In this episode of The Rock Metal Podcast, we're chatting with Justin Brett and Simon 'Gid' Gardner of the band Found Missing about their new album ‘Blind Leading The Blind’ out now.
During our chat we touch on a lot of great tips for musicians, such as working with a producer who has experience getting into the charts, helping to make radio edits of your songs.
'Blind Leading The Blind' was produced, mixed, and mastered by Tom Donovan.
For fans of LinkinPark, Incubus, Foo Fighters.
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Guest Resource
FoundMissing.uk - Connect with Found Missing!
Guest Music Video
3 Heavy Hitters
1. Work with producers that bring you out of your comfort zone to help bring new life into the music.
2. The live show can be set up entirely on your laptop, though think about what you want and evolve your live set up.
3. Making a radio edit of your key songs to facilitate servicing to radio, playlists, and charts.
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Show Notes // Transcript
Jon Harris: All right, Justin & Gid, thank you so much for coming on to The Rock Metal Podcast today. Go ahead and say Hi to all of our beautiful listeners.
Justin Brett: Hi, everybody.
Simon 'Gid' Gardner: Hi, everyone.
Jon Harris: All right. You've got a new record coming out here soon. Blind Leading The Blind via Wormholedeath Records. What was the greatest moment for you guys producing this record?
Justin Brett: Oh, I think they what we come up with in the end. It took us a long while to do that album. We got a post pre production and everything and then just tried loads of new ideas when it comes to the album. And we were pleased with what we come out with in the end. Done well, I think.
Simon 'Gid' Gardner: Yeah, I think some of the defining moment, I think, was probably doing I mean, we released it as a first single, which is currently out now. 'Nobody' but I think the production we did on that and the ideas we got from our producer and the guy that recorded us, Tom Donovan, into that music was a little bit very, very different from what we're normally used to, because we were predominantly quite a live band. So to be able to use lots of different things and ideas as a producer, giving us ideas to do things was really nice and was very happy with that sort of finished product because it was a very polished kind of compared to some of the others as a piece of music with the production on, it was different for us and really enjoyed the process of doing that.
Jon Harris: Yeah, predominantly a live band, but Tom the producer giving you ideas to do things in a more polished way, pleased with how it came out but very different from what you used to do in the studio or what you normally do in the studio. So take us through that. What does that mean? Unpackage that statement for us? What does that mean to be predominantly a live band? You've been given some new ideas, it's different than what you're used to take us through that.
Simon 'Gid' Gardner: I think a lot of changes were I think we were pushed a lot to try and do more vocal parts, whereas I think when we was live, sometimes we'd have, like, little bits and pieces and as we progressed on and started to do started to write an album. We started to think more about vocal parts and being able to replicate them live as well. So we're starting to put more and more in, more and more into like a recorded track and then really –
Justin Brett: Pushes me as a vocalist.
Simon 'Gid' Gardner: – and started to think about how we can incorporate. I mean, I think we even got I think got me singing on some and G singing on some, and I think we even coached Dean into doing a couple of parts as well. And we're going to try and coax him to do them live as well, which he's not so happy about. But I think we'll get there because I think if you can replicate as much live possibly that you record, it sounds so much better and so much more professional and gives the whole feel of what you've captured.
Jon Harris: Okay, perfect. So we're being pushed to do more vocal parts which then sounds more professional, which is totally true, and incorporating backing vocals but then also as well. So it sounds not like just one person being a one man choir, it's getting the rest of the band to participate in the backing vocals which now starts to sound like a band now because you mentioned getting the rest of the band to start doing backing vocal parts live. Did working this way in the studio start to change how you were playing live shows and how you were gigging?
Justin Brett: Well, we were gigging then when it comes to recording the album we sort of just stopped everything and just concentrated on the album and to be honest, we haven't gigged for a while yet. We've been just after the album we decided to rehearse again and get everything sounding exactly as it should sound on the album now we sort of changed it in the studio or as close to that was good and now we're going to start back on the road again real soon. But we haven't done anything for a while, to be honest with you. Live wise and obviously, COVID when that come in, that knocks everything where everyone? For a while.
Jon Harris: Okay. All right. Haven't gigged in a while, but definitely looking into recreating and revitalizing that live performance with those backing vocals. Now, speaking of those vocals, you got to be singing something. Take us through the themes on this record.
Justin Brett: Well, I write all the lyrics and to be honest with you, all of them. The songs is basically like a snapshot of what I'm going through at the time of my life, really. Most of them are about relationships or something like that. Things going wrong, to be honest. So it's usually about what's going on to me at the time.
Jon Harris: Oh, man. So many failed relationships, apparently.
Justin Brett: Exactly. Yeah.
Simon 'Gid' Gardner: But I think a lot of singers or lyricists take a lot from personal experience. I think the artistic comes from that anger or that grief or that angst goes into it. If you make quite a rocky song, maybe it's a bit of anger going into it, make a bit of a softer song. There's a bit more feeling going into it.
Justin Brett: Basically, I should have been a drummer.
Jon Harris: Yeah, that's right. Is that something that maybe bonds the band a bit more with camaraderie? Because people are able to look at your lyrics in the band and say, whoa, dude, you went through that?
Justin Brett: Yeah. I think with the band, as a band, we're really close. We're real best, like family, really. We are brothers, so we all go through stuff together and everyone's there for each other. So all the band know when there's something happening to me, there's going to be a song written about it, waiting for it.
Jon Harris: You're going to be the next Taylor Swift. People are going to see you on a date with a girl and be like, he's writing the next song.
Justin Brett: Exactly.
Jon Harris: Okay, so the lead single, 'Nobody', take us through that. What is that about? Who is nobody?
Justin Brett: It's kind of it's about me feeling that there's no one there for me, sort of thing. That I'm sort of on my own in myself, not the band. That's what it's about, really. Just like I'm a nobody. So they think, if you know what I mean, with most of my lyrics, they are about something specific to me. But I always try and write them so that anyone can interpret it as they want to interpret it. Which is really what I think a good song should be. Because if you're going through something in your life and you listen to it, that might relate to you perfectly. But that's how I like my songs to be sort of known sometimes.
Simon 'Gid' Gardner: Feels like solace in that lyrics to something going on with themselves, don't they?
Jon Harris: Yeah, writing lyrics in a way that anybody can identify with it. And then the track 'Nobody' about feeling like a nobody. I mean, does that resonate with you listening in right now? I mean, raise your hand if that resonates with you feeling like a nobody. Now let's move on to the next question, which is gear, which for a vocalist, sometimes it's not really that important. Maybe this question is more for Gid as far as bass is concerned. You guys mentioned doing some really unique and cool things with Tom and we're going to chat with Tom more about production later on. But any cool gear did you guys end up using on the record?
Simon 'Gid' Gardner: Not overly. I mean, bass-wise, I was fairly natural. Just a few minor effects. Nothing too major, I think, when it comes to Dean, the guitarist, Tom had like all these impressive plugins and new suites and stuff to make his amps and things sound completely different. So we're not really recording what he normally plays through. He's going straight into the computer and then put through these programs. And I think it's impressed him so much that he's going to get he's looking into getting those sort of setups to play through live because I think the way guitarists well, I think the way everyone plays now, not to go live, you don't have to carry all this equipment around anymore. You literally almost plug into a computer based thing and it models all your amps and effects and everything for you. And it's just easier to set up, it's easier to adjust.
Justin Brett: So we sort of look, we're a bit older, so we're used to the old. We still are trying to keep it a bit more as well. I think that's lacking when you see bands out of that sometimes.
Simon 'Gid' Gardner: But what I'm saying is it's about the ease of being able to keep the set up as the continuity in the sound as much as possible now because the technology is moving on to be able to deal with that. So you're not going to get the power outs or the effects pedals breaking down because it's all set into one program, but I think a lot Justin touched on there. We did play with a band that all their backing vocals were done through a backing track. So they're singing to a click and singing and we listened to them was like. But we could hear the singer singing and he was flat compared to the backing track. The backing tracks were about six layers of backing vocals on it. And while it sounded massive and great, I mean, I didn't even have a bass player that's in the backing track as well. I was thinking, like, yeah, you can do that, but we're not fans of that. We like to be able to everyone to see us, that we're all singing live. All singing the backing vocals live.
Justin Brett: And the sound seems to be a bit of a fading off. Many people seem to do it now as much as they used to. You used to go and see a band, like you just said, a good Kiss, Iron Maiden are the same as well. It's like Bruce Dickinson does. He's always on backing vocals in the studio, and then when you see him live, you'll have Steve Harris and stuff. Can I play with madness? But they still do it live, though, which is what we try to do. But we don't sound we do sound as close to the album as we think we sound.
Jon Harris: Yeah, on YouTube. There is a live video of you guys. I don't know if you knew that or not.
Justin Brett: Yeah, we did. We didn't put that.
Jon Harris: Let me see if I can find it again while I'm generating my next question here. But you're mentioning something that we're at a very unique point in time in music, because like you said, you can just show up with a laptop and there's your whole show from everything you can control, everything from the lights to the backing tracks to the effects to the plugins, all from MIDI or whatever on your laptop. And it's super convenient. But at the same time, something that came to mind was where's the wind from the band? Where's the wind coming from? The fact that the band is actually producing energy into the room and is that missing? So as a follow up question then, does that mean that your live performance will continue to evolve over time? And I guess how do you see the perfect live setup for you?
Simon 'Gid' Gardner: I see it as a hybrid of both. I think you take the new technology and integrate it into a classic live show. I don't think I would ever play through MIDI. I can see the advantages of the guitarist for the effects, being able to use a mixture of that.
Justin Brett: That's where we do things with guitarist and effects and stuff like that. Vocals and most of it. Everything really will be kept as it should be. Some live. We won't do things like that with backing.
Simon 'Gid' Gardner: Otherwise it's not really a live performance, is it? No, we want to be live proper.
Jon Harris: All right. It's at the New Cross Inn there's a YouTube channel called The Improvised Man and Friends and they put up you guys live at New Cross. It seems like sound check though.
Justin Brett: Yeah, I think it was. That was a terrible night. That was over that night. But we won't even talk about that.
Jon Harris: There's no more talking about it. I was going to like, ooh, orange jams. That's fantastic. Very cool. Very cool. Okay. It. How would you define success at this stage of your career?
Justin Brett: We'd like the single to do as well as they can, obviously, and get the radio play and get playlists and stuff like that, and get as much notice as we can. And then when the album is out, which is in April, and then obviously we're hoping that we get good reviews and, well, we'd like it to get in the charts, some description of some sort of charts. Obviously, that would be where we'd like to be at, and then follow it up from there on live wise and see what we can get on and stuff from there, really. But as we say, which seems to be starting all well, with a lot of things happening, but still early days. It's only three weeks ago on Thursday that we released the first single. So still early days at the moment.
Jon Harris: Yeah, absolutely. Still early on to tell, but definitely wanting that record to be enjoyed, get great reviews, let the singles let the songs do the work that they should be doing based on how it is that you guys have done all of the work up to this point. Which takes me to the next logical question, which is Tom Donovan, the guy that produced the record, hip hop artist on the charts. I know you guys had mentioned wanting to get onto the radio, onto those playlists, have that musical kind of success in the broader terms. Is that why you guys chose to work with Tom? Or maybe just take us through what you want to tell us about working with Mr. Donovan?
Justin Brett: We've worked with Tom for a long time, for years, really, and he's always brought in a different element because we'll record something and then he'll have an idea of maybe a drops or gaps or something put under, which we've never thought of. And he originally was in metal bands when he was younger as well, so he understands our music as well. And then, because we've always kept working with him, now we've become so easy with him, we sort of give him a bit of free rein.
Simon 'Gid' Gardner: Free rein. Yeah.
Justin Brett: And then he'll start saying what he thinks is not all the time, it's not loads of things that he changes. Just every now and then he'll put a little idea and then that can completely transform what we've done and make it more interesting. And I think his ideas it's been good to have him there, because we don't go in there, some bands will go in and record and just think that they know best, they won't listen to anyone else. And we've not liked that at all. We all went in there and listened to what he was saying. Not everything he was saying, to be honest with it. Sometimes it's like don't. But most of the things he said was, we agreed on what he was just the best thing born or something.
Simon 'Gid' Gardner: And he has experienced it because that band has quite good success in this country, like in the charts and with Radio One here and stuff like that, because they're in that genre that the UK likes at the moment. It's kind of like that grime, sort of hip hop sort of music thing. There's a lot of it with the youngsters
Justin Brett: And they were hip hop with a live band as well.
Simon 'Gid' Gardner: So he's got experience about what radios want, what people like, so he's tried to translate that into our music without changing it, just augmenting it to hopefully appeal to a wider variety of people.
Jon Harris: Yeah, I mean, you've definitely said a lot of things about working with Tom, and one of the things you mentioned was, as a band, being open to collaborating with the producer, which is super important. I mean, why hire somebody if you're just going to shut them down and not listen to them? But you mentioned getting on the charts, getting on the playlists, getting on the radio, and that Tom has that experience. His hip hop group is, in fact, charting in the UK. You mentioned that you've worked with him for quite some time, but, I mean, more specifically, did you guys maybe work with him more on this release because of the radio? I mean, talk to us about that.
Justin Brett: On 'Nobody', we did a radio edit as well, which we have never done before with anything, and he told us to do a radio edit.
Simon 'Gid' Gardner: Because he said that radio station is what radio it is. Yeah, apparently so.
Justin Brett: We did a radio edit to see if that's going to help as well. So we're trying everything we can to get it played as much as we can do, basically.
Jon Harris: That's important. There's a reason that music – have you ever heard a band you're like that sounds like a local band and then sometimes you hear it's, even a local band you're like that sounds like it should be on the radio? Because there is, in fact, a format that is commercially designed to be on the radio for whatever reason, and radio edits are certainly a part of that. Interesting. So one of the key things in hip hop is obviously the hook. Did you guys do a lot of hook-ology on the songs?
Simon 'Gid' Gardner: I think the reason we picked 'Nobody' as the first single, because I think that has got a very hooky kind of feel to it. I think, especially in the music. I think it's possibly possibly in my bass, and Dean's guitar line is very much of a hook, repetitive thing that gives a good feel. And yeah, I think if I look back across the album, I think it is definitely. I think naturally, we have got the hooks there, and I think Tom probably helped us expand on them as well in the studio to make them more prominent as well, without us even knowing, possibly, to be fair.
Jon Harris: Like Mr. Miyagi. Next thing you know, oh, man, why am I now I sound like Timbaland. What's going on here?
Simon 'Gid' Gardner: I think that is what a producer is meant to do, isn't it? Make you do these things and then you win.
Jon Harris: What's the number one thing you want people who are listening to the podcast right now to do?
Justin Brett: Check out our album. If the album is out by then.
Jon Harris: It will be, yes.
Justin Brett: All right. Go and have a look at our album and see what you think.
Simon 'Gid' Gardner: Make comments, leave reviews, tell us if you like it, if you hate it, if there's something that could be improved on it, all criticism is welcome. We like to know how our music is portrayed by another ear and how people relate to it, how they listen to it, what they enjoy about it. I'd measure success by people saying, I really like it. This song helped me through this, or this song just makes me feel like that before I go out. Things like that are always lovely to hear and feel like you connected with someone, with your music and they get it.
Jon Harris: Yeah, abso-freaking-lutely. Connecting with someone, making sure they get it, or seeing if they get anyway. So you're listening in right now. You're wondering what to do. Pick up that album from Found Missing, Blind Leading The Blind. Check it out. So go ahead and go ahead and head over to TheRockMetalPodcast.ca. There you'll get all the show notes for today, the transcripts, music videos and links to connect with Found Missing so that you can make sure to pick up that record. So, speaking of which, Justin and Simon, thank you so much for coming on to The Rock Metal Podcast today.
Justin Brett: Thanks for having us.
Simon 'Gid' Gardner: Yeah, thanks for having us. It's been a pleasure.
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