Simon McKay of The Agonist Talks About “Prisoners”
By: Parker Yowell
SDM: Simon, it’s been a while since your previous record, “Lullabies For The Dormant Mind”, but the more recent “Prisoners” was released in June. There seems to be a lot of differences from the past release… talk to us a little bit about what changed.
SM: Ok, well in the single that was released, “Ideomotor” it definitely reflects overall where we’re going with this album. We focused more on writing good songs and making the overall feeling come together instead of forming some cool parts. It’s still aggressive and spastic like the last album, but overall it’s much more mature and focused on solid material rather than technicality or whatever, just good, memorable solid songs.
SDM: The drum tone on this album is also very different. What did you do differently this time?
SM: I didn’t trigger anything. What we did was on “Lullabies” we sampled all the drums for everything. We had a “Black Album” snare mixed with a Led Zeppelin IV snare over top of each other. This time around, we sampled all my drums and then replaced them afterward, but it’s actually my drum tone to begin with. My real drum tone. So I think it’s all 60% real playing; I mean, it’s all real playing. There’s no covering up for little mistakes. There are a lot of little mistakes left in. It’s very real. We have a good room and dynamic drum mics, and you can hear the real drummer. I’m sick of the typical metal tone that most metal drummers have. I’m kind of tired of it. Sounds like a real drum set.
SDM: Musically, you have always explored some really interesting paths. The last record featured a capella piece by Alissa. Can you talk to us a bit about any kind of experimentation on “Prisoners?”
SM: Well, the whole process was pretty much an experiment. In one song, there’s some whistling. Kells just started to whistle, and it was awesome. It was actually his idea, and it’s very dark. That’s just one example. I can’t really say, just the whole thing overall was kind of an experiment and the whole process was like, let’s just see what happens. It was more of a feeling type thing, like let’s just feel it out.
SDM: On the last record, you wrote and performed all the instruments on the “Waiting Out The Winter track.” Did you do this for any of the new songs? If so, which ones?
SM: Yep, I did. There are two songs on this release that I wrote and performed. Guitar as well, Kells did bass, and obviously, Alissa did vocals. One of them is on the standard album, and the other is for a Japanese bonus track. I did four songs in total, but the other two were a bit too different, so we thought we’d keep them for a different time or something else. I have my own style, too, and we can’t just throw everything in there. But I’m extremely proud of the one song on the standard issue of the album.
SDM: Just for the record, what one is that?
SM: That song is called “Anxious Darwinians.”
SDM: Not many bands have someone in the band who is capable of doing this, so what about doing these “solo” tracks do you enjoy most?
SM: I’m just happy I get to do it in the first place. I would love to do my own stuff, write my own music, and my own albums. I always have many ideas, and I’m always thinking about things like parts to throw together. It’s just a good opportunity for me to explore my own style and write in The Agonist’s style. I can’t just do anything. I have to think about where we’re going in the album. It’s just a lot of fun for me. I appreciate that, ya know I mean, Danny writes the majority of the material, so it’s great that he just let me do that. It’s a lot of fun, and I’m proud of it.
SDM: As most drummers these days, you use a personal monitoring system. What do you have coming through your headphones, and why do you choose this mix?
SM: I just have click track and samples coming through my headphones. We play live to a click and have backing tracks, so I don’t care if I hear a guitar or anything else. I like to get kick and snare out of the drum wedge that’s already there, and in my headphones, I just have click and snare, which I control from a board.
SDM: You tracked this new album with Christian Donaldson, who has done all your previous releases. Why did you choose to do this new album with him, and do you see yourself ever using a different producer?
SM: Well, it was mainly a matter of convenience and also because he’s our good friend. We know how to work with him & he knows how to work with us. We’re all very comfortable working with him. I know that Alissa really likes to track her vocals with him. She’s very comfortable with him, and she gets a level of security by doing that, and I can understand that. The album was mixed by Tue Madsen. He lives in Denmark right now… or Sweden. Sorry if I’m wrong. But we did all the tracking with Chris, and we did it in his drum room that he has using his board and all his gear and stuff.
SDM: “Prisoners” also marks the first time the band has written and recorded with a new guitarist… Paco. What has he brought to the table?
SM: A lot! He’s a great guitar player. His writing style is similar to ours, to The Agonist’s in the first place, and he adds the level of “shredability” we really were kind of missing. And Danny can shred too, but he’s typically more interested in the “feely bluesy” solos and stuff, which is great. So now we have both. We have the feely bluesy riffs and bendy solos Danny likes, and Paco is just a shred monster (and he also has a lot of feel as well). So best of both worlds type of thing! (he also wrote one on the album)
SDM: Cool, which one was that?
SM: That’s called Predator and Prayer.
SDM: Any last words or anything you want to talk about?
SM: I’d just like to say this album was the most challenging task we’ve ever undertaken, and we put a lot of effort into it. It’s just the best thing we’ve ever done, so I really hope people will get it mainly. Many parts give me shivers, and I hope that people get shivers too when they listen to those parts.
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