It was back in 2013 when Perth indie-rock band 46 Brigade released their full-length debut ‘Reverse the Future’ and seven long years later the follow-up album ‘Into the Great Unknown’ is now out there for people’s listening pleasures through Bandcamp, after being released back in May. With influences such artists as The Killers, Keane and Bruce Springsteen it is a collection of songs that can be enjoyed by all. ‘Sorry’ & ‘Pictures of Better Days’ have already been dropped as singles and the band have now, in the past few days, released the title track ‘Into the Great Unknown’. The Boston in Northbridge host the bands official launch night on September 17th and joining 46 Brigade will be a strong and diverse line-up of some of Perth’s finest with The Silent Deeds, Triple Engine & Leah Ballantyne all performing on the night.
The Rockpit managed to grab a bit of time with singer songwriter Craig Ballantyne and sit down over a cold beer in an Osborne Park pub in Perth, to discuss the new album, his musical influences and how they came to get a Grammy Award winner to mix the album…
Sean: Thanks for your time Craig. We’ve both been busy with various things but it’s great to finally catch up to chat about your latest album ‘Into the Great Unknown’.
Craig: That’s right. It’s all been a bit hectic of late.
Sean: So, this is the second album from you & your band 46 Brigade. ‘Reverse the Future’ was your debut back in 2013 so how does it finally feel to have a new album out seven years later?
Craig: Yeah, it’s taken a while but we’re very proud of this one, in fact, and I know everyone says their latest album is there best one but I really like the way this one has turned out, both production-wise & song-wise just everything about it has come out the way I had hoped for when I was writing it. After the first album came out we kind of went on a hiatus, if you like, so we didn’t really do much for a couple of years anyway and the other guys in the band Matt & Stef (Helbo) who was playing drums, had family things going on and both were busy too so we just didn’t really do much. I wasn’t writing because I was going through my own relationship separation at the time so when that all went down, I thought to myself I really must get back into this and so I started writing again.
Sean: It’s a great album. I’ve been listening to it for a few weeks now and there are some really strong influences on there. The opening track ‘Sorry’ has a real Killers feel to it.
Craig: It’s funny you say that because there is a little story about when I was producing that one. What we did was recorded all the tracks and then sent them off to a producer & mixing guy in Sweden called Thomas Juth and with that particular song I asked him if he could make it a bit Killers sounding. He came back and said, “What do you mean by that?” There is a Killers song called ‘When We Were Young’ and ‘Sorry’ kind of has that vibe around it, so I asked if he could get that vocal sound and he did a bit of research and there was a plug-in that he wanted to use and he sent the first mix back and I was like “I don’t like it. I can’t do what Brandon Flowers can do” [laughs] so we changed it back to a bit more of us, but it does have that influence to it. It wasn’t meant to be a copy of The Killers stuff, but I love the energy they have.
Sean: Well, you kindly let us play it on our podcast last month and it’s a great track to kick the album off with. So, you’ve release two singles so far, ‘Sorry’ being the second one but the first was ‘Pictures of Better Days’ which has a very different sound to it.
Craig: Yes, very different. ‘Pictures of Better Days’ isn’t really our sound to be honest with you. That song was there because I wanted to go back to an eighties West Coast rock kind of sound – that kind of Springsteen vibe, you know. That summery vibe you know, so it was written about those early days in Scarborough during a relationship when times were a bit different and I wanted to bring that almost beach feel to it, that coastal life type feel.
Sean: They sound great on the album, but I’m really interested to see how they play live.
Craig: For the live set we have added another member to the band, so Ben will be on guitar & keys and that will allow us to get a more fuller production sound and we’ll have some samples in there too. We want to make it as full as we can because the album is so important to us.
Sean: Where did the name 46 Brigade come from?
Craig: That was from my ex-partner who I was with at the time when we did the first album. I had written the songs but couldn’t find members to be part of it. So, we were driving along one day, and I said to her, “I feel like I’m doing this all myself and I want it to be a team. I feel like I’m just a one-man army at the moment.” She said, “There you go. You’re forty-six years of age and another name for the army is brigade – 46 Brigade, how does that sound?” And from then it stuck.
Sean: We bumped into each other at the tail end of last year (2019) and you were telling me even then of your excitement for putting this album together. I remember seeing photos on your social media of you trying hard to get the acoustics right in the room you were recording the tracks in.
Craig: Yeah that’s right, I was. These things seem to take an eternity and for someone like myself it seemed to take even longer than an eternity because there’s always something else I think isn’t quite right but you know what Sean, I think this time, and if I do any more work from now on, I’m not going to try to be too pedantic about it because sometimes you can lose a bit of creativity with it but with this one I must admit I gave it what I could and the boys in the band Duncan Mackintosh (bass) & Sam Pettit (drums), they did an amazing job too. So, I’m just stoked and glad that it’s finally out now.
Sean: At the moment the album is available on digital download only through Bandcamp but are there any plans to release physical CDs? I know there is always financial implications & outlay when it comes to that side of things.
Craig: I’ll throw this back on to you because I had this chat just this morning. I said,” Shall we just make a small run of CDs for the launch? Will anyone buy them? Will it be a waste of money?”
Sean: Personally, I’m still a fan of a physical copy. It means I have contributed to being just a tiny part of the stepping-stone of your band by supporting you financially. It’s also something to remember the night by and if the band sign it at the merch desk even better. I might never even play the album, but I can remember I was there at the launch. It’s almost like a photo in a frame. So, for me, keep those physical CDs coming.
Craig: Right. Interesting to hear. We’ve done all the artwork so we could get them done pretty quickly. Maybe we will have a bit of a run with it and see where it goes. I reckon with this album, if you’re going on a forty-five minute journey then you can jump in the car, stick the CD in and listen to it from start to finish and it will be quite a nice ride. You’ll enjoy the drive.
Sean: I notice you have it on Bandcamp and you could listen for free but now you have to buy it, which is obviously a good thing for you guys.
Craig: Well, yeah and that’s an interesting topic you’ve brought up there. I think Bandcamp is one of the greatest things ever to happen to artists because if you buy an album, they pass on pretty much everything to the artists rather than like other platforms like Spotify. What we decided to do, after a bit of a discussion within the band, and I was a bit reluctant I have to say because I didn’t want to take it off but there is no way in Bandcamp where you can have thirty second streams, it has to be the whole album so when people can do that they are never going to buy it. There would be no way to make any money at all, so we decided that just before the launch night to highlight the two singles that we had already released and leave the rest off for now.
Sean: I think that is a great idea.
Craig: Do you?
Sean: I do because if it’s just there to hear then technically your album may as well be on Spotify for all to stream for nothing.
Craig: The other side of the coin is what if people are interested in coming to the launch night and they like the first two singles but want to hear a bit more, where do they go to listen to it?
Sean: To the launch night! [laughs]
Craig: Exactly. [laughs]
Sean: And buy their physical copy of the CD! [laughs]
Craig: [laughs] Right, you’ve convinced me now.
Sean: You mentioned that you had the album mixed in Sweden but failed to say that Thomas Juth is in fact a Grammy Award winning producer & engineer. How did that come about that you got to work with him?
Craig: It was a stroke of luck actually. Thomas won a Grammy Award for a Latin category I think it was and there is a website called soundbetter.com – I didn’t even know what that website was but I told about it by a guy I was buying a pedal from. He told me to check it out because there was a lot of good names on there and that I might be able to get a good deal. So, you go on there and you can listen to everything these producers, mixers & mastering engineers have done and so I listened to a few of them and selected around twelve names and I liked the work they had done and went to see how much they would charge to mix an album of eleven songs. Anyway, there was a guy from Abbey Road came back and wanted fifty grand and I knew I couldn’t pay fifty grand but they all wanted the job because the album was all done and ready to go and they just needed mixing. Thomas came back with a sensational quote and said, “I’ll do as many revisions of the mixes as you want” and everything was included so I thought I’d take a chance and he happened to be the guy who was the Grammy Award winner as well [laughs]. I asked him why he did this, because he has such a big name and he said to me, “I’ve done the big names, but I love helping the independent little guy. I like what you’ve done. I like the sound you have come up with. I want to do it for you.”
Sean: How fantastic is that? It must really add icing to the cake when someone of that stature in the industry says that about the music you have written and recorded.
Craig: I remember he sent me an email once… because there was a lot of toing & froing sending tracks, he said, “Craig, I’ve got a bit of a surprise for you. The studio over here in Sweden has just bought the very desk that Queen mixed three of their biggest hit singles on. They’ve got it in the studio and the news is I’m going to mix your next two songs on that desk.”
Sean: How cool is that? So what songs were they?
Craig: Well it ended up being four songs: ‘Sorry’, ‘Roll On Monday’, ‘Pictures of Better Days’ and ‘Devil with the Silver Tongue’.
Sean: A Grammy winner mixing the album and four tracks that have been through a desk Queen worked on. This gets better by the minute [laughs]. We first met when you were doing your acoustic covers set in one of the local pubs and it was evident from the setlist of your Scottish heritage with bands like Del Amitri & Travis littered throughout afternoon. Keane is another band that you’re a fan of but growing up where did your early influences come from?
Craig: My influences changed quite a lot when I was growing up. In the early days I was quite into the punk movement so full on punk with bands like The Starjets and Stiff Little Fingers. Then I got into metal with bands like Uriah Heep and UFO… I was a big UFO fan. Then I got into Springsteen and those kinds of acts, so I didn’t really have a particular genre that I listened to.
Sean: So, when did you actually get into to playing & writing? Was it a musical household you grew up in?
Craig: It was. Even the sewing machine was a Singer [laughs]
Sean: [laughs] Very good.
Craig: I think it started with bashing around on the pots & pans with my mother’s knitting needles when I was about five years old. I wanted to be a drummer and then eventually my dad got me a guitar for my birthday, and I went with him to have a few lessons just teaching in a group. I came home after that and learnt a few chords and I was hooked from that moment onwards.
Sean: Do you remember the first song you wrote?
Craig: I do. It was a song called ‘Life’s Pathway’ [laughs] and I wrote it with this mate of mine who lived across ‘The Dump’ as we called it at the time, which was basically about two streets away and he used to come over after school and we’d write something together. His name as Ian so yeah, that was the first one. We always thought it was going to be a big hit [laughs]. We were fourteen at the time.
Sean: Well, something that is coming from you are the influences that are brushing off on your daughter, Leah. I heard her perform while you were having a break at one of your acoustic sets and the strength of the material she has written herself is incredible.
Craig: I couldn’t be prouder of Leah. Already she has written more songs than I have and that’s full songs too; lyrics, music, everything. She’s got something like one hundred and forty-two at the moment that she has written and some of them I reckon are world class and she’s only just turned fourteen. She’s really got something there and most importantly she loves it. I’ve asked what she’s going to do with the rest of her life. Is she going to stick with school? She said to me, “Dad, I’ve told you time & time again what I’m going to do when I leave school. I’m going to get myself a Combi camper van and I’m going to go round Australia continuously playing my music.” And that’s all she’s ever wanted to do.
Sean: The pride levels must have lifted to even greater heights when the call came in that Leah had received a nomination from WAM for Song of the Year in the school’s category (14yrs & under).
Craig: It did but she rubbed that in because I never got nominated [laughs]. She won’t let me forget that.
Sean: You briefly mentioned the launch night just now. It’s been hard for you to arrange this and I know you had to change the venue due to our restrictions here in WA but the good news is you have now managed to secure The Boston in Northbridge on Thursday September 17th with a wonderful line-up which includes your daughter, Leah.
Craig: We can’t wait for that gig actually. Really looking forward to it. So Leah is going to open the show and then we have The Silent Deeds, who are a brilliant band and that you know well, so I’m looking forward to seeing their set and I know they have some good things coming up themselves too. Then we are coming on after The Silent Deeds and then closing the show with Triple Engine. I love their new single they have out, ‘Love Thing’ which is really catchy. So, I’m looking forward to it. It should be a great night.
Sean: And of course, with Phase 4 restrictions here in WA there are strictly limited tickets, so people need to get in quick. This will sell out, I’m sure of it judging by gigs of late. So Craig, I love to finish up with some more general questions and the first is if you could invite three musicians, dead or alive, to join you for a bit of dinner & a chat who would you choose?
Craig: Bruce Springsteen would definitely be one of them. The other two? You know what? I think I’d love to invite Phil Lynott; he’d be another one. Either Phil or Brian Robertson, one of those guys from Thin Lizzy. I was a big Thin Lizzy fan. I remember I got to see Thin Lizzy back in 1977 at the Apollo in Glasgow and there was this little lane down the side where they used to go in and out and Phil Lynott was just standing there by himself. I went down the lane and spoke to him for about two or three minutes and wished him all the best for the show and he was just one of the loveliest guys ever. Michael Schenker would be my last one. He was a hero of mine for so long. There you go.
Sean: Great table and I’d have to check but I think three new names. What was the last album you listened to?
Craig: The last full-length album? I listen to it every time I do the housework, actually. It’s ‘Strangeland’ by Keane. There’s something about that album I really like, and I can just put it on and do whatever I do.
Sean: Just listening to your acoustic set that time at Portofino’s reminded me of bands like Keane, Del Amitri, Deacon Blue, Travis… so much so I went home and dug out the albums later that day. As a songwriter yourself, if you could be credited with writing any song ever written which song would you choose?
Craig: Jeez, straight off the cuff? Maybe ‘Jungleland’ by Springsteen or ‘Thunder Road’ which is another of his songs. It’s a very difficult one because there are so many great songs. It could be different tomorrow too.
Sean: Don’t forget you have over one hundred of your daughter’s songs to pick from too.
Craig: [laughs] Yeah and I already know which one I would pick of hers. It’s a really nice song she said she wrote for me called ‘Number One’. I love that song and just hope she plays it on the launch night.
Sean: Well I look forward to catching up on the September 17th at The Boston to see 46 Brigade perform and to grab my copy of the CD and I can’t thank you enough for freeing up some time to have a chat with me. We wish you and the guys all the best for the album & launch Craig.
Craig: Thank you Sean.
46 Brigade – ‘Into The Great Unknown’ Album Launch
Thursday September 17th at The Boston, Northbridge Perth
with special guests The Silent Deeds, Triple Engine and Leah Ballantyne
Doors 7.30pm, tickets via Oztix
Event page here
