A Chat with Earthstate (14.05.19)
The French have always had a way of making people swoon…or is that the Italians? I don’t know, one of those nations is stereotypically supposed to leave women breathless – thank goodness our interview was via email, then. Taking some time out, the gentlemen from pop-punk band Earthstate answered some questions. Talking about their new album, inspirations and future plans, here is Earthstate.
OSR: In a previous interview, you mentioned that the album is about the journey of a fictional character who leaves home with each song being a different part of that journey. Are the feelings and emotions this character experiences based on personal experience?
E: For sure they are, up to a point. We’ve all experienced situations where we found ourselves confronted with tough choices and intense situations (positive or negative) in our personal lives. The emotions and the story we put in our music and lyrics are mostly fictional.
OSR: Why did you decide to make it about a character instead of your story?
E: The idea came to us when we were reflecting on the order of the tracks and the meaning we wanted to give to our lyrics. We had already composed the songs from a musical point of view at this time. The idea came a little by chance but made perfect sense when we put the songs in relation to
each other.
OSR: What lesson can listeners learn or take away from the character’s journey?
E: Well, the main lesson is to not be afraid, to dare to embark on your life, and to make your own choices to be happier. More specifically, this character makes us go on an adventure!
OSR: How did you come up with Earthstate as your band, album, as well as track name? Is it just coincidence or is there a special meaning behind it?
E: So this point is a good reflection of how we operate. We waited to be all four on the one and the same name to choose it – it took us a while! On the other hand, before that, we knew what meaning we wanted to give to the name of our project.
OSR: What’s next for Earthstate? New music video? Touring? Playing any music festivals?
E: Shows for sure! We’re looking forward to play at our release party (June 28th) with Yvet Garden and Behind Locked Doors in our home city, Lyon. We’re currently looking for next shows and really want to share our music and energy everywhere.
OSR: Where do you see the band in five years?
E: Four best friends making music and playing together, but with more songs and shows!
OSR: What was the writing and recording process like?
E: As we said before, we focus first on the musical part. Everyone participates in this process. We have Stane and Max who imagine the first roll, and then Dewi and Thibs who make the arrangements. After choosing together the meaning we want to give to the song, we start writing lyrics.
OSR: Is there a particular track on the new album that was painful or difficult to write?
E: Not a song, in particular, to be honest. We had, at the very beginning of the project, decided a very low tuning. After having worked the first versions of our songs, we realised that we had to raise our tuning for a better harmony between vocals and instruments. It was complicated because we had to rewrite and re-arrange almost all our songs.
OSR: Were there tracks you recorded for the album that didn’t make the cut?
E: No, all our work is on EARTHSTATE.
OSR: Who are your main influences as a band?
E: We all have our own influences, and that makes our strength and the originality of our sound. We can mention the pop punk that all of us decided to make music when we were teenagers. A band like Blink 182, for example, is for sure one of our main collective influences!
For more from Earthstate, check out their Facebook and Instagram.
