InTechnicolour: Midnight In A Perfect World
INTECHNICOLOUR specialise in big songs full of big riffs. The Brighton-based band have just released their latest album Midnight Heavyweight, the follow up to 2020 debut album Big Sleeper and it is packed full of both of them. We talked to guitarist Dave Jackson, vocalist Tobie Anderson and bassist Vlad Matveikov to hear all about Midnight Heavyweight and it’s creation, favourite riffs and their upcoming tour with SKIN FAILURE.
With Midnight Heavyweight being INTECHNICOLOUR‘s second album, the creation of the album was a process that went better than their debut album. “Much smoother than the first album,” says Dave as Vlad elaborates. “We tracked it all together, in one go, so loads smoother. The debut was almost a compilation of songs rather than an album, and featured five drummers, and almost countless band members. This new thing is just the ones that remained or stuck around really.”
Tobie looked at it another way too. “From my perspective, tracking demos to a rough desk mix is so much easier than the way we did it on Big Sleeper. Tracking demos to a broken acoustic guitar through a broken Audio Interface with Dave saying, whilst he plays, ‘imagine this bit heavy, right?’.”
The title of the album is an interesting one and the band explain what it means. “I suppose you can interpret it in a couple of ways but for me it’s visual. The album artwork came first and from that the title was born. We always had the idea of having a dark, moody, slow theme on the album and Midnight Heavyweight fit that bill pretty nicely.”
Tobie also gives his thoughts on the meaning of Midnight Heavyweight. “To me, it’s kind of a description of what happens in my head at that time of night, some people call those ‘going to sleep anxiety’s’ the midnight monsters but I think Midnight Heavyweight fits much better.”
Now we know the meaning of the album’s title, Dave tells us about the cover artwork for Midnight Heavyweight and what it represents. “Back in 2016 I was on tour in Japan, my girlfriend and I stayed on for a little holiday at the end with some friends and found ourselves in Tokyo. The album cover and all three single covers are snapshots from that holiday so I guess for me they have a very particular memory attached.”
Tobie continues, “dark, rainy, neon, unfamiliar territory, a long street with anything possible at the end and along the way. It’s kinda how I see this record. Yeah, it’s dark but it doesn’t dwell in the gloom the whole time, there are bright neon bits along the way.”
Asked if INTECHNICOLOUR felt any pressure following up such a well received debut album in Big Sleeper, the band members were defiant in their answers as Dave declares. “Honestly, no, and that’s not to say we didn’t care, it’s just that we don’t worry ourselves with what people might come to expect, certainly in terms of style. We were proud of what we achieved with Big Sleeper but in our eyes Midnight Heavyweight is a huge step up.”
Vlad also gives his view. “Financial pressure cause everything in making a good record is expensive, otherwise Dave’s hit the nail on the head.” Tobie adds, “the only pressure from ourselves to create something better than we did last time around.” Something that they definitely have as Midnight Heavyweight is a superb album.
Talk turns to something that INTECHNICOLOUR excel in, and that is big riffs and the new album is packed full of them. Asked if the band wanted to make Midnight Heavyweight an even more riff filled album than its predecessor and they were ecstatic to tell us they were. “It started going that way pretty early on so why not lean into it, and who doesn’t want more riffs? Maybe we should have put more days,” says Dave, and Vlad readily agrees. “[laughs] Too right Dave, well we actually tried to put more riffs but it wouldn’t fit on a wax disk, so we cut it down to the songs that make the album.”
With the year end rapidly approaching, talk turns to INTECHNICOLOUR‘s plans for 2023 as Dave tell us. “Touring, touring, sleeping, maybe some more touring!” Vlad adds, “hopefully some more riffs, some beers, and some carefree fun,” whilst Tobie adds a bit of fun into proceedings. “I’m really into edibles at the moment, so yeah, there’s that!”
Aside from making and releasing the album,the band tell us about their other highlights of 2021. Dave begins, “I’d say ArcTanGent was a big highlight for us, unfortunately due to many a reason we had to pull out of 2000trees and a couple of other European festivals so when we all finally arrived at ArcTanGent and got on that stage it felt very special.”
“Hopefully this tour with SKIN FAILURE will be the best thing about this year yet,” adds Vlad. “Not playing many shows, and cancelling the ones we had is a shit ride, so going on tour to play loud new tunes, in good company and to good crowds is a dream.”
Talking of the November tour with SKIN FAILURE, INTECHNICOLOUR tell us how excited they are about getting back to playing gigs and showcasing the songs from Midnight Heavyweight in a live environment. “Immensely,” enthuses Vlad. “Come see for yourself and let’s get a beer together after the show.”
Tobie adds cryptically, “I think touring with SKIN FAILURE is going to be like touring with a pack of Labrador puppies, but drunk. Like, loads of chaotic bouncing around, really fun to be around, ultimately exhausting but with beer. Does that make sense? Probably not!”
Midnight Heavyweight is out now via Small Pond.
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