Boneless just released their debut LP "Gratitude" the follow up to your "Unstoppable" 7 inch. Personally do you think the band's sound has changed much or evolved between the releases?
No, not really. I think these songs are far more polished and as a band we have definitely gotten a lot tighter but they still have the same sound and formulas. A lot of these songs have been floating around at practice for a while in various shapes and forms, some even from when we released the 7" that weren't quite ready to be recorded.
How does a Boneless song come together? Who is driving the song writing process?
Adam is definitely "la chef de la musique" in the band. When he has new songs, he normally records all the instruments at his house and then he sends the tracks to the rest of us to learn before practice. It usually takes a little bit of fine tuning in the rehearsal room to get them down and solid, but most of the time they are pretty good to go from the start. He's a machine – when he broke his leg last year he pretty much wrote and recorded another full album. This was while we were still trying to finish the 'Gratitude' release. Dude can play!
Is it different being in a band with a much younger and very keen member compared to bands you've done in the past?
What are you insinuating, Willy?! I guess it is a little, mainly with stuff like touring and releasing this album because the rest of us have done it before with old bands so it's not as new and exciting as it once was. Adam is still new to a lot of this stuff so he gets super stoked when we are trying to arrange tours or shows. That's refreshing though because it reminds the rest of us of the reasons we play in bands to begin with.
What was the recording process for the new LP? Where did you do it and how long did it take?
We are lucky to have an awesome bunch of mates who are savvy with the recording process. We had our old mate Carl Whitbread (Lo!) on board from the start to help with recording, production and mixing. He had done the same for us with the 7" and he really knew what we were trying to achieve. He suggested recording at Adversary Studios in St Peters as he had worked with the owner, Aaron Worboys (Bane of Isildur), with some pre-production stuff with his band Lo!.
We pretty much did the whole thing in 2 full days apart from a few vocals, and we were really stoked on the sound that Carl and Aaron had pulled straight off the desk. We wanted it to sound a little raw and live, so we tried not to focus on getting the tracks 100% perfect. We wanted to put the energy we have on stage into the record so we tried to do as much of it as possible live.
From there we sent it off to Brad Boatright at Audiosiege in the U.S. for mastering. He's done stuff for Nails, Iron Reagan, Blacklisted and loads more so we knew he was the right choice. We are so happy with the end result and stoked that our friends helped us to make it happen.
Any lessons learned from last time around that you set out to avoid?
I think we learnt that taking your time with such a process proves invaluable. We didn't go into it full steam, guns blazin' and we kinda stepped back and made sure we did everything properly and that we were happy with each step before we progressed.
Got a favourite song on the LP, any real reason why?
Personally, my favourite is Gratitude. I really dig the lyrics Paul writes and this one in particular is about giving our gratitude to the HC/Punk scene for the friends, memories and opening our eyes to so many different ways of life and thought processes. Being a little older now, it's easy to see how much effect this scene has had on us and on who we are as adults. It's pretty much just a sonic high five to the scene and our mates.
Boneless made it down to Melbourne for the first time recently. How was the reaction to the band and the shows you played?
We did, yeah. It was fucking awesome! Both shows had great turnouts, all the bands were sick and the venues were unreal. Such a good vibe happening down there and we were lucky enough to play both shows with our friends in Ganbaru. Adam and Ev from Ganbaru really helped us out in getting down there and putting us on the shows, so it was great to be able to play both shows with them. We will definitely be back as soon as possible!
You guys were only a bass player short of a Bad Blood reunion too?
We had discussed this actually. Our drummer, Dodson, recently got a new job and was unable to make it down for the Melbourne tour. Luckily our good mate Nathan (who Paul and I played in Bad Blood with) lives in Melbourne and was keen as to jump on board and help us out on the drums. Just needed a Dangerous Dave or JJ in the van and Bad Blood would have been on!
What's next for Boneless?
We're just going to try and push the LP as much as possible this year and do our best to get interstate a couple more times.
How can people listen to the band or get in touch?
www.facebook.com/bonelesshardcore
www.bonelesshardcore.bandcamp.com
Any final words or thoughts?
Just a massive shout out to everyone that has come to a show, put us on the bill, bought some merch, helped us out or just given a shit about us. It is truly appreciated. Peace.
