Project Description

Interview with

MIKE LESSARD

of  THE CONTORTIONIST

Interviewer: Jemma Bird

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THE CONTORTIONIST represents fearlessness in musical expression, designed to please artist as much as audience. This band makes progressive metal music, anchored in the heavy sounds that first drew the individual players to the stage, yet unmoored by convention or expectation.

On Clairvoyant, the band’s distinctive fingerprints remain, even as their atmospheric flourishes broaden to encompass ever-richer textures and mine the beauty of simplicity.

AMNplify had a chat with lead vocalist MIKE LESSARD about their newest album and upcoming Australian tour. 

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Was there a specific time or event that you could pin point when you decided that music was something that you wanted to make a career out of?

I’ve just kind of been drawn to music from a young age. I went to a see Stained live when I was 12 or 13 and from that point onwards I knew I wanted to start a band. Since that live show, I’ve basically based my life around music.

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How would you best describe your sound? You have previously claimed The contortionist lays claim to a genre within a genre. Can you explain that a bit more?

I think the band name is reflective of this. We are always kind of moving around and twisting through genres. I think we are a band that likes the idea of always shifting gears and we like to surprise and create controversy whenever we release something new.

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What one song would you recommend someone listen to if it was their first time listening to The Contortionist?

I would say ‘Language’ because it shifts from very melodic to a dark and heavy song and also probably ‘Return to Earth’.

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What are the themes explored on the Clairvoyant album? 

Clairvoyant is very much an album about the downfall of someone’s addictions. More specifically one of my best friends that I grew up with. The album demonstrates his battles.

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What is the significance behind the name Clairvoyant?

The album is about my friends battle with addiction, specifically after his mother passed away – she had cancer. He had a disturbing realisation at on point that his addiction was going to be the death of him, so I thought it was a fitting title.

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So you now have quite an extensive list of material behind you now. Does this make it difficult to decide what makes the setlist and what doesn’t?

Yeah, only because everyone has their own idea of what it should be. It’s an internal struggle.

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Do you take into consideration how tracks will translate to your live show when recording a new album?

At this point it’s kind of natural. We used to never even consider it. Now it just naturally happens and is kind of in the back of our minds that we will have to play it live without even thinking about it.

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Having worked with King on Language last time around, did the recording process differ greatly from previous albums?

We had a very long period of time to write this album. The other albums were kind of a rush to get done with touring non stop. This time around we saved ourselves a large period of time to do the album – maybe 7 months or a little bit more. The only issue with this was that we wrote so many songs it was hard to do the tracklist which stressed us out.

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What has been your most memorable career highlight to date?

I mean, obviously hundreds of shows that are kind of surreal but for my knowing that the Deftones are fans of the band. I used to have a poster of them on my wall. So to sit in a room with Steph the guitarist and have him tell me how much he loves my band is surreal.

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What is something you would like to achieve career-wise that you haven’t done yet?

There’s no real specific thing. I just want to continue to make music, play bigger venues, go to countries we haven’t been to before and inspire people.

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You’re currently undergoing the Clairvoyant tour across North America, and soon Australia, Is their any show you’re particularly excited for?

All of them. There’s a couple of places in America we are yet to do that are our better area’s like Boston and Denver. In Australia, all of them – we’ve never had a bad show in Australia.

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That’s so nice to here. The crowds are pretty passionate here.

Exactly! Every time we have been over there we’ve just had a really good time and made friends all over the country.

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You guys are playing Melbourne, Adelaide, Brisbane and Sydney. Do you guys happen to favour a particular city?

I really like Melbourne and in terms of just walking around and seeing the city I really like Perth but I don’t particular favour any city. As I said, we have made friends in every city so I look forward to every city.

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Do you guys get nervous before a gig?

I can only speak for myself but I don’t really get nervous anymore, I’m pretty used to it now.

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Do you have any pre-show rituals or superstitions?

I personally don’t. If you have a ritual that you continuously do, there’s eventually going to be a time where you are not able to do it. So if you are mentally reliant on that, you’re going to have a really bad show. So I try just to be open to the idea that I have to go out and perform.

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Are you excited to be touring with SikTh? Did you hand pick them to come on tour with you?

We’re very excited to be touring with SikTh. We’ve known them for a very long time. We didn’t handpick them, but if we had the choice we definitely would’ve handpicked them. We actually share the same agent in Europe, so that’s pretty much how that came about. We’ve met with them a few times in the last year and kinda talked about touring together. When this Australia tour came together, they asked us if we wanted to do it with SIkTh and we were like “Ahh yeah!! That’s perfect.”

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Its SikTh ‘s first trip to Australia. Is there any advice you’ve given them/ or a run down on what to expect from Australian crowds?

Expect a very passionate, loud and rowdy crowd.

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What ‘tourist-type’ things do you hope to do whilst you’re on tour in Australia?

We go to a lot of beaches when we come to Australia. Whatever friends we have in each state tend to show us around and take us to the best beaches and any touristy things they think we would like.

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So, any final words?

Just, first of all thank you for taking the time to interview me. To anyone that comes out to a show in Australia, thank you for taking an interest in the band or in SikTh – which ever band you have come to see. You’re appreciated.

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Follow THE CONTORTIONIST

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AMNPLIFY – JB

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