Project Description

Interview with Tim [of Far Away Stables]

The rocking Sydney five-piece that is Far Away Stables have been a little quiet on the music front for a while, leaving fans in anticipation of their next move… That is until now! After two incredibly successful EPs, the band is back with their debut album Between Rage And Serenity, and Cassie recently got the chance to sit down with bassist Tim to talk all things music, tour and the new album!

 

 

So 2017 has proven to be a crazy year for Far Away Stables so far! What have you been up to?

Basically, the main thing was finishing the album, releasing the album; which takes a lot more time than I thought. I thought it would be as simple as writing music and putting it out there, but there’s so much more behind the scenes you have to do if you want to do it properly.

Let’s talk the new album – Between Rage and Serenity. Would you say it’s been a long time coming?

Well, yeah! We’ve been writing this album for like five years now. We’ve had the content ready to go for the past five years I should say. Basically, there was the first EP Behind The Bookcase, then we were gonna release another EP, then we did and then the album came about… Finally! So yeah, it’s been a long time coming!

What was the driving force behind the album? Where did the name of the album come from?

So, the name of the album came from an X-Men movie. It’s a quote from there. It sounded like a cool, an idea worth exploring. The concept of the album hasn’t got much to do with the actual quote but we thought it was an interesting phraseology. We ran with it. We think the album is something that encapsulates between rage and serenity sonically, and hopefully the lyrics and the themes match that as well!

What was your creative process like for the album? Were there ideas and concepts you explored this time which you never have before?

Yeah! We used heaps of different instruments on this record. We used some harps, we used some cello; I should say some horn sections. We thought about our strings sections a lot more… We really thought we cranked it up on the instrumentation side a lot more. The lyrics, we really delved a lot deeper. We made mind maps to sort of flesh out the conceptual processes, what the songs actually mean and yeah, it was a lot more of a structured approach to an album as opposed to the sort of randomness that we’ve done previously.

The album is more of a journey of how Far Away Stables have come so far, rather than thinking of an idea and slapping it together, would you say…

Yeah! We’re getting better at song writing as we go on, as everyone does as they write more and more songs. So, we are growing and developing!

Caldera was the first single released from the album, a real dark and heavy hit that seems to be popular with fans. Why did you choose Caldera as the first track to be released?

Well we hadn’t released anything in a long while and to me that was the most loud, bombastic, obnoxious track we could possibly release. We liked the idea of going out with an obnoxious track and just be like “here we are, we are writing music again! We’re back.”

What were your expectations like for the release? How were you feeling knowing your two previous EPs were so successful, well received by fans and the industry resulting in being completely sold out?

Well, I’m hoping to headline the moon one day and so until that expectations met, I’m always going to be disappointed! It’s always exciting having people hear your songs and even when one person comes back and says, “we love it”, we’re all stoked! That will always be enough, but we will always be striving for more as well.

Did you think fans would be so receptive to the new album?

Yeah! We like to say we are our own biggest influence as well, not to sound too obnoxious. Each record we want to write is the next best Far Away Stables record, not the next best 30 Seconds To Mars record or next whatever, we want to be us and we want to make sure we’re using our old stuff as influence of writing better versions of that. We felt like we did, so we were pretty confident going in that people will dig it and they seem to be!

If you had 3 words to describe the album, what would you say?

Um… Well between rage and serenity is pretty, pretty good! I use like a phrase; it’s as loud as it is soft, it’s as obnoxious as it is modest. We use a lot of duality on the album; trying to find the ups and downs, the highs and lows… Every time we make sure we stand up, we make sure we sit down as well.

Are you still writing and recording despite the album release?

Yeah! We’ve actually started writing the next album, which is going to be ten times bigger and ten times more ludicrous in terms of things we try to do on it. It’s going to be a concept album so we are going to do a story from start to finish. It’s still in the planning stages of how it’s going to work thematically, but yeah, it’s going to be hopefully unique.

What would be your favourite song from the record, and why?

At the moment it’s Paradise, which is the seventh or sixth track I believe… I can never remember! Lyrically it’s probably one of my favourites. It’s got a really great pre-chorus in it. Some of the lyrics are pretty, I guess you’d say, not even honest but I really like the imagery that’s being conveyed. It’s got a great riff in there as well!

Far Away Stables are going on a bit of a tour next month (one Sydney show and one Melbourne show) to promote the album, are you excited to play and present your new music to fans?

Yeah! In Sydney, we are doing our first live show and we’ve never done a live show before so I’m hoping that it all works out! I love live shows and I’m looking forward to playing, being in that position where it’s all coming together and it’s a proper show rather than playing to like a local pub which we did when we first started.

You’re a Sydney boy after all, what advice would you give the youngsters out there that want to get into music and get into the Sydney music scene?

Oh god, I’m still looking for advice! I mean, there’s no secret; wake up, get out of bed and do something about it! Don’t sit there and think stuff is going to come to you, that’s not the case at all. There’s going to be disappointment; you’re going to be told that you’ll be getting the world only to have it taken away from you the day before you expect to have it and that’s something you gotta learn to live with. So, I guess the best advice is anticipate and expect disappointment and be prepared for it.

What’s the rest of 2017 have in store for Far Away Stables?

We’ve got a few tours that we’re hoping to lock in soonish. Hopefully, we will have a whole bunch of tours! If not, we’ll do a few more shows here and there and finish writing the next album!

Let’s play a game for a bit of a laugh! It’s called One Random Minute – you have a minute to answer all the questions I throw at you.

I haven’t studied!

That’s okay! Are you ready?

 

Are you an early bird or night owl?

Both – I sleep like five hours a night!

Dogs or cats?

I like both! I’ve been getting into cats a lot more lately but I’m going to say dogs!

Summer or winter?

Summer

Last thing you ate?

A cupcake

Favourite superhero?

Thor

If you weren’t in a band, what would you be doing?

Ah, quantum physics!

Biggest man crush?

Easy! Ryan Gosling

Favourite artist or band right now?

A band called Envy On The Coast

What track can’t you stop listening to?

Paradise by Far Away Stables!

The song you’re most likely to be caught dancing to?

Uptown Funk

You’re a Sydney boy who grew up and performed in the Sydney live music scene, what’s your thoughts on the lock out laws and the impact it has on live music?

I’m too old now! I don’t leave the house anyway. I’m too much of an introvert!

If you could meet one person from the course of history – who would it be and why?

Napoleon – I just want to see why he was so ambitious. I just wanna, almost high five him for just coming back again and again.

Do you think you’re as ambitious as him?

Nope, I would like to think so but I haven’t tried to conquer Europe twice! Maybe one day…

Connect with Far Away Stables!

Interviewer Details