What's it like to release your best album yet at the start of a global pandemic? In this new interview, to coincide with the album's relauch, Then Comes Silence talk about "one of the weirdest years of our lives".
Most
bands would avoid releasing a major album on Friday the 13th, but post-punk and
goth musicians have never been shy to stare the dark side of life full in the
face, and self-styled ”Swedish captains of post-punk" Then Comes Silence chose
13th March 2020 to unleash their stunning new album ”Machine” onto the world. However,
that inauspicious date lived up to its fearsome reputation and became the day
the planet moved into global lockdown mode, with all but the most essential
services closing down overnight.
Fast
forward eight months and Friday 13th is here again, and Then Comes Silence have
chosen to relaunch ”Machine” in the midst of a morale-sapping second wave of
the pandemic, with a new video of the track ”Dark End” being released on that
date (Friday 13th November 2020 - click this link to see video).
Rather than licking their wounds or throwing in the towel, the band has risen to the challenge and worked with the global pandemic (rather than against it) to do everything they possibly could to publicise what is one of the most dynamic, polished and accomplished darkwave records ever released. With trailer singles ”We Lose The Night” and ”Ritual” having both clocked up over fifty thousand YouTube views before the pandemic originally struck, Then Comes Silence released a third single, ”Apocalypse Flare” with a visually stunning accompanying video just before the launch of the album, which was made ”Album of the Month” in seminal German magazine ”Sonic Seducer”.
After
regrouping (as the lockdown began to take hold and gigs across Europe were unceremoniously cancelled) and recording two quarantine covers (”All Tomorrow’s Parties” and
”Christine”) which were released online as part of the Gothicat series of
events, the band put together a highly professional live-streamed gig from an
empty Hus 7 venue in Stockholm, before spending the summer building their own
rehearsal space, which they christened with a further pair of live gigs
streamed online in September, and more recently with another pair of video singles
filmed in the ”Red Box” rehearsal room environment, ”Devil” and ”Glass”.
This
Friday’s new video therefore brings the number of singles from the album to
six, a clear indication of the sheer quality of the music on offer on ”Machine”.
With collaborations with other artists (e.g. Wisborg and This Eternal Decay), a
new range of self-designed merchandise including facemasks and a whole raft of
interviews in different formats, it’s hard to see what more Then Comes Silence
could have done to overcome the bad timing of the album’s initial release.
But
at what personal and professional cost has this been done, and has it all been
worth it? Speaking purely as a fan, the answer to the latter question is an
obvious and resounding ”yes”, but to find out the band’s own take on 2020 and
the hand that fate has dealt for them, I leapt at the chance to interview them once
more and find out what happens next.
As
ever, I am very grateful to Alex (memorably recently described in a YouTube comment as "the goth Elvis") and the band for the opportunity to put some
questions to them and would urge anyone still unfamiliar with Then Comes
Silence to click on the video links above, read the interview and then head
over to Bandcamp where the band’s music and merchandise are available.
________________________________________________________________________________
1. You had
recorded the "Machine" album some time before the planned 13th March release date
and I know that you were all very keen to release the album, the first
featuring the current line-up. Given that the global pandemic was already
gathering pace by early March, were you tempted to delay the album’s release?
ALEX
No, that
was never an option. Partly because one always hopes that it's going to get
better soon so that one can complete the up-coming tour etc etc, but of course...
in the back of our heads there were a constant feeling of bad news coming, so I
guess we just hoped people would gather around social media during lockdown.
And
fortunately... That's what happened. That's what saved the album release somehow.
It was a virtual release more than a physical one. I feel a bit sorry though
for some of the interviews we did for paper magazines that probably didn't
reach the audience since it was almost criminal to get out and buy things other
than food and medicines... Or walk the dog.
2. You must
have been delighted with both the critical and fan reaction to ”Machine”, but
in the current difficult times how have physical and digital sales been
compared to previous four TCS releases?
ALEX
We
don't have all the figures yet, but I wouldn't
be surprised if the sales were slow in the beginning. It doesn't matter
really. Covid affected everyone.
Selling
merchandise on tour is crucial for an album release, but we shouldn't complain.
It's been busy on our Bandcamp site. Thanks to our lovely followers, we can
afford to keep on going. Last summer we launched new merch, the 'XX collection'
with the 'Washing Hands' t-shirt, facemask and the metal pin. I don't think we
would have done that if everything was normal.
3. Early in the
lockdown you put together a professionally shot live stream concert from Hus 7
in Stockholm with a setlist voted for by your online fan group and more
recently streamed two further live gigs from your own rehearsal studio. Were
you happy with the online viewing figures? Did you cover the costs with
donations and merch sales as you had hoped?
HUGO
We took
quite some risks with that first live stream, because to make it professional
we had to rent a venue, hire a sound tech and the video crew (director, cameras,
lights...). Also we wanted to make it free for everyone, so we only relied on
donations and merch sales to cover the cost. Fortunately we got an AMAZING
response from the TCS fans, I was overwhelmed and can't thank enough for the
support we got, also considering that these are complicated times for everyone.
So we made enough to pay venue and crew, and even some extra money to invest in
future projects. But for me the best feeling was getting messages from friends
and family, saying that we helped them to forget all the shit happening around
them for one hour. I feel like we did something good, and people trying to kill
(or let die) arts and culture should think about that. For the live streams
from the studio, it was quite the same, but that time we had a very small
audience there and it was awesome to hear some applause and cheering between
songs. From a performer's point of view, it's fun to play live streams, but
without the feedback of the audience it obviously loses a big part of the
spirit.
4. To further
raise the band’s profile, rather than handing over some tired old gig footage
like most bands did, you contributed new “quarantine covers” of Siouxsie and
The Banshees’ ”Christine” and Velvet Underground’s ”All Tomorrow’s Parties”
plus a special video for the song ”Devil” to the Gothicat live streams. Have
these extended the band’s audience or do you think that you were just
“preaching to the converted”?
HUGO
Yes, i
think it's very important to put love and effort in everything you do. Then the
result can be better or worse, but I believe that people can feel that. If the
online channel is the only way we have now to reach our audience, we need to
make something special, not throw a live video recorded with a mobile phone 2
years ago. There's a lot of stuff like that on YouTube. So I think the
"already converted" appreciate that, and sure it helped to extend the
band's audience, as through the online channel you can reach people and places
that you normally wouldn't.
ALEX
It's the
best we can do right now. Making the 'All Tomorrow's Parties"
inter-quarantine video was one of the most exciting musical moments in my life
this year. I'm so happy we managed to pull it off. We didn't have much time
because it was made as a teaser for the first Gothicat Festival. I had about a
week to collect the clips and edit the video and audio. It turned out pretty
well and the participants were as excited as we were to be a part of it.
5. As a band,
you also used the enforced downtime to build your own rehearsal space, and it
certainly looks very impressive from the pictures I’ve seen online. Are you
happy with the results? Are there any other positive consequences of the
enforced downtime?
JONAS
Yes, we
have dreamed about our own place since Alex lost his old studio. We have since
then moved around to different locations but nothing felt really good and then
I found this space that was almost perfect but needed a lot of work with sound-proofing
etc. It was a lot more work than we had planned but now when it's finished we are
super happy about the result. Now we have our own place again and we have built
it exactly as we wanted it, it's pure joy to be there now! The only good thing
about the enforced downtime is that we suddenly had the time to built this.
It's very versatile and we have even made 2 live streams with a small audience
in the studio.
6. Like most
bands in the genre, you have jobs outside of the band to make ends meet and
support your families. Were these jobs also affected by the pandemic? Has this
been an extra strain on the band?
MATTIAS
There
has been some unfortunate events for some of the members but currently it’s all
working fine.
JONAS
I lost
my job in March and it took me 6 months to get a new one. It was a very
stressful time with no income and I had to sell a lot of stuff and also rely on
friends and family to be able to pay the bills. I love my new job and and
everything is much brighter at the moment. The band have not been affected by
our dayjobs, or the lack of it, but we had to, like everyone else cancel our
tour in 2020. That has been difficult with a loss in income and we did also lose
money on cancelled flights etc.
7. You’re
beginning a second round of promotion for the ”Machine” album, which is
unfortunately coinciding with a second wave of the pandemic here in Europe, and
have been working on a new video as part of this process. Can you tell me about
it please?
MATTIAS
Since
almost every plan that we had for 2020 have been postponed or cancelled we felt
that we needed to focus more on videos and promotion than on live shows. We all
feel that most of the songs on “Machine” have hit potential so why not explore
that possibility and do some more videos.
8. How do you
feel about ”Machine” six months on from its release? Which songs have you
enjoyed playing live? Are there any which have really grown on you?
HUGO
I don't know, as we haven't done a proper tour with this album yet, ”Machine”
to me feels like that new pair of super cool boots you bought, but you have no
chance to wear them so they are still waiting in the box for the perfect
occasion to shine in all their brightness. I enjoyed a lot playing ”Ritual”
live in Hamburg last year, when we were recording for the music video. It's the
only ”Machine” song that we have played in a "real" show so far...
Actually I enjoy playing every song live, but maybe ”W.O.O.O.U.”, ”I Gave You
Everything” and ”Cuts Inside” are my favourites to play. Then, I could say that
”Glass” is a song that have grown on me after playing it live, because it was a
bit hard to record, haha.
JONAS
We are
very proud and happy with ”Machine”, it turned out to be a solid and strong
album. We love to play all the songs but for me my favorites to play is ”Kill
It” and ”We Lose The Night” I think. "Ritual" is also amazing when we can play it
with Karolina.
9. There were
three songs which didn’t make the cut on ”Blood” but made it onto an extended
version of the album released on CD. Are there any songs which were recorded
for consideration for release on ”Machine” which might still see the light of
day? Are there other mixes like the ”We Lose The Night” remix featured on the
unboxing video for example?
ALEX
We
haven't focused on remixes and outtakes. We 've been busy with the live
streaming events, music videos, ”Red Box” sessions, quarantine videos and some
other new stuff we might present on a rainy day.
10. With the
high quality live streams, the quarantine covers, the contributions to other
projects (Wisborg and This Eternal Decay for example), videos and interviews,
you’ve done everything you can in the circumstances to promote the album. For a
variety of reasons you ended up touring the previous album Blood for a couple
of years as the band’s profile continued to grow. Do you intend to wait until
the current restrictions end and you can introduce festival audiences to ”Machine”
before you move on to releasing a new album?
MATTIAS
We are
always working on new ideas and new music and are currently working out ideas
in the studio for a future release but all that we have been doing and are
about to do is “Machine” related in some way.
ALEX
What Hugo said, the album is that new pair of super cool boots. One day we'll
wear them for everyone to see.
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