INTRODUCING: The Id
A band’s finding of each other often makes for a brief gateway into understanding the motivations of a band’s output. It can be a chance meeting, a mutual friend, or a long-standing childhood friendship. However, there’s almost certainly never been a band with quite as unusual a backstory as progressive rock band, THE ID. While the band have amounted around six albums in their short time together (less than five years), the four members have never been in the same room. Rather, they span the globe, living in various country across the world.
To give some light on this rather complicated set up, founding member Tim Pepper (Vocals/Keys/ Programming) explains the fortuitous beginnings of the band. “I had been in a local group here in Kent called THE SHOULDBE BAND which played covers. We disbanded in 2014 and I wanted to keep making music. Local Prog lovers seemed few and far between so I looked online for some inspiration. I came across a website called Kompoz which allows people from around the world to collaborate on virtually any genre you can imagine. After collaborating with a few people, I found Peter Albrektsen (Guitar/Keys) in Canada. He loves IQ and RUSH and we quickly hit it off. We started dabbling and realised that we loved the music we were making.”
“Peter used to play in various bands with Mark Murdock, our drummer, when they both lived in Japan. Mark has worked with various members of Brand X in the past (he even babysat for Phil Collins!) and Pete Best on the Empire project and Peter A suggested Mark come on board. He sometimes brings a loser, more fusion-style feel. I think we’d made IDiocracy and A Deserter’s Tale when, out of the blue, Peter Rødel (Keys) in Norway contacted me to say he loved our music and could we give him an audition with a view to possibly joining THE ID. Peter R is more into ambient synth music and complements the other band members, adding an extra facet to our sound.”
With such a fusion of musicians all working together across borders, the sense of scale to THE ID is pretty impressive. Their work compiles into various concept albums, all telling complex, visual stories, their latest release concluding in February with IDO- Book 2.
The band’s influences, both musically and lyrically, span from a far-reaching scope of creatives. “The band members are into IQ, GENESIS, PETER GABRIEL, STEVE HACKETT and RUSH in a big way so I guess our sound is an amalgamation of these sources,” continuing, “We love telling stories, hence all of our albums (apart from Confluence 1, which showcases our solo tracks) are concept albums. Lyrically, I was exposed to the poems of Wilfred Owen at school and was haunted by the imagery he created. They were partially the inspiration for our second album, A Deserter’s Tale. I’ve also been inspired by JRR Tolkien, CS Lewis, Stephen King and Terry Pratchett. I love little plays on words.”
Listen to THE ID below:
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Pushing their horizons not just on a global scale in terms of creating their own music, THE ID are looking to impact more than just themselves with that their music can achieve. “Firstly, I don’t think there are many bands that have never met! I also think what will make us stand out as a band in the future are our ideas on possibly two levels. Going forward we’d love to use our music as a platform to showcase aspiring young artists, photographers, videographers, authors etc. Collaborate with them and get them seen and heard. We’d love to give them a ‘bunk-up’ onto a career ladder creating a loose collective or art movement in the process.” The project of THE ID isn’t a vehicle to gain personal glory, it’s a movement as much as it is a band. The four are looking to blend their intricate stories into a living, breathing world, and make as much good from that for themselves and others as possible.
There’s a true sense of altruism and care for the world around them, as THE ID also look to combat the every day issues that we face as a society. “I’m sure other bands do stuff for charity but I’d love, every so often, to create an album that can be sold to help raise money for those less fortunate. One idea would be to take some instruments into a children’s hospital or old people’s home. Get the people to make some noise. Sample it. Use it in the album and then sell the album to make money for charities that help the people who created the samples.”
“Another idea, which I’ve broached with a number of other bands, who are interested, is for said bands to create a concept album together and use it to raise money for worthwhile causes. Imagine a more cohesive version of the Prog Magazine sampler CD that showcases bands. If it took off, perhaps we could invite higher-profile bands to collaborate on future projects and raise more money.”
There’s no end to the ways THE ID are looking to take on the world. The imaginative storytelling and big, bold ideas like theirs simply aren’t being explored on this scale, with this ambition. “[This is] something we are all passionate about. Peter A and I are voracious consumers of YouTube and podcast mixing and mastering output. While IDiocracy was mastered by our good friend Bill Sjulin at Swedespot studios in Cincinnati, in the US, all the other albums were mixed and mastered in our home studios. We’re fascinated to see how far home set-ups and the internet can take us. The actual recording process is like Christmas. Individually we come up with riffs or passages of music. These get circulated to other band members to add their ideas. When you get back the expanded compositions, it’s like getting a Christmas present. Sometimes the riff can arrive, expanded in a beautiful way. Other times, the riff can have been moved off at an extreme tangent, down a road that I’d never have thought of. It’s awesome.”
So, would there ever be a chance to collaborate together, in the flesh? “We would always be up for performing live but distance, cost and logistics for practicing together make it a challenge. Our dream would be to tell our stories in a multimedia way both visually and aurally. Again, technology might help in this. As bandwidths increase, the chances of collaborating, practicing and performing online becomes more realistic. Who knows? Imagine THE ID hijacking every TV screen in the world much like U2 hijacked Apple Music with one of their albums- Now THERE’S a thought. Primarily, I feel like we are story tellers and, all the while we can get our stories out there… We feel like we have achieved something if our stories can touch just one soul.”
Check out THE ID on Bandcamp