DAMIAN ALEXANDER of BLINDSPOTT: Fuck Yes, I Can
An interview by Molly O’Brien.
“We’re always gonna be a metal band. We’re writing whatever pieces of music feel right, and once you put it through the Blindspott plug in that is us, it’s gonna come out sounding like Blindspott.”
After a devastating break up, a 15 year hiatus in music release and a prodigious reunion tour, we welcome Blindspott and their new grooves back with open arms. Produced by Forrester Savell, (previous works including Shihad, Karnivool and Animals as Leaders), and tracked with kiwi greats such as Tiki Taane and Laughton Kora, the next instalment in the Blindspott story promises a fervent and powerful rise from the dead. Recently I had the opportunity to sit down with vocalist Damian Alexander to talk musical progression, truth and American barbeque.
First off, congratulations! Last year your self titled album returned to number one in the charts after 18 years – how did that feel? Was that a trigger for wanting to create make more music?
Pretty incredible, really. When we released our second album ‘End The Silence’ it went to number one as well; I’m pretty sure that at the time we were the only kiwi band to have consecutive back-to-back number one records. Being back in the charts shone a light on the fact that people actually want to listen to us! You never want to assume that your relevance is still there, and that was definitely like an okay, we should do this, people want to hear us. We originally agreed we’d do the tour and see how it went, and if it went well and the energy was right we’d talk about making more music. We all sat down over some beers and decided we’ve still got music in us left to make.
It’s been a long time since we’ve heard new music from Blindspott but your packed reunion shows over the past few years prove that you’re far from forgotten. How do you think your sound has developed and how have your fans responded to the next chapter of Blindspott?
Our fanbase isn’t ginormous, but the thing about them is that they’re super passionate. They’re really engaged in what we do and the amount of uptake and response we get from them is phenomenal. The Reunion Tour was probably one of the biggest tours that we’ve ever done. I think that everything that has happened to us is for a reason; every mistake, every fight, every fuck up. All that stuff has fed where we are today. We stopped when we did because we needed to but there was still a lot there and a lot that’s happened since that’s fuelled the next batch of material. The people who we’ve played ‘R.I.P’ to so far have all gone, “Fuck yeah, that’s Blindspott!”. We’re all big and ugly enough now to know how to craft a song. We don’t write music for the sake of writing music, Marcus writes a riff when he feels something, Shelton plays when he feels something, and when I feel that I write something too. We just need to get in a room, make some extremely loud noise and see what comes out the other end. If it feels good, it’s right. If we try and do something that isn’t that, we’re not only letting ourselves down but our fans down. Everyone’s like, well now you’re all old dudes with kids, you can’t be screaming and swearing and stuff. And I’m like, fuck yes I can!
The pandemic the world continues to face at the moment has been catastrophic for the live music industry. What’s it like releasing music in a much more digital space than what you have previously experienced?
When we released out first album it was on a piece of plastic. It was on a CD. We came up around the same time as the existence of Limewire, right when digital theft of music was suddenly a big thing, but now everything is digital. You can’t live off record sales like you used to which is why there’s so many touring artists now. Like, we’re going to be on TikTok. I built a face mask filter on Instagram for the R.I.P release. People are spoilt for choice but it’s good in a way as its power to the people. People are no longer forced to be formed by mainstream radio and what they’re directly exposed to.
While we’re on the topic of lockdown, did you pick up any new hobbies while stuck inside? Knitting or making sourdough?
I’m a mad keen barbequer. Low and slow American style barbeque. I’ve built a pit in my back yard, those cooks can be a good six to eight hours and I have time on my hands so I’ve been doing a lot of that. Working on my Street 500 Harley which will soon be upgraded. I run my own creative agency so I’ve been busy with that.
I heard the new album is being released in four volumes with three songs each – Why did you decide to release a collection this way?
There’s a few reasons… so much time goes into writing and it takes an even longer time to record it, and with covid on top of that… we felt like it’d never come out at all so we’re just releasing them as they come. When writing music we go through different phases, it might be angry or melancholic or experimental but that’s the natural progression. At the moment it’s feeling really heavy, I mean the first volume is going to be like a freight train. But then there’s other stuff coming that we can see in the distance that’s a lot more melodic or funky. We might eventually when it’s all released but for now instead of immediately track listing it all to create a shape, the way it comes out will be the way it was naturally made. For me, that’s really truthful.
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How did you arrive on your new album art? Its punchy and graphic compared to your older albums which project a more stormy, grungy feel.
I do all the design for the band. I was doing a couple art concepts for the band and I kind of put the smiley face in as a bit of a joke but the boys were like, “Yeah bro, that’s it!”. It kind of makes sense, it’s a little bit of a ‘fuck you’ artwork. We could do another dark, deconstructed piece but let’s make it a little more funky… it’s almost ironic.
You guys have been quoted in the past saying your music was born in West Auckland garages – how has your creative spaces and processes changed?
We were totally born out of parties and garages in West Auckland, it got to a point where word would get out and suddenly there’s a 1000 people showing up, cops and riot police. It was epic, and that doesn’t happen anymore. There’s no filling the street with teenagers and kegs. Sometimes we’d play out in industrial estates in Henderson Valley which was always carnage, I’ve got so many stories. Back then all us dudes were writing in a shitty practise room under an indian takeaway in New Lynn. We rehearsed on Sundays and usually we’d all been out the night before and gotten into trouble of some sort, then come in and make some noise, living off butter chicken from upstairs.
Having to work around the pandemic, ‘R.I.P’ was recorded remotely. Covid has actually taught me how to set up and write by myself at home which is really cool. I’ll sneak out to our sleep out with my laptop and a couple glasses of wine and just kind of experiment. We actually wrote most of the stuff we’re currently working on in Shelton’s garage, so weirdly I guess it hasn’t changed that much.
And finally – are there any kiwi bands/musicians on your radar, especially ones you’d particularly like to play with?
Emma Dilemma is someone who is fucking hilarious. She’s quirky and cool. Shepards Reign is a band I wouldn’t mind connecting with, and obviously Alien Weaponry. Those boys are doing some awesome stuff, the way that they’re approaching Te Reo and their storytelling is fantastic!
Blindspott’s new single R.I.P. is available now via all good streaming services (or check it out in the video above). They have also announced there is an album on the way. The four-part album will be released in volumes each with three songs, with the first volume due out late October, 2021.
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Image Credits: Feature Image courtesy of Blindspott. Live photograph courtesy of Matt Henry Photography/Ambient Light.
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