INTERVIEW: ÆGES – KEMBLE WALTERS

Rock Revolt correspondent Robert Forte recently sat down with ÆGES vocalist and guitar player Kemble Walters to discuss the band’s new record, the current state of the music industry and what the immediate future may hold for the hard rocking quartet out of southern California.

ÆGES’ star has been on a steady rise for a bit over two years now. This upward trajectory can primarily be traced back to the band’s sophomore release 2014’s Above and Down Below. Buzz concerning the band may have actually reached its highest point last Fall when ÆGES took to the Monster Mash stage in Arizona to share the lighted stage with the likes of industry titans such as Deftones, Tool and Primus.

ÆGES recently released their third studio effort Weightless on Another Century to mostly positive reviews. Produced by Bob Marlette (Black Sabbath, Seether) and mixed by Saosin’s Beau Burchell, the record delivers fans endless hooks and riffs as well as outstanding melodies that ultimately combine to create a record that rewards the listener for taking the time to explore the new material from first track to last.

The ÆGES you hear today is somewhat of a different band versus the outfit Walters initially started out with. Following the band’s 2012 debut The Bridge ÆGES made some personnel changes that would eventually see current guitar player and co-lead vocalist Cory Clark and drummer Mike Land find their way into the fold. Bassist Tony Baumeister and Walters himself are the only members of ÆGES that have been with the band since its original inception.

“Initially we were just trying to figure out a sound that would work with the idea of trying to create something new out of what bands like Handsome, Helmet and Quicksand started,” Walters explained when asked about the initial sound ÆGES was attempting to formulate.

Fast forward to 2016 and ÆGES continues to expand both their fan base as well as the spread of their unique blend of music to the global masses. SiriusXM has been regularly playing tracks off Weightless on both their Octane and Liquid Metal channels. Walters actually had the opportunity to host what Liquid Metal refers to as a “takeover” recently where a band is profiled, takes questions from fans and spins tracks that influenced them as artists.

Jose Mangin, who hosts shows on multiple SiriusXM channels challenged Walters recently to record the title track off of Weightless in Indonesian. Walters I learned is originally from Jakarta, Indonesia where he continued to reside until relocating to the U.S. back in 2000 to pursue multiple musical endeavors.

Weightless is the band’s most ambitious release to date. Unlike many studio recordings put out these days the band’s latest effort doesn’t just contain one or two noteworthy tracks. The plain truth of the matter is Weightless has superlative songs sprinkled throughout including standouts such as “A Reason Why”, “Another Wasteland”, “Clear, “Drown” as well as the title track itself.

“We didn’t have a concept per se going into this record but we did have a vision for how we wanted the record to sound and how we wanted to construct the track listing for the album,” said Walters.

Walters continue to explain, “Cory and I are constantly writing. We had something along the lines of twenty or so songs we went into the studio to record, with thirteen of them making it onto to the record. We actually recorded three or four songs that we’ll likely end up using as “B” sides as some point.”

Walters himself engineered, produced and mixed the band’s first two studio recordings, however with Weightless ÆGES decided to bring in some outside influences in attempt to elevate the band to new heights.

“This is the first time anyone from the outside has had their hands in the process of recording anything ÆGES related. My and Cory’s main vision concerning bringing in anyone from the outside was to primarily to help us with the vocals for the record,” Walters stated.

Further commenting on the topic Walters went on to say, “We really wanted to make sure that we got the best out of the two unique singers in the band. Bob put us under a microscope and he would question a lot of things. He really helped us focus and the attention to detail he brought to the table in terms of this record was really very cool.”

Although Weightless contains some elements that were present on the band’s first two albums the new record comes off as a much more complete effort that’s considerably more expansive in terms of sonic scope and ambition.

Walters explained, “The main difference between our three records is the fighting between certain frequencies. So for example the amount of over distortion on certain parts. Every record we’ve done we’ve recorded it a different way. With The Bridge the guitar and vocals were super chunky and guitar driven where I layered guitar after guitar. On the second record we decided to not use as much distortion.”

Further musing on the differences between all three of the bands studio releases Walters continued, “So if a melody came up it was very rare at that point for us to do something like put a rhythm guitar part over it. This is really the reason why our second record, Above and Down Below is so sparse and open. With Weightless it just kind of turned into blend of the first two records. We tried not to overdue the guitar parts but it did end up happening at times. It’s really just a totally different animal.”

Finishing his thoughts on this particular topic Walters concluded, “The whole thing is when people write the same thing and follow the same process every record it ends up stagnant and you’re left nowhere to go with the next record. The next album could be a lot heavier and it probably will be. We never want to write the same record twice.”

The landscape of the music industry today is so vastly different than it was in the 70’s and 80’s and even just a decade ago. Long gone are the days when labels and record companies would spend countless dollars and have endless patience with bands as they willingly took the time to develop artists over the course of many years.

“The money to develop a band the way record companies did even ten years ago simply doesn’t exist anymore”, said Walters.

Walters further commented, “It does fall on the artist to get their band to a certain level that helps the label as well as their marking and public relations teams. It’s like you’re at a job and you get a promotion but you can’t go from the mail room to the CEO. That’s the way that it is in music industry now. You have to do it yourself and climb that ladder. Labels just don’t come up to bands anymore and say here is all this money, we’re going to make you a star. Even if someone says that to you and your band they’re probably not telling the truth. You really do more work on the smallest scale to develop your audience and your worth as a band today.”

These days it’s hard to figure out if hard rock and metal music still have a place on the radio and whether heavy music is still resonating with the mass populous.

Walters weighed in on this topic saying, “I kind of feel like pop and mainstream music are on the way out in some ways. I mean I think rock music is still valid. The most played style of music on Spotify is metal so people obviously want to hear heavy music. I believe real musicianship and songs are coming back versus what’s going today where a lot of music is based upon an idea versus an emotion, good song writing and musicianship.”

ÆGES have already toured this summer on Weightless with the likes of Crobot. Currently the band is out there on the road supporting Chevelle.

It’s been really good man, laughed Walters as he talked about the band’s current tour cycle. “We’re still getting comfortable with a lot of the music on the new record. Whether it’s noticeable or not this record is very challenging to play live. Getting used to some of the stuff is hard. So on this run we’re doing “Weightless”, “Reason Why” and “Echoes.” We’ve actually been closing with those songs lately and the crowd reaction has been amazing.”

As far as future touring plans go Walters commented, “Nothing is a hundred percent confirmed that I can actually talk about but it looks as though we have some other support projects lined up for the Fall. Whether we end up out supporting another act or doing a headlining thing of our own this October and November we’re definitely going to be out there. We really haven’t hit the West Coast yet which is weird considering we are from Los Angeles. Every tour we do seems to start with a twenty-hour drive from southern California. So our next move may be a little bit of a quick west coast run on our own with whoever happens to be in town and just wants to play with us.

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by Robert Forte, RockRevolt PhotoJournalist