INTERVIEW: Dustie Waring – Between The Buried And Me

Since their inception almost two decades ago BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME have evolved into one of the true visionaries of technical and progressive metal, pushing boundaries such as releasing recorded performances of entire albums to DVD/Bluray displaying their full proficiency and intricate musicianship for all to see. 2018 brings the next offering from the North Carolina based quintet entitled Automata I due for release on March 9th via Sumerian Records. This will be the first instalment of two releases, the latter scheduled for later in the year. We caught up with guitarist Dustie Waring to get some insight into their writing process, what we can expect from the new album and more.

BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME have recently made the transition from Metal Blade to Sumerian Records. Was there any particular factors that influenced this change?

Dustie: Honestly, we were just out of contract and we were listening to different offers and Sumerian just seemed like they were the most compatible with us, as far as what they were looking to do. They’re just very tuned in to how things are working these days and just seemed like the best option for us. The record business is in a tough spot these days and they’re doing a lot of new things in a progressive way and it just seemed like the best match for us and they’ve been great so far.

Automata Part I is due for release on March 9th. You have released Condemned To The Gallows as the first single. Has the response been positive?

Dustie: It’s been amazing. I haven’t heard one negative thing, its been really great actually.

Was there anything you approached differently with this release?

Dustie: We just wrote music like we normally do man, as we were writing we all kinda noticed that the material we were writing was a lot heavier than the last one.

How do you approach the writing process for a new album? Do you all pitch ideas collaboratively? Are you all involved throughout?

Dustie: We all write and email to each other like “Hey what about this guys?” On this record it was surprisingly easier. We were just sending ideas back and forth, got together and just started putting the songs together you know?

Do you go in with a concept you want to base the music around or is it conceived as the process progresses?

Dustie: We start writing music first and Tommy will start brainstorming ideas. As we’re writing he will start piecing together the lyrics and all that stuff. Music always comes first.

Is it your intention to write the longer style of song or is it just as you are piecing it together and building as you go along it just ends up that way as the final product?

Dustie: We never really plan to write long songs but we always end up with a lot of material but usually by the time we are finished with a song and it’s saying what we want it to we end up with a pretty long song.

On the opposite side of the coin was it a nice change of pace to write a song such as Millions which shall we say is a little more straightforward compared to a lot of BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME’s material?

Dustie: That song was an idea that was sent around and the whole beginning of it we thought was pretty cool but yeah we noticed it was different and like our version of a 90’s song. That’s kind of our thing though, we always try to never repeat ourselves and do different things as the years go.

Automata Part II is pencilled in for later in the year and is scheduled to be four songs. Can we expect them to be substantial in length or just more of an extension of the first release?

Dustie: It’s definitely an extension of the first release, they will be relatively long songs.

What was your reasoning for splitting into two releases? Was it just to make them a little more digestable?

Dustie: Yeah, music listeners can have short attention spans and our music is pretty dense. It just seemed like a better idea.

You are due to hit the road with LEPROUS and THE DEAR HUNTER shortly, what can the fan’s expect from these shows? A good mix or will any new material make an outing?

Dustie: We’re gonna play some new material. I think it’s a really killer setlist we’re playing and it’s a phenomenal tour to come to. LEPROUS have got a new record out and they’re incredible! We toured with them in Europe and they’re incredible people and an incredible band. THE DEAR HUNTER are incredible. I think that it’s going to be one of the coolest lineups we’ve ever toured with.

Playing such levels of technicality on lengthy tours must be pretty strenuous, are there any routines you go through either physically or mentally to ensure BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME are on top form for the show ahead?

Dustie: We all just have our warm up routines, nothing crazy. Just make sure your hands are loose and y’know.

The mere thought of remembering such elaborate songs sounds like a daunting task, how did you go about playing the Colors material after all this time? Was it difficult to relearn or is it all committed to memory by this stage?

Dustie: To be honest man, it was all muscle memory. We barely practised for that tour! We’ve played all of the album over the year on different setlists. They just came back to us immediately. We played along to the record on our own and it was surprising how at times my hand to went along with it. We’ve played that stuff for so long man and we’ve played Colors from start to finish so many times and I think it’s one of those things which will never leave.

Thank you for your time Dustie, I’ll leave you with one last question. Is there anything you would like to say to the readers of Distorted Sound?

Dustie: I have a new signature PRS which they should go check out! It’s pretty killer.

Automata I is due for release on March 9th via Sumerian Records.

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