The Median Man sat down with Brittney Slayes to discuss all things Unleash The Archers.
The Median Man sat down with Brittney Slayes to discuss all things Unleash The Archers.
PROCESS
What was the writing process like for your upcoming album and how did it differ from your last album?
We actually used the exact same process for both albums, the only major difference was that Grant and Andrew shared the riff writing duties on Apex, but it was all Andrew on Abyss. Prior to writing Apex and Abyss I wrote out a track-by-track guideline for every song on the album as though they were chapters in the story, and in those chapters I included what was going on in the story, how I wanted the song to make the listener feel, what I wanted the song to sound like (ie. dark and heavy, fast and light, etc.) and any artists or particular tracks that I hoped would inspire or influence the song melodically or structurally. The boys then took that guideline and used it to come up with riffs, which we would toss back and forth and edit here and there to make sure they would work for each song. Andrew did an incredible job of coming up with super catchy riffs on Abyss, and we dissected each and every track to make sure that everything had a purpose and was all moving in the same direction. We really took our time writing Abyss to make sure that every song made sense and fit perfectly with the tracks that came before and after.
How did you decide what themes to write about for this album?
The story behind Abyss had been written for a while, being that Apex & Abyss are two parts of the same whole. As I said above I first wrote the story in 2016 when we started writing Apex, and things changed a bit over time but the basic arc was written about five years ago. It all started with our main characters, The Matriarch and The Immortal, and I let them inspire the story with their interactions and characteristics. I knew right from beginning that my antagonist was going to be an evil, power-hungry sorceress, and that my protagonist was going to be a tragic hero with a major aversion to going against his ‘fate’. It all spawned from there!
STORY
STORY
How did you decide what themes to write about for this album?
The story behind Abyss had been written for a while, being that Apex & Abyss are two parts of the same whole. As I said above I first wrote the story in 2016 when we started writing Apex, and things changed a bit over time but the basic arc was written about five years ago. It all started with our main characters, The Matriarch and The Immortal, and I let them inspire the story with their interactions and characteristics. I knew right from beginning that my antagonist was going to be an evil, power-hungry sorceress, and that my protagonist was going to be a tragic hero with a major aversion to going against his ‘fate’. It all spawned from there!
LEGACY
Which songs are you looking forward to fans hearing the most?
I absolutely love Legacy and The Wind That Shapes The Land. We have been jamming both of those tracks pretty regularly in preparation for our upcoming live stream, and they are insanely fun to play. I think the fans will enjoy them just as much because they are fast-paced and exciting, and they have a lot of story to tell so they are engaging as well. I can’t wait to hear everyone sing along with the chorus on The Wind, it is one of my favourites from the album for sure!
How has Covid impacted your plans for the album?
Well it started by forcing us to push the release date back a month, but that was not really too bad, I know there are some out there that have pushed their releases right back to 2021 and I have no idea how they will be able to hold on to the record for that long without fans getting to hear it. The second big issue is that we won’t be able to tour, so there is a huge part of how we pay back our loans for the recording and merchandise out the window right there, but we are doing our best to innovate with our live streamed album released show planned plus a twitch channel that we are hoping to hang out on quite a bit more this fall. Lastly we were pretty worried about the pre-order sales because so many people are out of work and money is tight these days, but we did our best to come up with some really cool exclusive merch ideas that seemed to be enticing enough so those have been doing well despite the circumstances. In times like these you really have to just hope for the best and prepare for the worst, but our fans have been amazing and incredibly supportive, so we are very lucky to have them and are happy with how things are going so far!
RELEASE
RELEASE
How has Covid impacted your plans for the album?
Well it started by forcing us to push the release date back a month, but that was not really too bad, I know there are some out there that have pushed their releases right back to 2021 and I have no idea how they will be able to hold on to the record for that long without fans getting to hear it. The second big issue is that we won’t be able to tour, so there is a huge part of how we pay back our loans for the recording and merchandise out the window right there, but we are doing our best to innovate with our live streamed album released show planned plus a twitch channel that we are hoping to hang out on quite a bit more this fall. Lastly we were pretty worried about the pre-order sales because so many people are out of work and money is tight these days, but we did our best to come up with some really cool exclusive merch ideas that seemed to be enticing enough so those have been doing well despite the circumstances. In times like these you really have to just hope for the best and prepare for the worst, but our fans have been amazing and incredibly supportive, so we are very lucky to have them and are happy with how things are going so far!