Torche’s Steve Brooks Talks New Album ‘Restarter’: Torche frontman discusses intense new album and 2015 tour in our exclusive interview.
One of the beautiful aspects of Torche is their lack of easy classification. Sure they’re heavy, but they’re not exactly metal. Yes they’re catchy, but in quirky hard to define ways.
It’s this indefinable quality that has made the band one of the most unique and engaging rock bands in recent memory, and as new album Restarter (Relapse Records) attests, they’re not resting on their laurels. It’s a rocket fueled, fuzz saturated beauty, and perhaps their best album to date.
I recently had the chance to speak to founding member Steve Brooks, whose soaring vocals and punishing riffs are crucial to the band’s appeal. We discussed the band’s approach to Restarter, their current U.S. tour, and how their band rests in a category all their own. Enjoy the Q&A below:
SLIS: Critics seem in agreement that Restarter is one of your heaviest albums to date. Do you agree with that assessment and if so, was that a conscious decision of the band?
SB: We just wrote a bunch of songs and it just turned out they were just slower and heavier and more stripped down on this record. But I mean we’ve been writing heavy songs since the beginning. Every record has some. But this one had a different and moodier vibe, a darker vibe.
Click here for my Restarter review
SLIS: . One thing I love about your sound is that you don’t sacrifice melody for heaviness. So much heavy music these days shirks away from melody. Is that something you feel sets you apart from your contemporaries?
SB: It’s just what we’re into really. We’re into a lot of classic rock you know, we don’t listen to a whole lot of our contemporaries. We usually go back or listen to bands that are very different from us. We’re pretty much just a straightforward rock band, but we have our identity though…we try to sing (laughing). That’s what I like in rock and roll. A lot of bands that I listen to, they all have singers. So I do my best!
SLIS: That’s something I really appreciate about your sound, because melodic vocals in aggressive rock is really a lost art. And I feel that melodic element in songs like Minions and Loose Men are also indicative of a lot of 90’s rock, which is what I focus on a lot with my site. I feel like your sound is somewhat of a throwback to that era of alternative rock. Did bands from that era influence you at all?
SB: Well I’ve been playing music since the early 90’s. My old band Floor started in ’92, so I carried over a lot of that sound into this band. So it’s almost like we are a 90’s band (laughing)!
So yeah I love everything from like the 60’s up til the early 90’s. And you know, there’s a lot of great bands that have been happening the last 20 years. But I think a lot of our influences come from 90’s and pre-90’s.
SLIS: Do you wish that heavy rock music still occupied as much space in mainstream music like it did back in the 90’s?
SB: I listen to a lot of underground music so as far as now its more, I guess because its not as out in the open, its more sacred I guess to people who love rock. It’s not like so popular that every douchebag in the world is listening to it!
(both laugh)
SLIS: But do you ever miss that era with good rock bands being able to reach a wider audience…do you wish that rock had more presence with younger people instead of pop music these days?
SB: No, because if you look at the 90’s there were great bands that started it off and then all the posers came along and they kind of ruined the 90’s really. You had bands like Nirvana that came from the underground and blew up, but then you had bands like Bush and all these imitators come out. Like Better Than Ezra and all that crap (both laugh). It kind of spoiled what was great about the real bands. So I like the fact that bands that are really doing it believe it in now.
It’s not like bands that went from hair metal who saw what was happening with a lot of Seattle bands and decided to automatically change their sound and get signed and move to Seattle. So I prefer the people who actually search for rock and roll you know?
(both laugh)
If they’re really into it? Go for it…but if its like pushed in their face, then you get all these imitators that come out of the woodwork and ruin it. So I don’t really care since I don’t listen to the radio…I mean I’ll listen to like classic rock radio. But it is unfortunate that a lot of kids aren’t growing up listening to some of the classics.
SLIS: I read a recent Stereogum interview with your bassist Jonathan Nunez. He mentioned the album was inspired by post apocalyptic 80s films like The Terminator and Blade Runner. Did that inform your lyrics as well?
SB: I just try to come up with melodies and then whatever is on my mind I’ll put words to it, but it is totally inspired by sci-fi in lots of ways: the artwork, some of the lyrics, that kind of came through in the end product, through the cover art and everything. When I hear the record I think of what the cover art would look like and Santos (cover artist) was able to really nail it.
SLIS: Are there any songs inspired by specific films?
SB: Well you just write riffs and write songs together. You don’t just sit there and over think things…it just kind of comes out. But I listen to a song like Restarter and it makes me think of the Doctor Who theme song for some reason. Which I love you know? Laughs. Delia Ann Derbyshire’s Dr. Who Theme song. When we started jamming that I was this is awesome (laughs)! So there are certain things that just come out and you think about it afterwards.
SLIS: The production on Restarter is really impressive. Your guitar tone is so massive that it feels barely contained and almost shoegaze in nature. That flies in the face of overly tidy modern recording. How did you approach the production on the album?
SB: We try to do that with every record: just try to make it as big and as loud as we are live. We push the limits (laughs), because when we play live, it’s just a wall of sound. So we want the record to be just under the red…or just at the red know? You can’t push the needle any further.
SLIS: You mentioned Restarter has a darker vibe, but you’re known for having a more upbeat sound than a lot of aggressive bands. How did that aesthetic of your sound come about: was it a conscious effort or just arrive spontaneously?
SB: Well some of my favorite bands are The Breeders and Guided By Voices. And that just kind of comes through: hey I just want to write this kind of song and you just end up doing it. You don’t think about what other people like. You just think about what works with the 4 members of the band. And if everyone else digs it that’s cool… but we don’t really follow anyone else’s sound. We just do what we want to do. And the upbeat stuff is just fun to play live. We don’t really think about being metal or anything else…we just make the kind of songs that we want to write.
SLIS: You’ve recently launched your US tour. What can fans expect regarding the setlist? Is it mostly focused on Restarter?
SB: Usually the first few show the setlist kind of changes because you’re getting a feel for the crowd and the flow of the material….we want to play as much of the new record as possible but also play older songs that we enjoy playing live.
SLIS: How has the new material been received so far? Are you happy with the reception that its been getting live?
SB: Yeah I’m in disbelief. Because you never know. Its kind of a gamble when you put out a record because you never know if people will like it or not.
So it’s just important that you like it yourself…. we’re pretty harsh on each other so if we’re not liking something while we’re writing it, it’s pretty evident…I’ll come up with brilliant riffs that I think are great and then the rest of the guys will laugh…or my drummer will come up with some nu-metal drum beat to ruin it for me.
(both laugh)
SLIS: So I’ll be seeing your show in Austin tonight. Do you enjoy the general reception you get while playing here?
SB: I love Austin. It’s really the only place in the middle of America that I would ever visit if I didn’t have to tour through the rest of the crap. The food is great. I have a lot of friends there…I always get excited when I get to the city. Because everywhere else is just like fast food and miserable looking people…its kind of a wasteland (laughing). And then you get to Austin and its like all right dude! (laughing) And there’s a good music culture and people dig it. It’s a great vibe all-around. We’ll probably be pretty sloppy tonight. Its like a friend of mine birthday and everyone wants to hang out (laughing). So we gotta keep it together until after the show!
(both laugh)
SLIS: Awesome. So post tour do you have any plans for new material or other projects in the works?
SB: Yeah I’m ready to start writing again. I don’t want it to be another 3 yrs. before our next record comes out. I’m hoping to get another record out by at least late next year. I just want to be more prolific so we can just keep moving forward.
So that’s the plan: later this year we’re going to start writing.
SLIS: So when you’re writing a new album, is it ever a reaction against the last one? Do you ever make a conscious effort to differentiate from what you’ve done previously?
SB: Well we don’t want to write the same songs over again. So if anything sounds like another song…we’ll be pretty blunt about it. Esp. me; like if anyone starts a song with the same type of riff as an older one…that kind of happened on this last record…I was like I’m going to scream (laughs)
So you kind of want to try different things but still keep it within the sound that we have. But it’s hard for us to write anything that doesn’t really sound like us. Which is great! But we push ourselves and try different things with what we do…so who knows what the next record will sound like? It might be a soft rock record but it’ll still sound like Torche.
