Blah blah blah, Carcass reunion, blah blah blah. Get to the good part.

The good part was this year at Roadburn when Firebird (yes, and Carcass) guitarist/vocalist Bill Steer — who was apparently sick as hell at the time — started belting out songs through his harmonica, drummer Ludwig Witt and bassist Smok Smoczkiewicz throwing down infectiously grooving rhythms to match every solo, chorus and verse of riffy ’70s guitar rock. Shortly thereafter, with the release of the fifth Firebird record, Grand Union, the band proved the energy they captured on stage they could easily match in the studio, providing fitting covers of Humble Pie and James Taylor alongside original highlights “Jack the Lad” and “Wild Honey” while showing the retro sect there’s more to it than vintage gear and fuzzy promo photos.

Indeed, Grand Union‘s second greatest strength (the first being the songwriting) might be its modern sound. In the digital age of endless recording possibilities, Firebird sound natural, unforced and entirely void of pretense. As ever, the trio executes their material with a keen eye on hard rock’s lineage but both feet planted in the present.

Steer was kind enough to take some time out recently for a phoner to talk about the album, Firebird in general, and his plans for the future, including the revelation (spoiler alert) that he’s joined Gentleman’s Pistols on lead guitar. Enjoy.

Where does the title come from?

That was a name that seemed to be everywhere around the time we were preparing to make the album. I was working in a warehouse for a couple years and every time I went to lunch, I?d always go to grab a quick pint during the midday, the beer they served was called Grand Union. Then I moved into a room in Hackney on the corner of the Grand Union Canal. And then, I guess extending it, I also felt like this lineup of the band is the best we?ve had, so in a sense, that was a Grand Union as well.

The thing is, there?s a grocery store up and down the East Coast called Grand Union.

(Laughs) I heard about this in the States.

How did the timing for writing the songs work out? Were they written after the Carcass tour or before?

Oh no, the whole record was recorded before Carcass even played a show. For various reasons we ended up sitting on the thing for close to a hear. Some of the material goes way back, actually. At least a couple of tunes Ludwig and I demoed a couple years back, and then by the time Smok was in the band, we were playing those tunes live. Some of this material has really been worked on. Even a cover like the Humble Pie tune, ?Four Day Creep,? that was used to open our sets on our tour with Alabama Thunderpussy on our tour across Europe. When we recorded it, we were thinking of using it just as a bonus track, but it just came out to be good enough to be on the album proper. There were also one or two tunes which were written very close to recording. ?Blue Flame,? that was a real band effort. I just found myself hacking that riff out, and then the other guys stopped me and said, ?Play it again,? before I quickly forgot what I was doing. Then they had ideas springing off that and suddenly we had a track that sounded like the opener. This was the day before we went into the studio. So it?s a good blend of old and new.

What was the delay in the album being released?

That?s a very good question. I believe Rise Above had a lot of releases on their schedule, so they wanted to release it quite late anyway, but then I got caught up in the touring with Carcass. I was away from home for a long time. In a way, it was six months. I?d pop back for the odd day or two here and there, but I was really out of the loop and it was really hard to keep up with people like the label, so that was another reason. Eventually we just felt maybe it would be better if we waited a bit longer to put the thing out and I think it?s proved to be the case. We?ve been very fortunate with the reviews, certainly. We?ve never had such press, it?s quite surprising, actually.

It must have been frustrating at the time. I guess it makes sense because you can better concentrate on the release and promoting it.

That?s right, you just said it. The main thing is this album came out at a time where I was able to play a lot of shows with Firebird, whereas if it had come out in the middle of the Carcass touring, we wouldn?t have been able to support it because I was otherwise engaged. But getting back to the original point, it was rather frustrating. I don?t know any musician who likes waiting for a record to come out because it represents where you?re at in that specific point of time, so the quicker it can be out and heard by the public, the better. Then you can move on and get on with doing your new music. So we were kind of in limbo in that regard, and as happy as I am with the album, it represents us then and not now. If we went into the studio, it would be quite a different record we?d make.

How so?

Well, we?ve had even more time together as a band. Obviously Ludwig and I have been in the studio many times, but with Smok, this particular amalgamation of the three of us, that was the first time. We did okay given the circumstances, but I just know that next time it will be even better and I think generally we?re looking to make a more varied album next time. We?ve talking about this a lot over the years and for one reason or another, we?ve never really tackled it, mostly due to time constraints. If we have a limited amount of time in the studio, the one thing we know we can do very efficiently is record a whole batch of riff rock tunes in that kind of old school style. That tends to be what we fall into doing. It?s fairly risk-free, but I think if we?re organized this time, we?ll probably work on a lot more material in advance, so we?ll probably have an album and a half, maybe two albums, of material. If we can demo some beforehand, even better. We?re definitely going to play as much live as we can. Yeah, we?ll probably try and at least take a step outside the comfort zone on a few tracks. It?s just the only way to get better, is to test yourself and try different things.

This album being the first with Smok in the lineup, how did his contributions make the record different from Hot Wings?

It really just felt like a more rounded band. I think doing the Alabama Thunderpussy tour that I mentioned earlier was a huge factor, because that was really where we gelled. Prior to that, I think we?d only done one or two shows with Smok. When you?ve been across Europe together in a van playing every night for whatever it is, three weeks or so, by the end of that experience, you?re just playing together in a much stronger way. Experience helped a lot, and just the kind of person he is. He?s a very high-energy guy. That?s given us all a kick in the backside.

You can hear growth and change from album to album with Firebird, but are you conscious of keeping the sound within the parameters of what the band does? Or does that kind of thing not matter?

That is a very good question, because when I started the group, at the back of my mind was the thought that we set it up so if we did try certain things, for example some acoustic music or tracks that are a bit softer, that it wouldn?t be a problem. I was hoping when we did our first album we got that vibe across to some degree, like yes, it was a predominantly riff rock band heavily influenced by some of that music from the late ?60s and early ?70s, but sometimes we just have a track which was more like conventional songwriting. Chord sequence and a melody. Even a track which might be considered by some as a ballad. Whatever. On the five records we?ve done, we?ve only just hinted at that, and I guess that?s what I?m trying to say about the next album. I think we just need to be a little bit bolder. It?s good to have limitations, we clearly do have limitations because we?re a three-piece. When you play live, there?s so many things you can?t do for that reason, and it?s quite important to just have those kind of parameters sometimes. But yeah, I would like to stretch it more than we have so far.

There?s some of that going on with Grand Union. ?Caledonia? sticks out as blending a bunch of different elements, sound-wise.

Yeah, to me, I think most days that would be my favorite track on the record. There?s just something different about it. I can?t even put it into words, what we captured in that.

When you were writing it, were you aware of how different it was musically?

Yeah, that song was very new and when we took it to the studio, as far as the other guys were concerned, it was just a skeleton. I don?t think they even regarded it as a song because I just presented it as a very basic chord sequence and rhythm with a little figure here in the chorus. And then there was a midsection, but they didn?t know what was going on. We laid it down in that fashion, then once I put the vocals on, it took shape. I guess the setting is sort of important when you?re recording. If that track was bone dry, it would have no vibe whatsoever, but obviously the drums are very ambient on it and the guitars are recorded in a very natural way. Berno [Paulsson] is such a talented engineer, he knew exactly what needed to be done just to enhance the basic elements. There?s a lot of space in that track in particular. Our best stuff does tend to have a lot of air in it, but in the context of the album, this track is very open.

It?s in a special position too as the last track.

Once we?d finished it, I just said, ?That?s it, it?s got to be the closer.? I just couldn?t hear anything else that would rival it. For me, it was a fun thing to do, because what sparked off the basic idea was I was messing with the slide, as I sometimes do, and I just started playing stuff that wasn?t bluesy, and I guess that?s what sparked it off. I wanted to do a track with just slide where I didn?t fall back on any of those standard bluesy slide licks. I don?t think the track has a bluesy vibe at all, really. I was thinking about something else entirely.

With material rooted in that old school rock, you get a lot of bands who take a retro approach to production, and you guys have never done that. Grand Union sounds clear and modern.

That?s interesting, because I guess I hear different things from different people. Some people say our stuff is too old fashioned, it sounds exactly like Cream or Humble Pie or whoever. As somebody who really doesn?t listen to those bands, I find that quite amusing, because I don?t think there?s much of a similarity. It?s obvious we?ve heard them a lot and we?ve absorbed a tremendous amount of influence from them, but I don?t think that our records sound very similar. That?s a very interesting point, I?ll have to tell the guys what you just said, because I think that point is often overlooked. The way studios are run these days, it?s just so different. No matter how hard you try, you can never truly get back to that sound from that period. For me, I?m just happy that we have a record that?s ambient and natural. We just go in there and do our thing. With technology, some of it?s unavoidable, for obvious reasons, but we?re not getting into editing, ProTools, or click tracks or AutoTuning. We?d rather just stand aside from all that.

Everyone says, ?Analog is so warm,? and there?s something to that, but tape is expensive, and unless you?re cutting and pasting choruses?

Recording digitally isn?t a bad thing, per se, because like you said, it?s far cheaper and you save time on things like rewinding tape, because in a long session, precious minutes are lost just rewinding tape back and forth. I think just the pursuit of so-called perfectionism is really the bad side of all this new technology. I actually don?t think it?ll lead to anywhere because when I hear a contemporary pop or metal record on the radio, I switch off very quickly, because nothing jumps out. Everything?s leveled off. It?s really maybe a matter of taste. I suppose if you?re taking to a 15-year-old kid in a Bullet For My Valentine t-shirt, he?d probably say something different.

Carcass is doing summer festivals and Firebird?s doing the UK this month into September. What else do you have coming up?

Carcass is doing three or four more festivals this year and that?s it. Firebird?s doing just tons and tons of UK stuff. We?ve got dates in September, October and November. We?re also going to be playing Sweden and I guess we?ll be going back to Italy. Whether that?ll be before Christmas or just after, I?m not sure. Alongside of this, we?re working on new material. We just want to be, for once, ahead of the game, so we?ve started to get some new tunes together. Smok and myself also have this acoustic duo, so whenever we have a bit of time we get together and play acoustic guitars and sing various weird songs. That?s something else we do. I?ve also been playing guitar in a band from Leeds called Gentlemans Pistols. Their lead player, he left a few weeks back, and they asked me to step in. I was already a fan of the band, they?ve been friends for a few years. That?s been a lot of fun so far.

Firebird on MySpace

Rise Above Records

Tags: Bill Steer, Firebird, Rise Above, UK

This entry was posted on Monday, July 27th, 2009 at 12:28 pm and is filed under Features. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.