{"id":4000,"date":"2011-09-12T00:00:46","date_gmt":"2011-09-12T00:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=4000"},"modified":"2019-03-29T15:48:38","modified_gmt":"2019-03-29T15:48:38","slug":"feature-arch-matheos-09-11","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/feature-arch-matheos-09-11\/","title":{"rendered":"ARCH \/ MATHEOS – A Sympathetic Resonance (September 2011) | Features \/ Interviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

ARCH \/ MATHEOS – A Sympathetic Resonance<\/strong><\/span>
\nAnthony Morgan<\/span>
\nSeptember 2011<\/span><\/p>\n

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Arch \/ Matheos (l-r): John Arch and Jim Matheos<\/b><\/em><\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n
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The existence of Arch \/ Matheos was publicly revealed to the world on January 19th, 2011, the outfit a collaboration between Fates Warning \/ OSI guitarist Jim Matheos and erstwhile Fates Warning vocalist John Arch. \u201cIt really just kind of fell together without too much planning really,\u201d reveals Jim Matheos, guitarist and songwriter for the project. \u201cJohn and I just stayed in contact over the years, and I had a few songs lying around that I thought John might be interested in and would sound good on. I always jump at the opportunity to work with John whenever he\u2019s ready to do something. I gave him a couple of songs a couple of years ago, and just took it from there really \u2013 one song at a time, and put them together. I think we got through three or four songs before we realised we should maybe do a full-length LP together. It was kind of a long process \u2013 it wasn\u2019t really a well thought-out plan in advance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bobby Jarzombek (Fates Warning \/ Halford \/ Sebastian Bach \/ Iced Earth \/ Riot) began tracking drums for Arch \/ Matheos\u2019 debut full-length \u2013 Sympathetic Resonance<\/em> \u2013 on January 12th. Completing the line-up was bassist Joey Vera (Fates Warning \/ Anthrax \/ Armored Saint \/ Seven Witches), and second guitarist Frank Aresti (Fates Warning). \u201cI\u2019ve been working with Bobby for awhile in a live situation, but this is the first time I\u2019ve done something with him in the studio,\u201d Jim notes. \u201cI was just blown away by how well prepared he was. It wasn\u2019t a situation where he came into the studio, and said \u2018Well let\u2019s try this here.\u2019 He had everything done and written out right down to the fills, so I was really impressed with his amazing playing. He really studied the songs and tried different things, and really tried to add new dimensions. With people like Joey and Frank they both have such busy schedules, so they both added a great touch to it but I think probably less so as far as writing things out in advance. They more or less came into the studio in the last couple of weeks and put their touches on them, not to say that they had any less input into the songs. I think someone like Bobby though really spent a lot more time trying to craft them almost as much as John and I did to a certain extent.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI was really impressed with Bobby,\u201d exclaims John Arch, vocalist for Arch \/ Matheos. \u201cAs Jim said he was very prepared, but at no time did he come in \u2013 and he\u2019s an awesome drummer \u2013 to showboat his talents. Everything that he did was very complimentary to the music.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, it was always about the song,\u201d Jim agrees. With everybody I think.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd at some points, he was so quick that I didn\u2019t understand what he was doing at first,\u201d John admits. \u201cIt took a couple of listens to understand what he was doing, but it was almost another dimension of creativity that he added to things. He did a killer job, and I\u2019m very happy with his playing as well as with everyone else\u2019s.\u201d<\/p>\n

The tracks \u2018Neurotically Wired\u2019, \u2018Midnight Serenade\u2019, and \u2018Stained Glass Sky\u2019 were originally composed for an 11th Fates Warning studio full-length, though vocalist Ray Alder unfortunately couldn\u2019t commit. \u201cYou\u2019d really have to talk to Ray \u2013 I can\u2019t speak for him,\u201d Jim stresses. \u201cI know it\u2019s not a great answer, but it\u2019s just not my place to speak for him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Seven years has passed since the issue of previous record FWX<\/em> in 2004. \u201cYeah, that\u2019s right,\u201d Jim confirms. \u201cIt\u2019s been awhile. Hopefully we\u2019ll get back on track next year. We\u2019ve been talking about putting out a new record next year, so hopefully everything works out for that one.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some might construe Jim\u2019s words as evidence of friction within the Fates Warning camp, but this isn\u2019t the truth he asserts. \u201cWe did some dates in Germany, Holland, and Greece. I would honestly say that this line-up of Fates Warning is one of the strongest we\u2019ve ever had,\u201d he insists. \u201cWe all get along superior together, we have a blast together, and there\u2019s no friction whatsoever. I\u2019m sure from the outside looking in it does look strange, but there\u2019s really nothing nefarious going on. It\u2019s not my place to speak for why Ray didn\u2019t feel like he couldn\u2019t commit to a record at this time, but there\u2019s nothing suspicious about it. I consider Ray probably one of my top best friends in the world, and I think he thinks the same.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Opening Sympathetic Resonance<\/em>\u2019s account is the tune \u2018Neurotically Wired\u2019. \u201cThat was the first one that I think I started maybe three years ago or something like that, and that really kind of set the tone for everything else that I was gonna write from there,\u201d Jim divulges. \u201cIt was more on the heavy side of things and a bit more progressive than the last couple of Fates Warning records, and again it was just a natural progression. Everything I do is a natural progression \u2013 I never sit down and come up with a map or a game plan of what I\u2019m gonna do. It\u2019s just wherever my head space is at when I start writing, and then as it goes further along those songs dictate the rest of the record. By the time I got to something like \u2018Any Given Day\u2019 I had a feel for where the record was going, and I knew where to take that song. The first couple of songs \u2018Neurotically Wired\u2019 and \u2018Midnight Serenade\u2019 were really more or less written in a vacuum though. I didn\u2019t know where I was going, but it just so happened to be that they were heavier and longer, more progressive tracks. I\u2019m kind of glad of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I first sat down to listen to the compositions that Jim had written I was kind of taken aback because I had been out of it for awhile,\u201d John confides. \u201cIt took me awhile to wrap my mind around what was going on \u2013 there were odd time signatures, a lot going on, and I was like \u2018Holy shit. Where am I gonna go with this?\u2019 Once I started to dissect these things though and understand exactly what Jim was doing, things started to take shape. Again, the way we work is if I\u2019m inspired by something that Jim does I kind of know immediately, and it starts to moving into a certain direction one step at a time. \u2018Ok, so let\u2019s start humming some melody lines here.\u2019 Then the lyrics started to follow, and I started to draw from that well of my experience which sometimes I think is what is needed as well as growth in putting out an album year to year. Sometimes you need those kinds of experiences to draw upon to make it personal, and when I sing them it comes from the heart and the soul. I think that has a lot to do with what you\u2019re hearing, so yeah, on the longer side but everything seemed to fall together. Like I\u2019ve said in a couple of other interviews, I can\u2019t imagine the songs being any other way than what they are. To me, it\u2019s pretty amazing. You have no idea what direction they\u2019re going in. You take things one step at a time and sometimes one line at a time, and that\u2019s how it\u2019s built. The end result is painstaking, a lot of time, and a lot of thought. I\u2019m happy with all the songs.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Midnight Serenade\u2019 serves as the lead composition from Sympathetic Resonance<\/em>. \u201cMusically, again it\u2019s one of those songs that I had written for a Fates record,\u201d Jim reminds. \u201cMusically it\u2019s pretty much the same as it was back then; I didn\u2019t do a lot of changes to it, and I thought John could do a great job on it. I gave it to him, and I think some of the music inspired him to come up with the great lyrics and melody lines he did for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I first heard \u2018Midnight Serenade\u2019, I was a bit taken aback because it was a shorter, more simply constructed song than we\u2019re used to working on,\u201d John feels. \u201cIt\u2019s one of those songs though where I started humming the melody lines to it before there were any words actually, and it\u2019s one of those songs that felt natural. It came pretty quickly as far as the melody lines, and then from the melody lines the words just came quickly too. It seems to be one of those songs that… Jim gave me an option actually when we started working together; when we were hearing these songs, if they felt suitable for me I had an option on whether I\u2019d like to work on them or not. At first that was my impression of it, but I\u2019m glad that we did that song. It\u2019s on the shorter side and it\u2019s a little bit simpler, but I don\u2019t know. I like that song a lot; it\u2019s so dynamic, it\u2019s got some great meaning behind the lyrics, and to me I think it has nice, strong, catchy melody lines as well as choruses. I\u2019m very happy with that, which adds to the dynamic sound of the album. It\u2019s also a little bit of a breath of fresh air I think too when you have three or four songs on the record that are ten-minutes plus \u2013 it\u2019s good to have something that\u2019s a little bit shorter and more direct.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Stained Glass Sky\u2019 immediately follows \u2018Midnight Serenade\u2019, the composition surfacing as track three. \u201cThat\u2019s one of my favourite songs actually,\u201d Jim discloses. \u201cI like the whole instrumental section, and I think Frank our lead guitar player and Bobby our drummer really got a chance to really stretch out on the intro there with crazy stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat song was another one I have to say where nothing came quick,\u201d John confesses. \u201cThis was an awful lot of work for the both of us, but \u2018Stained Glass Sky\u2019 is probably the only song that isn\u2019t connected by the overall theme of Sympathetic Resonance. It\u2019s kind of a break away which again is refreshing lyrically, but when I first heard it there was no doubt in my mind that the inspiration I get from what Jim creates is what direction the song\u2019s gonna follow. It had such a Middle Eastern sound to it \u2013 especially with the intro \u2013 and just the heavy riffs of this song took a turn in that direction where we broke away from the collective theme of the album. The song lyrically is different, but to me it\u2019s just a heavy, great, forward, kick-ass song. I think it\u2019s one of the strongest on the album.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe lyrical theme deals with… I try to touch on very delicately our relationship with the Middle East and it ties into the religious beliefs and the fanaticism of that region, and how we are intertwined with that region whether we like it or not.\u201d<\/p>\n

The overall lyrical thread of the record is a deeply personal one for John. \u201cLet me say that there\u2019s been a gap between A Twist Of Fate<\/em> and Sympathetic Resonance<\/em>, and I\u2019ve had some life experiences that\u2019ve been of a personal nature to me,\u201d he shares. \u201cLet me just say that with the lyrical content I was able to tap from that well of experience, and share some things about me and about those experiences where hopefully listeners will relate to the human experience and they\u2019ll make a connection with the fans. It has a lot to do with my personality; it takes a journey through my mind, and it brings you on a journey from everything from what I call the keeper which keeps stuff spinning. It\u2019s like a pathological critic that keeps you in this place where you\u2019re constantly spinning and cycling. A song at the end entitled \u2018Incense and Myrrh\u2019 has to do with suicidal ideation and there\u2019s a lot of stuff in between, so these lyrics are very open to interpretation but they do have a lot of personal meaning to me. It was actually quite therapeutic to get a lot of things out of my system. What it ended up being for me though was it seemed like a death of a real person, but it became the death of my inner child. So yeah, there\u2019s a little bit of psyche 101 going on here and it does depart from the mythological lyrics of previous albums. I really thoroughly enjoyed this though because as humans we all hide things pretty well, but we all deal with a lot of things differently. I think we deal with a lot of the same things though too, and I hope that although they\u2019re open to interpretation the lyrics are something that the fans can relate to. That was my whole goal.\u201d<\/p>\n

John very much identifies with a specific personality type. \u201cWell, that\u2019s some pretty… I can almost let Jim answer that question, but I\u2019m definitely a type A personality,\u201d he reckons. \u201cJim has always said I\u2019m very hard on myself, which I believe is true. I don\u2019t know where this came from, or whether it was from the Catholic upbringing in a Catholic school (laughs). But yeah, I\u2019m a type A personality and my mind is very active; sometimes it spins, and puts me in places where I don\u2019t like to be. I\u2019ve dealt with something all my life that I\u2019ve covered up pretty well. A lot of people are very surprised, but it all ties in with certain phobias we have. Like I said, my personality is a lot different than other people\u2019s. I think it\u2019s all in how we deal with it, and this has been therapeutic for me to be able to share these lyrics with others.\u201d<\/p>\n

June 2003 solo EP A Twist Of Fate<\/em> was John\u2019s last prior musical outing, his sole musical output between 1987 and 2010. His only other recorded work consists of Fates Warning\u2019s opening trio of full-lengths, namely Night On Br\u00f6cken<\/em> (September 1984), The Spectre Within<\/em> (October 1985), and Awaken The Guardian<\/em> (November 1986). A lack of self-confidence has been a determining factor. \u201cYeah, definitely,\u201d John concurs. \u201cIt all ties in together. At some point I had to make a personal decision on what direction to take: whether I was going to do music full-time, or work nine to five. I chose a certain path and I have no regrets, but I will say that I\u2019ve done okay and having this opportunity to work with Jim again has really been the best of both worlds. It\u2019s given me an opportunity to express myself and create some music, which I think has probably been the best thing for me. I don\u2019t know if my personality was suited for the kind of lifestyle that is required to be able to tour, and to be able to dedicate my life to music. Maybe at some point I didn\u2019t have enough confidence in myself \u2013 I don\u2019t know. I think there are a lot of reasons, but it\u2019s just my personality. I\u2019m just wired a lot differently than other people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Night On Br\u00f6cken<\/em> may have been the duo\u2019s opening statement 27 years ago, but that doesn\u2019t mean John and Jim\u2019s songwriting relationship has evolved all that much. \u201cIt\u2019s pretty much been the same since we first started working 25 years ago,\u201d Jim believes. \u201cWe have a really good chemistry, I think. I think part of it is because we\u2019re both \u2013 as John was saying about himself \u2013 really hard on ourselves, and we both have these internal critics that don\u2019t let just anything go, at least as far as we\u2019re concerned. We\u2019re really hypercritical on ourselves, and I think over the years we\u2019ve developed a lot of trust in working with each other. We know that if we both come up with something that we like a lot then it\u2019s probably pretty good and other people are gonna like it as well, and that\u2019s just because we\u2019re both so hard on ourselves. We have that times two, so there\u2019s a pretty good bar set there for us. It just comes real natural.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cAnd let me just add that I think if you were to put Jim and I in a band setting where the whole band sits down together in a room to write music, it just doesn\u2019t work that way because I think it steps on our creativity,\u201d John adds. \u201cI think the times where I\u2019m most creative is when Jim gives me something that he\u2019s created, I feed off of his energy and I put myself in a quiet, dark place where I have a chance to think without being uptight or without the possibility of being criticised. It works out better that we just do our own things independently, but when it comes together you have something that I just think works.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s an important point, because neither of us like to do things on the cuff,\u201d Jim observes. \u201cI don\u2019t think \u2013 like John just said \u2013 there\u2019s nothing we could do in a rehearsal room where we could pound out a song in a couple of days. We both like to work on things and let them sit for awhile and ferment, and see if we like them a week later, two weeks later or a month later. We both work the same way, so that\u2019s really good for the both of us.\u201d<\/p>\n

The title of Sympathetic Resonance<\/em> can be interpreted as a reference to the pair\u2019s relationship. \u201cI think it is personally,\u201d Jim senses. \u201cI think it\u2019s a relationship between the way we work together, and it\u2019s also a relationship between what we do and the fans, the people that listen to us. Hopefully we\u2019ll strike a chord, and it\u2019ll resonate with fans out there and that\u2019s basically what the title is. I think it comes down to the way we work together, too. There\u2019s a certain kind of sympathetic harmony that we have when we work together. Not to sound too corny, but I think that\u2019s true to a certain degree.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe title works on many levels,\u201d John judges. \u201cIt has definite meaning with the lyrics, as well as with what Jim just said.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018On The Fence\u2019, \u2018Any Given Day (Strangers Like Me)\u2019, and \u2018Incense And Myrrh\u2019 round out the studio album\u2019s track listing. \u201cAgain, \u2018Any Given Day\u2019 and \u2018On The Fence\u2019 lyrically tie in all together and make it more of a haunting album lyrically as well as open for interpretation,\u201d John surmises. \u201cThey\u2019re long songs, they\u2019re hard driving, they\u2019re theatrical, and they\u2019re all connected lyrically. Musically they start off and they come full circle, and come down to a beautiful ending I think. At the very end of the album, \u2018Any Given Day\u2019 comes down to a very nice, dynamic part which synchs into a song called \u2018Incense and Myrrh\u2019 that deals with thoughts of suicide, and it\u2019s all open to interpretation on how the listener is gonna interpret that. I don\u2019t wanna give the ending away, because I want people to take the time to read the lyrics and decide for themselves. I\u2019m very curious about what people will get out of this, and how obvious I actually was with the lyrics \u2013 if they\u2019ll actually get them, or they\u2019ll interpret them otherwise. To me the album has an overall feel though, and when you put it all together I think it flows nicely.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cJohn said it well,\u201d Jim acknowledges. \u201cI like to actually listen to the record as a whole. I think with the way we constructed it and the sequence of the songs, it really works well as one long piece to me. It\u2019s not supposed to be one long song, but I think we put a lot of time and effort into the way the songs flow in and out of each other lyrically and musically, even down to the keys and things like that. For me it would be great if people could listen to it as one long, continuous piece, because I think they\u2019ll get a lot more out of it than listening to songs separately. I enjoy it all though.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I think the songs themselves are very different from each other,\u201d John contributes. Am I right, or..?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah,\u201d Jim replies. \u201cI think \u2013 like you said \u2013 lyrically there\u2019s a theme that goes through them, but…\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLyrically yeah, but the songs themselves?,\u201d John clarifies.<\/p>\n

\u201cEach one of them has a different character,\u201d Jim verifies.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re very different from each other, but they\u2019re all connected,\u201d John continues. \u201cI think that\u2019s a part of the dynamic of the album, and that\u2019s why I like the album.\u201d<\/p>\n

To date, Arch \/ Matheos has no live performances planned nor future recordings. \u201cIt\u2019s really in John\u2019s hands at this point,\u201d Jim concedes. \u201cHe has a normal life outside of music, so it\u2019s hard for him to get away. I think we would all love to and we\u2019re gonna try to put something together, but there\u2019s nothing solid at this point. \u201cWe kind of just take it one step at a time, but I think it was such an enjoyable experience for the both of us that I wouldn\u2019t be surprised if we do another record somewhere down the line in a couple of years. I would love to; it\u2019s been a great experience and it\u2019s a lot of work, but in the end it\u2019s really rewarding. So yeah, I\u2019d love to.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEverywhere I go I drag my feet,\u201d John chuckles, also hoping to cut future Arch \/ Matheos material. \u201cIt seems like once I\u2019m talked into it and I\u2019m immersed in it, it\u2019s…. This whole experience was very nerve-wrecking for me. I don\u2019t take anything for granted; I don\u2019t think that just because I get in front of a mike it\u2019s gonna sound awesome, because that\u2019s not the way I am. I\u2019m my own worst critic, so getting involved with it is the first step and then we take baby steps. It was one song at a time, and then the end result I\u2019m very happy with. So yeah, Jim has always been great to work with. In that environment we work in, there\u2019s no extreme pressure with time. Where we\u2019re in a studio paying $400 a day where time is of the essence, that would be very difficult for me to do. Being in an environment though where Jim and I can work together under a relaxing environment works for creativity. I\u2019m sure the future probably holds more music, and I look forward to that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sympathetic Resonance<\/em> was released in Europe on September 12th, 2011 and subsequently in North America on the 13th, all through Metal Blade Records.<\/p>\n

Interview published in September 2011. All photographs by Jeremy Saffer.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ARCH \/ MATHEOS – A Sympathetic Resonance Anthony Morgan September 2011 Arch \/ Matheos (l-r): John Arch and Jim Matheos The existence of Arch \/ Matheos was publicly revealed to the world on January 19th, 2011, the outfit a collaboration between Fates Warning \/ OSI guitarist Jim Matheos and erstwhile Fates Warning vocalist John Arch. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[215,23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4000","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-arch-matheos","category-features"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4000","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4000"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4000\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":76887,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4000\/revisions\/76887"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4000"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4000"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4000"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}