Amplify began as a song written nearly 20 years ago which was recorded in its demo form by Rob & James as teenagers, and went into a vault of unfinished projects. Back then it was an expression of disbelief and anger about injustice regarding some things happening in Rob’s life that were transpiring around him involving the death of a family member and a sinking realisation over time that the truth surrounding the events would never see the light of day. Somehow the song survived the years and eventually was handed over to Tim tucked into a pile of half baked demos and ideas and immediately he was drawn to it as having some major potential and some real raw energy in the music already, even in its primitive form.
The context of the lyrics are both sides of the coin of experiencing an irreversible tragedy. The disbelief of the event, the motions of moving forwards in auto pilot while the brain reprograms a new way to cope “my existence only digital”, and on the other side the strength that arises from seemingly nowhere to allow one to cope. Key lines such as “my fears are negligible” and “all dreams are intangible”, are direct references to the futility that comes with loss. Typical to his lyrical writing style he has written the verses to tell a story in metaphors of an destructive event, and then a message of hope or positivity in the chorus to balance it off. “I am fearless, amplified”,
Tim spearheaded closing a 15 year gap into the musicianship of the track, retracking and redesigning the guitars and drums while having Rob recreate the Synth stems from scratch and updating them to the standard that Shatterface fans have come to expect of their work. The result speaks for itself, under it’s new title “Amplify” the song previously known as “Destroyer” is now a technical and brutally heavy masterpiece retaining the original emotion of the material while bringing it into a modern age where it will stand up with other popular release of theirs such as “Killdozer” and “Sand and Blood”
Recording the video was a team effort, this time the band decided to do an all practical approach, known for heavy use of digital effects in previous clips, where they used footage recorded at a recent (sold out) Shatterface show where the song was unveiled for the first time in public, in conjunction with footage from an industrial themed location to create the clip as you will see it today. Once again they have decided to do all editing in house, making this truly the creative work at the hands of the band showing that even beyond their music, they are truly artists.
‘Deviate’ will continue on the themes of ‘Anodize’ but this time will move away from the mental struggles of self-loathing that it dealt with, and this time unpacks themes based around fear, disbelief and rage. This new EP aims to further set the bar of what to expect from Shatterface.
‘Deviate’ will be released independently on December 13th.
