{"id":21704,"date":"2014-06-06T08:00:19","date_gmt":"2014-06-05T22:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/maytherockbewithyou.com\/mtrbwy\/?p=21704"},"modified":"2014-06-05T19:06:39","modified_gmt":"2014-06-05T09:06:39","slug":"joel-birch-of-the-amity-affliction-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maytherockbewithyou.com\/mtrbwy\/2014\/06\/joel-birch-of-the-amity-affliction-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Joel Birch of The Amity Affliction"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\n<\/a>\u201cWell, it\u2019s like a metaphor but it\u2019s also very straight forward as well. I live near the ocean and it\u2019s a very calming place for me and a place where I find great escape from any sort of problems in my life\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

From Press Release: Urgent, aggressive, and remarkably cathartic,\u00a0Let The Ocean Take Me<\/em>\u00a0is The Amity Affliction at their most vital best. Recorded by producer Will Putney (Winds Of Plague, Upon A Burning Body) at guitarist Troy Brady\u2019s Evergreen Studios in Brisbane, the album pushes the band\u2019s signature post-hardcore approach to new heights of richness and diversity, providing the consummate aural partner to vocalist Joel Birch\u2019s increasingly more potent lyricism. Inspired in part by a near death experience suffered during last year\u2019s Vans Warped Tour, songs like\u00a0Don\u2019t Lean On Me<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0FML<\/em>\u00a0are fuelled by desperate emotion and intense anxiety but achieve extraordinary transcendence through radical honesty and raw power.<\/p>\n

We caught up once again with Joel of The Amity Affliction to talk about the band\u2019s new album, its inspiration, touring and their goal to achieve by the end of the year\u2026<\/p>\n

Your new album \u2018Let The Ocean Take Me\u2019 is released this Friday. What does the title of the album represent to you?<\/strong>
\nWell, it\u2019s like a metaphor but it\u2019s also very straight forward as well. I live near the ocean and it\u2019s a very calming place for me and a place where I find great escape from any sort of problems in my life, so that just, I don\u2019t know, it\u2019s like we took that line from \u2018Don\u2019t Lean On Me\u2019 and that particular part of \u2018Don\u2019t Lean On Me\u2019 is where I\u2019m saying just let me have my peace and find my calm environment, so I think that line is just want really sums up the whole album. Just a search for peace, and my peace happens to come from the ocean.<\/p>\n

Can you give us one word that you feel sums up the album perfectly?<\/strong>
\nNo\u2026 *laughs* Dynamic\u2026<\/p>\n

I read that the songs were inspired in part by your near death experience last year, was it hard to put that experience into lyrics?<\/strong>
\nNot really man, I\u2019ve been writing lyrics for over ten years, so it\u2019s pretty natural, it\u2019s hard to force a topic and I didn\u2019t want to write the same shit this record, and going through what I went through and my state of mind just sort of steered me in the direction I went. I read a few people saying \u2018it\u2019s the same fuckin\u2019 album again\u2026\u2019 and yep *laughs* yep, because I\u2019ve got the same problems, if someone can miraculously cure me I\u2019ll write about something else for you, that\u2019s be great\u2026<\/p>\n

On the other side of that, were you hesitant in any way to do that?<\/strong>
\nNo\u2026 it\u2019s my experience, why would I write about someone else\u2019s experience? I\u2019m not going to make up an experience or deny I\u2019m going through something, and I\u2019m not going to pretend I\u2019m fuckin\u2019 happy if I\u2019m not, so what I write is what I write.<\/p>\n

Did you set out to purposely do anything different to what you did when making \u2018Chasing Ghosts\u2019?<\/strong>
\nYeah I wrote about myself\u2026 \u2018Chasing Ghosts\u2019 was written about other people, almost exclusively, I was in that frame of mind, and \u2018Chasing Ghosts\u2019 was just a follow up to \u2018Youngbloods\u2019 and reiterate the same message, but also to give a voice to the people that are victims of suicide, the surrounding family and friends that are left behind, and I wanted to address that as well as people often forget about them and lament the death of the person that killed themselves and neglect to see the anguish and suffering they\u2019ve left behind. So \u2018Chasing Ghosts\u2019 was definitely written for those people, more so the people that are going through it, \u2018Youngbloods\u2019 was written for the people going through it, and this album\u2019s written for me.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>So when can we expect to see you back and playing some shows in Australia?<\/strong>
\nSoon\u2026 *laughs* when does this interview come out?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s going up on Friday\u2026<\/strong>
\nYeah ok\u2026 soon\u2026 strict instructions.<\/p>\n

Well I\u2019ll take that as a sign that something is happening, so we\u2019ll leave it at that\u2026<\/strong>
\nYeah\u2026 *laughs*<\/p>\n

Touring wise are you excited to get out on the road and play these new tracks?<\/strong>
\nYeah I mean we played \u2018Don\u2019t Lean On Me\u2019 up in Darwin the other day, and we played \u2018Pittsburgh\u2019 for like four weeks of our six week tour in America, and it was actually our biggest song *laughs* which was pretty crazy seeing as it was brand new. Definitely looking forward to getting out there and playing five or six from the new record and having a blast, can\u2019t wait to play Australia again, it\u2019s been quite a while\u2026<\/p>\n

Whenever that is\u2026<\/strong>
\nYeah *laughs*<\/p>\n

So what are your immediate touring plans?<\/strong>
\nWe go to the UK on Sunday and play Download, then a festival in Holland and then we\u2019re back for a while and then we\u2019re in America and Europe, then America again and then that\u2019ll be the end of the year. *laughs*<\/p>\n

Are you going to get the chance to explore any new territories in support of this record that you\u2019ve already locked away?<\/strong>
\nYeah we\u2019re going to Russia which is pretty hectic and *laughs* none of us are that psyched on going to Russia but we all talked about it and the only excuse that we have not to go is that we\u2019re scared of Russians, so we better go *laughs* and I mean we\u2019re going to the Czech Republic, I think we\u2019re doing a lot more of Eastern Europe which will be cool, obviously not going to The Ukraine, but very close to I believe.<\/p>\n

Where\u2019s the one place you haven\u2019t been that you\u2019d like to get to?<\/strong>
\nSpain. I\u2019ve been to Spain, but I want to play Spain, and I\u2019d love to play Mexico, I\u2019ve also been there, but playing there would be the best. I really love Mexico it\u2019s probably my favourite place on the planet.<\/p>\n

Since your debut release \u2018Severed Ties\u2019 in 2008, what has been the biggest change you\u2019ve seen take place musically within the band over these last six years?<\/strong>
\nWell we\u2019ve just gotten better, we haven\u2019t really changed that much, ever, to be honest or at least we don\u2019t think we have. I think that if you were to critique the records over time you\u2019ll just see that there\u2019s been a growth in our sound as opposed to any major changes or anything like that. I think we found our feet with \u2018Youngbloods\u2019 and everything up to then was us trying to figure out what we were doing and we\u2019ve just refined our sound since then.<\/p>\n

Lastly, let\u2019s predict the remainder of the year so if you could finish this sentence for me, by the end of 2014, The Amity Affliction will\u2026<\/strong>
\nTake over Tony Abbott in parliament and be the first rock and roll band to be joint Prime Ministers\u2026<\/p>\n

I\u2019d vote for you\u2026<\/strong>
\n*laughs* I think anyone would vote for anyone but Abbott if it were to come to an election tomorrow. I think the Sex Party would get into the senate.<\/p>\n

Amity for PM I say\u2026<\/strong>
\n*laughs* Yeah!<\/p>\n

Essential information<\/strong><\/h2>\n

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

Band members:<\/strong> \u00a0Joel Birch- Vocals, Ahren Stringer- Bass, Clean Vocals, Troy Brady- Guitar, Ryan Burt- Drums, Dan Brown – Guitar<\/p>\n

Latest Release:<\/strong> Let The Ocean Take Me \u00a0(Roadrunner Records Australia)<\/p>\n

For details about the album, click HERE\u00a0<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Website:<\/strong> \u00a0http:\/\/www.theamityaffliction.net<\/p>\n

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