.
GE: Tell me about your song writing approach?
AJC: It’s always been pretty much the same, from the very first EP, back in 1999. I write the stuff, and then give it to the other players to learn. Now, in 1999, up until 2004/2005 I was using some very average gear to do this. I’d record all the guitar parts on a tape with no overdubs. However, I knew what the drum beats were for each song. In 1998/1999, the fellow I recorded with was a live mixer. He helped greatly with the pre-production. I believe we used an old four track, overdubbed bass, vocals, and leads (on top of the drums and rhythm guitar). Once again in 2001/2002 I had five songs prepared and gave them to the guitarist. He learned them well and we just rehearsed and recorded these tapes in rehearsal studios. But there was no idea of the vocal lines, I didn’t drum and sing in rehearsals at that time. I knew what the vocal lines were, but naturally, the other guys wanted to hear them before recording. So we borrowed an old four-track and did the pre-production tape in one rehearsal, then we recorded - that was the ‘Dynamic Introspection’ EP. That’s the only release thus far in which I have not written all the music, the guitarist wrote a couple of tunes, and I thought they fit very well into the Highroad No. 28 sound. For the first record, “Unsteady and Steady State”, in 2005, there was no four-track involved at any stage. ’Stumbling To Divinity’ is a completely different story as pre-production was extensive and ongoing. Once again, I wrote all the riffs, I then layered them with synths, loops, pianos etc. I then added all the vocal melodies and lyrics. Each song got the same treatment. During rehearsal we had all the layers of sound running through my console. When I gave the songs to the other guys, they were, mostly complete (in terms of structure). That being said, a lot of things were added (more keys etc), but the structures were only modified minimally, if at all. At the same time I was mixing, and subsequently, producing all the sequencer tracks. I used a lot of panning and automation to overcome this and at the end of the day everything did come out in the final mix. Fundamentally, the writing process was the same in many ways to prior releases, in the sense that I wrote the riffs and drum beats, and then added the other elements of the song. But the major difference was there was a far greater amount of elements, and I had a lot of software and hardware to play around with.
GE: What can we expect from you guys the rest of the year?
AJC: I have already started the new album, and also am re-writing some older songs. We start our live shows soon, and we will make it interstate here in Australia. Also, we start work on a video clip. There is a lot of planning to do. With Highroad No. 28 you don’t know what to expect!
You can check out the Aussie boys right now online over at www.myspace.com/highroadno28.
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