Post by snakesandladders on Mar 9, 2011 8:11:38 GMT -5
I'd like to intro a great psychedelic space rock band.....have fun:)
Amplifier Biography
As most of Manchester sleeps, three men work through the night in a giant Victorian mill building. As the dawn breaks and the city begins to stir they continue to sweat and toil in an unlikely continuance of the giant red-brick edifice’s industrial past. But replacing the roar of looms, belts and flywheels they – Sel Balamir, Matt Brobin and Neil Mahony – make music with guitars, drums and bass. Sel has arrived in Manchester from London, Matt from Wales and Neil from Ireland. Together they are Amplifier and they are giving life to The Octopus.
Ostensibly The Octopus is the third album by the band, but to Sel, Matt and Neil is it much more. It has taken them three years to make and they’ve financed it themselves, without any record company support (or
interference), and so the results of their labours are huge in scale and panoramic in scope.
For a start, its 16 songs run together into a concept piece lasting just over two hours and so spreads across two CDs or three discs of vinyl.
Songwriter and spokesman Sel is under no illusions: “A record company would have insisted we release it as two separate albums. We talked about doing that ourselves – because we’d probably make twice as much money – but to us the aesthetic way it’s received is more important. Putting it out like this is a statement.”
That statement extends far beyond the music, to include the commitment and self-belief that have fuelled the band since they came close to splitting following the release of their second album, Insider, in 2006.
“It got to the point after Insider that we were going to quit but once we made that decision we just said, ‘Okay, but we’ll carry on – but just like the olden days when we were just doing it for fun. Once we made that decision everyone was there again.
“This is just the three of us in a room, maybe starting at 2am and just playing all through the night, then listening back to it, enjoying it. All the things that sounded pleasing were good and became what it is. That’s it – but that wasn’t even a plan.”
No plan but slowly, bit by bit, the idea came together… Not only the music for The Octopus – but also a book written by Sel (a special edition, limited to 500 copies and dedicated by hand by the band, will be available as a 70-page CD book detailing The Octopus). The book goes some way to explaining The Octopus referencing the human condition, infinity and entropy, everything and nothing. It’s at least as big a trip as the music itself.
“We spent a year just jamming, pretty much. Doing a lot of listening along the way. It’s a winnowing process. We’re slow! It would have been faster with dogs chasing us, but that’s what A&R is, right?”
“I remember exactly the occasion we got the title for it, which was in 2005. Me and Neil were having one of our late night ‘conversations’ in our old rehearsal room. We were just bemoaning the stereotypes of popular culture – it wasn’t a very generous conversation – and we were listening to this song by a techno DJ called Laurent Garnier (aka DJ Pedro of Hacienda fame) and it was something that had this really deep, throbbing and hypnotic sound to it… Neil decided it was like the sound of a big octopus that had attached itself around your head and was piloting you around… That’s exactly where the title and concept came from.”
Also on some tracks, guesting on his piano is 19-year-old Manchester based musician Charlie Barnes. His textures add yet another dimension to already multi-faceted sound of The Octopus.
“It’s really good having someone like Charlie come into the studio with us. He’s really young and vibrant and that rubs off on us.”
Utilising Charlie was part of the ongoing development of the band. It’s an ethos as simple as it is productive:
“We have a commitment to excellence. That’s what Amplifier is – everything to the best of our abilities.”
It was that commitment, and a whole career-full of bad luck that saw them turn their back on the idea of a formal record deal and go wholly independent.
“We’ve had four record deals and every one of them has always ended with us thinking, we just don’t want to do it like this anymore. There’s nothing more demoralising than working on something for a long time and then just giving it away, which is essentially what happens. I cannot get any of our old records back. In order to sell them off our website I have to first buy them myself. I find that really galling.” The band formed in 1998 and after a couple of singles debuted with a self-titled effort on Music For Nations in 2004. The album was almost universally applauded…
“A British rock-scene altering record. Enjoy it in all it’s infinite glory”
Kerrang! 5/5
“No other record this year will have the audacity to field such lofty ambitions, let alone have the skills to fulfill them”
NME 9/10
“Think trippy, heavy as fuck sonic violence. Think the future of rock”
Metal Hammer 9/10
“At present British rock doesn’t get much better than this”
Q 4/5
…but then things started to unravel. MFN were bought out by Sony and in fear of being swamped the band bought back the rights to the record and looked for a new deal. In 2005 they signed to SPV (Germany) and that year released an EP The Astronaut Dismantles HAL. In 2006 they consider themselves rushed into completing a second album, Insider, released on SPV’s Steamhammer label. That name seems ironic to Sel:
“Insider was made under the hammer so that’s what the format of the songs are like. For that reason alone we determined that we didn’t want to sign another deal to do The Octopus…”
Having made the decision to go it alone an sell it off their website, Amplifier tested the theory in 2009 with the Eternity mini album, a collection of older songs that had never seen the light of day. A limited edition of 1,000 sold out quickly, lapped up by a fan-base that has been a major source of support and stretches as far as Japan and South America.
A new convert is Pete Townshend’s brother-in-law Jon Astley who mastered The Octopus. Longer-term fans include one of those who writes incidental music for TV’s Dr Who, and a bunch of NASA technicians who regularly listen to the first album while assembling the payloads to be sent to the space station.
Amplifier fans are a disparate bunch but they all agree on one thing:
Sel: “Fans come up to us and say, ‘I don’t understand how you’re not massive!’. To which I always say, ‘I don’t understand it, either!’.” That may be about to change.
“The Octopus is very much a reaction to the album before it, Insider, and all the constraints – time limits, pressures, deadlines, requests for a single – that were put on us. We hated that. But when we did The Octopus there were no constraints. Well, just one – and that whatever it came out as, we needed to be 100 per cent proud of it.”
They are and they should be. The Octopus is a major work that will impress all who hear it now and for years to come.
www.amplifiertheband.com
By blackglove at 2011-03-09
Amplifier Biography
As most of Manchester sleeps, three men work through the night in a giant Victorian mill building. As the dawn breaks and the city begins to stir they continue to sweat and toil in an unlikely continuance of the giant red-brick edifice’s industrial past. But replacing the roar of looms, belts and flywheels they – Sel Balamir, Matt Brobin and Neil Mahony – make music with guitars, drums and bass. Sel has arrived in Manchester from London, Matt from Wales and Neil from Ireland. Together they are Amplifier and they are giving life to The Octopus.
Ostensibly The Octopus is the third album by the band, but to Sel, Matt and Neil is it much more. It has taken them three years to make and they’ve financed it themselves, without any record company support (or
interference), and so the results of their labours are huge in scale and panoramic in scope.
For a start, its 16 songs run together into a concept piece lasting just over two hours and so spreads across two CDs or three discs of vinyl.
Songwriter and spokesman Sel is under no illusions: “A record company would have insisted we release it as two separate albums. We talked about doing that ourselves – because we’d probably make twice as much money – but to us the aesthetic way it’s received is more important. Putting it out like this is a statement.”
That statement extends far beyond the music, to include the commitment and self-belief that have fuelled the band since they came close to splitting following the release of their second album, Insider, in 2006.
“It got to the point after Insider that we were going to quit but once we made that decision we just said, ‘Okay, but we’ll carry on – but just like the olden days when we were just doing it for fun. Once we made that decision everyone was there again.
“This is just the three of us in a room, maybe starting at 2am and just playing all through the night, then listening back to it, enjoying it. All the things that sounded pleasing were good and became what it is. That’s it – but that wasn’t even a plan.”
No plan but slowly, bit by bit, the idea came together… Not only the music for The Octopus – but also a book written by Sel (a special edition, limited to 500 copies and dedicated by hand by the band, will be available as a 70-page CD book detailing The Octopus). The book goes some way to explaining The Octopus referencing the human condition, infinity and entropy, everything and nothing. It’s at least as big a trip as the music itself.
“We spent a year just jamming, pretty much. Doing a lot of listening along the way. It’s a winnowing process. We’re slow! It would have been faster with dogs chasing us, but that’s what A&R is, right?”
“I remember exactly the occasion we got the title for it, which was in 2005. Me and Neil were having one of our late night ‘conversations’ in our old rehearsal room. We were just bemoaning the stereotypes of popular culture – it wasn’t a very generous conversation – and we were listening to this song by a techno DJ called Laurent Garnier (aka DJ Pedro of Hacienda fame) and it was something that had this really deep, throbbing and hypnotic sound to it… Neil decided it was like the sound of a big octopus that had attached itself around your head and was piloting you around… That’s exactly where the title and concept came from.”
Also on some tracks, guesting on his piano is 19-year-old Manchester based musician Charlie Barnes. His textures add yet another dimension to already multi-faceted sound of The Octopus.
“It’s really good having someone like Charlie come into the studio with us. He’s really young and vibrant and that rubs off on us.”
Utilising Charlie was part of the ongoing development of the band. It’s an ethos as simple as it is productive:
“We have a commitment to excellence. That’s what Amplifier is – everything to the best of our abilities.”
It was that commitment, and a whole career-full of bad luck that saw them turn their back on the idea of a formal record deal and go wholly independent.
“We’ve had four record deals and every one of them has always ended with us thinking, we just don’t want to do it like this anymore. There’s nothing more demoralising than working on something for a long time and then just giving it away, which is essentially what happens. I cannot get any of our old records back. In order to sell them off our website I have to first buy them myself. I find that really galling.” The band formed in 1998 and after a couple of singles debuted with a self-titled effort on Music For Nations in 2004. The album was almost universally applauded…
“A British rock-scene altering record. Enjoy it in all it’s infinite glory”
Kerrang! 5/5
“No other record this year will have the audacity to field such lofty ambitions, let alone have the skills to fulfill them”
NME 9/10
“Think trippy, heavy as fuck sonic violence. Think the future of rock”
Metal Hammer 9/10
“At present British rock doesn’t get much better than this”
Q 4/5
…but then things started to unravel. MFN were bought out by Sony and in fear of being swamped the band bought back the rights to the record and looked for a new deal. In 2005 they signed to SPV (Germany) and that year released an EP The Astronaut Dismantles HAL. In 2006 they consider themselves rushed into completing a second album, Insider, released on SPV’s Steamhammer label. That name seems ironic to Sel:
“Insider was made under the hammer so that’s what the format of the songs are like. For that reason alone we determined that we didn’t want to sign another deal to do The Octopus…”
Having made the decision to go it alone an sell it off their website, Amplifier tested the theory in 2009 with the Eternity mini album, a collection of older songs that had never seen the light of day. A limited edition of 1,000 sold out quickly, lapped up by a fan-base that has been a major source of support and stretches as far as Japan and South America.
A new convert is Pete Townshend’s brother-in-law Jon Astley who mastered The Octopus. Longer-term fans include one of those who writes incidental music for TV’s Dr Who, and a bunch of NASA technicians who regularly listen to the first album while assembling the payloads to be sent to the space station.
Amplifier fans are a disparate bunch but they all agree on one thing:
Sel: “Fans come up to us and say, ‘I don’t understand how you’re not massive!’. To which I always say, ‘I don’t understand it, either!’.” That may be about to change.
“The Octopus is very much a reaction to the album before it, Insider, and all the constraints – time limits, pressures, deadlines, requests for a single – that were put on us. We hated that. But when we did The Octopus there were no constraints. Well, just one – and that whatever it came out as, we needed to be 100 per cent proud of it.”
They are and they should be. The Octopus is a major work that will impress all who hear it now and for years to come.
www.amplifiertheband.com
By blackglove at 2011-03-09