| Behind Crimson Eyes Interview |
Interview with Aaron Schultz (Az) of Behind Crimson Eyes Behind Crimson Eyes was our band of the month in November and there is a reason we chose them. The Melbourne quintet formed in early 2004 and rapidly built themselves a name through the internet and from their intense touring within their native Australia over the years. Within that time frame, BCE (as they are fondly known) were fortunate enough to have supported numerous bands on their Australian tours in the past including Alexisonfire, Matchbook Romance, Silverstein, From Autumn To Ashes and Disturbed. The band (previously on indie label Boomtown Records) signed to Roadrunner Records Australia whilst in the midst of writing their debut, A Revelation For Despair in mid 2006 and were even handpicked by British metal legends Iron Maiden themselves to open for them at their Sydney and Brisbane shows earlier this year. If that wasn’t impressive enough, they were also a part of the line up on some of Australia’s renowned festivals – Soundwave Festival (2007) and Big Day Out (2008). With a new album on the way, what else is in store for them, then? MTGH recently interviewed guitarist and one of the two remaining founding members Aaron Schultz about the band’s new album and plans for the future, amongst other things: The band has just completed the first string of tour dates in support of the new single “Addicted“, how were the shows? The shows were a mixture of good and bad, but mostly good. The tour wasn’t organized all that well, and left to the last minute, so alot of people didn’t even know we were touring! The shows started off small and progressively got bigger towards the end of the tour. They were all fun shows though, regardless of how many people were there. What sort of creativity was the band feeling during the writing and recording process of Behind Crimson Eyes? It started out as a long, slow process. We had a bit of trouble finding a permanent studio where we would feel comfortable for a few months to write. So until we found the right place, we were at a stalemate. Once we set up at Kindred Studios though, the ideas just kept coming. At the time I was playing alot of Guitar Hero “Rocks The 80′s” and was loving just listening to alot of the bands that I was into back then. It was then that I realized we had to bring guitar solos, and solid riffs back into rock music. It seems to have been lost somewhere in the last 10 years, especially in our scene. We’d forgotten how much fun playing music like that was, and we’re having a blast playing this new stuff now. How does the band go about writing a song? Do the lyrics get written first before the music or vice versa? Generally the music. I would write alot of the music here at home and record the guitar parts along to a click track… convert them to mp3′s and send them to the other guys, so when we’d go into the studio everyone would have an idea of how the song would go. We’d learn it, take it apart, and make it better. We’d then re-record it and Josh would take it home and work on lyrics and melodies. With 2 EPs and a debut album under your belt which were equally well received, is there anything specific the band hopes to achieve with the sophomore self-titled record? I guess we’re hoping it will open a few new doors here in Australia, and overseas. We’d love for our fanbase to grow here, but touring overseas is every bands dream. We get alot of emails from people in the US and Europe wanting us to do shows out there. How would you describe the experience of being in Behind Crimson Eyes and doing what the band does? How do you feel when fans tell you that you have impacted and changed their lives with your music? Does it flatter you or scare you that you can have such a profound effect on someone’s life simply just by doing what you do – singing your songs and playing your music? A bit of both really. You sometimes forget just how deeply some people read into your lyrics and music. It’s one of the highlights of this job though, if you can change a persons life for the better. We also get kids backstage at shows sometimes who are getting treated for cancer etc, and all they wanna do is to meet us. It makes this job all the more worth it when you see just how much joy you can bring to someone. Are there any gifts that you have received from your fans that stand out as unusual and particularly memorable? There’s a couple of girls in Brisbane, Qld, that always bring us boxes of chocolates or lollies to our shows. It doesn’t matter if it’s our own show, or a big festival… the chocolates always make their way onto the stage during our set, hehe. It’s awesome! It’s not all that strange, but it definitely stands out in my mind. What are you most proud of so far in your career? I’m proud of it all hey. The touring, our fans, our recordings.. the lot. It means alot to see my family proud of what I’ve achieved. See mum.. I wasn’t just jerking off in my room all those years! Define success for us and what it means to the band. In our minds, we’re already successful. None of us thought we’d even get this far with the band. There’s not alot of money in the music industry, period. All of us have day/night jobs that we still work at to make a living. We get called “sell-outs” quite often by people who hear a bit of a change in our music and automatically think we’re doing it for the money. We’ve never been about the money, and never will be. Hell… there IS no money.. hence the day jobs, haha. If we were ever in a position to make a living off this band, that’d be amazing. It would mean more time to focus on the band and writing music, but who knows if that day will ever come. What is the band doing to ensure its longevity in this volatile industry? We definitely try to keep our sound fresh. We’ve never put out the same record twice, and you’ll hear progressive changes in all our releases. You’ll always know it’s BCE when you hear it, but we have to mix it up to keep it fresh and exciting. The scene is flooded with stereotypical screamo bands at the moment, and we don’t want to get lost in that flood. What has been the best advice you’ve received regarding the music business? Always follow your heart. We’ve had labels telling us what sort of record we “should” release, and what sort of record they’d “like us to release”, but we’ve always gone with what WE wanna do. We’ve never let anyone influence us otherwise. Having played with loads of other bands to date, both local and international, what has been the most interesting touring experience over the past 5 years? Would have to say the tour with Horsell Common and Mourning Tide a few years back. Can’t really talk about the experience in question, but lets just say it involved alcohol, a groupie, toilet cubicles and masturbation! We’ll leave it at that. Fucking Horsell Common, haha! The band has toured relentlessly across the country for every EP and album released and even ventured to New Zealand to promote A Revelation For Despair. Are there any plans in the works to tour places like the UK or US in 2009 based on the contacts the band may have kept from supporting acts like New Found Glory, Funeral For A Friend, Bullet For My Valentine and Midtown? Definitely looking to venture overseas next year. We’ve only really kept in contact with a few of the international bands we’ve toured with, namely Funeral For A Friend and Bullet For My Valentine. If we can get the new album released internationally, then that would help us get a tour a great deal. Both the aforementioned bands are keen to help us out touring internationally though. What can fans expect from the band in the next year? A sick new album, and ALOT of touring!! Parting words to fans and those reading this interview who may not be too familiar with the band? March 21st (I think) is when the new album will be out. Check it out.. and check out the Blacklitskies.com website for all the latest news!! © MoreThanGoodHooks.com / BlackLitSkies.com | 8th December 2008 * MTGH would like to thank Aaron Schultz and Behind Crimson Eyes for their time and the interview and wish the band the best in their future endeavours. If you would like to find out more about the band and their music, visit the links below. LINKS “Addicted“, the new single of the band’s sophomore self-titled album is out on iTunes now. |
