We recently had the immense pleasure of attending ArcTanGent’s 10th birthday celebrations down on Fernhill Farm where Toby Ingram caught up with God Alone for a quick chat about what’s on the horizon for the rising stars from Cork.
what’s the craic lads?
[Jake] The craic’s good, yeah! At ArcTanGent there, of course the craic is good.
[Cian] Very very sunburnt. I’m in a lot of pain. But other than that, very very good.
ETC. has a very unique sound, blending elements of more traditional Math and Noise records with more danceable elements – drum machines, even throwing some R’n’B vocal chops in there – how do you find a balance between the conventional and the strange?
[Jake] The way we write songs, especially on that album, less so now – we just write loads of different riffs and go “Wouldn’t it be funny if we put this bit in here”. It stops being funny and… just becomes a song. That’s good enough for us. It’s a little bit of the riff, wouldn’t it be funny, and it keeps going for 10 minutes – that’s the magic there!
I’ve read that when recording, you’re always conscious of the live performance element to a song. What do you think makes for a great live show?
[Jack] That’s a very good question – I think variety is a good one. If I was going to see a black metal band who play blast beats for half an hour, we get the gist of it – I like that as well, but you can dance for a bit, jump around, hit people, reflect on things.
[Jake] Surprise is very good live. Especially with how frantically we jump around on stage, I want to be moving in different ways.
[Jack] It’s like quality street
[Jake] exactly – you wouldn’t want only green triangles. Even though they’re good. Does that answer your question?
[Laughter] I’m going to segue very ungracefully – It’s been nearly 2 years since ETC. was released. What’s on the horizon for God Alone?
[Jake] Oh god. It’s good that you asked – we actually just finished recording all the drums, and half the guitars are tracked for the next album. I don’t know how much I can say, but it’ll be coming soon. It’s actually like… horribly different. Really like Dillinger Escape Plan stuff, one of the songs sounds like an ad for O2, lots of that kind of stuff – we like to have fun.
Two very different ideas there!
[Jake] Yeah, who would have thought to put the two together – but we did anyway.
You’ve been known to break up your shows with impromptu karate sessions – Who would be your ideal opponent in a real karate fight?
[Jack] Steven Seagall.
[Band] Yeah.
[Jake] Steven Seagall – or more accurately, someone weaker than me, that I could beat.
Steven Seagall, but like, a tiny baby version?
[Jack] Oh my god.
[Jake] Yeah. Tiny Steven Seagall
[Jack] Fuck you Steven Seagall!
[Jake] A flock of Steven Seagalls.
[Jack] That’s the next song name I think – there’s one song that we haven’t got the name of yet. There’s a working title – I think we’ll call it that.
How did you find it performing two completely different sets at ATG – did you have a preference and did you see a difference in reactions at all?
[Jake] It was actually unreal doing both! I think the silent disco on the Friday definitely helped get the crowd in on Saturday.
I’d say we prefered the silent disco just because it was more of a novelty. The crowd were going mad for both of them which was class. Would love to do something like that again. There was a lot more people laughing alright at the silent disco when they took their headphones off
Who were your ATG Highlights from the weekend?
[Jake] There were loads highlights. The lineup was unbelievable. Our top ones were Sans Froid, Gallops, Baroness, Delta Sleep and Peach
Can we expect you guys back in the UK at any point?
[Jake] Oh we’ll definitely be back over to the UK. Hopefully towards the end of the year and if not definitely early next year.
Nice one lads, thanks for taking the time to talk to us.