Myriad
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Topic: Myriad
Posted By: toroddfuglesteg
Subject: Myriad
Date Posted: November 07 2011 at 09:26
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MYRIAD is a progressive rock duo from Brisbane, Australia. MYRIAD has recorded two albums to date; the dreamy 'Sea Of The Sinking Sun' and the epic 'Floating On Ascending Plains'. Extended, multi-part compositions featuring spacious, layered guitars, other-worldly analogue synths, commanding, detailed drum work, ethereal melodies and majestic themes contribute to a deep and reflective yet energetic sound that recalls the sensibilities of 70s progressive rock artists such as early PINK FLOYD, GENESIS, Mike OLDFIELD and many others! I got in touch with them and Matt Heindorff answered my questions. ######################################################################################
When, where and by
whom was your band born ?
Myriad was born a real
long time ago! It was in 1995 to be exact, in the seaside town of
Cleveland (near Brisbane, Australia).
It was me who got it
going, I had aspirations of starting a band that could deliver a
greater variety of sonic colours, rather than just the heavy guitar
based music that was big at the time. My first love was progressive
rock so it was definitely going to be a prog rock band!
So I made up some signs
and put them in music shops around Brisbane, listing my influences,
such as Yes, Pink Floyd or Jethro Tull. It was really odd to see,
because basically everyone wanted to put together some kind of metal
or punk band, and the influences were always Metallica or Nirvana. So
when people who knew the 70s prog bands saw my signs they were
intrigued and called me up just to see what was going on. It was
through these little signs that I met everyone who ever joined me on
a Myriad recording. They were certainly worthwhile!
Did any of you, past
and present members, play in any other bands before joining up in
your band ?
Yes, we sure did. The
first person I met from those signs was a bass player called Simeon.
We formed a prog-inspired band called Florian Geyer. Another sign led
us to getting involved in a really bad compilation CD called
Propaganda ’95 … it was full of all these death metal bands and
our music was totally out of place!
However, it was through
this CD that we met Justyn Roebig, who was in a heavier band called
The Shy Run. Anyway, our bands all broke up as bands do, and Justyn
and I got together pretty much immediately and started working on Sea
Of The Sinking Sun. Later Simeon, Justyn and I joined forces and
formed a heavy prog band called Xenos Paradox. We made some demo
recordings and played a few shows around Brisbane.
Moving forward in time a
little, I next met Darren, who played drums on Floating On Ascending
Plains, through a good friend of mine. Darren wasn’t playing in any
bands at the time. I think he’d had enough, so I was very lucky
that he agreed to work with me. He was wonderful … really into
Genesis and Yes and a real talent.
Moving up to the present
time, it was through yet another sign (online this time!) that I met
Steve Clarke. He called me up and throughout the conversation we
discovered that he had lived in the same house with Darren, and the
two had even jammed on drums from time to time. I took it as a sign
that Steve was THE ONE!!
Steve has been involved in
a lot of projects. In the 70s he played really serious and
complicated prog rock with his band Tamasha, even going as far as
performing in the Sydney Opera House.
He was also a founding
member of a band called ‘Flowers’ which later went on to become
pop giants Icehouse. He’s been around a while and sure has done it
all.
Why did you choose
that name and which bands were you influenced by ?
I was searching for a name
that seemed to have a 70s prog rock ring to it … and the word
appeared to me from the pages of either a book or some brochure I was
reading … something like that. I immediately liked the sound of the
word and I liked the meaning – which refers to a great vastness and
variety of things – so I visualised it for a couple of days and
began to love it. This was just before the internet arrived, so of
course, I thought I was the only person in the universe who had ever
thought of the name. Later I found out there were in fact a myriad of
Myriads!
As for influences, there
is no question about it; 1970s progressive rock bands are it! Pink
Floyd, Yes, Rush, Tangerine Dream, Genesis, PFM, Jethro Tull, etc.
There is also a little heaviness in there at times influenced by
Soundgarden or early Dream Theater. More recently I love Kevin
Moore’s Chroma Key and Van der Graaf Generator.
Brisbane is a pretty
big city in Australia. It was under water some months ago due to some
horrendous flooding. How is the music scene there now ?
Yes, there were serious
floods. Last year, I went out into the desert with my father, an epic
7000km journey by 4WD, and you realise just how vast, empty and dry
this continent actually is. Everybody lives on the coast where it is
green with nice beaches, so it is easy to forget that we are perched
on the rim of a massive desert. Periods of drought are only ever
truly broken by flooding, and Brisbane had been dry for a long time.
On the positive side, the heavy rains really restored the waterways
and river systems of the country. If you go inland now you’ll find
lakes and flowers!
As for the Brisbane music
scene, I would describe it as very healthy and flourishing and there
is a lot of variety, a lot of festivals and events. There also seems
to be a lot of awareness about progressive rock compared to before,
mostly due to bands like Karnivool and Tool … darker, heavier
styles that sometimes share the structural or rhythmic complexity of
earlier progressive rock.
 Over to your two
albums. Your debut album was Sea Of The Sinking Sun from 1996. Please
tell us more about this album.
The album was born from a
profound personal and musical awakening I had the first time I went
to live overseas (in Japan). It was a very intense time and the new
environment had quite an impact. Gone, Outside Smile and Cold Under
This Sky reflect some of the experiences I had that first time, some
aspirations and disappointments, deep impressions … others such as
North Sea Road, Destiny’s Midst and Almost A Joker are purely from
the imagination, based a bit on a love of nature and imaginary
worlds. They were the first group of songs I ever wrote, and were
part of a greater discovery as to how music could express an inner
world.
I was really inspired by
early Pink Floyd and Yes. I bought an electric guitar and started
teaching myself (I had studied piano so it was easy to get started.)
Without really knowing anything about how to play guitar, I just
started inventing chords and phrases that I really liked, looking for
something that spoke to me. I came up with Outside Smile in this way.
After I had a bunch of
songs written, I decided to make an album out of it. I hired a
4-track machine, recorded everything at home with a drum machine and
released it on cassette tape to all my friends! I really liked the
songs and felt that they deserved a proper recording. So later on I
decided to make the definitive version. I got in touch with Justyn
and he was very enthusiastic about the project. We started rehearsing
in a warehouse in Cleveland and a few months later, I had saved
enough money to get the drums recorded in a studio.
Anyway …. as soon
as that started, I very quickly ran out
of money! I realised I had to record certain things myself or the
project was doomed. Over the next few months, I borrowed a 16-track
and recorded at home and in a warehouse … I even set the guitar amp
up in my car and used that as a recording booth! For the more
important parts I went to whatever studio I could afford and recorded
a few more tracks, financing the whole thing along the way with
really glamorous jobs, such as delivering pizzas !! Hey … an
evening’s worth of work meant more time in the studio, so it was
worth it!
Eventually it was ready
for mixdown. I took the tapes to Mick Borkowski at VibraFeel and he
polished up my sonic mess rather nicely. I was very proud of it, I
still am. It was a great exercise in youthful, suburban,
do-it-yourself-ness.
The title reflects the
environment where I live here in Australia, right by the sea. I used
to walk down to the sea just near my house and think about the songs
we were recording for the album. Although being on the east coast,
the sun doesn’t sink over the sea, it rises … so there’s a bit
of a contradiction in there somewhere!
 our second and most
recent album is Floating On Ascending Plains from 2001. Please tell
us more about this album.
Floating was all about the
music and I approached it with a sense of great freedom. My plan was
simply to record the sounds and music that I loved without concern
for any other opinion! If it ended up sounding dated or clichéd at
times … fine. If it was unique or exciting … great. The only
requirement was that I had to love it!
There was a big jump in
skills and confidence between ‘Sinking’ and starting ‘Floating’.
I was listening to Genesis (Foxtrot), PFM (Photos Of Ghosts), Yes
(Keys To Ascension) and Dream Theater (Falling Into Infinity) a lot
at this time, and these albums really influenced the structure and
creative vision for the pieces. I had also started indulging in my
passion for vintage synthesisers and these instruments helped shape
the compositional process. For example, I would find a sound or
texture that I loved and that would inspire a whole new section of
music, particularly on the track ‘Visions Of Sinai’.
The album has a quite a
spiritual theme running through it. It explores some ideas I was
absorbed in with regards to spiritual development, set against the
backdrop of actual experiences I had on a journey in Northern India.
It follows the stages of spiritual development, starting from
ignorance, moving to increased awareness, doubting all those new
realisations then hopefully progressing on from doubt to seeing the
reality of the bigger picture.
The title itself was a
phrase that occurred to me whilst travelling in Nevada in the United
States. The desert there seems to gently sweep upwards into distant
mountains on the horizon, and amidst the vastness, I wanted to take
wings and start flying across the plains, sweeping upwards into the
distant ranges; hence Floating On Ascending Plains.
Anyway, I came back to
Australia full of demo tapes and epic ideas and had the good fortune
to work with Darren. I didn’t need to explain a thing to Darren. He
knew exactly what to do with the music.
Like Sinking, some of the
recording for Floating was done at home. Even though the music side
of it was a great adventure, I remember the recording side being
quite a misery! Once again, I was at the limit of my savings, racking
up studio fees the whole time and mixing sessions were really, really
intense.
After being out of
print for some time, the album is now available again on CD, freshly
remastered and sounding great. You can get it at Synphonic, Musea or
at our website: http://www.myriadrealm.com/" rel="nofollow -
For those of us
unfamiliar with your music; how would you describe your music and
which bands would you compare yourself with ?
Tough question! Let’s
see …. I would say Myriad has a strong 70s feel, the music tends to
be cinematic and spacious, sometimes like a movie soundtrack. It has
the lush and symphonic keyboard and guitar work of 70s progressive
rock, but delivered sometimes with a heavier rhythm section. It can
be a bit space rock at times. The focus is on melody and lyrics tend
to explore contemplative themes.
It’s always hard to know
who to compare yourself to - you don’t want to flatter yourself too
much! But I like to think we bear similarity to Yes, Pink Floyd and
Genesis in terms of musical structure, creative ambition and
instrumentation, and early Rush in terms of energetic delivery. We
possibly are more similar to the earlier music of those bands rather
than the later.
We have been compared
quite a bit to Porcupine Tree. I’m actually a bit of a latecomer to
their music, having only got into them recently, and they are
absolutely wonderful. Any comparison to theme is a real compliment.
How is the creative
processes in your band from coming up with an idea to it's being
recorded ?
Writing music comes from a
very ‘right-brained’ place for me. I sit at the keyboard or the
guitar and drift in search for harmonies, melodies and motifs that
move me. That is the criterion, something must stir within. When I
hit upon something, it really does seem to come from another place
and suddenly, the whole idea with all the arrangements and
instrumentation seems to suddenly appear in one instant (on a good
day anyway!)
From there, I usually make
a demo of the idea to see whether it is actually has any merit. If
the demo works out well, I will then start working with drums to get
some human life and energy into the track then start recording,
gradually add layer upon layer until the idea has completely ‘spoken’
itself. In almost all cases, the music and lyrics are written in
isolation, and generally the music is first.
Everything I write has
some basis in actual inner or outer experience. That can be expressed
entirely musically, without any lyrics at all. Our new song
“Reminded” is an instrumental, yet every note of the long guitar
solo evokes moments and environments I have passed through, it all
represents something.
Your third album is
ready to be unleashed according to your homepage. Besides this new
album, what have you been up to during the last ten years ?
A lot of interesting
adventures actually!
Shortly after we finished
Floating, Darren and I both went travelling. The album did well for a
while, but sadly the label we were with ran into hard times and soon
after, met its demise, which was a real blow.
After that, I decided that
instead of jumping back into band activities, I needed to start
investigating more seriously some of the things I had been singing
about on Floating. That led me into some interesting and deep
situations exploring the spiritual traditions of Japan for a few
years. During this time Myriad related activities came to a halt,
although I still kept writing and recording demos where possible.
In 2007 I came back to
Australia and the last few years I have been studying (at the
Conservatorium of Music in Brisbane) as well as slowly working on new
Myriad material with Steve, travelling a little, and also working
with a band called District Of East.
What can we expect
from the new album ?
Well as a matter of fact,
we have a brand new song out right now that you can listen to! Please
do go and download it free at:
http://myriad.bandcamp.com/" rel="nofollow -
The track is an
instrumental, called ‘Reminded’. It features an epic, stadium
rock guitar solo, recorded right in the bedroom! Just make sure you
have your cigarette lighters ready to wave in the air in the second
part and you should love it!
At this stage, Steve and I
have decided to release the new material track by track as digital
singles. If people like the new material and there is enough
interest, we will add some extra goodies and make it into an album.
Other songs to follow
include an epic called ‘Lament For Empty Sky’. This one is quite
guitar driven, in the spirit of 70s Rush, with some intricate and
powerful drum work from Steve. It features vocals too!
Another song is called
‘First Snowfall’, written by Steve. It’s a relatively short and
atmospheric piece with a strong modal groove behind it, layered on
top with meandering e-bow lines and spacey analogue synths.
There is also another
lengthy epic we have been working on, but which to be honest - is
proving quite difficult to get down! It is called ‘A Final Lament’,
features a number of different sections of contrasting energies and
moods … still working hard on this one … whether it turns out
well or not remains to be seen. It has a mind of its own. I am
reminded of the monk Norbu in the film Himalaya, who is painting a
fresco. He says, “It soon escapes our control. The fresco decides
itself when it’s finished.”
What is your
schedule and plans for the next weeks and months ? Touring or
anything else ?
Over the next couple of
months I will be working furiously to finish off recording and mixing
the new songs. After that, I plan to get back into ‘composing
mode’, just sitting down at an instrument, getting creative and
writing new music.
In due course we would
like to find a label who could represent our music. I am feeling very
strongly about the new material written recently, and am beginning to
envisage more albums. It would be exciting to see it out there on a
wider scale. We have no touring plans at this stage, but would love
to do it.
To wrap up this
interview, is there anything you want to add to this interview?
Yes, I would like to
sincerely thank everyone for your interest in Myriad, even though we
have been pretty quiet! I have seen some positive reviews on Prog
Archives and it is an honour to have people listen and take the time
to write a review. Thank you also for this opportunity to share a
little about ourselves. Thank you to Matt for this interview Their PA profile is http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=1154" rel="nofollow - their homepage is http://www.myriadrealm.com" rel="nofollow - their albums is http://myriad.bandcamp.com" rel="nofollow - a brand new single is available http://myriad.bandcamp.com/album/new-music-2011" rel="nofollow -
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Replies:
Posted By: Aussie-Byrd-Brother
Date Posted: November 08 2011 at 03:54
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Hello again toroddfuglesteg!
Another great interview, and one closer to home for me! I bought the `Sea Of The Sinking Sun' EP sooooo many years ago, from Cranium Records in New Zealand (R.I.P - I used to get so many of my prog albums from there until it closed up). It was a wonderful, melodic prog album, influenced in subtle ways by Porcupine Tree. Maybe one of the first bands influenced by P.Tree! I still give the album a listen every now and then these days! Would love to see the band play sometime down here in Melbourne! We had fellow Aussie's `Unitopia' two months back, never thought I'd get to see a real real proper prog band down here. Best of luck in the future, Myriad! Looking forward to your next album! |