Ed Martin - I Am Giant (31/01/2013)
The 59th Sound recently had a chat with Ed Martin of I Am Giant, about everything from recording their debut album, to touring with King Cannons, Shihad and Slash.
Hi Ed! First up, could you tell us what the band has been up to lately?
Well we're kind of in between shows over here in NZ at the moment so we're using the time to finish writing the 2nd album, getting the demos as good as we can so recording them (the expensive part) will be as swift as possible. Oh and making the most of the NZ
summer.
Is it tough having members from New Zealand and London?
Not really, the boys have all been based in London now for 5 years and although it takes a while for anyone to adjust after moving to a new city or country we're all pretty comfortable over there now and committed to building on what we've achieved over the last few months in Europe.
You must be excited for your upcoming Australian tour?
Yeah I can't wait, It's the first time back since the Slash tour and we have a new song to play, Blood Money, It's a ballsy 4 to the floor rocker that's been going down real well on tour so hopefully you guys will like it to. I love Australia, we recorded The Horrifying Truth in Sydney and Melbourne which was an amazing experience. I stayed with a mate of mine on Manly beach. That ferry ride into the city in the mornings is wicked, picture postcard stuff. We also toured with Dead Letter Circus for a month as well. We did some of the more regional towns and drove most of it, wicked memories and amazing scenery!!
What was it like to support Slash last year in Australia?
It was one of the best experiences of my life mate. he was a really cool guy to. I had to keep pinching myself when you casually strolled past him backstage and looked up and said "Hey Slash" in passing! Its not very often you get opportunities come up like that so to make it work was amazing.
You guys recently toured NZ with King Cannons and Shihad and I was shattered
that didn't come to Australia, how was that and any chance of bringing that tour
here?
Touring with Shihad was a big one for us. They're such an influential NZ rock band and have massive history here in NZ and Australia so to be able to share the stage with them and play to some pretty big crowds was wicked. Unfortunately King Cannons had slipped under my radar until the tour started but I was blown away by their stuff and their album has been on repeat pretty much since the end of the tour. Both Shihad and King Cannons were real cool guys to so yeah it was all round a pretty good start to 2013 for us!!
What can we expect from a I Am Giant show?
Loads and loads of energy! We're a 4 piece no gimmick rock band who play loud!!!!
What is your favourite song to play live and why?
My favorite song off the horrifying truth live is Drag My Name Through The Mud. I love the journey it takes you on, all the rhythmic changes that happen and the epic ending!
What was it like to record your debut album The Horrifying Truth? What has the reaction been to it and where did the name come from?
To be honest it was pretty straight forward. We all new the songs really well before we went into the studio and we'd had the tracks recorded ourselves up to a good standard as well so we did't need to spend hours and hours and days and days in the studio writing parts. Working with Forrester was an amazing experience to, he's stupidly good at what he does and he really helped us get the best out of those songs. In terms of the reaction it went into the charts at No.2 in NZ and soon after went gold and the release in Oz and Europe was really successful to. The name of the album was lifted from the name of an old demo that was in contention for the album.
How's the writing for the new album going?
Yeah really good thanks. We're in this really good space about 30 mins from Auckland.
The views are great and it's a great place to come to to get creative. We've actually
chosen the songs for the album now so it's really a case of dotting the I's and Crossing the
T's. We're pretty confident after Forester gets his hands the tracks they're going to be epic,
he’s good like that!
What's next for I Am Giant?
Well we have a show in NZ this weekend, then it's over to you guys in OZ. After the OZ dates we'll go back to NZ and write more (it's always good to write at every opportunity) until we do a big NZ festival called Homegrown. After Homegrown it will be back home to the UK for some more UK and Europe dates, after those we hit the studio in France to record the 2nd album. We're pretty much flat out for about 18 months!
Who writes the lyrics and music and what influences them?
It's kind of whatever works song by song but in general the band centers around Paul. Paul and Shelton will write the music and then I'll write a bunch of melodies with some loose lyrical ideas. We'll then all get together and go through the ideas and piece together a melody we're all excited on. After that Paul will start putting some lyrical ideas down passing the ideas back and forth between Shelton and I. Our lyrics on first album are influenced by our experiences we've had and stories we've heard so far in our lives I suppose. Pretty simple really!
What is the best and worst thing about being in a band?
The best thing about being in a band for me is having the opportunity to play songs that I've written to thousands of people around the world, meeting all these people after the shows and visiting some amazing places I would never had been to otherwise. The worst thing about being in a band is the fatigue you get from the constant traveling but without the traveling I wouldn't be able to do the best bit about being in a band so you I think I'll just take the bad bit on the chin for now! Ha!
What do you get up to in your time off?
We don't really have time off but if we do get a chance to have some space from each other it depends where we are I suppose. Most of the time I'll be outside trying to burn some energy off or learning about film editing or eyeing up the latest pair of sneakers. Shelton's a photographer to so he'll probably be taking photos somewhere or snowboarding and Paul will be in the studio writing! Ha, seriously he probably would be or doing something to do with boxing, he's a walking boxing encyclopedia.
Matt Barton
Hi Ed! First up, could you tell us what the band has been up to lately?
Well we're kind of in between shows over here in NZ at the moment so we're using the time to finish writing the 2nd album, getting the demos as good as we can so recording them (the expensive part) will be as swift as possible. Oh and making the most of the NZ
summer.
Is it tough having members from New Zealand and London?
Not really, the boys have all been based in London now for 5 years and although it takes a while for anyone to adjust after moving to a new city or country we're all pretty comfortable over there now and committed to building on what we've achieved over the last few months in Europe.
You must be excited for your upcoming Australian tour?
Yeah I can't wait, It's the first time back since the Slash tour and we have a new song to play, Blood Money, It's a ballsy 4 to the floor rocker that's been going down real well on tour so hopefully you guys will like it to. I love Australia, we recorded The Horrifying Truth in Sydney and Melbourne which was an amazing experience. I stayed with a mate of mine on Manly beach. That ferry ride into the city in the mornings is wicked, picture postcard stuff. We also toured with Dead Letter Circus for a month as well. We did some of the more regional towns and drove most of it, wicked memories and amazing scenery!!
What was it like to support Slash last year in Australia?
It was one of the best experiences of my life mate. he was a really cool guy to. I had to keep pinching myself when you casually strolled past him backstage and looked up and said "Hey Slash" in passing! Its not very often you get opportunities come up like that so to make it work was amazing.
You guys recently toured NZ with King Cannons and Shihad and I was shattered
that didn't come to Australia, how was that and any chance of bringing that tour
here?
Touring with Shihad was a big one for us. They're such an influential NZ rock band and have massive history here in NZ and Australia so to be able to share the stage with them and play to some pretty big crowds was wicked. Unfortunately King Cannons had slipped under my radar until the tour started but I was blown away by their stuff and their album has been on repeat pretty much since the end of the tour. Both Shihad and King Cannons were real cool guys to so yeah it was all round a pretty good start to 2013 for us!!
What can we expect from a I Am Giant show?
Loads and loads of energy! We're a 4 piece no gimmick rock band who play loud!!!!
What is your favourite song to play live and why?
My favorite song off the horrifying truth live is Drag My Name Through The Mud. I love the journey it takes you on, all the rhythmic changes that happen and the epic ending!
What was it like to record your debut album The Horrifying Truth? What has the reaction been to it and where did the name come from?
To be honest it was pretty straight forward. We all new the songs really well before we went into the studio and we'd had the tracks recorded ourselves up to a good standard as well so we did't need to spend hours and hours and days and days in the studio writing parts. Working with Forrester was an amazing experience to, he's stupidly good at what he does and he really helped us get the best out of those songs. In terms of the reaction it went into the charts at No.2 in NZ and soon after went gold and the release in Oz and Europe was really successful to. The name of the album was lifted from the name of an old demo that was in contention for the album.
How's the writing for the new album going?
Yeah really good thanks. We're in this really good space about 30 mins from Auckland.
The views are great and it's a great place to come to to get creative. We've actually
chosen the songs for the album now so it's really a case of dotting the I's and Crossing the
T's. We're pretty confident after Forester gets his hands the tracks they're going to be epic,
he’s good like that!
What's next for I Am Giant?
Well we have a show in NZ this weekend, then it's over to you guys in OZ. After the OZ dates we'll go back to NZ and write more (it's always good to write at every opportunity) until we do a big NZ festival called Homegrown. After Homegrown it will be back home to the UK for some more UK and Europe dates, after those we hit the studio in France to record the 2nd album. We're pretty much flat out for about 18 months!
Who writes the lyrics and music and what influences them?
It's kind of whatever works song by song but in general the band centers around Paul. Paul and Shelton will write the music and then I'll write a bunch of melodies with some loose lyrical ideas. We'll then all get together and go through the ideas and piece together a melody we're all excited on. After that Paul will start putting some lyrical ideas down passing the ideas back and forth between Shelton and I. Our lyrics on first album are influenced by our experiences we've had and stories we've heard so far in our lives I suppose. Pretty simple really!
What is the best and worst thing about being in a band?
The best thing about being in a band for me is having the opportunity to play songs that I've written to thousands of people around the world, meeting all these people after the shows and visiting some amazing places I would never had been to otherwise. The worst thing about being in a band is the fatigue you get from the constant traveling but without the traveling I wouldn't be able to do the best bit about being in a band so you I think I'll just take the bad bit on the chin for now! Ha!
What do you get up to in your time off?
We don't really have time off but if we do get a chance to have some space from each other it depends where we are I suppose. Most of the time I'll be outside trying to burn some energy off or learning about film editing or eyeing up the latest pair of sneakers. Shelton's a photographer to so he'll probably be taking photos somewhere or snowboarding and Paul will be in the studio writing! Ha, seriously he probably would be or doing something to do with boxing, he's a walking boxing encyclopedia.
Matt Barton