A Chat with Cyanate (06.10.23)
If you’re a fan of Lamb of God and Chimaira, the chances are you will love the metal group Cyanate. Influenced by various genres, their music retains a sense of old-school heaviness but with a modern-day flair. We speak with the band about their new single ‘Echo Chamber’, future plans, what music means to them, and much more.
OSR: How did Cyanate come about?
Cyanate: CYANATE was formed about 13 years ago and began as most bands start – from the remains of a few other projects. It was started by our bass player Tim and other former members. Scott on guitar joined shortly after inception. Robert joined as the drummer, and Jerad was brought in as the lead vocalist around 2011. After a year of this line-up, Jerad and Robert left the band in late 2012. Robert re-joined on drums around 2014. It wasn’t until around 2019 that the project brought on Dimitri as lead vocalist. Around the beginning of 2022, the other founding member on guitar departed, and Jerad was approached to take up the other guitar spot. It’s been a journey getting the band to where it is today, but we are all proud of where we are.
OSR: You recently released your single ‘Echo Chamber’. What can you tell us about it? Is there a backstory or theme?
Cyanate: ‘Echo Chamber’ is written about the danger of confirmation bias that is surrounding all of us today. Either by “intelligent algorithms” pointing us to what they think we should be looking at, or by the various messaging that mainstream and extremist media presents to us to consume. The main point of the song is that we should be searching outside of what our typical sources of information are and make intelligent decisions and not just seek validation for our current ideologies or understanding of a situation.
OSR: Recording and producing singles can be difficult, so did you face any challenges when creating ‘Echo Chamber’?
Cyanate: The recording process was certainly an arduous one. We began recording our album in January of this year. We decided to self-produce in an effort to take our time and present a product we were truly happy with. It was a painstaking process, Jerad had stepped away from music production about 12 years ago, but with so much knowledge available on the internet about programs and techniques much was learned or re-learned throughout. Some things were learned a bit too late to make it on this album, but the next set of songs will have even better production. Having said that, we are very happy with how this album sounds.
The easiest part of the album was working with Jaime King as our mastering engineer. He has produced quite a resume of bands, such as Between the Buried and Me, Scale the Summit, and the Contortionist to name a few. He made the process incredibly simple and gave our album the sonic feel that was necessary to bring it home.
OSR: Do you have a particular creative process and if yes, what is it?
Cyanate: Most recently, our writing process has been borne from a “thread” that begins from recording a riff or series of ideas into a DAW, such as ‘Reaper’. From there, we will add in some rough drum tracks for feel and not so much as a final idea. Once a few of those ideas have been strung together, maybe a verse, chorus and a few other riff ideas from that thread, the idea will be brought to the band. From there we will collaboratively work to bring the song together as a whole. This is kind of a new writing style for all of us but has proven to be a unique take on the collaboration process, and in some cases bring enough components to a song to form a rough demo. From there, we work together to pick apart structure and additional ideas until a song feels complete.
OSR: What do you hope people take from your music?
Cyanate: The hope is that listeners “feel” something from our music. Good or bad, if our music evokes a feeling, then we’ve done something right. Indifference is the enemy to a musician.
OSR: What does music mean to you?
Cyanate: Playing music is something we have been doing for most of our lives, in a way it is a big part of who we are, though music can mean a significant number of things. It can evoke a memory or a mood – it can be cathartic, or just something that you need in that moment. When you have the ability and wherewithal to be able to create something that encompasses or allows you to harness certain feelings, sometimes that can be the greatest release of all.
OSR: ‘Echo Chamber’ is only your second release over the past couple of years. Do you feel it represents you as a band or is it too early to tell?
Cyanate: I think it’s still early days with this version of the lineup; however, a song like ‘Echo Chamber’ opens some unique doors that perhaps were not explored before. The band was always technical and heavy, but I think that a song like ‘Echo Chamber’ allows us to explore avenues that are perhaps a bit more progressive and sonically diverse; meaning we’re not afraid to drop into something a bit more mellow with piano, or synth, or interesting guitar tones and really explore the dynamics of a song. I think we’re all excited what will come out next. We’re currently in the process of writing our longest song ever, so that will be an interesting journey.
VIEWER DISCRETION IS STRONGLY ADVISED
OSR: Some random questions: What are the pros and cons of being a musician in a digital era?
Cyanate: That’s a big question to quantify. In the scope of music production and creation being able to be an “in the box” producer is quite incredible. The ways that companies can capture sound and nuance from an analogue piece of gear to make it sound authentic is quite a huge leap from even just a decade ago. Being able to record entire band practices on a thumb drive for picking apart a song, or learning ideas is valuable as well.
However, the downside to that in the scope of music production, is that it’s easy for every drummer to sound the same, a lot of metal music has become over-processed and robotic. There’s very little room for nuance and dynamics when you make your drummer sound entirely like a drum machine – it kind of takes the heart and soul out of it.
I do wish the streaming sites were a bit better partners with the creators, but this is the cost to play. It used to be such that you had to invest a significant amount of money to have CDs pressed and that limited your reach. Now you can reach people worldwide for next to nothing.
OSR: What is the biggest risk you have ever taken?
Cyanate: Self-producing this album I feel has been the biggest risk we’ve taken thus far with this lineup, as well as choosing to lead it off with ‘Echo Chamber’. We feel it’s a great song, but it is a departure from previous releases and what fans may expect. The next release ‘War Rages’ (coming in the next few weeks) is a pretty good bridge track from where we were to where we are going.
OSR: Do you have future plans as Cyanate?
Cyanate: Keep an eye and ear out for more new music. We have a few more songs that we will be dropping before the end of the year, as well as a few show announcements, also taking place before the end of the year. We should be hitting the road in early 2024 as well.
OSR: Do you have a message for our readers?
Cyanate: We would love to hear from you. Please check out our socials and leave us your feedback on any of the songs we have out and keep an eye out for more songs dropping very soon!
Many thanks to Cyanate for speaking with us! Find out more about Cyanate on their Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Spotify.
Check out Cyanate and more metal bands on our official The Other Side Reviews’ Metal playlist:
