We all love our Australian Rock and Metal and support it as much as we can and to a lot of Australian fans LORD will be a familiar name. But let me tell you the new LORD release DIGITAL LIES is a release that stands on its own two feet on the world stage. We talk to LORD’s Andy Dowling to find out all about it.
Mark: The new album came out the 22nd of February, we loved it! After a couple of weeks out there, what’s been the response so far?
Andy: Thank you, it’s been over whelming! Over whelmingly positive, not that we weren’t confident, like any band, you think it’s your best work, you’ve done the best you can, and you’re happy with what you do. You never really know until it’s out there and people are listening to it, so you’re always a little bit apprehensive. It’s exceeded my expectations, to what I thought the reaction would be, and whilst it’s been madly released in Australia, it’s just being exported to Europe, and that’s going to be the real test, as the Europeans can be quite “picky” with their music at times! So, that will be the true test, but, so far so good!
Mark: I actually think it’s very consistent, it’s my favourite Lord album, and I have listened to them all again recently! I also think it’s quite diverse, even though you and Tim have said in the press that it is just” the same”. I really think it’s more of a whole album experience this time around. I find myself, instead of going back to certain tracks, like you do when you have a lot of albums to review; I was listening to it the whole way through.
Andy: That’s good, and great to hear. It wasn’t a conscious effort to make it “more killer, less filler!!” We’ve always tried to do the diverse thing with the album, we tried to incorporate a lot more song writing, spent a bit more time on the writing, and keep a common theme throughout, and it’s a bit more “darker” through the songs, and has that under lying tone, so that’s definitely helped from a listening point of view, and the album quality is a lot better.
Mark: Yeah, it certainly keeps your interest, from the insane shredding, of “Because we Can”, to the really heavy, “Final Seconds”. The “Because we can” video, sort of reminds us of that Twisted Sister humour, from the videos they used to put out at the start of the eighties. Are you planning any more videos from the album?
Andy: Yeah, we’ve got one that’s almost ready to go, and we’re trying to stagger them out as long as possible, like anyone, you want to milk the album for as long as possible. We have one that’s almost done, and ready to go, and there are a couple of others we have ideas for, it’s just literally working out how we are going to put them together. It’ll be a mix, we have got a humorous one for later on down the track, and we have some straight up, serious metal kind of clips as well. I think for “Set in Stone”, we had about five video clips from the album, at the time we thought we were a bit over the top, but we thought this time we’ll do at least five and we’ll see how we go, and see how the budget goes as well.
Mark: Yes, that is a consideration these days, people like to consume the content, but it is very expensive for bands to actually do that, especially when you are trying to get out there touring as well.
Andy: Exactly. We are quite lucky in the sense that Tim has his own production company, and we do a lot of the stuff from here which saves us a lot of money, but even for us, to book sites and get people on board, to do editing and stuff, it can be quite pricey. So while we have that luxury, it’s nearly impossible to do anything more than a few videos. But, technology is getting easier now, and I think there’ll be more opportunities in the future for bands to do more.
Mark; I think so, but there’s obviously the question of quality, but there’s plenty of talented people out there. Just looking at a couple of the songs on the album for a moment, “2D Person in a 3D World”, that’s a big one for fans of eighties rock!
Andy: That was one of Tim’s, he had the title, and when I got my head around it, I thought, that’s a really mean title!! I didn’t know how it was going to translate in to a song, or how people were going to sing along to a really long title like that! But, when he explained the idea behind it and the idea, lyrically, I loved it. It’s a humorous song, but there’s also a good message behind it as well. Everyone can have a passion, and be unique, but there’s always a limit as to how far you can take it, and if you do take it too far you can look like a bit of an idiot!! So, it’s always moderation!
Mark: I think my favourite track on there is the title track, “Digital Lies”, in which I really hear Queensryche, in there! I think that’s the one that will hit hard in Europe!
Andy: Yeah, we have had a little bit of flak for that for the harsh vocals from the power metal element of our fan base, but overall that song has gone down really well. I do think Europe will really enjoy that song, it’s a great song and one that we’ve been mucking around in rehearsal with, to see if we can play it live, and hopefully it will work well.
Mark: The thing I like about the album is that there is something on there for everyone. If you like metal, you’re going to love the whole thing, but for other fans there are some great songs on there, whatever you like. “Walk Away”, is a huge song, a big AOR vibe, reminded me of Toto, how did that song come about?
Andy: I must say that’s my favourite song on the album; I am a big AOR nut, in general!! As soon as I heard the demo by Tim, I just was all over it! When I first heard it, it was only a couple of minutes in length, and it was mainly synchs, and you could hear some of the underlying synchs, throughout the whole song, there was hardly any guitars, no vocals and just some programmed drums, and it sounded like something from the Transformers soundtrack from the eighties!! So eventually it evolved and changed, and all the lyrics were added, and guitars and it ended up turning in to a really big song! I think to start off with, some people singled it out, and said it was their favourite, but I think overall it’s a song that gets overlooked by people, as there are other songs that catch your attention more, but it’s by far, my favourite song on the album.
Mark: I am speaking to Steve Lukather, in a couple of weeks, so I was going to try and get him a link, and see what he thinks!! On your website, you mention that you distributed through Riot and Rubicon, in Japan, but elsewhere you are going to put the album out, largely by yourselves, have you had bad experiences with overseas labels in the past?
Andy: It’s not so much a bad experience, we’ve been trying to sell the band for the last few years, and the offers that we’ve had in the past have been so ridiculous, that we may as well not release the album, as we would be wrecked financially! They wanted way too much, rights to the music etc., and years ago when labels looked after you more, and gave you more support, and touring support, you’d think about it a bit more, but now you don’t get that, and your albums up on the shelves, and you might get a little bit of press and things, but that’s about it, and some labels are actually asking us to pay them to release the album!! It was getting ridiculous, so we thought until we get a really good offer, we’ll just export it, and it’s hard for us to find the right people to get it out there, so we still use a grass roots approach in that sense, by doing it ourselves we can create a good ground swell, and build it up.
Mark: I know what you mean, it’s hard to know where the value is out there, with labels at the moment, and they are willing to tell you what they want to take, but not forthcoming in what they want to give you!
Andy: Yeah, and the other thing that is difficult, is our location, we are at the arse end of the world, and a European or US label aren’t going to pick us up, because it may be difficult for us to tour, and yeah, it can be hard, but for us, we could make it happen, if that’s what we are going to do.
Mark: You are going to the Head banger’s Open Air Festival, or was that last year?
Andy: That was last year. So, we did that, and that was quite good, for us just to show and prove to people in the industry, that we do what we say, and we are prepared to put our money on the line to get over there, and expose and promote the band, without using the labels. It is a bargaining tool when you start negotiating with people, so we can say we have done this in the past, and you know we are good for it, but it’s definitely difficult!
Mark: You are promoting the album though, and you have some dates coming up, starting off with “Ye Gods of Metal” festival in Brisbane, 30th March, which is your stomping ground, isn’t it?
Andy: Yes, I am, so I’m quite excited about getting back up there, I’ve been in Sydney for about seven years now. Ever since we’ve gone back to Brisbane, and played a show up there, the crowds have been great, and it definitely helps having a lot of friends up there!! That’ll be a really good show, it’s a big show, and they’ve been doing really well out in that part of Brisbane.
Mark: Then you have some dates down the East Coast, and also New Zealand, how good is it to get out there and play?
Andy: Fantastic! The first time we went out there was 2009, it’s so close, but I think a lot of Australian bands forget about New Zealand. It’s so disconnected from a lot of music, which is ridiculous; it’s cheaper to fly there, than it is to Perth! For us, we really need to capitalise on that, we went over there last year and played, and got a better reaction than we did the first time, and so we are making a conscious effort to get over there each year, to keep that momentum going. We are looking forward to getting back over there.
Mark: I guess we’ll see you back in Perth, sometime in the near future? You are from Redcliffe, Andy, are you aware of the famous brothers from there!? The Gibbs! You have covered Kylie, any chance of a Bee Gees cover??
Andy: Hey, I would be more than happy to do a Bee Gees cover, you never know!! Eventually down the track we will be looking at doing a covers album, it’s something we’ve been talking about for quite some time.
Mark: If you could have been a fly on the wall for the recording of any album, at any point in rock history, what would it have been for you and why?
Andy: Just off the top of my head, and this won’t be my best answer! But Harem Scarum’s self titled album would have been great to hear that going down on tape and the other one that I’ve ben raving on a bit about would be John Farnum’s ‘Whispering Jack’ just to hear John’s vocal takes and Brett Garsted’s guitars too.
Mark: That’s great, I love Harem Scarum and pretty much anything that Harry (Hess) puts his name to. Do you know that the Nelson brothers before they recorded their first album, spent time with Brett, who obviously went on to play on the album, with John Farnham, writing songs as well, apparently all those songs exist in Gunnar Nelson’s bottom drawer somewhere!!
Andy: Interesting!
Mark: Finally, what is the meaning of life?
Andy: Don’t take yourself too seriously; don’t think what could happen after you’re gone! Live in the moment, and do the right thing by everyone and yourself.
Mark: That’s brilliant! Thanks very much, mate, it’s been a pleasure, and thanks for talking to The Rockpit, and we’ll catch you next time you’re over here in the West!
Andy: Thank you, and see you soon.
Check out the band and buy the new CD from
http://www.lord.net.au/
