Boston Manor

Boston Manor: Honestly, just really excited. We’re all so pleased with how this record came out, I’ve been listening to it every day since we got the masters back & I can’t wait to share it. It’s funny because usually the sophomore record is the one people feel most nervous about; but the process of making this was so much fun that we didn’t really feel any pressure.

MWN: Can you walk me through the creative process in the studio? How does the music come alive? Does it start with the instrumentals, lyrics, a mixture of both?

Boston Manor: We’ve been doing things a little differently on this record. We’ve started with some lyrics/vocal melodies or an instrumental motif & sort of built outwards from there. I think it’s allowed us to be more malleable with our songwriting, we can boil the song down to it’s bare bones & keep swapping & moving things until it starts to feel right. One of the only songs we actually wrote in the studio was the last track on the album. We wrote it with a specific idea in mind, for it to be this sort of rolling circle that builds & builds, similar to how Radiohead do on songs like ‘How to Disappear Completely’ & some of their less conventional songs.

MWN: When you guys started making this album. Did you have an idea of what you wanted it to sound like? Or was that process just something that sort of happened as you went along.

Boston Manor: A bit of both really. We knew we wanted the songs to have heavier moments, but with more pop sensibility. We’d talked about some of the guitar tones we wanted to achieve & some moments in other songs that we liked. But tonally & thematically it just sort of started to fall into place after a while. We’d written 6 or 7 songs that we scrapped & then we wrote Digital Ghost & we knew it was in the direction lyrically & sonically that we wanted to go in, so we sort of just followed that down the rabbit hole.

MWN: I suppose there are a few songs that do not make it on the album because of time and various reasons. So how do you guys decide what songs do make it on the record?

Boston Manor: Well in this case there was a bunch. We’d written a load of songs that we scrapped almost immediately because they were just too clunky; then we had about 10 songs & went to the studio & did pre production with Mike Sapone back in October. We worked on those songs for 2 weeks & those 10 songs were supposed to comprise the album. Once we’d gotten back home from tour we listen to them & just decided that they weren’t good enough. So we kept about 4 of them & scrapped the other 6 & basically wrote 70% of a new album. I think what it comes down to is, you can improve songs, you can change the lyrics or the structure etc; but if the songs don’t work when they’re boiled down to their core then they’re just not good songs. If the most amateur of musicians can’t sit down & strum a few chords & sing along then it’s 9 times out of 10 not working.

MWN: The music video for the latest single “Halo” was released not too long ago. What does that video mean to you guys? What is the inspiration behind the video?

Boston Manor: We put together treatments & pitch them to directors, we sort of act as creative directors of our videos. The song itself is about addiction, we originally were going to do a video about that; but the aesthetic & the vibe on this record is so specific that we wanted to just get that across in the video given that this was going to be everybody’s introduction to the new album. So in truth the video has nothing to do with the song, it just serves as a visual representation of how the album is going to feel.

MWN: Going back in time a bit. What inspired you guys to become musicians?

Boston Manor: Honestly I couldn’t tell you. I’ve loved music from being very little & performed on stage & sung since being tiny. I just started fucking around in bands when I was in school & just never stopped I guess.

MWN: I know you must get this question all the time, but I’m genuinely curious. What artist/ bands did you guys grow up listening to?

Boston Manor: Well I can only speak for myself but I first loved hip hop more than anything else. Stuff like N.E.R.D, Outkast, Wu Tang Clan etc. Then when I was about 10/11 my cousins got me into stuff like Slipknot, Deftones, Nirvana etc & I just got on a kick of discovering more & more heavy stuff, how heavy can it get? Had a real big death metal phase in my teens which was fun.

MWN: Did they inspire you back then? If yes, do they still inspire you?

Boston Manor: Absolutely, they still do. I think a lot of that Nu Metal era gets scoffed at because it was so flamboyant & could often be pretty tacky. But some of the really good suff in there, Deftones, Korn, Linkin Park etc; had amazing songs & managed to blend really heavy stuff with such groove. We’re really interested in how we can do that more with our music.

MWN: Let’s play a quick round of fun questions.

MWN: What is your first recollection of live music?

Boston Manor: T4 on the beach in Blackpool, Ms Dynamite.

MWN: Where does the band name come from?

Boston Manor: Google it

MWN: Favorite love song?

Boston Manor: True Love Waits – Radiohead

MWN: Dream festival to play (or favorite festival you have played in)?

Boston Manor: Reading & Leeds & we did it last summer. Real benchmark for us. Hopefully we get to play it again in the future.

MWN: First album you bought?

Boston Manor: Hybrid Theory – Linkin Park

MWN: To wrap things up I have one last question for you guys. Is there anything you want to say to the people who are going to be reading this interview

Boston Manor: Thanks for supporting us, if you like our band then show people. Word of mouth is honestly the best way to share music.

Interview By: Maria Limon | Exclusively for @Music, Why Not!

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