Of all the metal and rock music out there right now, it’s easy for too many good bands to get lost in the fringes. Luckily for me, Texas-based Invent, Animate are quickly making a name for themselves among metal’s ranks! Having just released their debut LP Everchanger and starting up both U.S. and North American tours they’re becoming quite busy. After a small game of phone-tag I was able to chat with singer, Ben English of things music, tour guts, and change. Here’s what he had to say:
For our readers who might be unfamiliar with you, can we just get a brief history of how the band formed?Â
I played in a band when I was 16, I’m 21 now, and it was just me in my hometown trying to find music to play. We hosted a tryout for a new guitarist and Trey and Logan, our current drummer and guitarist, came and I realized they were really good. We kind of just phased out and I went to go play with those guys and that’s how we got started.
Where does the name Invent, Animate come from?
We wanted something that would be easily searchable. With all these bands with names that are just plural nouns, it’s really hard to find them. We definitely wanted something that’s not completely off-the-wall. We didn’t want to over complicate it and Trey thought of it. It took me a couple days to get used to it, but I’m still cool with it. I don’t hate it so I guess that’s a win. (laughs)
That’s something (laughs). Your new LP, Everchanger, has been met with great success and praise. How has that experience been for you so far?
It’s been awesome, man! I’m really excited about it! I’m so glad it’s being taken so well. I went through a pretty big vocal style change on this CD compared to my last work. I haven’t heard anything bad yet. I think kids like it. It kind of goes hand in hand with the record. We sound completely different than we did a year and a half ago. It just kind of makes sense and it’s doing well so we’re stoked on that.
Yeah my buddy Chris turned me on the Native Intellect a few months ago and we were just so excited for Everchanger to come out. My next question was actually how would you describe how Everchanger differs from your older music?
Like anything else, a band progresses. It’s just our progression, man. It’s a lot more ambient. It’s everything our older stuff was just turned up in a lot of ways. It’s more intense. More everything.
From what and how were you inspired in the writing process for the new CD?
As far as lyrics go, because that’s my alley, I wanted to cover a little bit of everything. It’s our first record so I didn’t want to reinvent the wheel and write a concept album or anything. I kind of wanted to get a little bit of everything in there. I wanted to make it kind of broad and, I don’t want to say vague, just kind of broad and cover a little bit of everything. The main focus is change. Just different types of change I went through and the band went through. That was really easy for me to write about, actually. I’m really looking forward to challenging myself on the upcoming CDs.
With Everchanger having only been released on digital media for the time being, how have things like leaks and piracy affected the band?
Honestly I think it’s given us an edge. I keep up with that stuff pretty good. We had the second highest rated album on one of the biggest leak sites out there. Honestly, for our first band, first record, word of mouth and overall hype are so important. We still did well our first week. We exceeded expectations and I think we got a huge chunk of new fans through leaks and stuff. I think it gave us an advantage this time around. Down the road, leaks probably won’t help us as much. For this record I wasn’t super worried about it. We’re doing well on all the leak websites so I guess that’s saying something.
Do you think digital-only releases are the way to go?
Yes, definitely! You can order the album and we had a thing with Best Buy but we ended up not doing it for whatever reason. I was bummed about that but honestly it’s like, whatever. We’re doing our thing. The kids that want physical copies can order it and we had them at shows and will still have them at shows. Next time around we’ll have a name and size enough to have them at certain stores but it’s not too big of a deal for us. Most people buy digital anyways.
How has fan support been thus far in your career?
You’re talking to the right guy because I take care of all the online stuff. It’s done exactly what I wanted it to do. I keep a pretty close watch on our page. I’m horrible with names but I can kind of remember kids when I see them. They’re the typical ones who comment on our posts but I can’t even get close to keeping up with that anymore and that’s a good thing. I have no idea who these people are but I’m so glad they’re here. It’s exactly what we needed. I’m happy and they’re happy. It was a successful release for sure!
Yeah and I saw you’ve already gotten some requests to try out for Northlane.
Yeah it’s funny that you say that. I hope their situation gets resolved and they get a good fill-in there. At the same time, we get so many comparisons to them because of vocal similarities that I think that storm is finally over and I won’t hear that anymore. (laughs) Best of luck to (Adrian). I love that guy, he’s awesome but also I’m glad to be the only guy in the game now. I don’t personally think I sound exactly like him but kids in YouTube videos are ruthless about it. (laughs) I listened to them in the past and I love the vocals. The vocals are awesome and if I hated the vocals I’d basically be saying I hate my own vocals. To me what stands out in with them is everything other than the vocals. Their drummer is incredible, their progressions are incredible and I think they’ll jump right back in if they find the right guy and it doesn’t hurt us either.
INVENT, ANIMATE – Nocturne: Lost Faith (Official Music Video)
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With what current or past bands would you most like to tour?
Touring we’ll do first because that will be easier. I’d love to tour with Architects. I think we’re kind of in that alley. I want to tour with Volumes. Also, let’s think bigger, touring with Bring Me the Horizon would do us the most good. Don’t get me wrong BMTH is awesome but if we toured with them it would really cool and bring us a ton of new fans so I don’t that would hurt us in any way. I think that would be a good option. Maybe we could tour with Bring Me and Architects at the same time! Past bands I would have to go with my number one love, Underoath. That’s the band that made me who I am today. Touring with them would be beyond me! That’s my vote. They brought a lot of people to heavier music and that’s what is so special about them.
What albums/bands have you been listening to recently?
Recently? There’s a band from Australia called Surroundings that our producer Brian Hood mixed their album. When we were recording Everchanger he was finishing up that mix and it sounds so good. The band sounds so good. They put out an album called Of Bane, Burden, and Change. They’re pretty small time and it’s their first album as well but they’re very good. I’ve been jamming their album a ton. I also listen to a lot of ambient music, man. I go through so much metal on tour and whatnot. I listen to a band called Tycho a lot. He put out a new album not too long ago. Also the new Contortionist album. I’ve been listening to that and getting ready for that.
What do you and the band spend your free time doing while on tour and off tour?
On tour I do a lot of hanging out and eating bad food. Just having fun and being tired. At home, I don’t think I’m a huge video game guy, but since I got home I’ve been playing a lot. I do that. I live in southeast Texas which is a very flat area so when I’m not in a flat area I like to go outside and do a lot of hiking. I hang out with my friends constantly. I’m doing that, playing games, hanging out with my family, and trying to work off this tour gut that I’ve got. (laughs) I’ll make a good decision here soon. It’ll work out. It always does. We’re getting really close to announcing a new tour. We’re going out of the country. It’s just to Canada but it’s out of the country. Our fans and new fans I think people will really dig it! We got our first week back and it was good. We have so many things planned so stay posted on the page because we have more than enough to announce!
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