Day2 and No1 from Bone Cult open up about how the band’s identity has changed over the years, and how they have come to create new album, ‘Digital Afterlife’.
S] Hi guys, how are you?
[D2] All good here! Enjoying releasing the album and creating again!
S] You’ve switched from band, to DJs, to half-band/half DJs and back again – do you feel comfortable now?
[D2] Ha, for now! It always feels like we’ve nailed the live formation of the band and then change it completely by the end of the year. It keeps it fresh and interesting to change the live setup entirely but for now, this feels like the most polished live show we can perform whilst focusing on the stage production to make the overall set more entertaining and memorable for the audience.
S] Do you know what the band’s identity is?
[N1] Even though we’ve changed a lot in terms of format over the years, I feel like our identity as a band hasn’t changed. We’re still carving out our own path rather than following the crowd and that’s what defines us as musicians and performers. The masks are our visual identity and remove our own personalities from the equation. We want the band to be its own entity rather than individuals you can identify.
S] On that note, how has your mission statement changed over time?
[N1] From the early days we just wanted to create an intense experience that we weren’t seeing anyone else doing in a time when many bands on the scene seemed to be following the same tired formula. That hasn’t changed, although these days we approach the music differently in terms of production – we want to create a varied experience rather than sticking to one gear.S] What have you learned about yourselves as musicians over the last few years?
[D2] After playing with different iterations of the band and a wide variety of genres, we’ve learned that our music is always going to have to sit somewhere between electronic and a typical rock band. Whenever we’ve tried to do solely electronic music, we’ve always struggled to completely embrace the genre and missed the energy of a drum kit and a distorted guitar. The same goes the other way when we’ve made more typical rock music; adding some sort of electronic production on the end to add the final touch and liven it up. I don’t think that’ll ever change, especially after writing this album and trying both paths.S] In what ways does ‘Digital Afterlife’ challenge you, and push you in new ways as a unit?
[D2] We outsourced a few songs to different producers and sound engineers, often sending the same song to several different people who were unaware of the other mixing the song. It was really interesting to hear what each person did with it and gave us a more objective chance to experience the songs in a different light to how we’d produced and mixed them.Seeing how people felt the tracks should be produced, pushed us to improve our work and improve on their interpretation whilst improving things we definitely did not like. Setting the album launch date months in advance as well as a massive commitment to work and get it done in time. In hindsight, it was a risky tactic but it’s hard to argue that it didn’t work.
S] How do you look back at ‘Death Electronica’ now?
[N1] That album now feels like the culmination of the work honing our sound from the three EPs we had released, and now it caps off that era for the band. Considering we released it in the first month of lockdown when the pandemic struck gives it a strange context now with the state of emergency the world entered when it seemed like we wouldn’t be able to reach people with the songs and no one knew what would happen next. So to be able to release music again in a recovering world and music scene is a completely different and positive sensation!S] How important is the visuals/imagery now?
[N1] Developing this album we have become more interested in using digital graphics and representing the band as avatars. New technology seems to be embracing digitisation of ourselves and the way we interact and communicate. Our 3D-rendered art and videos are opening a gateway into this world for us.We want to leverage new tech to keep creating even more immersive experiences and to interact with our audiences online. This is what spawned the concept of a ‘Digital Afterlife’, partly inspired by a combination of the film Vanilla Sky and the emerging frontier of the MetaVerse.
S] Is there anything else you’d like to add before we finish?
[D2] We’re really looking forward to releasing this album and performing it at Rock City in Nottingham on 19th of August! It feels like the culmination of months of hard work which couldn’t be more proud of.S] Thanks so much for your time!
[N1] Pleasure to be back, thanks for having us.For more visit: https://linktr.ee/bonecult/
