Concert Crap: You guys are in the midst of a tour with I, The Mighty, Dayshell and Picturesque. How has has the tour been so far?
Lucas Worley: It’s been awesome! We’ve been trying to make something happen with ITM for quite a while and we couldn’t be more happy to be a part of their headlining run! The shows have been rad, the crowds have been good, and it’s for sure a bonus to be able to share the stage with Dayshell and our hometown buddies Picturesque. We’re loving it.
CC: What is your favorite and least favorite thing about touring?
LM: My first favorite this about touring is the adventure of it. There is a new challenge every day, new people to meet, and new experiences to have. There is no mundane on tour and it’s exciting to put yourself into a position to just roll with whatever comes your way. No expectations. My second favorite thing (I say second because so little of the day spent on the road is actually spent doing this) is obviously playing for people. The experience of shared energy and connectedness is unlike anything else in life and it’s pretty special to be a part of and we wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world.
My least favorite part kind of goes hand in hand with my first favorite part. There is always an issue, always something that needs to be dealt with, and while that can be fun, exciting and rewarding, it can also be hectic and stressful and just overall shitty. We do our best to stay positive and support each other throughout adversity but it can for sure get tough sometimes.
CC: Do you have any pre-show rituals?
LM: Other than a few good group vocal warmups we don’t really do a whole lot collectively that I would call a ritual. Everyone has their own thing they are doing leading up to on stage time and then we usually gather around the drums and have a little powwow before we start the set to tell everyone we love each other and have a good set.
CC: Your new album Passengers was just released. How proud are you of this?
LM: We’re pretty dang stoked! It’s been a long time coming for this record and it feels really good to have it out in the wild and have other folks’ ears on it. We really feel like we honed in on this record and we’re able to say what we wanted a little more concisely. Whenever there is a concept to an album, you always hope it translates and is relatable and clear. I think we were able to do that a little better this time around.
CC: Can you briefly speak about the writing process and how you manage to translate it into music?
LM: The writing process for this record went a few ways. Either Jordan [Haynes] had a collection of riffs that turned into a song and we all sat in the jam space and hashed out the structure, or Jamie [Davis] had an idea that he worked out and tweaked until he was ready to bring it to us. Either way by the time the song got into the jam space and everyone wrapped their head around it and added something to it, it was generally a bit different than the original idea.
This writing period was fun as we actually wrote some songs all together in the rehearsal space based off a random jam and developed the idea together instead of it being a generally thought out piece. We even finished songs in the studio this time which we’ve never done before. I think it put us a little outside of our comfort zone and let us do something a little different.
CC: Can you talk about the significance of the album cover and title?
LM: We approached this record from the standpoint of someone looking at the problems of the world for the first time. We knew we wanted some kind of art that represented an overview of the world, almost seeing everything from a perspective of being very far away. We played around with some different satellite images and Johnny Ashcroft (our art guy, who also did everything for Time in Place) found a few absolutely rad images and we settled on the swirly clouds that almost give the impression of spiraling inward towards earth.
Johnny came up with the super cool fingerprint that almost represents the planet and the asterisk which represents the observer. As far as the coloring goes we went for something that was both familiar and a bit foreign. It seems to mimic a sunrise or sunset but with some slightly otherworldly vibes. I love the art for this record, I think it really stands out and lends itself to feel recognizable.
CC: What does the rest of 2016 have in store for Artifex Pereo?
LM: At this point we don’t have any more tours lined up (until further notice) so I think we’re going to focus on producing more content for this record in the mean time. We have a couple music videos we’ll be working on in the coming months and hopefully some studio videos as well. We’d also like to start writing as soon as we can so we can get a solid idea on what we want to do next. We’re trying to stray away from being too formulaic and push ourselves in new and interesting directions, and exploring things we haven’t done yet.
CC: Is there anything else you’d like to say to your fans or anyone reading this interview?
LM: Thank you all so much for supporting us and sticking with us and allowing us to create and share something beautiful with you all! We really feel like music is the grand uniter and in a time when seemingly everyone and everything is so divided. We feel very blessed to be able to share some thoughts and energies with everyone. Keep coming to shows, keep giving us hugs, keep loving everyone and yourselves! We hope to see you all soon!
All questions answered by vocalist Lucas Worley.
–
–
Post and interview by Corey Kleinsasser
What are your thoughts on Artifex Pereo? Comment below.
Follow Concert Crap on Instagram
Follow Concert Crap on Twitter
Follow us on Snapchat: @ConcertCrap
Or click the “Follow” link on the bottom right corner and type in your email to get updates sent directly to your inbox.
#ConcertCrap
[contact-form][contact-field label=’Name’ type=’name’/][contact-field label=’Email’ type=’email’/][contact-field label=’Comment’ type=’textarea’ required=’1’/][/contact-form]
Leave a Reply