Beat The Red Light talk to TNS about recording their new album

Here is an interview with Beat The Red Light that will feature in the next paper copy of the Fanzine.

Beat the Red Light are one of the best live bands I have ever seen and it is an absolute pleasure to be releasing their brand new album on TNS. Here is what the guys had to say about the new CD.

TNS) Can you introduce yourselves please?

Pook) Pook - throat and trombone.

Tim) Tim, I play drums in Beat the Red Light.

G) This is G of the rhythm section, bass division.

TNS) What can we expect from the new album? What’s it called and how is it sounding? Can we expect an even bigger mix of sounds?

Tim) The new album is called Salt the Lands - This has taken so long to write that every song has a slightly different feel. I can’t contemplate how many favourite cds I have had since we started writing a couple of years ago. It sounds BIG!!
Pook) The new album is sounding to me like perfection! We’ve just recorded the majority of it, well Mike BEEF Lankaster (our guitarist) did. Don’t be fooled by the fact that one of our band members is recording it, it aint on an 8 track. We spent the last 9 days getting cabin fever in Ipswich getting PERFECT takes! No 99% takes were accepted. We know what each other are capable of and wanted perfection! It’s been the hardest 9 days but totally worth it. Expect long epic black metal, grind, thrash and ska played in an epic way!
G) It’s coming along quite nicely, there’s horns, shredding and songs about zombies. It sounds like BTRL but just stepped up a notch.

TNS) Is there any particular theme to the lyrical content?

Pook) No theme, just different topics. The lyrics are quite a lot darker. I’ve recently just came out of a very dark place. I’d just split up with my girlfriend of four years, I was working twelve hours a day and still not earning enough to pay the bills, let alone rent. I went a bit of the rails. I kinda got myself stuck in this mental hole, but I’ve scramble out of it now. Some of the lyrics are about all that stuff.
Ones called ‘One Love Hypocrite’ and it’s a direct look at the homophobia in dancehall. I love Sizzla, Capelton and Buju Banton, but the homophobic lyrics have to go. Then there’s ‘Solanum’ which is a zombie survival guide, and the black metal song ‘Salt the Lands’ is about going on a killing spree, oh and sacrificing virgins! Then there’s ‘Bleeding Nose’.

Tim) No idea mate, have you tried understanding what Pook screams?
G) We might be into prog but we are not a prog band!(yet) This is not a concept album!!!

TNS) How was the writing and recording process?

Pook) Long!!!! We’ve been playing ‘Bleeding Nose’ since our first tour so it’s been years we’ve been writing this album! The recording has been the longest nine days of my life! Not accepting anything less than 100% perfect takes! Like I said earlier though, the hard works paying off!
Tim) Very weird and, for me, very disjointed. Writing has taken for ever, since writing ‘Bleeding Nose’ we have had a member change, stolen one of our trumpet players back from Chilli and the guitarists have moved from two hours away to two minutes. To be honest it is only in the last 6 months that we have really got into our groove. The recording process has been even more strange, the studio that we were booked into for three months backed out on us with 24 hours notice - we all have full time jobs so couldn’t move the holiday so we HAD to find somewhere to do it (massive thanks to everyone who made suggestions). For me this meant that I was only there for 3 days and then had to go back to the ‘shire’ to carry on working. I am sure everyone can imagine how gutting it is being so far out of the loop.

G) Like all the Vietnam war films ever made, all rolled into one! The Horror.....the horror!!!

TNS) Your ep was very well received and the live show’s have been unbelievable. Did you feel this album had a lot to live up too?

Pook) Not really, It just feels like a natural progression for me to push the boundaries. See how much heavier we can take it. We recently just played a set of just new songs and everyone seemed to enjoy them, I mean I’m totally stoked with the response to the e.p but to me that was just a really good demo knocked up in three days. We’re taking our time on this one and we haven’t got a producer who doesn’t know what we’re capable of so doesn’t push us for better takes! You want the job done properly, ya gotta do it yourself!
G) Most definitely, that’s why everyone has been pushing each other so hard in the studio, hence the Vietnam comments. The E.P. Was made whilst the band was still in a line up transition. ‘Salt the Lands’ benefits from the more settled line up. I’m right proper stoked with it. I really hope people dig it. The new stuff seems to be going down well live so I’m gagging to tour the album too. Next year is gonna be a messy one me finx!
Tim) To be honest, the band has changed so much since the EP that it would be a shame to try and compare the two. So yes, I think that this record will be a much better reflection of what our live performance is like than the EP. This is a snapshot of what has happened in the last couple of years, I’m really looking forward to carrying on the momentum

TNS) How do you find your mix of styles affects your audience? Do you think this will appeal to metal and ska fans equally?

Tim) For me it all depends on what mind set you are in when you listen to it. Hopefully people will like the heavy as much as the subtle and get what we were going for. With any luck it will be as interesting to everyone as it is to us.
G) Well, you can’t please all the people all the time can ya? We do what we do, that’s that. People either like it or they don’t.
Pook) Yeah, the e.p was I’d say more for the ska/punk fans, this one is definitely more for the metal fans! There’s only one songs on this album which doesn’t have a drop of ska in it. One ska part on the album is done in 5/8? Try and skank to that!

TNS) What have you got lined up to promote it in 2011?
Pook) Well we hit europe with the killer Stand Out Riot! That’s gonna rule and we also plan to do a tour with the Junk, can’t bloody wait!
Tim) TOUR!!!! I can’t fucking wait. It’s been over a year since we last toured and it has felt like forever. It is not that we haven’t wanted to, it just hasn’t been possible. If you have seen us before, imagine what we’re gonna be like coming out of a year long drought!!!
G) Tours, a sex tape and a giant inflatable bus stop cock which we intend to fly to London and attach to the 02 arena, thus using the old millennium dome as a scrotum.


Salt the Lands is out in February on TNS.