ASHLEY DE BEER of TRUTH AND ITS BURDEN: A Labour Of Love
An interview by Matt Henry Mendonca.
Once again I find myself taking on new challenges. Having some time back in South Africa has given me the opportunity to see some of the new emerging bands that have formed while I was away. One of the highlights has been seeing the bands that were around when I was here 10 years ago still going strong. Truth And Its Burden are one of these bands for me.
In a sea of bands playing some form of heavy music, the lyrics can fall to the wayside as the only thing that gets noticed is how heavy the guitars sound or how technical the music is. Truth And Its Burden are different in this regard, their lyrics are powerful, passionate and most of all, positive.
Truth And Its Burden have just recently played at Krank’D Up 2018, playing on the same stage as SikTh and Miss May I and are finishing up their Slay or Die tour that has taken them across South Africa. Soon they will be opening for I See Stars at Rumour Rock City on the 19th of October and I wanted to catch up with them to find out what it takes to be a touring band that has lasted over a decade…
As a band, you actually took some time off during your decade in the music scene and were able to play on the main stage at Krank’D Up 2018. For some bands, taking any amount of time away from the scene could spell the death of a band but you rose above the ashes. What keep you going all these years?
“While we took time off to focus on life and everything else, we certainly did fall somewhat by the way side I guess. It’s hard to grind hard and not take time out and it’s certainly short sighted to think you’re going to come out and still have the same following. In the 1-2 years we took out, we spent time writing I Labour of course, so as much as we stepped away from live performing and such, we needed the time to write our then new album. Coming back you sort of find yourself almost starting over in terms of building your brand again and such, but it’s been worthwhile. I mean, the hardcore scene that once flourished has also dwindled a little and there’s no real shows that can exclusively call themselves a hardcore show so to speak. We’ve used this to our advantage by playing with every band possible, setting up shows and tours with unlikely bands, and it’s been fun. We love what we’re doing and we’ve written a confident album so honestly playing that live for people whether to small or big crowds is something that still fulfils us musically.”
On your latest full length album – I Labour, the song “Iron & Fire” starts off with the line: “We don’t give up, not without a fight”. In many ways this sums up your determination to keep going as a band. What inspired the lyrics to this song?
“This song is actually a song about anyone who loses faith in God when times get tougher and tougher. That sort of pointing the finger at God because He wasn’t around, “but what you don’t quite see – is the Lion defending you”… I wanted to remind myself of who I am, remind myself of where I draw my strength from while at the same time I wanted to have it known that faith comes with a fight. Life is testing us every step of the way and we choose to press on in faith or we choose not to. Iron & Fire was just a reference to casting steadfast faith in steel, you know – unbreakable.
Over the last 4 years or so of my life I have been drawn closer and closer to following my faith in God and He’s been wildly at work in my life. It’s something I feel moved to share.”
Not only have you opened for international acts, you have gone on tour and been the international act, seeing Europe, the UK and USA. Being from a country most people would not think of when it comes to heavy music, how did you find the response from each tour?
“Each time we head out on the road it’s a new and very different experience. Some better than others as I’m sure anyone can imagine. You start with a certain expectation and its either above or below that mark you set.
We really felt our last European tour was great, we had a solid impact out there and everyone really enjoyed the experience. The tour circuit in Europe is so well developed though and because of that infrastructure its made life a lot easier for bands to fully enjoy the shows without stressing about everything. While in USA, it’s still quite DIY in many cases (at least on our level) and you play basement shows and Pizzerias and just a string of weird unheard of venues for shows. We played in a kid’s bedroom and some guy’s garage… stuff like that. It was cool obviously because you’re not used to it and its super DIY which is great – but it’s harder to fill the tank in those situations. Our last tour in USA with The Sheds really was great and the shows were generally well attended and made for a less stressful experience. I mean it’s easy to say it’s about the show and what everyone takes from the show experience, but there’s external stress pressing on each member that can break people. USA seemed to have a lot more of that resting on each guy.
UK too, was difficult. We just found that kids out there weren’t really into supporting bands as much as they were into hanging around and just looking cool. Obviously not every instance was like that, and there were some special shows out there, but for us it was just weird to play to people who were too busy being cool to enjoy the show, if that makes sense. It makes any band feel kind of unwelcome. There’s clearly a generalisation going on here and again I stress, not all shows were like that. It was just a difficult place for smaller bands.”
Finding shows in your own country can be daunting for new and established bands alike, how were you able to manage doing tours overseas?
“It’s quite a challenge actually but one contact leads to another contact, and so on. We had help in Europe from Steve at Distortion Bookings and our old mate Patrick from Batman Fest in Holland, who helped us out and made a lot of our tour stuff possible. You basically keep asking for contacts and more contacts and try and avenue you can. You don’t stop knocking on all doors until one opens. It’s pretty naïve to think someone is just going to hook you up and make it all happen, especially on your first tour. European bookers set us up with contact for UK and that kinda made UK happen, so everyone’s aiding you along your journey in some way or another.
In USA we found a Facebook Group called DIY Tour Booking (I think it was called that), and guys online there just helped slowly build the tours up. Our label at the time, Mediaskare / Rite Of Passage Records did nothing to help us tour, so even in situations where you think your label would step in and help book a tour, they didn’t care about that. It was a hard grind booking those tours, but with the help of guys on that group and the bands we toured with, we managed to get 3 months of touring all setup. You got to want this to make it a reality.”
So for those trying to create a following in their own back garden, what did you do to get shows when you first started out as a band? And 10 years down the line, what has changed for you after releasing 3 full length albums to be able to get booked for shows?
“I started booking my own bands shows from very young. I was definitely fully constructive in booking shows and tours for all the bands I’d played in, it was really something I was into all through the years. I’m a grinder that way I guess and I think the bands I’ve been in have been rather fortunate to have that at hand. I know a lot of bands struggle because they don’t have someone like me who’s able to contact venues, book sound guys, make tour posters, get all the necessary bits and pieces together for a tour to shape up. I just always loved that grind, and once a tour is booked it’s up to the whole band to get behind marketing the dates and pushing it. We all pull our own weight in various areas you know, and I think it’s important for musicians nowadays to be multi-talented. Like, one of you have to know how to graphic design, one has to know how to book, one could learn video editing etc, and another how to record etc. etc. etc… Everyone has their own strengths that help make what we do possible.”
Speaking of your 3 full length albums, each one has seen your musical style evolve. What factors over the years have lead to this and how did your fans respond to the changes?
“Musical influences. Member changes. 10 Years. If you’re still writing the same exact blend of music 10 years later it’s a bit weird to be honest. Every band evolves in some way or another, whether it be better production and better song writing or complete sound and style changes… Our first album was very much a straight feel from bands we liked a lot. We were young as a band and wanted to release something so we did and songs on Sending The Hope Home very much reflect our direct influences in somewhat our feel and vibe.
Choices was more a fresh take on where we felt we actually wanted to be and it’s closer to where we are today, while I Labour is where we are truly happy being – sound and feel wise. Obviously the next album would be something new and better, because you get better at what you do and albums should reflect growth you know.
We have fans who still love what we originally first released and felt that was our best work, while mostly guys who have followed us from the beginning have appreciated the change and feel and now I think people can fully understand our journey and where it’s brought us. We’re happier now than we’ve ever been before. I don’t know that a lot of bands can say the same thing 10 years later… The love usually gets lost along the way. I think people who see us live experience that love and passion with us, and I think that helps to fully have them engage with us as fans – if that makes sense.”
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One thing that has not changed about your music is that it always had a positive message. It’s very refreshing attending a show and between songs you hear an uplifting message that everyone can relate to. When the band formed, was the intention to go against the current of the heavy bands stereotypical lyric themes?
“There’s a lot of negative in South Africa to be honest, and not even musically just socially and politically. We love our country and intend on staying here, so when you’re faced with so much negative everything the best you can do is find the positives in life, find what brings you peace and reflect that outwards.
There are tons of positive bands we love and while it’s certainly dwindling these days there are still loads of bands pushing a positive message, even if they’re doing it in a damning way… Parkway Drive “Atlas” was an example of people singing something that was damning the way of the world while trying to shed a positive tone on where the world needs to change.
We’ve just taken a more direct approach hahaha. It was definitely our intention to write thought provoking lyrics because we wanted to be something more than just a negi band you know. Who cares for all that dungeons and dragons type lyrical content anyways… Say something and mean it, you know.”
Another accomplishment Truth And Its Burden have achieved is that you have had almost no label support. This again speaks of the character the band has. For bands out there yet to release an album, what advice can you give them to having done so much yourselves?
“Plan well. There’s loads of work beyond a release show that goes into piecing an album together and you want the release to stand out, you want it to be your mark on the world. Planning your album track listing, the artwork, the pressing plant, the distribution channels (if you can), maybe having an online store setup etc all takes thorough effort from the sum of all parts. There’s a couple online resources available on how to put out your own release and what you’d need to get done.
I happen to run a company that handles CD replication jobs from time to time (outsourced naturally), and you’d be surprised how few bands actually know the dimensions of CD artwork… Sounds crazy but people forgot how to use a ruler / tape measure. You get artwork with no consideration for CD packaging, so yeah plan in advance and you’ll at least afford yourself some time to rework mistakes you’ll probably make on that first release.”
Speaking of advice, you toured with The Ghost Inside when they came to South Africa. I’m sure they imparted some wisdom about touring life. What advice could you give after some of your tours to those looking at giving another country a chance?
“The best advice anyone ever gave us was to go out and do it. Really. There are obviously tricks of the trade touring bands know about, and they share those ideas of course but it wouldn’t be too fair to publicly post some of the ideas, as they’re not always legal you know. Little back end ways around the system that is making it increasingly difficult for bands to tour and travel abroad. Visa type stuff, the scary stuff that keeps people from living their dreams, you know.
But overall, the best advice has always been to go out there and start doing what you want to do with your life. Bands like The Ghost Inside and especially Have Heart & Shipwreck AD had that advice to give, and we thankfully took it and ran with it. You’re only going to learn along the way, there’s no mistake you can make here that’s going to put you behind bars so to speak, so get touring.”
Now many bands are using streaming platforms to get their music heard outside of their own country, but you got your track “Dead to the World” featured on the cover mount CD of the magazine Metal Hammer. This is a huge accomplishment on it’s own. Did you ever think when the band started you would be able to achieve that?
“First off, we wanna thank Duncan and Wayne from Krank’d Up Festival for making that happen for us. Such a privilege to have had this opportunity. Yeah, as a young musician you dream about big stages and touring and getting all those opportunities, of course you have to dream big. Somewhere along the way (and early on too) you get humbled and all of those massive dreams start mellowing out into more realistic dreams, and while you’re still reaching for best you’re now more aware of the cost involved in touring and you’re sharing stages with bands bigger and better than you, so your efforts are now being filtered out amongst a myriad of other hard working artists too. So no, probably not. By the time we’d started gaining some level of traction that sort of thing never entered my mind.
Funny back story though… When I was a teenager, a mate of mine and I had an addiction to stealing metal hammer (and others of course) magazines from a local CNA. Who would ever have thought we’d be on the cover mount CD with a song, you know. Most definitely not I! Hahahaha!”
Truth And Its Burden are performing live with I SEE STARS at Rumours Rock City in Johannesburg, South Africa on Friday 19th October. Tickets are still available HERE, but get in quick as they are selling fast!
Image Credits: Feature Image courtesy of Duane Smith Photography. Live Photography by Matt Henry Mendonca. Concert Artwork supplied.
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