Line Up:
Josh Percy On Lead Vocals
Brandon Corness On Guitar, Keys, Vocals
Crouton McGinn On Bass, Keys, Vocals
Ian Alvarez On Drums, Vocals
Well,Friends Of Aristocracy!
We speak again of our newsroom, where in a little while, we will begin in all your emotions, the interview 145 of the Aristocracy.This time, we talk to a stoner metal band that makes progressive touches and with esoteric elements. We are talking about the Canadian band Bort and in June, they show their third album entitled The Wreck of the Hesperus.A consistent response to the album The Unblinking Eye released in 2019. Before we start the interview, we want to thank the band for answering our questions and the youtube channel 666 MR Doom.
Let's go to the full album in its entirety and after that, the interview we did with them.
A1:Talking about the composition work in The Wreck of the Hesperus?
Brandon (Guitar):The songs that made up The Wreck of the Hesperus started coming together in the summer of 2019, shortly after our Canadian tour in support of our previous EP The Unblinking Eye. There were a few songs, such as the single Permanent Failure, that started with a single riff in the jam room that we expanded on together over a period of time. A couple of other songs on the record were brought in as more or less of a complete idea, which everyone else then put their own touches on. In terms of style, I think this record came together much more comfortably than the last as we weren’t putting any real boundaries on what we wanted the sound to be. There are influences that shine through from bands like Pink Floyd to the Melvins to All Them Witches and everywhere in between, and when it all converges it sounds like BORT in our most natural form.
A2:What would that black breath be in the fifth song?
Josh (Vocals):It's about the self realization that you've allowed your past to have a stranglehold on every thought you have, and cloud your judgement out of the fear of failing again. Once we reach the bridge, the focus shifts to the expulsion of the overwhelming weight of that suffocating negativity which once lorded over you.
A3:What is the ideal that the band seeks in the third song?
Crouton (Bass):New Ideal's a riff on a theme I come back to often, the search for meaning. I think some people have a fear that there might not be any meaning to find. It's about a creation brought into the world seeking to understand it, and being disgusted by what he finds. I guess sort of Frankenstein-ish in a way, though I wasn't really conscious of that while writing it.
A4:Some literature or film inspire the band?
Crouton:I first read the poem "The Wreck of the Hesperus" as a kid in Mad Magazine of all places, and there's a scene in the Permanent Failure music video where that issue makes a brief appearance. But beyond that obviously inspiring some of the nautical motifs, and us being obligated to follow up "Crossing the Desert" and "The Unblinking Eye" with the penultimate ritualistic ordeal of the Stonecutters, I don't think we drew on any specific literary sources this time. I read a ton growing up, so I'm certain non-specific elements of that creep in everywhere though - the opening track started as a modified version of a short poem, hence it being in iambic pentameter, and that crops up a few times later on as well. In terms of film, I guess we all learned that it is possible to perfect an art form in 1996 when Happy Gilmore did it, so that's inspiring.
A5:Not that I don't like keyboards or theremins, but why were they used by the band?
Josh:Keyboard is one of those virtually limitless mediums with the immense ability to add so much texture, depth and mood to any track it's featured on. Once the immeasurable positives of adding keys to our regular rotation was recognized, it was obvious that we needed to utilize it wherever best serves the song.
A6:I really liked of the special participations in this album.But,how did the invitations for them happen?
Josh:We're big fans, and supporters, of the bands in the Vancouver music arena, and we're fortunate enough to call a good portion of them friends. So,whenever we see the opportunity to have any of them contribute, and make a song more than what it once was,we reach out to them. So far, everyone we've asked has been more than happy to oblige.
A7:What´s the idea behind artwork´s album?
Josh:Who knows the next album theme? We doooo, weeee doooo... Thematically, we've always known that the artwork for TWotH would be ocean based. It's a natural progression from the albums prior, of desert and forest, that we should arrive at the dwarfing depths doorstep.Specifically, this artwork, brought to life by alfiandikid, is entirely based off of a phenomenal photo by BORTs talented photographer pal, Nik Muryn.Both artists can be found by their names on Instagram.
A8:Which is Moog?
Brandon:The moog is a classic synthesizer, which our producer Matt Di Pomponio played in the final section of the track New Ideal. It produces a thick sub-bass tone that really filled out the climax of the track.
A9:How is Bort different from your previous bands?
Brandon:I think chemistry is the biggest factor in why we’ve made this work for 7 years and counting. Not only musically, but even more so on a personal level. If you can sit around week in and week out drinking beer and endlessly quoting shows from 20 years ago, it’s going to work out pretty well.
A10:How band arrive to Carhole Records?
Brandon:We recorded parts of this new LP, as well as our first LP Crossing the Desert, in our jam space-turned-studio, which years ago we dubbed The Carhole. When it came time to release this new record, we decided to start our own label as a tribute to the sweaty days and nights working away on these songs and many others in that dank room.
A11:Does the Norman the band refer to in the last song really exist?
Crouton:Not as a person, no. That song was untitled for a very long time, and as the lyrics coalesced we figured that the battlefield imagery could be associated with the Normandy region of France, and that parlayed nicely with the poem's setting, the reef of Norman's Woe in Massachusetts, so we borrowed that as the title.
A12:What kind of dawn does the band refer to in the fourth song?
Crouton:Sort of a calm-before-the-storm, an interlude of comprehension in a sea of disappointment.
A13:This album is conceptual?
Crouton:To an extent,we don't like to be trapped into a rigid storytelling format, so if we come up with something we like, we're not going to reject it as not "fitting the theme.But ultimately it's all written by the same four people, so you're going to get common themes surfacing throughout.
A14:What would 2022 Bort say to 2018 Bort?
Ian (Drums):"Don't worry about trying to fit into one genre and just do what you think sounds good." I feel that a lot of the time bands get so caught up in things like "oh we can't play that because it sounds too much like band" but there's only so many notes and chord progressions so yea sometimes things might sound similar but it's not on purpose and really is that such a bad thing? If we wrote a song and people thought it sounded like Queens of the Stone Age I would be so stoked!
A15:What is the permanent failure of the second song?
Crouton:It's us,we are the permanent failures. No,It was named after an error message Josh's phone gave him when trying to access an old lyrics file, which he immediately screencapped and sent me with the caption this is you.
A16:Why the band have this name?
Ian:So this was kind of a happy accident. We were in the middle of trying to come up with a band name and things got ridiculous as they often do and there were a lot of joke names being thrown around. It was quickly apparent that we were all Simpsons fans and BORT was a temporary band name we settled on until we could come up with something better but as luck would have it we were offered our first show shortly after this decision and didn't really have time to come up with something before then so the name just stuck. Now our comment sections are filled with father's telling us their sons are also named bort and it's still funny to this day.
A17:The band feel differences between The Unblinking Eye and now in The Wreck of the Hesperus?
Ian:I think we're all on the same page that we feel this is our best work to date. Everything felt so much more natural and fluid, from the songwriting to the recording process, it just seemed like things fell into place much quicker than our previous projects. We didn't feel the need to try and fit into any mold but instead we went with our gut and did what we felt was best for this record.