by Alexandra Mrozowska
— Senior Columnist —
They’re present on almost every Rock album and in almost every concert setlist, carefully crafted so as to bring almost every teenage listener to tears – and evoke nostalgia in almost every middle-aged metalhead. Love them or loathe them, love songs have always been a big part of the genre, especially if we talk about AOR/Melodic Rock scene. It’s been mostly the late ‘70s and the ‘80s that gave us timeless classics from the likes of Toto, Survivor or Foreigner. The representatives of the younger generation in this genre are still able to find inspiration in the same topic, though… Just take a look at the British Melodic Rock ensemble Atlas – and you’d better be sure their newly released album Parallel Love wasn’t named like that by sheer accident!… Hardrock Haven caught up with the band’s keyboard player and producer James Thorley to find out more about the love theme behind the album, the ups and downs of recording process in the middle of lockdown and more…
Hardrock Haven: The first thing that comes to my mind upon listening to Atlas is obviously the ‘80s influence. What do you think is so inspiring about this decade, especially when it comes to music?
James Thorley: I’d say really it’s just that bands that we’re influenced by just happened to be from that decade. I don’t know if it was really the decision that we consciously made that we wanted to sound like the music that came from the ‘80s. It was really the bands that we were listening to when we started playing that just happened to be from that era. That’s what we ended up sounding like when we started playing and writing music.
Hardrock Haven: Twenty years ago, the ‘80s music was ridiculed and no longer cool and now it’s appreciated and longed for. Why do you think it is so?
James Thorley: You do see trends that just happen to come and go. When you look at the ‘90s, the ‘80s music just wasn’t popular whatsoever. Everyone hated the guitar solos and they wanted more simple music and I think that’s coming round again now when you hear a lot of ‘80s influence coming to Pop music… It’s really hard to pin it down to be honest, but we’re all glad that it starts to come back and that obviously helps us a lot that people start to enjoy this type of music more.
Hardrock Haven: What’s prompted the heavier sound of your second album Parallel Love – was it a natural progression for the band?
James Thorley: Yeah, it was more natural. We were playing live a lot more after the first album came out, so from touring that first album we wanted to capture how we sounded live in the studio, ‘cause previously we would just record the songs and not play them live. And then when it came actually for us to play the songs, we had the amps blasting out and we didn’t have the overdubs, so it all sounded a lot rougher. So this time ‘round we wanted to capture that so when we do play live – eventually, whenever that is (laughs) – we would sound more faithful to the record really. Also, we experimented with seven string guitars this time around, which had a big impact on the heaviness.
Hardrock Haven: You’re also the producer of the new album, with Christopher Borg (Art Nation, Taste) mixing and mastering the recordings. What kind of experience was that and do you think you achieved your goals sound-wise?
James Thorley: Yes. Chris did a really good job mixing – we worked with him on the first album and this time he’s just elevated the sound so much more. So [collaborating with him] is a really good experience. As far as producing, it’s just the way it’s been since we first started really. We know what our music should sound like, so it doesn’t make sense really to work with anyone outside of the band. So we recorded everything at home and we sent it to Chris to mix and we were really, really happy with the job he’s done.
Hardrock Haven: Do you have any other projects as far as music production is concerned?
James Thorley: No, at least not at the moment… nothing’s in the making. If anything came up, I’d potentially work with other bands but at the moment we just don’t have the time.
Hardrock Haven: And what genres can you imagine yourself producing – similar to Atlas, like a familiar territory, or something more challenging?
James Thorley: Probably just the stuff which I’m used to working with which is Melodic Rock – anything with keyboards, heavy guitars… Oh, I probably just botched it up as people won’t be happy (laughs).
Hardrock Haven: (laughs) Differently from many Melodic Rock bands of our generation, you don’t really try to modernize your sound. I mean, Parallel Love could’ve been as well released in 1989 or 1993. Are there any contemporary influences in your sound that may be revealed in the future?
James Thorley: Yeah, I mean… I listen to a lot of newer bands – more than I do ‘80s bands – whereas the other guys are probably more into the ‘80s stuff. But I personally listen to a lot of the Synthwave bands that have been coming out… There’s some really cool, interesting stuff coming out in that genre, so I can see that maybe having an influence on our future music. Even now, on this album, we used a lot of Synthwave influences. And some other bands with the seven string [guitars] are coming out and that’s the stuff we can listen to. So I’d expect us to move forward. We’ll just develop our style a bit more and maybe bring some more modern influences. We’ll see.
Hardrock Haven: Speaking of the band’s sound, Melodic Rock acts often speak of the difficulties with balancing keyboards and guitars while recording, so that the final effort’s neither too guitar-oriented or too keyboard-oriented. Is it difficult for you and your bandmates?
James Thorley: Yeah, it is hard. When we first started out and we were mixing our own stuff – actually the first EP – that was the biggest challenge… ‘cause there isn’t a lot of stuff to read on really. Not a lot of popular bands are using heavy synths and heavy guitars, so it was a learning curve. I think the hardest bit is that the synths take up so much frequency space in the mix and it just eats everything, so you have to make a sacrifice and decide if you want this song to be really synth-heavy or you want the big guitars with the synths just in the background… So there is a balance in that when you do figure out while writing the songs how to get ‘round that. And a good example is “Human Touch”, which is our main single. We have the guitars kind of coming in and out during the verses like they’re syncopated and giving the synths a lot of space in the mix. But you can still hear the guitars so there’s no superiority. So it is a bit overbalanced and you have to figure out how to get ‘round that – which is hard.
Hardrock Haven: In terms of lyrics, Parallel Love can be actually treated like a concept album of sorts which is not that common in AOR/Melodic Rock unless you’re a band like Ten for example. So what’s prompted the idea of one theme for the album?
James Thorley: Going into it, we definitely wanted to have a concept, but not necessarily a concept album where songs relate to each other music-wise and tell a story. We didn’t quite want that. We thought that’d be too progressive and put people off listening to the album. But at the same time we really wanted the songs to have a theme running through them. So we looked up what’s popular with AOR and we felt people expect to hear love songs. So we put a twist on that. We looked at different aspects of relationships, so each song looks at different areas of love, relationships, friendships… You can still relate to it in some way as it’s not necessarily a love song. So it’s not necessarily a concept album, but an album with a theme running through it – a Parallel Love theme running through it (laughs).
Hardrock Haven: Definitely. So is it easy to built the entire record around what is probably most explored topic in not only in music, but also in general?
James Thorley: I guess it’s just what’s natural to write about really in AOR. I don’t think, at any point, we’ve felt like we’ve been treading on the new ground… like it hasn’t been covered before and did feel original. But I think we’ve definitely written enough love songs by now and that we won’t be writing anything like this again! (laughs) We basically covered what we can cover in eleven songs!
Hardrock Haven: Did you drew your inspirations for these songs from real life experiences, or also from movies, literature and so on? And if not, how personal do you get in your lyrics?
James Thorley: I can’t speak for others, but for me it’s only writing from personal experience. I’ve never written from a narrative or a story… not quite one of my strengths to be honest, so everything’s my own experience. I try to keep it a little open-minded, so that any listener could interpret it in different ways really.
Hardrock Haven: Do you think love songs are more relatable for the listeners than those built around other topics?
James Thorley: That’s a good question. I haven’t put too much thought into it, but I imagine so. To be honest, if you looked at the most popular songs on the charts right now, I imagine a very high percentage of them would be love songs.
Hardrock Haven: And what’s the greatest or your favourite love song of all time?
James Thorley: (laughs) I don’t know, but it’d probably be a Toto song. Maybe “Rosanna”…? Just because of the shuffle groove and vocal harmonies.
Hardrock Haven: Back to Parallel Love, what kind of experience was to record an album during what is the most difficult year for the entire music industry?
James Thorley: It was an absolute nightmare to be honest! I mean, none of us could record together. We finished writing the album a few months before a lockdown in the UK, so we had another month or two to prepare the recording sessions. We got the drums recorded and then, the next day, England went into lockdown. So, the guitarist and the bass guitarist had to record their parts in their home recording studio and then sent the recordings to me at my studio so that I could add it all. And then I had Craig, the singer, recording his parts to send them to me and only then we could send it all to Chris… So we were never in the same room to record this one, which was very strange.
Hardrock Haven: …And do you think this fact actually shows in the final product – the final result of your recordings? I mean, with all those difficulties…
James Thorley: I don’t think so. We’d been together to demo the album and we’d spent about six or seven months going over and demoing it and making the songs the way how we all wanted them to sound. Well, maybe some part could have turned out a little differently if we’d been together. Maybe some ad-libs or some improvised parts that could’ve happened didn’t happen… But we’ll never know really. We can’t tell and still, we’re very happy with how it turned out.
Hardrock Haven: So in the face of all these difficulties still being a large part of our daily lives, how do you plan to promote Parallel Love?
James Thorley: Every time we book a show, it just gets pushed back, so… (laughs) It’s hard at the moment. We’ve got a few plans, but we don’t want to announce them just quite yet in case it just doesn’t happen. Next month, we have a show in England – how they do it in England at the moment is that everyone’s seated and far from each other… So we’ve got that booked and we’ll see if it actually happens or not. If it doesn’t, it will probably be next spring when we will be touring. We might be doing some livestreams, but it’s not quite the same in our opinion than playing for a proper crowd.
Hardrock Haven: Speaking of touring, last year you were on tour with fellow British act Midnite City and the Swedish Age of Reflection. Do you feel there’s a support among newer bands in this genre, or more of a competition?
James Thorley: There’s a lot of support. We get a lot of messages from other bands saying that when this is all over, we should go out and tour together. And when we were on that tour, everyone was great. There’s always a little bit of competition when you’re a support band to any other band – you wanna try and win over the crowd more. But we’re such a small genre and it’s such a small music scene that you can only be supportive to survive it really.
Hardrock Haven: Small or not, what do you think about the current Rock scene in the UK?
James Thorley: It is quite good and it’s starting to grow. There’s some really, really good bands – some of our favorite bands – that are definitely worth checking out. It’s a really good network too, like a Facebook group “The New Wave of British Heavy Metal” – awesome people on there.
Hardrock Haven: Is there anything you’d like to add in the end?
James Thorley: Just a ‘thank you’ to you and everyone who’s picked the album so far. It’s been amazing, all that support that we’ve had all over Europe and everywhere else… And hopefully we’ll be able to get out there and play at some point… (laughs) Now it’s all pushed back, but one day we’ll be looking back at all this and it’ll be just a memory hopefully…
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