You’ve got to be a pretty special band to have your name used in the same sentence as bands like Tool and Neurosis but then again Reading-based progressive metallers No Made Sense are just that little bit special. Just ahead of the release of their awesome new album, The Epillanic Choragi, Planet Loud had a chat to the boys to find out what it is that makes them tick.
Planet Loud – So, how’s it going?
No Made Sense – Not bad thank you, bit tired, bit hungry. Bit moany, evidently.
Planet Loud – What have you been upto recently?
No Made Sense – Well the album has just come out and we had a launch show last week, so I’ve been pretty busy trying to make sure stuff goes to plan and basically just getting excited about the release of our album! We started recording it over a year ago so it’s taken a while to finally all come together but it was worth it, at least according to some of you!
Planet Loud – For those people who don’t know No Made Sense, who are you?
No Made Sense – No Made Sense are a 3-headed noise beast with an average age of 21 here to make some crazy old prog and to show the UK you don’t have to flatter Lamb Of God to make some great metal.
Planet Loud – You’ve got your new album out today, tell us about it?
No Made Sense – Basically it’s a concept album chronicling a man, a dream, a tower and some fucking chaos. If you pay real close attention you’ll get more out of it, so put on some headphones, take some drugs and listen to the album in its entirety, uninterrupted. And maybe take off all your clothes. I recently realised that you feel more vulnerable watching horror films in your boxers than if you were fully clothed so, by that logic, the album will fuck with you more if you’re minus clothing. And maybe standing in the middle of a field at 2 in the morning. Give it a whirl.
Planet Loud – Tell us about the writing and recording process for you guys. How does it work?
No Made Sense – Some of the older material on the album was just written at home but the last couple of songs were finished in the practise room and were a bit more spur of the moment and improvised until we settled on what worked. But mainly me and Joe share writing duties. I’m better at arranging and he’s better at the interludes! Recording is pretty stressful for me because I’ve got to record all the guitars and also the vocals so once drums and bass are done it can be a bit overwhelming.
Planet Loud – Do you enjoy being in the studio?
No Made Sense – The last two times we’ve been in the studio it was with Dan Weller and Justin Hill who are great guys to work with. It’s a really relaxed environment and they always strive to get the best out of you as a performer. Sometimes it can get stressful when you start to run out of time or things take longer than planned but the best thing to remember is to chill and enjoy it, because it really sucks going back to work after a month off! But no, there’s nothing more exciting than recording an album and it’s so rewarding when all the hard work pays off and you’ve got the disc in your hands. Hopefully we’ll be back recording by this time next year. Can’t wait to do it all over again!
Planet Loud – Your sound is pretty crazy, what gets you in the mood for writing?
No Made Sense – A lot of my writing for the album was done at home between like 2am and 6am. For some reason I’m more productive when everyone’s gone to bed, there’s a lot less distractions and I’m more focused. I use Guitar Pro to keep a record of stuff sometimes because by the end of the evening/morning I’m so tired i would never remember it the next day. A lot of the arrangement can happen far from a guitar or computer though; when I can’t sleep I think about the structures, or if i’m sitting on a train, or in a field, or in the pub. I have a kind of ‘Eureka!’ moment then try not to forget it before I get back to my computer.
Planet Loud – Which albums or bands would you say had most inspiration on you and why?
No Made Sense – The first The Mars Volta album is my favourite album of all time and probably was the main thing that got me flexing my progressive/conceptual muscle in the first place. Then I suppose albums like Times Of Grace (Neurosis) made me look at heaviness in a different light. When I used to write riffs I’d play around with them then think it’d be a shame if I only played one version of it which is kind of why there’s a lot of repitition and development of patterns and ideas. I’m a big Legend of Zelda fan and Koji Kondo, the composer, plays around with melodies and themes which has influenced the way I write.
Planet Loud – If you could sum up your sound in one sentence how would you describe it?
No Made Sense – It’s like if Mother Nature stubbed her toe and got really fucked off and started shouting and stuff like at the kids too even though it’s obviously her own fault and if she’s going to just wear socks the whole time…do you know what I mean?
Planet Loud – Not really. On that note, lyrically, what inspires you?
No Made Sense – This has always been a bit of a problem for me, I don’t want to whine about girls and relationships, and I don’t want to say I’m going to smash someone’s face in or suggest that ‘these burning bridges of the night’s sky will form ashes that will rise to repent the blackened sins of the fallen’ which is frankly utter bollocks. I think I’m more influenced by computer games for my concepts and stories than anything else; I always liked Creative Writing at primary school so it’s really fun to be writing the plots! Wow, that all sounded really geeky.
Planet Loud – What is the meaning behind the title of the album?
No Made Sense – The title is ‘The Epillanic Choragi’, which has come from the name of one of the tracks and is basically the name for these 3 beings who rule over the galaxy (The Epillanic Galaxy) and visit our protaganist and inspire him to go on the quest that the album depicts…
Planet Loud – When most bands write an album each track is taken as a seperate entity, how does it work for you guys? How did you go about structuring the album?
No Made Sense – Well there’s only 5 ‘proper’ tracks on the album, the rest are sort of interludes. There was no question what the order of the tracks were going to be – one song was blatantly an album opener, one was obviously a finale track and the rest just slotted in naturally. We used the interludes to try and get the album to flow and to allow for a bit of a break because if we just hammered out ten minute songs one after the other it would get a bit too much.
Planet Loud – How will it work in the live environment, how easy is it replicating the material live?
No Made Sense – It was all written with one guitar line, bass line, drumkit and vocal so essentially it’s not a problem. There were a few overdubs on the album to liven things up but what we lose in manpower we make up for by having an obscenely heavy live set.
Planet Loud – What is your live show like?
No Made Sense – Lots of energy, lots of movement, we’ve bought some lights recently that Joe controls in time with the music, we’ve got some matching attire too so we don’t look like a band of misfits… I think it’s safe to say there’s plenty to keep you’re eyes occupied, let alone your ears.
Planet Loud – Bands like Neurosis and Tool have always used visual effects, is that something you would like to do?
No Made Sense – Yeah we have thought about it, I think at the moment aspects such as cost and stage sizes are preventing us from doing it but maybe in a few years it’s something to consider. It’d really need a lot of thought for it to not look like a cheap trick though, but who knows. I have actually fantasised about our gigs eventually becoming massive stage shows with huge sets and props and lights and a cast of hundreds. I don’t know if there’d be a market for it but it could be epic as fuck.
Planet Loud – Playing the kind of music you do, it must be pretty draining on you mentally and physically, how do you feel when you are onstage and when you come off?
No Made Sense – I am normally pretty exhausted already whenever we hit the stage, but once the set starts, any kind of physical or mental distractions go out the window. I’m often in some kind of a trance by the end of it all. It’s a mixture of being fun and disturbing! Once we’re off I think we’ve all sweated away half our respective body weights so a pint and a cigarette always goes down well.
Planet Loud – You’ve been compared to bands like Neurosis and Tool, where abouts do you feel you fit into the musical scheme of things?
No Made Sense – I think it’s a huge compliment for us when we are compared to Neurosis, Tool and Mastodon as we’ve got loads of respect for those guys. I think for now we’d just like to be recognised as one of the better bands in the UK underground scene before we compete with the big guns. Musically we’re just going to keep playing the sort of music we want to do and enjoy writing and playing, I don’t want us to get too comfortable otherwise we’ll just end up rehashing our previous work and it would be boring for both us and the listener.
Planet Loud – What kind of music fan do you think would listen to NMS?
No Made Sense – Somebody with a lot of patience, a lot of taste and a whopping great big beard.
Planet Loud – What are your plans now the album is out?
No Made Sense – Hopefully we’ll carry on getting good press, raise our profile, play more shows and with any luck hop on a couple of tours with some more likeminded bands; we have trouble finding the right kind of bands to play with sometimes as we need to be playing to people who are more likely to dig us as opposed to playing to the mates of Johnny Scene and the Core Kids, we can go straight over their fringes sometimes. I meant heads. Straight over their heads.
Planet Loud – Bearing in mind this kind of music isn’t destined for pop-chart success, what are your goals for the album?
No Made Sense – Pretty much the aforementioned, as well as hopefully marking the beginning of a long and productive career. It’s taken years to get to this point and we don’t plan to finish any time soon.
Planet Loud – What are your goals for the future?
No Made Sense – As long as we can afford to keep writing, playing and recording music we’ll be happy, so let’s just see what happens.
Planet Loud – Thanks for your time, anything else you want to say?
No Made Sense – Is it too late for me to get rid of the thing about taking your clothes off?
Interview by Graham Finney
