Let's speak with Thomas Wright (bassist & creative leader of Rootbrain)

The german / finish alternative band Rootbrain came along to me with a lyric video showing beautiful nature scenes. It's music content is a slower tune with fine melodies that is building up constantly throughout it's duration. At the proper moments heavier parts come in but it all remains fitting very well with each alltogether.

Picture of Thomas Wright taken by Varjo Art.

The info that came with the music was very exciting so it was a close idea to ask the band a few questions how the new EP "Mothertomb" came together.

Heavy Metal Underdogs:The video for "Mothertomb" shows a lot of scenes filmed in beautiful nature locations. Have you recorded them in the surroundings of one of the recording locations? 

Thomas Wright (bassist of Rootbrain): Yeah, the scenes are filmed around our Rootbrain hq, a cabin on an island in the middle of beautiful Finnish nature. A place baptised the Temple of Bad Habits by our drummer Fat Tony. Beats me why. I’ve been fortunate enough to call this place my home for the past few years. The clips on the video are just little observations during the last two years or so. I think they go very well with the song. You’re right we also recorded part of the Mothertomb ep there in our pop-up cabin studio. Vocals, bass and acoustic guitars to be precise. Victor and Helle nailed the distorted guitars later at Woodshed Studio, Germany. Tony had delivered his magic earlier at Q7 Studios in the same country 

The songs on the new EP "Mothertomb" were written more spontaneously. How exactly did you go along to catch the idea of the moment? 

It’s always been a part of our sound and approach that in the studio we deliver our parts pretty fast and try to capture a live feel. But it’s not like we enter the studio and just start jamming. There’s a lot of creative work in the background. Usually the process starts with me writing the core of a song. This usually takes a few demo versions before they start to find their form. If the song passes Helle’s scrutiny it usually proceeds to the next phases where we arrange it with Helle and Tony at the rehearsal place. That’s our expanded rhythm section. Then the more melodic elements get more attention closer to the studio sessions and that’s where Jules and Santura enter in a signifigant way. It’s true the vocal recordings were more spontaneous and intuitive this time and we could work on the songs in a way that gave more room to the vocals. All elements were more aligned this time. On the debut the album was already done when Jules joined the band and he just recorded his parts on top of the ready songs. He did that in a phenomenal way, though and created the genre of black grunge in the process. On these Mothertomb sessions it was very fruitful to work with the songs as entities and communicate much better. We even wrote some of the lyrics during the vocal recordings together. There is so much creative talent in this band that it’s a priviledge to have sessions like these. 

Does it mean you didn't practice the songs for a longer time but instead directly recorded them straight away? 

We didn’t practice that much before the recordings but we did have a couple extremely dedicated rehearsal camps with Fat Tony and Helle. Our rehearsals always last for days since we don’t live close to each other. That works very well for us and gives us the opportunity to get deeper into the songs compared to shorter sessions. They are also special occasions with special friends and during them we shut all outside life out and focus only on the present and the music. But yeah, we worked a lot on the vocals and lyrics on the spot. All the actual recordings we usually deliver quite fast trying to capture the magic of the moment. If it sounds awesome it’s much better than if it sounds perfect. One of our key principles is to have a bit of edge and danger that so much of the modern metal lacks because it’s all quantized and polished into perfection. We leave our fingerprints. 

Are you going to perform the new songs live this year? 

I sure hope so. So far our tour calendar is empty though. But we’re working on the second full length album and the plan is to start recording in the summer so we’re not resting on our laurels. Hopefully a couple festival shows will drop for the summer and who knows maybe there’s something in the autumn. Our music belongs to the stages. We have already played all the four new songs live. They worked really well. 

You can listen to more songs of the band on Spotify. Follow Rootbrain on Facebook so you won't miss out on future updates.

Album Review: Herman Rarebell - Nip In The Bud (1981/2021 Hard Rock)

Did you know that Herman Rarebell (the longtime former drummer of The Scorpions) recorded a solo record 40 years ago ? Neither did I. The bigger was the fun of having the chance to listen to this gem in a remastered version of "Nip In The Bud" now.

The artwork was created by Storm Thorgerson’s team at Hipgnosis.

The sound on the album sticks to a compact yet pressure-filled structure. From the eleven tracks on offer "Rock your all" stands out with it's broken riff structures. It's a typical rocker going straight but the riffs present it a ear-splitting way. What a wild song!

"Triangle" follows on this route. It's a more rhythm-oriented number with drums being dominant and the guitar following a shredding way. The last third plays with effects. You won't get this out of your head too fast once listented to it.

"Slob" presents a wild and vicious voice rocking out a similar way Brian Johnson does in AC/DC. The instrumental side is more of a slightly inconstant drum pattern mixed with a direct riff attack. 

The journey continues with more of this. "Junk Funk" comes around put together in a jam session. You can feel the spontaneous vibe of the moment it may have been created. I love to hear such elements - it's hardly ever spotable on albums.

A typical stomper follows. This may be a track a bit closer to typical Scorpions songwriting so it's food that appeals to more people. It's still rude enough so don't think of any commercial song in here.

Track nine introduces more riff-fun all the way. I think it may have been done the direct and fast way, too. It's a no-pain track in three minutes duration spreading fun all the way.

Finally it's time to listen to "I'll say goodbye". As the name suggests it comes with a more hymm like format. It's not in a sad way. It's more of remembering good times in a "glad to have had it" style. The fade out keeps hope for a continue some other day.  

The remastered version will be available through Aviator Management on August 27th 2021. A pre-save link for the album is also available if you want to have it in your digital collection the day it comes out. Have a little pre-listen with the single "Rock you all" and keep in contact with Herman Rarebell through Facebook.