{"id":48672,"date":"2016-05-20T00:00:38","date_gmt":"2016-05-20T00:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=48672"},"modified":"2016-11-20T16:09:30","modified_gmt":"2016-11-20T16:09:30","slug":"feature-diamond-head-05-16","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/feature-diamond-head-05-16\/","title":{"rendered":"DIAMOND HEAD – Their Time Is Now (May 2016) | Features \/ Interviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

DIAMOND HEAD – Their Time Is Now<\/strong><\/span>
\nAnthony Morgan<\/span>
\nMay 2016<\/span><\/p>\n

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Diamond Head (l-r): Eddie Moohan, Rasmus Bom Andersen, Brian Tatler, Andy \u201cAbbz\u201d Abberley and Karl Wilcox<\/b><\/em><\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n
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\nStourbridge, England-based metal group Diamond Head embarked on the tour of the United Kingdom on October 10th, 2014, a performance at the Hairy Dog in Derby, England marking the trek\u2019s inaugural date. Assuming vocal duties was Danish vocalist Rasmus Bom Anderson, whose temporary status quickly evolved into permanent membership within the veteran\u2019s ranks.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat happened was, when we made the decision we needed to get a singer who lives in the UK after our last singer emigrated to Brisbane, I put the word out,\u201d relates Brian Tatler, guitarist and co-founder of Diamond Head. \u201cI had a few people in mind, singers that I\u2019ve met over the years. Our bass player Eddie, he worked with someone who knew Ras. I think they\u2019d possibly been to uni together, because I think when Ras came over to the UK in 2005 possibly, he did a master\u2019s degree in London to study vocals and vocal performance. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think he met this woman who knew Eddie, so Eddie\u2019s friend said \u2018I know a good rock singer. You should try him out.\u2019 I had never heard of the guy, but we sent him a backing track to one of our songs, called \u2018To Heaven From Hell\u2019 (from March 1982\u2019s Borrowed Time<\/em>). He sang on top of it, sent it back, and we liked it. I remember thinking \u2018He\u2019s not struggling to reach the notes, or to hold the notes.\u2019 <\/p>\n

\u201cHe had a lot of power; I thought he made it sound easy, and there was just something about his voice that I liked \u2013 a certain tone, a timbre. So, we got him up for an audition in the Midlands \u2013 he came up on the train \u2013 and we liked him. We offered him the tour, because we had a European tour coming up in maybe a couple of months or something. We had a date in July that we needed to honour, and so we offered him the dates and sort of took it from there really. Then midway through the tour, we were all getting on. I wanted to see what he was like on the road and to live with, and to make sure that he wanted to join Diamond Head, and to make sure that we were all on the same page. We offered him the gig, and he gratefully accepted.\u201d<\/p>\n

Naturally, the axeman is enthusiastic with respect to Rasmus\u2019 vocal style. \u201cIt\u2019s just a kind of voice that I like,\u201d he reasons. \u201cI like particular types of singers. Certain singers over the years have just done it for me, and it was just something about Ras\u2019 voice that I really liked. I thought that he would do justice to our back catalogue. It\u2019s difficult to explain a singer. All singers are slightly different, aren\u2019t they? And that\u2019s very often what makes a band unique. Sometimes when I listen to a track, I don\u2019t know who it is until the singer starts. You\u2019ve probably done it yourself, where you think \u2018Oh yeah… It\u2019s so and so,\u2019 but that\u2019s how unique the vocal is with each individual person and singer. There is a sort of singing that I like, as I said earlier, and he just appealed to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Previous vocalist Nick Tart confirmed his departure on October 14th, four days into Diamond Head\u2019s UK jaunt. The exit concluded an 11-year tenure behind the microphone. \u201cNick and his family emigrated to Brisbane in 2008, and I thought that it might stop the band,\u201d Brian shares. \u201cWhat we decided to do was to fly him backwards and forwards for gigs, and he was happy to do that. As things unfolded, we did it, but it became very complicated. Of course it meant we couldn\u2019t really write and record any more, because Nick would only come over for the tour or the gigs. He\u2019s got a wife, kids and a full-time job in Australia, so he couldn\u2019t really hang around and spend six months working on an album. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat became a problem and it also became very stressful on our drummer Karl (Wilcox), who does a lot of the nuts and bolts of booking flights, visas, transport, and backline. To have a singer who lives in Brisbane is just so complicated for an English rock band, so we had a meeting in 2014 and decided that we needed to look for a singer who lives in the UK. We didn\u2019t realise that we were going to get a Danish singer who lives in the UK (laughs), but that was the plan. I\u2019m really glad that we found Rasmus, because I think he\u2019s awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Such comments suggest Nick Tart didn\u2019t leave of his own accord, per se. \u201cYeah,\u201d the composer confirms. \u201cI explained what was gonna happen; I said \u2018We\u2019re gonna need to get a different singer.\u2019 He could understand. I put it to him like this: I said \u2018Imagine you had a band that is based in Brisbane, and your guitarist decided to emigrate to the UK. Would you, A, pay to fly him backwards and forwards for gigs? Or B, get another guitarist?\u2019 He said \u2018Yeah… I\u2019d get another guitarist\u2019 (laughs). He totally understood \u2013 he wasn\u2019t offended. He realised that he had caused the problem by emigrating to Brisbane, so he could sympathise with our dilemma. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe went on, though. We managed to keep him in the band until his last gig, which was in July 2013… No, October 2013… It was something like that, anyway. And he played in Birmingham with us. Then he went back to Australia, and we went to America to do a tour. We had to use a deputy singer, because Nick\u2019s father was taken ill. He had cancer, but he went into a hospice. It all became terrible for Nick, and so he had to be around for his dad. We had this tour booked, so we couldn\u2019t do any more. <\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t remember exactly the sequence of events, but once we announced that we had a different singer or that a different singer was going to be doing the UK tour and the European tour in 2014, Nick decided to say that he had quit rather than… He said \u2018I don\u2019t want people turning up to the gigs thinking it\u2019s going to be me singing.\u2019. He announced that he had quit Diamond Head, so then we thought \u2018Okay… Well, we\u2019ll crack on with Rasmus.\u2019 It was slightly complicated, but those were the sequence of events as far as I can remember.\u201d<\/p>\n

When Nick and family emigrated to Australia during 2008, Brian didn\u2019t lend any thought towards possibly hiring a new frontman. \u201cNo, I didn\u2019t want to,\u201d he explains. \u201cI wanted to keep Nick in the band. I like Nick, and I think that he was great for the band. We tried it \u2013 we had Sonisphere coming in 2011 (July 8th). With things like that, I just thought \u2018Nick can fly out. We\u2019ll do the gig, and we\u2019ll probably have a couple of dates around it to help pay for the flights.\u2019 The flights were probably \u00a31500-1600, so we kept it going for as long as we could. <\/p>\n

\u201cAs I say, it brought a lot of stress on Karl, and it made a lot of sense in the end. It probably took us six years to do it (laughs), but in the end we just thought \u2019We\u2019re going to at least look around for another singer.\u2019 If we couldn\u2019t have found anybody that I was happy with, we\u2019d have stuck with Nick. I had tried about five or six guys though, and thought \u2019We can definitely do this.\u2019 That\u2019s when we explained to Nick in 2014 that this was what we were going to be doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Discussions regarding April 2016\u2019s self-titled affair \u2013 and seventh full-length overall \u2013 began towards the conclusion of 2014. \u201cI can remember discussing writing together in various dressing rooms,\u201d the axe-slinger notes. \u201cThen we played Sin City in Swansea (November 21st), and we had a meeting in the dressing room then. I said \u2018Well, I\u2019ve got a load of material that I\u2019ve been working on.\u2019 That was since 2007 really, since the last album, so I said \u2018Well, I\u2019ll give you the music.\u2019 I don\u2019t do lyrics, but I had written a lot of music. I gave him two CDs with 45 pieces of music on, and he went away \u2013 probably over Christmas \u2013 and picked stuff that he liked, really. <\/p>\n

\u201cThen we arranged a writing rehearsal in January 2015; we all got together in a room, and said \u2018We should do it in the room, and write the songs together as a band \u2013 like Diamond Head used to back in the day.\u2019 We took it from there really, just to see how it would go really. I wasn\u2019t even that confident in my material. I just thought \u2018Well, we can but try and see how it goes,\u2019 and then after a while \u2013 after probably a couple of rehearsals \u2013 I realised that there was some good stuff coming here. There was a lot of good will to make it happen, and so we went on. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe did eight-hour rehearsals, and we did those over a period of about six months on and off \u2013 you know, broken up. We didn\u2019t do rehearsals every day of course, because people have got jobs and things to do. Very often, we\u2019d do it on a Sunday. We\u2019d start at midday and finish about eight o\u2019clock at night, and we\u2019d get quite a bit done.\u201d<\/p>\n

Having not authored material in quite some time, Brian\u2019s confidence had waned. \u201cIt had been a while since I\u2019d written anything, and I didn\u2019t want to write another album like the last one, What\u2019s In Your Head?<\/em> (July 2007),\u201d he figures. \u201cI don\u2019t know. I wasn\u2019t that confident. I just felt we would try. I think Ras has been a big part of the success of the record; I think he\u2019s come in with such a lot of fresh ideas, and a new outlook. He\u2019s new blood in the band. Once I could hear what Ras was capable of… I almost didn\u2019t appreciate Ras until I heard the guy\u2019s vocals for this new album. <\/p>\n

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\u201cI knew that he could do the old stuff, because that\u2019s kind of copying and learning someone else\u2019s lyrics. Once Ras was able to let rip with his own ideas, his own lyrics and his own creative input though, I was fully aware of his talent and was almost taken aback by the standard. Some of the melody lines that he has come up with for this new album are just brilliant. I\u2019m so impressed with Ras\u2019 creativity.\u201d<\/p>\n

A songwriter for several decades, the musician has naturally questioned whether he has the ability to pen strong compositions any more. \u201cYeah, exactly,\u201d he seconds. \u201cI\u2019ve been doing it since I was 16, and yeah, you do. It\u2019s hard to live up to some of that. Those old Diamond Head songs have sort of taken on a legendary status, almost. \u2018Am I Evil?\u2019 is out there in the world (from October 1980 debut Lightning To The Nations<\/em>), doing its thing \u2013 it\u2019s become like a rock classic. So yeah, you\u2019ve got a lot of competition to compete with, and there are a lot of fantastic bands out there who are at it full-time. Maybe I just thought there might not be a place for what we\u2019re doing now. As I say though, once we started coming up with the goods, my confidence grew and grew, and I knew that it was gonna be a good record.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, Brian is still the principal songwriter within the Diamond Head camp. \u201cEver since the start with me, I\u2019ve come up with a guitar riff,\u201d he describes. \u201cI start with a guitar riff, and then I build on that. I need to have the mood right; the whole track needs to have a certain mood, so sometimes I come up with two or three parts at the same time that all have a similar flow. Then other times, I find things that just work together. Some of these songs I\u2019ve had for a while \u2013 a number of years \u2013 and I will have chipped away at them, crafted them, and keep coming back to them, thinking \u2018I still like this. This is a good idea.\u2019 <\/p>\n

\u201cIn a way, they\u2019ve lasted for a couple of years or more already before I even got to record them. Anything that I didn\u2019t like or didn\u2019t really sound like Diamond Head… A couple of times, I would play something to Ras, and he would either say \u2018I don\u2019t think it sounds like Diamond Head\u2019 or sometimes he\u2019d say \u2018That sounds very Diamond Head-y.\u2019 We would work on songs that sounded the most like Diamond Head, and songs that Ras could come up with melodies for. We whittled them down from the 45 to like 14, and then it became 11 for the album.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of the compositions recorded in support of April 2016\u2019s self-titled effort, one eventually didn\u2019t surface on the final track listing. \u201cIt felt the least finished, and the least like the rest of the album,\u201d the mainman judges. \u201cIt didn\u2019t quite fit in, so I was happy to just take it off and keep it as an 11-track album, and then we also kind of earmarked a song for Japan. If we can get a release in Japan, they very often like an extra track, a bonus track. So, if we get to use it, it will be available in Japan. We haven\u2019t done it yet, a Japanese release for the album. Once we thrash out a deal, then we will have a track ready. It\u2019s not set in stone, so it might not happen. We\u2019re in talks though, let\u2019s say.\u201d<\/p>\n

In departing, Nick issued the following statement: \u2018I was hoping to pen a third album (with Diamond Head), but making new music with the band became limited; Brian mentioned he had no interest in making a new album, he didn\u2019t feel the urge.\u2019 \u201cThat\u2019s right,\u201d Brian acknowledges. \u201cAs I say, I didn\u2019t see how we could make a new album with Nick living in Australia, and I didn\u2019t want to do it over the net. There was no opportunity to get together with Nick, so I couldn\u2019t think how this was going to happen. <\/p>\n

\u201cAlso, as I said earlier, I didn\u2019t really have much confidence in the material that I had. When you turn up in rehearsal and you play your idea, sometimes you think \u2018I don\u2019t really know if this any good or not.\u2019 It\u2019s just a confidence thing, really. If the band jumps on it and goes \u2018That\u2019s brilliant. Let\u2019s have a go at that,\u2019 then great, but sometimes you get kind of blank expressions (laughs). They don\u2019t always work.\u201d<\/p>\n

The logistical difficulties of Nick being situated in Australia are understandable. \u201cOh, it\u2019s so complicated,\u201d the guitarist tells. \u201cTo get a work visa to fly a guy from Brisbane to Los Angeles and back again and things like that is so tricky.\u201d<\/p>\n

Inevitably, the aforementioned self-titled outing has been critiqued against previous Diamond Head records. \u201cThe reviews have been fantastic, some of the best reviews of my career,\u201d Brian enthuses. \u201cI wasn\u2019t this kind of general… Everybody seems to like it, so I\u2019m so pleased. And again, that\u2019s given me another kick, another boost. Some people have said it\u2019s a bit like the album we should have made after Borrowed Time<\/em> (laughs), and I can understand that. Diamond Head lost its way a little with Canterbury<\/em> (June 1983). <\/p>\n

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Diamond Head 1983 (l-r): Sean Harris, Brian Tatler, Merv Goldsworthy and
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\u201cWe probably overstretched ourselves; there\u2019s some great stuff on there, but if you listen to Lightning To The Nations<\/em> and then Canterbury<\/em>, the band moved so far and so quickly that we probably alienated some fans. It was very difficult to play it live, and to almost fit it in with the previous material. Canterbury<\/em> sold less copies than Borrowed Time<\/em> as well, which isn\u2019t what you want with a new band that\u2019s supposed to be on an upward trajectory, but I like all of the Diamond Head albums for what they are. <\/p>\n

\u201cYears ago, there seemed to be a lot of money to make records. You\u2019d enter a 24-track studio and you\u2019d have a producer and all that, and those days have gone now. You almost do it yourself. A lot of the What\u2019s In Your Head?<\/em> album was done at home and on a ProTools LE rig, and this album was only done at a relatively cheap studio in the Midlands. We paid for it all ourselves, so we didn\u2019t have a huge budget for anything. We didn\u2019t have a producer; we just produced it ourselves. We kind of do it ourselves a little now, a bit like we did the first album I suppose.\u201d<\/p>\n

Given that reviewers have commented that the self-titled platter could have potentially been authored following the issue of Borrowed Time<\/em>, the self-titled record perhaps has more in common with the aforementioned March 1982 affair. \u201cMaybe,\u201d the axeman muses. \u201cMaybe a little bit. There are definitely flashes of Lightning To The Nations<\/em> and Borrowed Time<\/em> on this new record. I\u2019ve thought about it, and I reckon because Rasmus came in new, fresh… <\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s 20 years younger than the rest of us, and I think he went through everything we\u2019ve recorded. He listened to every track, and learnt the lyrics. I think almost like a producer would, he\u2019s come in and kind of taken an overview of what\u2019s good about Diamond Head \u2013 what we should be doing, and maybe what we shouldn\u2019t be doing \u2013 and really focused our vision for what makes a good Diamond Head record. I could totally understand where he was coming from. We were all onboard with that notion, that it should sound like a Diamond Head record.\u201d<\/p>\n

Freedom exists within the Diamond Head framework. \u201cTons, because Diamond Head, we\u2019re not stuck on one little style,\u201d Brian asserts. \u201cCertain bands have a style and you can recognise them in a second, but if you listen to something like \u2018Helpless\u2019 and then say \u2018The Kingmaker\u2019 or \u2018Ishmael\u2019, there\u2019s a mile of difference there. So, it\u2019s within that. It\u2019s quite a broad sound, really. It\u2019s still Diamond Head, but it\u2019s quite a broad sound so you can branch out. Probably not too far, though. I think we probably went too far bringing in piano and kettle drums and… <\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know. You name it \u2013 the kitchen sink (laughs). We probably naively thought that anything is possible when we were like 22, 23, but I think anything is possible as long as you\u2019ve got the money to back it up and the sales base and fans. We would look to bands like Led Zeppelin and Queen who experimented and weren\u2019t afraid to try new things, but Diamond Head didn\u2019t have anything like those kinds of sales or power. I think we overstretched, and tried to change too quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n

As a songwriter, one wishes to stretch and branch out. \u201cYou do, but you can still write good songs that sound like Diamond Head,\u201d the axe-slinger submits. \u201cYou don\u2019t have to keep stretching and stretching. It\u2019s very difficult to keep trying to go and do something totally new \u2013 it\u2019s probably easier to do something similar to what you\u2019ve done before.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brian possesses a catalogue of riffs unsuitable for Diamond Head. \u201cI have got lots and lots of riffs; I have still got a lot of riffs even on cassette, and I\u2019ve kept them,\u201d he reveals. \u201cI don\u2019t throw anything away, so I keep things for a while until I can use them in the right context. Yeah though, occasionally. As I said earlier, I gave stuff to Ras, and sometimes I think \u2018Oh, I like this one. This will be good,\u2019 but Ras would go \u2018I don\u2019t think it\u2019s Diamond Head.\u2019 so I let him have that say, because I thought \u2018Okay, he\u2019s coming in fresh.\u2019 I am probably too close to it sometimes, and by somebody coming in fresh, they can instantly see \u2018Oh, I see that\u2019s what\u2019s good about Diamond Head.\u2019 It\u2019s all about good riffs and good melodies, and exciting, powerful songs.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Sadly, the musician\u2019s plethora of unused riffs will not emerge in a solo project. \u201cNo, I don\u2019t fancy that,\u201d he dismissively replies. \u201cI\u2019ve never fancied a solo album. I did have another band called Radio Moscow in the late 80s, but I wouldn\u2019t do a solo band, like Brian Tatler\u2019s Blah Blah Blah. It doesn\u2019t appeal to me. I like being in a band. Diamond Head\u2019s my band; I came up with the name and formed it in 1976, and I\u2019ve tried to look after it and protect the quality ever since. I\u2019m happy to just be in Diamond Head, and make sure it can survive as long as it can survive.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, Diamond Head fanatics would love to hear Brian\u2019s unused riffs. \u201cThey\u2019re for my ears only,\u201d he chuckles. \u201cSorry.\u201d<\/p>\n

Returning to the topic of Diamond Head\u2019s self-titled outing, where lyrical fare is concerned, the mainman is devoid of contribution. \u201cRas writes all of the lyrics, and with previous albums Sean (Tatler) would write lyrics or Nick would write the lyrics,\u201d he informs. \u201cI do think because Ras is kind of a different generation and he\u2019s a bit more aware of social issues, and he\u2019s brought that to the table… It\u2019s difficult for me to say, really. You\u2019d have to speak to Ras, but you can hear the frustrations sometimes and the anger that he\u2019s put into these lyrics, kind of raging about certain issues of the day, so there\u2019s bit of a political statement in there. It all works for me, because I think if the music\u2019s got a power to it, then the lyrics need to as well. and I\u2019m happy with his lyrics, and his contribution. He\u2019s done a sterling job (laughs).\u201d<\/p>\n

A member existing within the ranks markedly younger in age arguably makes for an interesting mix. \u201cI don\u2019t know,\u201d Brian ponders. \u201cPurely on his voice; he\u2019s got this great voice, and it\u2019s a trained voice. He knows how to look after it; warm-ups, he knows all about that, and techniques. He\u2019s got a range that we probably haven\u2019t even heard on record yet. I don\u2019t know. There\u2019s no problems \u2013 he understands that it\u2019s my band. He comes in and does his thing, really. <\/p>\n

\u201cRas is like a geek, and he\u2019s very good with the social media side of things \u2013 the promotion of the band through things like Facebook \u2013 so he\u2019s into all that. He\u2019s into video and production, and he buys microphones and compressors and all kinds of things. He\u2019s got a home studio, so he\u2019s very technical like that, and he knows… If it can be done, Ras can probably do it, or at least find a way of doing it. It\u2019s nice to have somebody in the band that can tackle some of those problems. In a way, he\u2019s kind of found his niche within what each member of the band does.\u201d<\/p>\n

Self-titling the April 2016 Diamond Head<\/em> long-player occurred since the guitarist \u201cthought that it was the best title,\u201d he divulges. \u201cIt was quite simple, really. I did want a title \u2013 all of the other albums have got titles. I looked at all of the song titles, and some of the song titles kept evolving as Ras would change the lyrics and change the title, and nothing quite fit. We had a big list on the studio wall. I had an idea in mind, but nothing quite worked. Then Eddie our bass player suggested \u2018Why not call it Diamond Head<\/em>?,\u2019 and I thought about it. I thought \u2018That\u2019s a good idea. I like that,\u2019 and so I said to everybody \u2018Unless we can think of a better name, it will be called Diamond Head<\/em>.\u2019 We stuck with that (laughs). <\/p>\n

\u201cFor like six months, we ended up thinking that that\u2019s the best name for the album, and the artwork appeared. We had been working on artwork for T-shirts and things for a while, and then when this new design appeared \u2013 which is kind of like the old logo, the \u201982 classic logo revamped \u2013 it made perfect sense. There was no way back from there. It\u2019s a self-titled album. Bands have done it before. This is our time to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

No consideration was lent towards self-titling October 1980 debut Lightning To The Nations<\/em>. \u201cThis is the only one where I considered self-titling,\u201d Brian clarifies. \u201c\u2018Lightning To The Nations\u2019 is track one, side one of that album, and it just seemed to be a great title for the album. It was probably Sean\u2019s suggestion, and I had no problem with it. It\u2019s a great title; it\u2019s strong, especially for a debut. It kind of sends a message out. No though, we\u2019ve never thought about calling an album Diamond Head before.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Recording sessions for the aforementioned Diamond Head<\/em> were handled courtesy of ProTools at a Walsall-based studio. \u201cWe met this engineer called Adam Beddoe, and we liked him,\u201d the axeman details. \u201cWe just made a start, as you do. You record your drums, and then you move onto bass. What we did on this album which we\u2019ve not done before is we recorded the bass DI, so Eddie would play along with the drums and then we\u2019d re-amp the bass once we\u2019d done the guitars so that we could tailor the bass sound to fit the guitar sound, and re-amped it twice. The DI sound, which was very good anyway, we ran it into an Ampeg SBT amp 8\u201dx10\u201d, and that was much more distorted. <\/p>\n

\u201cThen we did an even more distorted bass guitar track through a Blackstar Series One guitar amp, so then you had a blend of three different bass sounds that you could use in the mix, and that was so strong and powerful. The guitars, many were done with a Diezel amp, VH4. Myself and Abbz both used the same amp because it just sounded fantastic, which was an Orange 4\u201dx12\u201d. I\u2019ve got a Les Paul Standard that I used while Abbz used his Les Paul Custom, because his is slightly bass-ier than mine. Mine\u2019s got a bit more middle, so that was pretty much our sound. <\/p>\n

\u201cRas tried doing the vocals at home in his home studio, but it didn\u2019t work. I think he needed someone to encourage him and stop him becoming a perfectionist, so he ended up coming up to the studio and recording all of the vocals in Walsall, and that\u2019s it really. We mixed it in Walsall. Our friend Dave \u201cShirt\u201d Nichols, who\u2019s Slipknot\u2019s front-of-house engineer and also the producer of the last album \u2013 What\u2019s In Your Head?<\/em> \u2013 we got him to mix it with Adam, and he was fantastic. He did a great job; he pulled it to pieces, and rebuilt it (laughs). He\u2019s got a very good ear, and is very decisive \u2013 he didn\u2019t flim-flam.\u201d<\/p>\n

Recording sessions were spread across several months. \u201cI would say it took about 25 days to record and mix, so fairly quick, but spread out over four months,\u201d Brian recalls. \u201cWe\u2019d work for three or four days, and then… We had a couple of gigs dotted around. Ras had to have a couple of months to work on lyrics, but it all got recorded between July and November 2015.\u201d<\/p>\n

Handling distribution for the self-titled affair is the Dissonance label. \u201cInitially, it was gonna be completely self-funded,\u201d the composer briefs. \u201cWe were gonna sell the album on the net \u2013 online, on the website \u2013 and then Dissonance got involved. They liked it, and we did a deal with them. It\u2019s been great, because they put so much effort into it. They\u2019ve got like three press guys \u2013 they\u2019ve got America, and Europe \u2013 so the amount of press I\u2019ve been doing is much more than normal. I\u2019ve done so many interviews for this record. They\u2019re just aggressively working on the promotion of it, much more so than we could have done ourselves, so it\u2019s been really good. I\u2019m glad we got onboard with this company, Dissonance. The head came to see us in Bristol, Steve Beatty, and yeah, great. It\u2019s nice to be on with a label that can help us promote it.\u201d<\/p>\n

A music video to promote the effort is in the pipeline. \u201cWe\u2019ve been talking about it,\u201d Brian imparts. \u201cWe did have a video director in mind, but then he kind of went offline and said he had to deal with some corporate stuff, and we haven\u2019t been able to tie him down since. Then we\u2019ve had gigs \u2013 we\u2019ve just been to Malta, Ibiza, and Madrid \u2013 so we\u2019re just trying to time it really, and fit it all in. So, there may be. If we do one, we might do \u2018All The Reasons You Live\u2019. Ras did a video for \u2018Bones\u2019 and that did a job, got people excited about the album, but we haven\u2019t done a proper music video and we should really. We\u2019re sort of trying to get it together.\u201d<\/p>\n

The urge to pen further Diamond Head material exists. \u201cWe\u2019ve been talking about it,\u201d the axe-slinger discloses. \u201cWe might do another one. Funnily enough, I came up with a riff earlier I really like \u2013 I was just recording it when you phoned. I think \u2018Oh, that\u2019s a good one. That\u2019s one for the Diamond Head camp.\u2019 I still come up with riffs \u2013 I try to practice guitar every day. When I find a riff, I just tape it and then come back to it, and review it. Even if I don\u2019t review it for a couple of years, I will come back to it. If I still like it, then it\u2019s gotta be good (laughs).\u201d<\/p>\n

Diamond Head haven\u2019t issued a wealth of full-lengths throughout the years. \u201cNo,\u201d Brian concurs. \u201cThis is our seventh album, isn\u2019t it? We did an album in 2003 that never came out, so this is still the seventh actual album that\u2019s been released. Nobody\u2019s ever heard this album \u2013 it\u2019s just gathering dust.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whether Diamond Head\u2019s 2003 record will see the light of day is uncertain. \u201cIt\u2019s in Sean\u2019s court,\u201d the musician contends. \u201cIt\u2019s complicated (laughs). I\u2019d like it out; I think it\u2019s a shame to just have it sitting and doing nothing. We paid for it ourselves, so it cost money that we\u2019ve lost. I think it\u2019s madness to not have it available, but it\u2019s not my decision.\u201d<\/p>\n

One wonders as to whether Sean Tatler wishes for said 2003 jaunt to undergo general release. \u201cProbably, but on his terms,\u201d Brian reckons.<\/p>\n

Diamond Head<\/em> was released on April 22nd, 2016 via Dissonance.<\/p>\n

Interview published in May 2016.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

DIAMOND HEAD – Their Time Is Now Anthony Morgan May 2016 Diamond Head (l-r): Eddie Moohan, Rasmus Bom Andersen, Brian Tatler, Andy \u201cAbbz\u201d Abberley and Karl Wilcox Stourbridge, England-based metal group Diamond Head embarked on the tour of the United Kingdom on October 10th, 2014, a performance at the Hairy Dog in Derby, England marking […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53,23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-48672","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-diamond-head","category-features"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48672","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=48672"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48672\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":50281,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48672\/revisions\/50281"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48672"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48672"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48672"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}