US rockers The Sword surprised a few fans when they dropped “High Country” back in 2015, a slight departure from their back catalogue which showed the band progressing and moving forward in order to keep things fresh for themselves. Fast forward a couple of years and their latest release “Used Future” sees the band capitalize on that new sound and move further into the more classic tones of rock n roll, adding even more dimensions and elements to their sound. We talk to guitarist Kyle Shutt about the new album and what influences the band these days.
Andrew: So how’s the year been so far for you?
Kyle: Everything is doing great, we got a new record in March and just kinda sitting around twiddling my thumbs until the tour starts [laughs] so I can’t wait to get out and start playing shows again.
Andrew: Absolutely! I’ve been lucky enough to have a preview of the new album “Used Future” and I gotta say I love the laid back 70’s classic rock vibe on this thing, it’s very cool.
Kyle: Thank you very much!
Andrew: What was the idea behind the album this time around?
Kyle: I wouldn’t say there was much behind it other than we kind of always make the album that we wanted to hear. We’re six deep now and we’ve done a lot of pretty much any idea we ever had, we’ve taken at least one stab at it and this time this past year I was chasing this idea of letting a producer really have a little more say in the actual songs themselves and I think with this album we’ve finally been able to take a step back and let the producer that we selected stir the pot a little. It was certainly a different experience than any of the other albums that we’ve done.
Andrew: Yeah and there could be some comparisons made to the last album “High Country” because it was a slight left turn for you guys. Do you feel that this album was a continuation of that a little bit?
Kyle: “High Country” was a very long album and we had a lot of ideas and at the end of the day I think we wanted to release a really long album and we had never done a double LP before but it’s a lot of new stuff for people to digest. Speaking from my own personal view I think with this one I wanted to make a record that was a little more concise, took all the ideas that we kind of started touching upon and just kind of boiling them down to a little more of a concentrated effort.
Andrew: Did it take long for the whole thing to come together?
Kyle: Actually it’s the fastest we ever made an album! I think we did the whole thing in about a month or maybe 33 days or something like that. Usually two months was kind of the average but with “High Country” it took us about 6 weeks and this one we banged it out in a month and we really didn’t have anything written. We had maybe a half dozen songs and a bunch of just meandering kind of musical themes and we just went and recorded everything and went where the inspiration took us on any given day.
Andrew: What were some of the inspirations for this album? Because it sounds like you guys were in some big rehearsal room jamming, it sounds like a big jam session to me.
Kyle: Yeah we definitely put the songs to the forefront in the last few years instead of trying to create these riffs and structures that are going to be complicated and we just tried to ease back a little bit. We’re getting older and much wiser than back in the old days, our music may not be as ferocious as it came across 10 years ago but I think that kind of anger and ferocity has been replaced with a confidence in our ability that I think is just as heavy.
Andrew: It’s funny you say that because when you came down to Australia a couple of years ago, when you were playing the material off “High Country” I felt that even though it’s a little more mellower kind of stuff compared to the older stuff that live these songs came out pretty hard on stage. It sounded much more heavier and energetic I guess.
Kyle: Yeah it just kind of happens when you put the four of us in front of a couple of hundred people, we just start going nuts. Our shows in the past have been that if you play for an hour it’s all the way to 11, the whole hour. In the last few years we’ve been trying to add some dynamic into that so if we play for an hour and a half it really does have some ups and downs and sort of ebbs and flows. But yeah when we start cooking man, nobody can throw down like us!
Andrew: Yeah for sure! So this album I wouldn’t say it’s a concept album but it does have a very “record” vibe to it, it seems like there was a theme running through it. Was there a thematic idea running through these songs to tie it together?
Kyle: J.D.’s [Cronise, guitars, vocals] lyrics have gotten much more transparent, they’re not as thickly veiled with imagery and I think a lot of our songs from before even though they might be under the guise of some ancient mythical landscape or whatever, it was just a metaphor for what J.D. was writing about and I think these days he’s just through with veiling things and he’s really just trying to dole out some wisdom. I think that is kind of the prevailing theme of the album if there is one really, just that it’s time for us all to wake the fuck up or this is going to happen.
Andrew: Now there’s a couple of interesting songs that I do want to ask you about as well and it’s some of my favorite stuff on there actually. “The Wild Sky” which is a really cool instrumental piece and a song called “Nocturne” which to me reminds me a lot of Pink Floyd kind of stuff. But “Nocturne” especially, what can you tell me about that song and where did the idea for that come from?
Kyle: That one was from Brian (Richie) our bass player, he was tinkering around with pianos and keyboards and synthesizers and anything like that. The main riff in that song was just something that he came up with and then added a little key change, we have a little riff folder where we have everything in and when we go into a studio we give the producer the riff folder and say, ‘Hey listen to everything here because we’re too close to the situation. You listen to this and tell us what you think we should work on’. He was definitely into “Nocturne”, Brian just recorded a really long version of it and this is a good example of how we make stuff up in the studio. At first I didn’t know what was going on with it and then pretty soon there’s three layers of keyboards on it, so Jimmy (Santiago Vela III, drums) goes in there and instead of playing drums he does a bunch of cymbal crashes and stuff and then puts a drum machine beat over it and then next thing you know I’m hearing guitar harmonies in my head so I’m, ‘Let me put 8 guitar tracks right here, just in this one part and turn them all really low in the mix’ [laughs]. At the end of it there was so much going on that I felt like it was really well mixed and it just creates a mood, we’ve become a little more of a band that when we write a song we like to do the song service. Not make it too long, make sure it’s catchy as possible in the right parts and all those things but when it comes to the instrumental we really need to let the song breathe and let it take you wherever it be. That was just a really good example of just making something up.
Andrew: What it does to me when I hear that is it gives me a very nostalgic feeling, it has a throwback to some era that I can’t quite pinpoint. I guess what you try to achieve with any song is the listener to have some kind of emotion or reaction to it I suppose.
Kyle: Oh yeah, a lot of it like “Brown Mountain” especially at the end of the record, it was just one of those things where sometimes we’ll have a song and we’ll listen to it and say, ‘You know what, it doesn’t need vocals. It’s fine on it’s own’. I think almost half this album is instrumental in one way or another and I think a lot of people may classify us as vintage or retro or whatever but I think we’re just taking what was and building on it in a new way.
Andrew: I hear a lot of those influences like Thin Lizzy and ZZ Top and stuff like that, was that the kind of stuff you were listening to built around this album or was it simply taking your influences and injecting it into these songs?
Kyle: Yeah I love Thin Lizzy and ZZ Top but that’s part of our DNA at this point. It’s not like I wake up every morning and put on “Bad Reputation” again, although I do love that album and I will do that tomorrow morning [laughs]. But I don’t listen to a lot of metal, in fact I don’t really derive a lot of inspiration from new music at all. If I had to say what I was listening to when we were making “Used Future”, I was listening to a lot of 60’s and 70’s soul music. I was listening to a lot of 80’s and 90’s synth pop and dance music so that was the kind of musical stuff I was listening to. I take a lot of inspiration from comic books and novels and movies and video games and things like that, I just cram as much junk in my brain as possible until it becomes this cauldron that’s boiling over and then I dump it all out using my guitar. That’s how I guess I say that’s how I do it [laughs].
Andrew: [laughs] I know what you mean, it makes it more interesting to have different things outside of music to help shape the songs and ideas I suppose. What do you do outside of music for hobbies and stuff like that?
Kyle: I’m kind of broke right now so I don’t really have any hobbies [laughs]. I’m just kidding, I tend bar at this brewery in my neighbourhood which I just happen to love. I tricked them into giving me a job there so I could get free beer.
Andrew: [laughs].
Kyle: I love scuba diving but I had a kid a year ago which put a dent in the travel plans for a minute but being a dad is fucking awesome, I really feel like I was made for it. But I just do things around the house, picking up a book, I try to always be reading something.
Andrew: Obviously you will be hitting the road for this album, what plans have you got and can we expect to see you down under at some point as well?
Kyle: Absolutely! We love Australia and we always have and we will come back until the money is gone [laughs]. I don’t know exactly when, I know we’re doing extensive North American touring through the spring and summer and then after that I’m not sure if we’re going to Europe for a while. But I would say you can expect us in Australia if not at the end of the year then the beginning of next year as it does take a while to get over there. But god we love it down there, I’ve never had a bad time in Australia.
Andrew: It was great to see you last time you were here, how did that tour end up going for you? It was the first time you were headlining [in Australia] right?
Kyle: The first time we were there was the Metallica tour and then we did the Soundwave Festival but yeah that was the first time a couple of years ago but yeah first time.
Andrew: Yeah and a different experience playing in the smaller venues here, how did it all turn out?
Kyle: It was a great tour, we’re used to playing clubs though. That’s where we cut our teeth so that’s where I feel we can shine the most but I’ll play anywhere that’s got electricity, I don’t care [laughs].
Andrew: [laughs] Well we definitely hope you can make it down at least next year anyway.
Kyle: I know we are, I just don’t exactly know when yet.
Andrew: Touring down here is quite difficult financially and time-wise and all that kind of stuff so we definitely appreciate you guys whenever you do make it down here.
Kyle: Oh hell yeah it’s always worth it. I mean I’m not going to lie, it’s a giant pain in the ass but if Australia wasn’t as amazing as it is, we wouldn’t do it so you can all pat yourself on the back there.
Andrew: Definitely man! Well congratulations on the new album, sounds fantastic as always. Thanks for your time, really appreciate it.
Kyle: Thank you very much. I’ll see you out there!
