Back
in late 2008, the Chicago-based
metal band JANUS was on the verge of releasing their third album RED
RIGHT RETURN. The MANNY SANCHEZ produced CD boasted a potent mixture
of alternative metal and electronic percussion as well as the single
EYESORE which climbed to respectable rankings on both the U.S.
MAINSTREAM and U.S. ROCK CHARTS. When we first interviewed the band
on PRESIDENT OBAMA's Inauguration back in January of 2009, the band's
guitarist MIKE TYRANKSI had this to say of the band's artistic
vision. It's almost got a revolutionary kind of feel to it and the
meaning behind it is about revolting against opinions of the music
industry in what they feel that people want to hear. We're all about
shutting things like that out and forging ahead. We're going to be in
charge of our destiny.
After
the enormous success of RED RIGHT
RETURN, JANUS comprised of singer DAVID SCOTNEY, guitarist MIKE
TYRANSKI, bassist ALAN QUITMAN and drummer JOHNNY SALAZAR - is back
with their self-produced follow up NOX AERIS. The album's first
single STAINS has been getting an enthusiastic reception on rock
radio stations throughout the country. This latest collection of
songs not only documents where the band has been but also gives the
listener a sense of where they are going with compositions that
expand upon the winning formula established in RED RIGHT RETURN.
ROCKWIRED
had a chance to speak with
DAVID SCOTNEY of JANUS regarding NOX AERIS. Here is how the interview
went..
NOX
AERIS is fantastic CD. Now that
it's out there for people to hear how do you feel about the finished
work?
Once we got started it took us a couple
months to get our bearings after we got off tour supporting RED RIGHT
RETURN. But once the ball got rolling we quickly discovered that we
really did have some new ideas and some new ground that we wanted to
explore artistically. I think STAINS was one the first demos that
kind of popped up. When we got off tour from RED RIGHT RETURN, we
were really unsure of what it was that we wanted to do artistically.
It took us a few months but eventually we got our bearings and as
soon as MIKE (TYRANSKI) started putting together some new demos, we
all got really excited. He had been experimenting with some new
electronic sounds and tones and beats and those sounds found their
way into the music. I got super-inspired by it and started writing
vocals and lyrics to a lot of it and then it all started to fall
together really quickly. It took us about a year to write record and
produce. We self produced the the record than we co-mixed it with
CHRIS GRANGER who is a producer out of Nashville.
What
do you feel is the biggest
difference between this CD and RED RIGHT RETURN?
There are two things. I think this one
is a lot darker and heavier and I also think its got some new
electronics in the sound. It feels like we're treading new waters
with this one. The whole album just has a darker undertone to it. I
also think that it feels more cohesive than RED RIGHT RETURN in some
ways because we wrote it all together rather quickly in terms of
'JANUS' timing. They always say that you have your whole life to make
your first record and some of the songs on RED RIGHT RETURN were from
demos that were a few years old but this album was different. This
one is all new and all at once and I think that the songs really
captured a moment in time.
There
is a kind of an immediacy to
the album when I hear it. Talk about the genesis of this band. How
did it all come together?
Back in high school I actually started
a version of JANUS. This was eons ago. It wasn't until we moved to
Chicago that all of the original members went off and did their own
thing and I started cherry-picking from friends that I had made in
Chicago and one of the first people was MIKE TYRANSKI. He was
actually one of my best friends from Purdue University. In the
beginning he was actually a bass player and I just asked him out of
the blue if he could play guitar. He said that he was bass player but
that he could learn pretty quickly and sure enough he did and today,
he writes about 98.8 percent of the music for this band. I help with
some of the arranging and I do all of the lyric writing and the
melody parts for vocals. AL and JOHNNY joined shortly thereafter on
bass and drums and as soon as JOHNNY joined we immediately started
recording RED RIGHT RETURN and JOHNNY turned out to be the real
missing link up to that point. He is a phenomenal drummer and he's
got a great ear for melody and harmony and he helps me out with those
things too.
And
how did music begin for you as
an individual? How did that begin?
I fell in love with guitar around
middle school into early high school and when I picked it up I
started play REM songs and I was a big CURE fan and then I started
getting into HELMET and as soon as I heard their MEANTIME record I
was just hooked on rock music and from there I started buying
four-track recorders and the first digital multi-track recorder that
came out. I've always been behind a mix desk trying to learn the
science behind recording while at the same time hone my songwriting
skills.
From
NOX AERIS, what songs resonate
for you the most and why?
I would say that LIFELESS is one of the
songs that really hits me pretty hard. It's kind of a different
direction for JANUS. We kind of went down a darker path with that
tune. It's a lot of fun to sing live. Content-wise, it kind of sums
up what I experienced during the writing process of this record which
was writer's block at certain moments. I had never written under
pressure. It was a new experience for me. That song is about
wrestling the muse down and trying to step through and ultimately
learning in the end that you can't force the writing process. All you
can really do is create an environment were the magic can happen and
hopefully it does.
What
would you like people to come
away with after they've heard this CD?
I'd like for people come away with
their own ideas about the music but I would also hope that it catches
them thinking about some of the ideas and the undertones of the
record. We're a band that likes to put as much thought into the
message and the content or the meaning behind the songs. This is a
record that can stimulate the mind and get the rock juices going at
the same time.
TAKEN FROM THE MAY 2012
EDiTiON OF ROCKWiRED MAGAZiNE!!!
