Voyager: The Colours In Prog
In the run up to the release of their seventh album Colours In The Sun, Aussie proggers VOYAGER have been busy touring Europe and playing the likes of Space Rocks, London and Euroblast Festival in Germany. In some downtime before the band play ProgPower Europe in the Netherlands, VOYAGER frontman Danny Estrin chats to Distorted Sound about the band’s forthcoming album and touring the world. “Euroblast was fantastic” enthuses Estrin, “Such a good performance, such a good crowd interaction, just a great festival all round.” It was their third time playing the festival and this year saw CAR BOMB headlining the Sunday which Estrin was really excited about, “It was one of the best sets I’ve seen full stop, by any band in the last five years I’d say.”
CAR BOMB fanboying aside, it’s clear Estrin is a passionate music fan and quick to praise other bands. One group VOYAGER have a strong bond with is LEPROUS, whose vocalist Einar Solberg features on new track Entropy. When asked how the collaboration happened, Estrin answers; “Einar and me became friends on a couple of the LEPROUS tours that we’ve done together. I thought it would be good to have something quite different on that track and just asked him out of the blue if he wanted to do it, and he did!” Estrin expresses his love for LEPROUS and also observes how both Solberg and himself have grown from black metal days to something melodic. “Einar‘s vocals are recorded by none other than IHSAHN of EMPEROR, and I was thinking if 17 year old Danny knew that IHSAHN recorded a track recorded for my album, I would just die!”
Estrin doesn’t reveal more about his black metal past “It definitely involved corpse paint though” he laughs. However, this probably explains why he feels so at home on the band’s new label Season Of Mist. Famed for their extreme metal signings, to some it has been controversial that the label has signed such a colourful band such as VOYAGER. Estrin talks about the haters which make themselves known, “Oh we’ve had some hilarious haters on YouTube! Their profile photos have corpse paint and stuff and they’re like, what is this crap!? It’s quite hilarious.” When asked if their new label and their growing fan base have been factors in their songwriting, Estrin disagrees and explains they write what they want to play, “If people like it, that’s a bonus!”
If you’ve seen VOYAGER live you will know what fun performers they are. Their colourful characters are part of their appeal as a band, but are humans the influence behind the album title Colours In The Sun? Estrin explains they’re all from multi-cultural backgrounds; “I was born in Germany and had this migrant experience coming to Australia. That country has given me a lot, it’s given me a lot of opportunities” Colours In The Sun encapsulates the spectrum of influences, both cultural and musical under the hot, burning star that is the Australian sun. “I think overall the album is positive. But I think what you’ll find with VOYAGER is, despite the fact we don’t take ourselves seriously, there is an underlying melancholy in both the lyrics and the songs.”
Estrin compares VOAYGER‘s dynamic to DEVIN TOWNSEND; “There’s a lot of introspection and searching for meaning. I think while there is a positive element, it’s that thread of melancholy that connects people.” Estrin discloses he receives messages from fans telling him VOYAGER‘s music has helped them through difficult times. “There’s nothing better to hear as an artist than that. If you hear from someone and they say I was ready to end it all and your album helped me through that rough patch…that’s just incredible. Nothing can compare to that difference that you make.” There’s a thread of melancholy in Water Over The Bridge which Estrin explains is about getting over what life throws at you, but remains with you as experiences that can’t necessarily be forgotten. “The wordplay means this isn’t really forgetting, this is that constant reminder that stays with you throughout your life”.
When listening to Colours In The Sun, it’s clear VOYAGER have achieved their most solid effort yet. Estrin agrees, “Each song stands on its own and it was difficult to pick the singles because a lot of them are just bangers. You could do a video to every song, but that would become a very expensive exercise!” The songs they have released so far (Colours, Brightstar and Entropy) have been received well by VOYAGER fans; “The 80’s, synth-wave, prog vibe has really gelled with crowds.” Estrin claims. “Straight away when we play the synth intros to the songs, people start clapping and really getting into it.” The humble front man can’t get over the phenomenal response they’ve been getting, “I’m genuinely surprised at how quickly people grasp the song and sing a long to it!” If you know any VOYAGER song, then no doubt you sing along too.
With Colours In The Sun you seem to have found the perfect balance between heavy and light. The heavy parts are some of the heaviest things you’ve written, whereas the lighter parts are some of the poppiest stuff you’ve ever produced. Was this balance intentional, or have you finally found your sound?
Danny: You’ve hit the nail on the head. I think it’s our poppiest yet heaviest album. I think we found our sound from V [their fifth album] onwards. We’ve just perfected and enhanced it. I think the way to describe it is listening to our music on two levels. I like listening to music on two levels, I like music that is catchy and poppy and has got good song structure so I can listen to it superficially. Or I can delve deeper into the song and listen to some really complex stuff going on underneath. One thing I always compare it to is ABBA. ABBA are the masters of pop, but if you go deeper and go into how their songs are structured, the arrangements are extremely complex. So I think that two level listening is what we do well and I think that’s what we’ve definitely found on this album.
VOYAGER are such a fun band to watch live, yet you’re also one of the tightest bands out there. Are you aware you exude this positivity and is this an important part of your image?
Danny: I think it’s a blessing a curse to be honest. We take our music very seriously but again, in the true Australian fashion, not so much ourselves. We do music because it is entertainment and because we have fun on stage, otherwise we wouldn’t do it. There’s nothing worse for me than seeing a band live that is bored or not entertaining. The fun can backfire sometimes. People take themselves very seriously in this scene. Metal is ridiculous if you look at it objectively. It’s a ridiculous genre and it’s hilarious. It has got some very serious elements to it, but why play music that very, very few people listen to, that’s really difficult to tour with, that’s really difficult to make any money, why would you do this, if not for fun? That’s the underlying thing. So when the fun stops, we’ll stop.
You’ve extensively toured Australia, Europe, the UK and the USA and have a huge following in Europe. How do the prog audiences differ across the world? Do you see a difference?
Danny: Yeah I think the biggest difference I saw was last year when we toured in the space of fourteen days. We did Japan, USA and Mexico. So you’ve got three completely different crowd types. Japan are very reserved, very into it for short bursts of time, and then polite and very quiet. USA get really into it, really into the merchandise, into every detail about the band. The fandom there is quite incredible. Then Mexico was just all soul, people were crying saying they couldn’t believe we’re here, this is so cool. It’s so nice to have that cross-section of audiences across the world. It’s such a wonderful way to meet people and experience different cultures through music. It’s been a good ride so far.
Are there countries you haven’t played yet but really want to?
Danny: I really want to play in Russia. We’ve had a significant growth in fanbase over there, like fan clubs and that. I speak Russian, my father’s Russian and my mother’s German, so I’m just this pan-European beast. The Russian-speaking market is something that I’d like to explore a little bit more. Central and South America is something I want to do more of as well. The experience we had in Mexico City was just incredible. I’ve never really felt the way that I did there. The world’s a big place and when you play one territory, people want you to come back. You can’t be touring 365 days a year, you have to be selective when you live so far away.
With bands like VOYAGER and LEPROUS taking prog down a poppier road, what direction do you see prog going in?
Danny: Well it depends what you define ‘prog’ as. I think at the end of the day, progressive music is thinking-person’s-music. It’s kinda not straight down the line that people would listen to on the radio. I don’t want to say prog is intellectual because that just sounds wanky. I can see the name prog encompassing more styles like VOLA and LEPROUS. Like, is VOLA prog? Or is it pop-metal with a heavy edge? I don’t know. I think what will happen is the prog name will become more mainstream and it will be OK to listen to prog. There was a time when only super nerds listened to prog. It will go from dad-rock to being a bit more acceptable.
Colours In The Sun is out now via Season of Mist.
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