ARCHITECTS – From the Devils Island

Architects are a metalcore band from Brighton, England. They have played together since 2004 and on March 7th they were finally back in Norway with Touché Amore and Rise Against. I got to talk to their singer, Sam Carter.

How are you?

Good. Not too bad, not too bad. I’m a bit tired, but it’s cool. I like being here, I like this town so it’s cool.

You haven’t been here in six years, have you?

No, I’ve never been here. The band have been here when our old singer, Matt, used to sing, but I’ve never been to Oslo. It’s nice. It’s freezing, but it’s cool.

How’s tour?

Good. It’s like the biggest tour we’ve ever done and everything has been amazing. In Germany we were doing shows for like 8000 people and that’s not something we’re used to doing. The whole tour has been great and everyone on the tour is amazing so it’s really fun.

Is the crowd in Europe any different from the crowd in UK?

Yeah. I think the main difference is we’ve toured England a lot more so we have more fans there and they know who we are. When it’s out here it’s still exciting. I mean, England is still exciting as well, but out here it’s kind of fresh and we really got something to prove so that’s fun. The Euro crowd always seems really up for it.

I saw you at Hovefestival. That was pretty cool.

Yeah, we love Hove. We have done that twice now and both times have been super fun.

Do you ever get nervous before a show?

Sometimes. It kind of goes like, most of the times it will be fine, but then one day just out of the blue I’ll be nervous. I don’t know why. And then we’ll do the show and 30 seconds into the first song I’m fine and not nervous at all. The majority of time I’m fine, but every now and then for silly reasons I’m nervous.

Before Carter joined Architects, he played in a band called Fractures with Alex Dean, Architects’ bassist. After this Carter played drums in a band called Nervous Wreck and This City. In 2007 Carter got the chance to sing in Architects when their old singer quit in the middle of tour. Carter joined the band on stage during the same tour as an introduction to the fans.

Have you always wanted to do music?

Yeah, since I was a kid that’s all I’ve really done, to play music. I used to want to be a footballer, so I used to play football all the time when I was a little kid and then I started playing drums and then I started singing when the guys’ singer quit and I was like "I’ll give it a go". I started singing and here I am now.

How did you get in to Architects?

Well,  a couple of my old bands played some shows with Architects. We all kind of knew each other a little bit and I sang in one band with a bunch of our friends. We supported Bring Me The Horizon in Brighton and Architects were there. Their singer quit the day before or something and then they saw me and they were like "We want you to be in Architects"  and I was like "I’ll give it a go". So I was pretty lucky. It kind of just happened, but I’m very lucky.

Have you ever regret doing music with all the fans, travelling etc.?

No. I mean, it’s like the best job in the world. I literally, it’s so cliché to say it, but I do truely love it. I get to hang out every day, play music and visit a different city or country every day. I get paid to have fun which is great. I don’t get paid a lot of money, but I get enough money to just about get by and have the best time.

Architects have released 4 albums and the most known albums are "Hollow Crown" and "The Here and Now". 28^th May their fifth album, Daybreaker, is out.

Do you write the songs?

I write the lyrics and the melodies, but on the newest record Tom wrote the lyrics. Tom, our guitarist, writes all the music.

But when you do write lyrics, how do you get inspired?

I think it’s just the case of what’s going on at the moment. What’s going on in my life and what feels relevant. I don’t want to write a song about something that I wasn’t passionate about so it’s always got to be something you really care about otherwise you can’t get your message across.

So you don’t get inspired by a person?

On previous records I’ve been inspired by everything from friends to silly things. I’ve written songs about smoking before when I used to smoke. I’ve written songs about smoking weed and you know, anything from family, friends, girlfriends etc. You can write songs about stuff like that as long as you’re passionate and care about something to write a song about it that’s what matters. You got to sing it every night and if you can’t sing it every night with conviction and passion, no one in the crowd is going to listen to what you’re saying.

Do you have any favorite bands?

I really like Touché Amore right now. I think they are a fucking great band and they’re opening for us on this tour. I listen to a lot of music, lots of different bands, but I say Touché Amore right now. We get to play with them every day as well, so that’s great.

Your favorite Architects song?

Right now it’s probably anything from the record because it’s still fresh. We get to play it and when we play it it’s exciting so anything from that record. We’re playing a song called "These Colours Don’t Run" on this tour so I guess that’s one of my favorites right now because that’s the one we’ve played the least.

From previous albums then?

Early Grave is always pretty fun just because it’s really heavy. You start playing it and you see everyone in the crowd is "Oh shit, this is really heavy", so yeah maybe that one from the previous records.

What does the song "Learn To Live" mean?

Learn To Live is about picking yourself up from being in a shit place and just, always moaning and being really down and hard on yourself, to realizing that everyone’s pretty lucky about their lives and it could be a lot worse. The song is about being happy and being comfortable with who you are and enjoying your life to the fullest. Everyone is so quick to say that they wish they had somebody else’s lives when no one really knows what’s going on in their lives.

How is the new record?

It’s good. It’s finally finished and we can’t wait to get it out. The last record wasn’t really what we really wanted it to sound like. It didn’t come across how we wanted it to and this record is exactly how we wanted it to be. It sounds like Architects again. It’s a bit of both records, but a step above everything  else that we’ve ever done. It’s cool to have a record everyone’s really excited to hear and we’re really excited to play it. We just want to get out now. We stopped recording like a month ago and we’re already like we want everyone to hear it. So hopefully soon it will come out. I know that in the end of this tour we’re going to put up a song from the record, so then it will be one song out. And then we just have to wait for the whole record to be out and we’ll sit there like "Oh God, this is taking ages."

When is the tour done?

The tour is done in about another two weeks, so we shall have a new song at that time hopefully. If everything goes by the plan.

31st October Architects released a song from the new album, Devils Island.

The song Devils Island is about the riots in England, how did it all affect you?

It kind of affected us in a weird way because we were so close to it. And it was really strange because it was like all these riots happening and no one knew why they were happening. There were protests, I don’t have a problem with protests as long as they are peaceful protests. But all the looting and everything that was going on, it really got to me because I love where I live and I love my country. I didn’t really understand why it was happening and no one did. Obviously there was probably some point that those people really wanted to get across, but at the same time it happened in a really strange way and that’s what that song is about. I couldn’t get my head around it. The whole country couldn’t get their head around it and at the end of the day it just made them look like idiots instead of doing a decent protest and checking yourself come across and have your point. It got the point where there was so much shit happening that no one was listening anymore and everyone just thought they were idiots. It was pretty crazy for the UK because that stuff doesn’t seem to happen. Stuff happens all around the world, and it’s pretty weird when it’s on your front door.

Your playing a new song tonight, These Colours Don’t Run, what is the song about?

It’s about America. Or not really just America, but the state and certain people that exist and running it.  They’re just greedy and very quick to dismiss certain things that could save the world and save the planet. It’s really straight to the point. The song is about greed and something people get really greedy and driven by money instead of the right things. It’s a great song and a relief to play it. We love playing it.

Future plans?

We have a little B-market tour of the UK. We’re going to do small venues that we used to do when we were starting out. And then after that we are going to South America which is going to be sweet. Playing in Argentina, Brazil and all these crazy places. After that I have no idea. I know that we’re want a tour  in Australia at some point and we’re going to do a European headlining tour so we can play for longer than 40 minutes and do a proper set.

Are you coming to Norway on the European headlining tour?

I hope so. I’m sure we will because we had so much fun at Hovefestival so it would be strange not to. But other than that we’re just going to tour the new record and keep touring as much as we can.

http://www.architectsofficial.com/