{"id":31987,"date":"2017-05-09T09:45:54","date_gmt":"2017-05-08T23:45:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/maytherockbewithyou.com\/mtrbwy\/?p=31987"},"modified":"2017-05-09T22:37:25","modified_gmt":"2017-05-09T12:37:25","slug":"daniel-estrin-voyager","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maytherockbewithyou.com\/mtrbwy\/2017\/05\/daniel-estrin-voyager\/","title":{"rendered":"Daniel Estrin of Voyager"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\n\u201cWhat hasn\u2019t changed is that it\u2019s still very melodic, atmospheric and still very heavy and it\u2019s got something for progressive metal fans, it\u2019s got something for rock fans, and something possibly for electronic and pop fans as well. I think it just continues that symbiosis of melody and heaviness that I think Voyager is so renowned for.\u201d<\/p>\n

From Release: VOYAGER’S sensationally anthemic 6th opus \u2018Ghost Mile\u2019 has an amalgamation of everything the band does best – huge soundscapes, pop and\u00a0prog sensibilities with catchy and thought-inducing instrumentals. The album was mixed by\u00a0<\/strong>Matthew Templeman (Saviour, Life Pilot)\u00a0and mastered by\u00a0Simon Struthers\u00a0and maintains the production that was such a successful selling point for their album ‘V’. With a fiery red keytar, a feisty female guitarist and concerts described as “amazing chemistry blending pop with heavy, technical and\u00a0progressive riffs”, Voyager are consistently a live force to be reckoned with.<\/p>\n

We gave Danny a call while in Perth to discuss the band\u2019s new album \u2018Ghost Mile\u2019, crowd funding, touring, Keytars, changes, & more\u2026<\/p>\n

So we seem to chat every couple of years and of course it\u2019s been just about two years since we last chatted so let\u2019s catch up, how have the last two years been for Voyager?<\/strong>
\nLife\u2019s been great, we\u2019ve gone from strength to strength I think and we\u2019ve recently just come off certainly the biggest Australian tour we\u2019ve done with Deftones and Karnivool which I guess ten years ago would\u2019ve been completely unimaginable that Deftones would ask us to join such a huge run of shows around Australia, so I guess it just shows we\u2019re doing better and better and slowly climbing up that ladder of success you know?<\/p>\n

You\u2019re just about to release your sixth album, tell us a bit about \u2018Ghost Mile\u2019 and what we can expect from this record?<\/strong>
\nGhost Mile I think is probably clich\u00e9d to say that it takes off from where we left off with the last album \u2018V\u2019 but I think it\u2019s does a lot more, it sort of pushes us not into another direction but it gives us a different kind of sound and a different kind of melodic heavy music, and I guess that\u2019s where we get the moniker progressive metal from because we\u2019re constantly evolving our sound. What hasn\u2019t changed is that it\u2019s still very melodic, atmospheric and still very heavy and it\u2019s got something for progressive metal fans, it\u2019s got something for rock fans, and something possibly for electronic and pop fans as well. I think it just continues that symbiosis of melody and heaviness that I think Voyager is so renowned for.<\/p>\n

So in the three years since V was there anything that shaped what would become \u2018Ghost Mile\u2019?<\/strong>
\nYeah probably the fact that we\u2019ve had the same line-up for two albums now, that\u2019s never happened, I haven\u2019t managed to piss anyone off for the last year *laughs* so people have stuck around and obviously due to the large amounts of money that I pay them to stick around, no, that\u2019s been really good the fact that we\u2019ve been able to create and craft this album along the same lines as we did with \u2018V\u2019 but knowing each other a lot better and we all see each other in our underwear on tour so there\u2019s nothing we can\u2019t say to each other, if something\u2019s shit we\u2019ll pull each other up on it or if something\u2019s great we\u2019ll work on it together. So that symbiosis and that working together and I guess that collective vibe we\u2019ve got has been pretty much the driving factor in making this work so well, it\u2019s been a really smooth process writing wise, I\u2019ve never felt so ease at how things are going.<\/p>\n

Can you tell us what the title of the album represents to you personally?<\/strong>
\nIt represents the constant moving through life, valuing things, putting emphasis on detail, putting emphasis on whether something\u2019s good or not, whether someone\u2019s pissing you off or not, whinging, first world problems that sort of stuff. Then realising in the scheme of things in the universe it means absolutely nothing. The insignificance of the things we do really show that we are walking the ghost mile, it is really of such little significance that we may as well not worry at all about the things we do. That\u2019s not to say that we won\u2019t stop doing that but it\u2019s good to stop and think once in a while how insignificant, even this phone call, no offence, the universe is looking down at us going \u2018who cares, these two are having a conversation and it really doesn\u2019t matter.\u2019 So it\u2019s not a really positive message, well it\u2019s neither negative or positive I guess it\u2019s just sort of making people step back once in a while and thinking this is pretty insignificant and maybe if they did then we wouldn\u2019t have to bomb the shit out of each other, that would be nice. I guess lyrically on the album there are a few tracks on living a reasonably privileged life, being in Australia I think it\u2019s one of the best and safest and most prosperous countries in the world and acknowledging that once in a while and how lucky that we are where we\u2019re living and not getting the absolute shit bombed out of us and that\u2019s really important, I know that\u2019s not very metal but it\u2019s nice, look around you it\u2019s amazing. Like when you don\u2019t have a job we\u2019ve got a government that will give you money, it\u2019s unbelievable *laughs*. You tell that to someone in the Democratic Republic of Congo and they\u2019ll say \u201cwhere is this magical place?\u201d *laughs*<\/p>\n

Speaking of magical places, you once again used Pledge Music, and smashed it, how does it make you feel when fans get behind your work so quickly and basically unheard work?<\/strong>
\nThey know we\u2019re going to produce something quality I believe , I don\u2019t know I think it\u2019s because we have a die-hard fan base, we have a very loyal fan base, we have a very sophisticated fan base as well and they saw what we did last time and they saw that it worked and we were uming and ahing about it whether we do it again because all this crowd funding, Patreon is getting a bit of flack these days, but we thought you\u2019ve gotta trust it, if it works it works, if it doesn\u2019t you can still go through and buy the album in the shops if you want to go back to 1998. This is such a nice way of interacting with the fans as well and it\u2019s us directly to the fans and I think it\u2019s pretty cool.<\/p>\n

So you\u2019re out hitting the road in support of the new album, how will you be shaping these shows up?<\/strong>
\nI think it\u2019s gonna be a bit of everything, obviously we\u2019re going to play a few songs off the new album which will be very exciting because every band loves playing shit from a new album, but we\u2019ll give people a taste of the medium old and I guess the sort of newer stuff as well. We\u2019re bringing our own lighting show as well so it\u2019s going to be a little more than your average performance, and of course we\u2019ve got The Algorithm from France as well, I saw him live at The Big Day Out a few years ago and I was just blown away it was such an interesting take on metal so I think it\u2019s going to work really well, and we\u2019ve got some great supports as well.<\/p>\n

Keytar still in full swing?<\/strong>
\nI don\u2019t know if it\u2019s going to be in full swing, because I like to jump around the stage like an idiot but the keytar will make appearances and generally the only appearance the keytar needs to make is when I lift it up in the air and people just go nuts just because it\u2019s a red keytar that was made in 1988, but that will definitely happen.<\/p>\n

You\u2019ve been doing this now for eighteen years, Voyager is old enough to drink in Australia! How does that make you feel?<\/strong>
\nWell it makes me realise I used to be the youngest member of the band and now I\u2019m the oldest member of the band so thanks a lot for making us feel like shit *laughs*. I have a few more greys than I had back in the day when I was wearing my power metal T-shirts with bands that no one had ever heard of, in some ways it feels good and in some ways it feels like should I be doing something different, should I be doing something else?\u00a0 But at the end of the day you go out on the road and you release an album that is getting amazing reviews all around and you think, \u2018nah fuck it, I\u2019m gonna keep doing this\u2019, I feel until I\u2019m playing local pubs \u2018Danny formerly of Voyager\u2019 and charging $15 entry and playing to four people that\u2019s the dream.<\/p>\n

So you headed out with the Deftones, but is there anyone else you\u2019d love to head out on tour with?<\/strong>
\nI know Ash our drummer really wants to play with Korn, he\u2019s stuck in that nu-metal type environment which is actually really cool drumming wise because it adds a lot of that tribal sort of element to Voyager which I guess gives it a different kind of element and feel as well. Now I don\u2019t think it\u2019s as much who but it\u2019s more where, I would love to play Japan, I think Japan would really like us and also South America, not because it\u2019s full of hot girls but because I just think it would be an amazing place and the fans just go crazy and go nuts because you know when you play the Western world people are very reserved, we played Scandinavia and people are very reserved, but when you go to places where people really go nuts and get into it I think they\u2019re the places I really want to explore where you go \u2018holy shit\u2019 when the stage it shaking because people are going so crazy.<\/p>\n

Now I\u2019ve asked you before about what the biggest change you\u2019ve noticed in the band over the years is but let\u2019s flip it, what would you say is the one thing that\u2019s stayed the same in your time together?<\/strong>
\nThe absolute emphasis on melody and catchiness, so that\u2019s one thing we won\u2019t compromise on because that\u2019s quintessentially Voyager, I want people to say \u201cwow that\u2019s so catchy and I can\u2019t get that fuckin\u2019 song out of my head it\u2019s stuck in there for good.\u201d Whatever happens around that is flexible , you can have ridiculous time signatures and syncopation underneath but as long as that catchiness is there I\u2019m happy and I think a few of the songs on the new album you will hear that, you might not immediately hear that as there\u2019s some really complex shit going on underneath but if you listen to the song \u2018Disconnected\u2019 it sounds like it\u2019s simple but it\u2019s actually not, you\u2019ve got that intricacy underneath and I think that\u2019s where the flexibility lies, but with the melody and the catchiness and the hooks that\u2019s quintessentially where it\u2019s staying. Unless they kick me out of the band.<\/p>\n

Danny formerly of Voyager\u2026<\/strong>
\n*laughs* The artist formerly known as Danny.<\/p>\n

Lastly as always let\u2019s look ahead to the future, finish this sentence for me, by the end of 2017 Voyager want to\u2026<\/strong>
\nHave successfully played more European shows, we\u2019ve got two festivals booked in for September and October we\u2019ve got \u2018Euroblast\u2019 and we\u2019re co headlining \u2018ProgPower EU\u2019 with Tesseract. We want to have firmly cemented ourselves as an Australian progressive metal cult band, strike that we already are. Further cement *laughs*.<\/p>\n

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Catch Voyager out on tour at the following dates:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Thursday 11th May – Adelaide
\nFOWLER’S LIVE<\/strong>
\nw\/ Tony Font Show<\/p>\n

Friday 12th May – Melbourne
\nEVELYN HOTEL<\/strong>
\nw\/ Windwaker<\/p>\n

Saturday 13th May – Brisbane
\nTHE ZOO<\/strong>
\nw\/ The Stranger<\/p>\n

Friday 19th May – Perth
\nAMPLIFIER BAR<\/strong>
\nw\/ Sparrow<\/p>\n

Saturday 20th May – Canberra
\nTHE BASEMENT<\/strong>
\nw\/ Immorium & Highview<\/p>\n

Sunday 21st May – Sydney
\nOXFORD ART FACTORY<\/strong>
\nw\/ Hemina<\/p>\n

Tickets available HERE<\/a><\/p>\n

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

From:<\/strong>\u00a0Perth, WA, Australia<\/p>\n

Band members:<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong>Daniel Estrin, Simone Dow, Alex Canion, Scott Kay, Ashley Doodkorte<\/p>\n

Website:<\/strong>\u00a0http:\/\/www.voyager-australia.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Forthcoming release:<\/strong>\u00a0\u2018Ghost Mile\u2019 (May 12)<\/p>\n

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