{"id":15265,"date":"2013-03-01T16:04:50","date_gmt":"2013-03-01T05:04:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/maytherockbewithyou.com\/mtrbwy\/?p=15265"},"modified":"2013-03-01T16:04:50","modified_gmt":"2013-03-01T05:04:50","slug":"ian-berney-of-birds-of-tokyo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maytherockbewithyou.com\/mtrbwy\/2013\/03\/ian-berney-of-birds-of-tokyo\/","title":{"rendered":"Ian Berney of Birds of Tokyo"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"
\n<\/a>\u201cThe whole idea of this record is like a very communal based thing like engaging people as listeners and it\u2019s a record for a listener rather than a record for musicians or about a singer in the band or the band itself.\u00a0 The idea of being able to read it as a headline sort of connected the community to the record if that makes sense?\u201d<\/p>\n

From press release: Over the course of their first two studio albums (2007?s \u201cDay One\u201d and 2008?s \u201cUniverses\u201d) Birds of Tokyo carved out a niche for guitar driven anthems. Lots of touring around Australia gradually turned them into indie chart toppers. Their eponymous third release in 2010 shifted things up a gear with double platinum certifications and hit singles \u201cPlans\u201d and \u201cWild At Heart\u201d. They received songwriting awards from APRA, had their work voted \u201cRock Album Of The Year\u201d by their peers and then capped it all off by winning the publicly voted gong as \u201cMost Popular Australian Artist\u201d at the 2011 ARIA Awards. Not surprisingly their heads were swimming. But rather than milk a formula they decided to throw themselves into new ways of being a band.\u00a0 Burnt it down.\u00a0 Started again. The result is \u2018March Fires\u2019.\u00a0<\/strong> The album\u2019s title directly reflects its phoenix-like conception plus in the northern hemisphere the March fires are typically a natural source of renewal each spring.<\/p>\n

We had a chat with bass player Ian Berney about being the new \u2018Bird\u2019 as well as the new era of the band along with talking about their new album \u2018March Fires\u2019 and all about touring and what the future holds, well sort of\u2026<\/p>\n

Firstly, welcome to the band!<\/strong>
\nThank you very much, it\u2019s been two years now\u2026<\/p>\n

Yes, but still the new guys\u2026<\/strong>
\nStill the new guys *laughs*<\/p>\n

This is your first Birds of Tokyo full length album you\u2019ve played on, how was the experience of recording with the band for \u2018March Fires\u2019?<\/strong>
\nIt was amazing really, it was a whole different level for me, the only records I\u2019d ever made before were in Perth where I\u2019d grew up and it was whatever budget we could pull together and get the local guy who knew how to work pro-tools and do that. This time it was just like we had a producer and an engineer and people running around buying coffees for us, or lunch so it was just awesome the facilities as we did it all over in LA, it was just something else.<\/p>\n

Tell us about the recording of the album, seems it was a little unconventional compared to the normal \u2018routine\u2019 of the past releases?<\/strong>
\nYeah well I think first of all we used \u2018Ocean Waves\u2019 studio in Hollywood and that was a serious recording studio, like when we walked in it was just placards and platinum records all over the walls, from TOOL to Radiohead to Pink Floyd to Enrique Iglesias and No Doubt, just massive acts like Green Day and stuff like that so immediately we went \u2018Whoa, what are we doing here?\u2019 *laughs* and then we started using the room, just the drum sounds we were pulling from this incredible room were just insane, so they pulled out all the stops to capture the right drum sounds. After that we moved to a much more affordable studio to do the rest of the record. We were these for about four months, we tracked for I\u2019d say three of it and then we mixed it as well which was really just us going in at the end of the day and having a listen to Tony Hoffer\u2019s work telling him if it needed any tweaks or anything like that.<\/p>\n

Was the \u2018This Fire\u2019 EP recording treated any differently compared to the album?<\/strong>
\nNo it was the same sessions, \u2018This Fire\u2019 is also featured on the record, but they were all worked together in the same format, so yeah the two extra tracks on there because I think the song \u2018Boy\u2019 is also going to be on \u2018March Fires\u2019, the two other songs on there just didn\u2019t feel right as far as a continuity that we have on March Fires but we still felt like they were strong enough to release, so we ended up pulling together and EP rather than just doing a single.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Now, is there a story behind the name of the album you can share with us?<\/strong>
\n\u2018March Fires\u2019, it\u2019s like a feeling you get, originally it was \u2018The March Fires\u2019 which sounds like something you might read as a headline in the newspaper and that was kind of like the feeling we were trying to get.\u00a0 The whole idea of this record is like a very communal based thing like engaging people as listeners and it\u2019s a record for a listener rather than a record for musicians or about a singer in the band or the band itself.\u00a0 The idea of being able to read it as a headline sort of connected the community to the record if that makes sense?\u00a0 March also comes after the pretty strong theme in \u2018Lanterns\u2019 as the chorus, about marching on with lanterns on and Fire is also quite a strong metaphor for the chaotic world we\u2019re living in which is pretty much what \u2018This Fire\u2019 is about.<\/p>\n

AND it\u2019s released in March\u2026<\/strong>
\nAnd it\u2019s released in March which is quite cool, I don\u2019t know how we timed that so well but it just seemed to work out quite well *laughs*<\/p>\n

It also seems this \u2018change\u2019 was a needed thing within the band, a re-birth I believe has been used as a term, why did the guys feel something needed to be shook up?<\/strong>
\nI\u2019m not sure what the theory was there, maybe there was insecurity about the image or the perception of Birds of Tokyo that they weren\u2019t comfortable with so they just felt like a complete rebranding had to kind of happen, I\u2019m not sure\u2026 they were a young na\u00efve band when they came out and they did it all independently and they did very well but I think they\u2019re in a position now, especially with the success of the last record that these simple matters of image and personality and style needs to just be really refined correctly if we\u2019re going to try and be a successful careerist kind of band you know? So I guess from that viewpoint there just needed to be a lot more focus on the image of the band and because we felt like the music was shifting and also felt like it was going up a gear in the way of maturity, so it felt like the artwork and the imagery really needed to follow.<\/p>\n

How hard was it to step in to an already established band with the success they have already had, were there any doubts or insecurities around it?<\/strong>
\nYeah to be honest I suppose at first I was quite flabbergasted as to why I was invited in to the band? I thought I was an OK bass player, I didn\u2019t think I\u2019d be worthy of a band that would be willing to put me on a wage, so I was humbled by that. When we started writing music together I noticed the dynamic of the band is quite rigid already, so for me finding a space in this new set up was going to be a bit of a challenge, so yeah I guess it\u2019s been a while. It was a good year and a half of me not feeling so confident, but these days it feels like it\u2019s changed, I feel excited about things, I feel confident to express opinions, I\u2019m looking forward to the next record starting with all the chemistry and the understanding of all the nuances that works in Birds of Tokyo, you know?<\/p>\n

So it\u2019s fair to say you\u2019ve found your footing now within the band?<\/strong>
\nYeah, definitely, ever since the record was finished I\u2019ve felt really good.<\/p>\n

You\u2019re about to start a tour in support of the new album, what can people expect should they come and see a Birds of Tokyo show?<\/strong>
\nIt\u2019s gone up all kinds of levels *laughs* we\u2019ve spent hours and days pulling together a visualisation effect for every song, we were massively inspired by Radiohead\u2019s tour when they came by and they just seemed to turn every song into this amazing event, like a thematic colour to every song that changed from track to track and we just thought it was so elegant the way they did it. Also instead of trying to bleed into songs and making the whole set as one big song it was like stop, start, stop, start and to make every song an event was just really cool, so we\u2019ve kind of taken that approach to the visual side of things. We\u2019re forking out a lot more money this time for like a bigger kind of lighting show and visually these shows are just kind of next level for us and we\u2019re excited as hell to see how they go.<\/p>\n

You played Homebake in December and showcased some new material which was great and the highlight of my day, how was that show for you?<\/strong>
\nI loved it, I had a real blast, we just played the Annandale the night before and that was just dirty sweaty rock pub lovery which I really enjoyed and we were still high off that so we just kept that momentum for the Homebake show.<\/p>\n

How was the reaction for you of the new material? It\u2019s always a bit daunting when you play new songs for people, but for me it seemed that the crowd loved it, was that the success of the last album that they just really want to hear more?<\/strong>
\nI don\u2019t know what it is, man\u2026 sometimes I think they just love Kenny *laughs* if you ever got to know Kenny he\u2019s a very likable guy, he\u2019s a popular dude and he sounds great when he sings, he\u2019s never off key or anything like that and I think Australians love that about him. *laughs*<\/p>\n

So, do you have a favourite song to play live yet?<\/strong>
\nAt the moment I\u2019m loving \u2018The Others\u2019 and this is specifically just off \u2018March Fires\u2019, there\u2019s another called \u2018When The Night Falls Quiet\u2019, those two I\u2019ve been really enjoying and we\u2019ve been adding a lot of stuff to the set and we\u2019re also adding a lot of older stuff from Day one.<\/p>\n

How did it feel when a song like \u2018This Fire\u2019 took off and now \u2018Lanterns\u2019 seems to be following very quickly in its footsteps?<\/strong>
\nI don\u2019t know man, it\u2019s all just kind of whatever for me to be honest, I should really be jumping up and down and doing back flips and things like that, but I\u2019m just kind of stoked *laughs*, it\u2019s all just feeling great, I didn\u2019t expect any of this and every time something wonderful happens or someone says it\u2019s selling really well, or we\u2019re going to do an International tour or something like that, it\u2019s just like \u2018OK\u2026 wow\u2026\u2019 I don\u2019t know what to do *laughs*<\/p>\n

Are you heading internationally with this?<\/strong>
\nWell we\u2019re hoping to, there\u2019s nothing I can officially report but we\u2019re definitely looking outside the waters.<\/p>\n

After this run of shows, what does the rest of 2013 have in store for you?<\/strong>
\nI think we\u2019ve got a couple more festivals, we\u2019re going to do things that involve stuff that I can\u2019t really tell you about, yet, I guess we\u2019ll be hoping for more summery fun time festival stuff as well, but all that\u2019s still in the works.<\/p>\n

Essential Information<\/span><\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n

From:<\/strong> Perth, Australia<\/p>\n

Band members: <\/strong>\u00a0Ian Kenny \u2013 vocals, Adam Spark \u2013 guitars, \u00a0Adam Weston \u2013 drums, Glenn Sarangapany \u2013 keyboards, Ian Berney – bass<\/p>\n

Website: <\/strong>\u00a0http:\/\/www.birdsoftokyo.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Latest release:<\/strong> March Fires (Out Today, March 1 \u2013 EMI Music Australia)<\/p>\n

Check out Birds of Tokyo on their \u2018March Fires Tour\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

Friday 1st March: Kay St, Traralgon<\/strong>
\nOztix \u2013 www.oztix.com.au<\/a> \/ 1300 762 545
\nMoshtix \u2013 www.moshtix.com.au<\/a> \/ 1300 (GET TIX) 438 849
\nVenue \u2013 03 5176 0463<\/p>\n

Saturday 2nd March: The Forum, Melbourne<\/strong>
\nTicketmaster \u2013 www.ticketmaster.com.au<\/a> \/ 136 100<\/p>\n

Sunday 3rd March: The Forum, Melbourne<\/strong>
\nTicketmaster \u2013 www.ticketmaster.com.au<\/a> \/ 136 100<\/p>\n

Tuesday 5th March: HQ, Adelaide<\/strong>
\nMoshtix \u2013 www.moshtix.com.au<\/a> \/ 1300 (GET TIX) 438 849
\nVenuetix \u2013 www.venuetix.com.au<\/a> \/\u00a0 08 8225 8888
\nOztix \u2013 www.oztix.com.au<\/a> \/ 1300 762 545<\/p>\n

Thursday 7th March:\u00a0 Prince of Wales, Bunbury<\/strong>
\nHeatseeker \u2013 www.heatseeker.com.au<\/a>
\nMoshtix \u2013 www.moshtix.com.au<\/a> \/ 1300 (GET TIX) 438 849<\/p>\n

Friday 8th March: Fremantle Arts Centre<\/strong>
\nHeatseeker \u2013 www.heatseeker.com.au<\/a><\/p>\n

Sunday 10th March: Breath Of Life Festival, Launceston<\/strong>
\nwww.breathoflifefestival.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Tuesday 12th March: UC Refectory, Canberra\u00a0<\/strong>
\nTicketek \u2013 www.ticketek.com.au<\/a> \/ 132 849
\nOztix \u2013 www.oztix.com.au<\/a> \/ 1300 762 545<\/p>\n

Wednesday 13th March: Waves, Wollongong<\/strong>
\nMoshtix \u2013 www.moshtix.com.au<\/a> \/ 1300 (GET TIX) 438 849
\nOztix \u2013 www.oztix.com.au<\/a> \/ 1300 762 545<\/p>\n

Friday 15th March: Panthers, Newcastle<\/strong>
\nMoshtix: www.moshtix.com.au<\/a> \/ 1300 (GET TIX) 438 849
\nOztix \u2013 www.oztix.com.au<\/a> \/ 1300 762 545<\/p>\n

Saturday 16th March: Enmore Theatre, Sydney <\/strong>
\nTicketek \u2013 www.ticketek.com.au<\/a> \/ 132 849<\/p>\n

Sunday 17th March: Enmore Theatre, Sydney <\/strong>
\nTicketek \u2013 www.ticketek.com.au<\/a> \/ 132 849<\/p>\n

Tuesday 19th March: Laurieton United Services, Laurieton<\/strong>
\nOztix \u2013 www.oztix.com.au<\/a> \/ 1300 762 545
\nVenue \u2013 02 6559 9110<\/p>\n

Wednesday 20th March: Plantation Hotel, Coffs Harbour<\/strong>
\n<\/strong>Venue \u2013 www.plantationhotel.com.au<\/a> \/ 02 6652 3855
\nOztix \u2013 www.oztix.com.au<\/a> \/ 1300 762 545
\nPark Beach Music \u2013 02 6652 3725<\/p>\n

Thursday 21st March: The Tivoli, Brisbane<\/strong>
\n<\/strong>Ticketek \u2013 www.ticketek.com.au<\/a> \/ 132 849
\nOztix \u2013 www.oztix.com.au<\/a> \/ 1300 762 545
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>
\nFriday 22nd March: The Tivoli, Brisbane<\/strong>
\n<\/strong>Ticketek \u2013 www.ticketek.com.au<\/a> \/ 132 849
\nOztix \u2013 www.oztix.com.au<\/a> \/ 1300 762 545
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>
\nSaturday 23rd March: Coolangatta Hotel, Gold Coast<\/strong>
\n<\/strong>Oztix \u2013 www.oztix.com.au<\/a> \/ 1300 762 54<\/p>\n\n

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