Light The Torch are back with a new album titled “You Will Be the Death of Me”, releasing on June 25 via Nuclear Blast. It’s another welcome return for the band who have seemingly put everything they went through in recent years including the pandemic into this album which has turned into some of their best work to date. We caught up with vocalist Howard Jones to discuss the album and also to find out how it all started for him with music.
Andrew: So hows things at your end? Hows things with the band at the moment?
Howard: Can’t complain! We’re putting out an album so that helps.
Andrew: Yeah definitely, it’s been a tough time for the last 12 months so how have you been dealing with it and how has it affected the band personally?
Howard: Pretty much we all just figured out how to stay busy on our own and that helps, just staying still and keeping stagnant I figured out real fast that’s not good for me. So I think we all just kept pretty busy and stayed in touch and trying to get through it.
Andrew: Yeah it’s a good thing you got this new album coming out then. I had a chance to listen to the album and I gotta say this is probably your best work yet, I really love the whole production and the sound and the whole idea behind the album. I understand there was some issues you had to deal with along the way as well but you must be very proud and very happy with the way this has turned out so far.
Howard: Yeah that’s always what you want is just to be happy with the final product and we put a lot into it and definitely crazy circumstances, life happens as it does. So that definitely shaped the mood of the album just because of everything we were going through individually and as a band that just kind of went that way. But I appreciate the compliment but yeah, I never know what to say to that.
Andrew: [laughs] I mean I’ve loved all the previous albums you’ve put out so I’ve been a fan of your work for some time but it does seem like this is a culmination of everything you guys have worked hard for over the last number of years or so.
Howard: Yeah we’ve been through a lot and that’s kind of why we’re as close as we are, it just seems no matter what it’s like, ‘Ok we’re all down to just keep plowing through and get it done’. For things to be where they are now, we’re pretty fortunate.
Andrew: When you started working on these songs for ideas and stuff like that, did you have any particular agenda or motive, anything that you really wanted to do and achieve on this particular album?
Howard: No I mean that’s generally why Fran [Artusato, guitarist] and I will spend some time together and just kind of loosely talk and just, if he has some ideas or I have some ideas or I’ve got a theme I’m thinking of or if he has music already written, we just start talking and honestly I think “Death Of Me” was the first song written, or at least the first song I wrote but it was in the first batch of demos and it’s like, Ok this song is going to be heavy as far as emotionally. There’s still some pretty heavy spots in it and all that good stuff but we’re pretty happy with how it turned out. It also helps that Fran is very good at crafting things, he gets an idea in his head he’ll figure it out and so it’s always a plus to have somebody like him on you side.
Andrew: Was there anything in particular that was inspiring you the most creatively speaking, like what was making you have all these ideas come out?
Howard: That life has little pockets of terrible, so that’s where all these things came from! It’s just things were rough and so it’s just writing and some of it got very personal so that’s just what it was. I really don’t know how things are going to go, I try to write a ton and I write every day but I didn’t really use any of that, it’s just what’s happening at that moment. I really should draw from some of that since it’s all sitting there but a lot of that was just coming fresh.
Andrew: Do you have a sort of process for writing at all? Has that changed over the years or have you worked out a formula for yourself?
Howard: Writing is always different, to me it’s just different depending on the song. It might be a chorus that comes first, it might be just a simple phrase. I never know how it’s going to come but first thing first it’s just listen, listen to the music and I kind of go by feel, something will feel like something to me like, ‘That phrase feels right there’. That’s honestly what it is for me, it’s just feeling something and start writing. That’s not a very good description of what I do, my bad [laughs].
Andrew: Everyone has a different process I guess, do you find it gets more difficult or easier as the years go on?
Howard: Depends on the time. Sometimes my brain is just blocked, I think I’ve written everything that I can and then there’s times…sort of like the beginning of writing this album, we’re itching to write the album. We toured a bunch, let’s write some new music and then by the end of the album I can’t put three words together and my brain’s blocked. And Fran is very prolific so he writes a lot of music so you go through a ton of stuff and the amount of songs that are just shelved that we demo’ed and just didn’t make it. I’ll just go ahead and say they didn’t make it because of [points to self], this song is awesome, what I wrote is not, sorry!
Andrew: [laughs] Do you ever go back to leftover material at all and work on it more?
Howard: If it made the album, it’s supposed to be there but as far as revisiting it, no because that’s all I was doing was visiting. I can think of one song in particular that Francesco and I were really excited about and it did not make the album because I probably demo’ed it five different ways and it sucked every single way [laughs]. But who knows, maybe I’ll revisit it down the line but also if I never hear that song again, I’m Ok with that.
Pre-order the album here: https://nuclearblast.com/lightthetorch-ywbtdom
Andrew: One of the interesting things about this album as well is you threw in a cover of Terence Trent D’Arby which it kind of came out of left field for me, I didn’t expect it to be honest. What made you decide to cover this particular song “Sign Your Name”?
Howard: That it’s out of left field [laughs]. Really it was Francesco and I listening to some music, song came up and he loved the song, I loved the song, he said we should cover it. I said, ‘Ok yeah sure we could’, and then a couple of days later he gave me the music and, ‘Alright, he’s not kidding, Ok’. So it was kind of like that, it’s just us hanging out and listening to some music and we both didn’t know we enjoyed it and also it’s just kind of a different vibe than the rest of the album, it’s just kind of a fun song.
Andrew: Obviously when people cover songs it usually comes from their own personal influences and things like that. I mean were you a fan of Terence Trend D’Arby?
Howard: Oh I enjoyed his stuff, I mean I heard all his hits on the radio and MTV back in the day and everything but it was just random chance that Francesco brought it up. It was on the playlist and so it was literally like a quick conversation and now it’s on the album.
Andrew: There you go! Speaking of influences then, what made you get started in music and why singing? Who were some of your own personal influences growing up?
Howard: I got asked to do it, it wasn’t really something I was really seeking out. It ended up being my guitar player in Blood Has Been Shed, just different incarnations of my very first band was with him, he had heard I sang. The thing is I sang in choir in church and I sang in choir in school, just the beginning of high school and then that was it. So I didn’t know how he knew that, I hadn’t been in bands before but he asked if I wanted to be in a band and I tried and that started it. It’s like, ‘Hey I like this’. So it wasn’t me listening to like, ‘Yeah I’m going to do that’, I never thought that was an option. I didn’t hear what other people hear, to me it was just like, ‘Ok I’ll do it, it’s fun’. Then I just enjoyed it and kept going and once I enjoy something or that I’m into it, I’m into it and so I dove in and that’s pretty much how it all started. It wasn’t part of the journey that I thought I was going to be on. What was I going to do? I had no idea but that’s why I was like, ‘I’ll try it’.
Andrew: Was there a particular band or style of music that you were into that kind of maybe shaped your singing style?
Howard: No I mean I liked heavy music but I still listen to so much different stuff. I mean yeah I listen to Pantera, I listen to Faith No More but I also listen to a lot of hardcore and metal back in the day listening to old Earth Crisis and bands like Integrity and stuff like that. The first song I remember hearing on the radio and I love was Beatles “Let It Be”, it’s a moody song but I just remember hearing it all the time. Like every morning I’d get up and they would be playing it every morning on this radio station and it was playing in the house. It’s kind of like with sports, I don’t have a favorite guy in sports but I enjoy sports. In music there’s definitely guys that stand out but for me it’s like if it’s good I’m going to listen to it, I’m just going to eat it up.
Andrew: How does it make you feel then when other musicians tell you that you’ve been an influence on them?
Howard: Oh that they’re insane.
Andrew: [laughs] It’s gotta be a good feeling to have though, gratifying to know that you’ve done some pretty good work over the years.
Howard: Yeah but I’m not real good at taking that sort of stuff. I don’t hear what people hear, I enjoy what I do but I’m never thinking, ‘Man I sound awesome right now!’ It’s not how I think but I love the work, I love doing what I do so I just keep doing it.
Andrew: Well now that the album is going to be coming out very soon, will you guys be looking at hitting the road? I know it’s a little bit difficult but are you guys planning some tours and stuff?
Howard: That’s the plan, we’re just waiting to get some stuff confirmed. It does seem like things are slowly opening up in the States but we’ll see, things have turned on a dime and so once I’m out there then I’ll go, ‘Ok it’s really happening’.
Andrew: Well good luck, I hope everything works out for you as far as hitting the road and stuff. I think every band in the world has been waiting for this moment to happen and congratulations on the new album, as I said I think it’s probably the best work you guys have put out so far so you should be pretty proud of it.
Howard: I appreciate it.
Andrew: Take care and hopefully in the future we get to see you in Australia as well.
Howard: Fingers crossed man, it’s been a while.
