Interviews : “We’ve gone for a rawer—and dare I say it, more ‘organic’—sound with the album” – a chat with The Schoenberg Automaton

Brisbane’s The Schoenberg Automaton have built up an insane amount of hype around them considering the short time they have actually been active and out there. Their quirky, progressive, technical style of death metal has clearly hit the right spot, and with a new album on the way things are bound to only get better for them. However, sadly, the band recently announced the departure of vocalist Colin Cadell, and thus a delay on the new album. Prior to one of Colin’s last ever shows with the band (Sunday March 3rd at the Chaos A.C.T festival in Canberra), we caught up for a quick chat with Colin, and guitarist Damien Boorman, to find out what’s happening with the band.

Metal Obsession: For those that missed the unfortunate news about your departure from the band, talk us through the story behind it.

Colin Cadell: I have been struck with a problem called a ‘Supra Glottic Constriction’. It’s pretty much the vocal equivalent of pulling/tearing a muscle. I have had surgery, therapy and I still have to complete daily exercises whether I perform or not. This problem affects my talking voice as much as my singing one and this is beyond frustrating particularly when I love talking, public speaking, vocalising.

MO: Will you eventually be able to return to vocal work again?

CC: As far as returning to vocals again, there is always the chance… In the future I will be doing some projects, as I’ve spoken about on the net I am more than keen to get back to playing some guitar and creating something musical again. I do have one project on the horizon… but only time will tell what happens with that. Besides that I plan on making a feature film, a documentary on Australian metal lifestyles and international perspectives (anyone interested get at me!!!!).

MO: How are you going with your last few TSA shows? Is it a struggle?

CC: The Brisbane Hifi gig and Gold Coast shows were great but I did suffer for them. Anymore than 2 shows back to back at the moment and I am down and out for about a week after. My low range has taken the largest impact and I’m unable to use it at times. After a show I have a stabbing feeling in my throat and if I talk it feels like all the muscles in your jaw and throat are tensing, sometimes worse. In short, not pleasant… These last few shows will further push me; it’s my release for every corporate tension and anxious reflex within my body and knowing that I only now have 3 shows left makes me only want to own the stage more than ever. I yearn to not live behind an office desk and roam the world; I just might have to do that with my photo/video work instead now.

MO: We’re all going to miss your presence from the music scene more than you can imagine. Your stage presence and vocal style was a real standout. Best of luck with whatever the future holds!

CC: Thanks heaps for the kinds words, I honestly am beside myself on this one haha. I’ve always hit the stage with the aim to create the most frantic and intense experience I can. If you take to the stage in a metal band of our style and don’t deliver, then you are simply cheating people of a true musical experience and what they paid for. I wrote a lot of the TSA lyrics when I was not in a happy place and the mood at the shows should reflect that to some regard. But much like life you have your ups and downs… so don’t be surprised if I’m smiling one minute and crashing the next.

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MO: Have you begun auditions for the new vocalist yet? Any promising options so far?

Damien Boorman: We have, and indeed there are some promising candidates. We’re still working through the audition process so we don’t have any concrete updates. If anyone out there is keen to have a crack, go to our Facebook page –we’ve created a note there with details on auditioning.

MO: What are you looking for in your new frontman? Col had an undeniably intense (not to mention unique) stage presence, I hope that’s part of the criteria?

DB: Yeah, great stage presence is really important to us in a vocalist. We’re always keen to improve and refine our live show. We want to be an exciting live band. So we’re definitely looking for someone who has that feral energy and aggression.

Overall we’re looking for someone who has experience, great range, good writing ability, good lyrics and the stage presence. And we’re looking for someone who has some originality. We don’t want someone who tries to imitate Col too much, as that will just fail. We want someone who has the confidence to bring something new to the mix and maybe surprise a few people.

MO: Will getting the album completed and released be your priority once the new guy is chosen?

DB: Totally. We’ve been sitting on this material for a while now and we’re keen to get it out there. We’re doing what we can behind the scenes to ensure a pretty smooth transition for the new guy and to get them in the studio ASAP to lay down some punishing vocals. It’s a hard ask to get someone in off the street and thrust them straight in the studio, but that’s just the way it’s going to be!

MO: Moving away from the vocals, how far into writing and recording the debut album were you?

DB: It’s all written and the vast majority is recorded. It’s called‘Vela’. You can find a teaser video (which includes a bit of an unmixed snippet) on youtube, on our Facebook page and on Vimeo. It has 11 tracks (you read it first here on Metal Obsession!) and we think it’s pretty good.

DB: Great question. We’ve re-recorded all the demo tracks. We’ve changed a few things in those songs since we recorded the EP and we wanted to capture those changes to reflect the live show. The recording process has also been quite different this time around and we wanted to reflect that in demo tracks. We’ve gone for a rawer—and dare I say it, more ‘organic’—sound with the album to better transfer the energy and emotion in the music. It’s a bit different and we didn’t want to over-produce the thing, which I think is a real trend at the moment. I think the EP was very well produced, but it sounded a bit clinical for various reasons. The EP tracks will sound quite different on the album, and we know a lot of people love those songs, so it will be interesting to see how it’s received. I’m actually kinda nervous about it!

Of course these songs will also feature the new vocalist, so they will end up sounding pretty different to what people are accustomed to. You’ll just have to wait and see!

MO: Describe the Brisbane local music scene in less than ten words.

DB: Good people, good times and not enough venues. Also, brutal.

MO: Are there any other Brisbane bands that have grabbed your attention lately that people should have a listen to?

DB: Brazen Bull just dropped an insane new album, Aversions Crown is doing really well, The Archivist are poised for great things… There’s heaps of quality stuff around Brisbane at the moment. Defamer are local stalwarts, Humality for groove, Idylls for jangly Converge-ish stuff, Hope Drone are doing an interesting black metal thing, Nuclear Summer kick faces in with their indie-post-hardcore-cum-metal and The Construct are heaps of fun… The list goes on… All cool (and very different) bands.

MO: Last words?

DB: Thanks for talking to us and we appreciate everyone’s patience while we find a new vocalist and work on dropping the album. We know it’s been a long time coming and hopefully you’ll agree it’s worth the wait!

Don’t forget Col is playing out the rest of our booked shows so come say hi/bye at Chaos ACT – March 3^rd at The Greenroom, ACT. We will be pretty drunk!

You can hear The Schoenberg Automaton via this handy link, and make sure to catch them live at this show below along a bazillion (approximately) other great bands.