Track By Track: Will Haven - The Hierophant
Will Haven released their new LP, 'The Hierophant', this week (June 18th), and guitarist Jeff Irwin has taken a few minutes out of his hectic schedule to talk us through what's on it.
Will Haven released their new LP, 'The Hierophant', this week (June 18th), and guitarist Jeff Irwin has taken a few minutes out of his hectic schedule to talk us through what's on it:
1. 'Grey Sky At Night'
This track was written at my home, I have been working on a side project called The Dark Mind of William H, it's dark ambient sounds and this was inspired from that. I think it's a cool way to open the CD, we all love dark ambient type stuff, most of our records start out this way.
2. 'Kings Cross'
I came up with the main riff a long time ago, I always loved the notes but had a hard time putting something together with it, I finally came up with the chorus and was happy with it. I didn't know how Jeff would approach the vocals on this song since it's a bit tricky, but I love what he recorded, he definitely made this song, it also sets a good tone for the whole record, one of my favorite tracks. This was the first song I had shown Chino and he loved it the way it was, so I was relieved.
3. 'Helena'
This is an older song, we have been playing this song live for over a year now. This song basically set up the tone for the direction we wanted to go with the record. We wanted to do something a bit different but keep the same vibe, so I was happy when we came up for the idea on this one. Over the years it has changed a lot and we thought we had finished it, then the day we were recording Chino came in and changed up the bridge again, but it actually made the song a lot better and I'm really happy with it. The only recorded version of this song was on a video tape from a live show, so we had to go back to watch it so Jeff Jaworski could get an idea of where Grady was going vocally.
4. 'Hierophant'
This song has a cool history to it, we demo'd three songs with Grady about 3 years ago and all of the songs made the record. This being the first song we wrote together when we reunited with Grady. I love this song, it sounds like our older 'el diablo' stuff, it has a lot of emotion on it and Jeff sounds a lot like Grady. We named it Hierophant being that it was our first song written together in over 4 years.
5. 'Caviar With Maths'
This is probably my favorite song on the record, I recorded this song initially at home and brought it to practice. We played it once and ended up keeping it exactly how I first wrote it, I love the guitar parts in this song but most of all I love Jeff Jaworski's vocals, when I first heard this song in the studio with vocals I got the chills. When you get that you know you have a good song.
6. 'Landing On Ice'
We wrote this whole song at practice in one night. I came up with the main riff then we just continued to add on to it. We were trying to fit in as many riffs as we could without getting too carried away. I think the end result on the record is awesome. I love the dynamics of it and the way it flows together even though there is no ordinary structure. I really love the ending. Chino wanted to change it up when we got into the studio but ended up keeping it the way it was. I really like the backing vocals on this song by Alice and Jeff Jaworski has some catchy phrases on this song as well.
7. 'Skinner'
This song has a very cool vibe about it. I tried to come up with something very heavy but with very organic sounds in the background. I also wanted a song that would break up the record a bit. I really love all the parts and think it's one of the heaviest songs on the record. Shaun Lopez was able to get some really cool guitar sounds and we got to experiment with different drums as well.
8. 'Handlebars To Freedom'
This is another older song we had written. We did change it up a little before we went into the studio. I really love the chorus on this song, it sounds really big and has a lot of emotion on it. I wasn't sure if these songs would make the record but I'm glad they did, this song fits really well with the whole vibe of the record and once again Jeff Jaworski was able to keep the vibe of Will Haven with his vocals.
9. 'A Day Without Speaking'
I really love this track a lot, it has so many cool parts to it. It's definitely different than our previous work and I love that we were able to do that, I'm always trying to push this band and explore new things and I think this song is a good stepping stone. I like the diversity and I really loved the vocals on this track. I have played the record for a lot of my close friends and this is the song they were really drawn to.
10. 'Singing In Soitary'
This is another older song we had written with Grady. We did change this song up a bit right before recording. When we started written again when we first got back together we didn't have a clue of what direction we wanted to go, we just started writing, you can hear a lot of the older influence in this song but also there is a touch of the newer stuff as well, so I think it worked out well for the record. I really enjoy the way this song ends, the build up is very cool.
11. 'Sammy Davis Jr's One Good Eye'
This is the oldest song on the record. We wrote this song right after the Carpe Diem record. We actually only intended to play this song once live. We were playing a show with a lot of nu metal bands and we wanted to write a song with a blast beat just to make the crowd mad, but the crowd actually loved it. This song has never been recorded since we wrote it about 5 years ago so I'm glad it made it onto the record, even though it was never recorded it is a lot of Will Haven fans favorite song. We did do a few different things different than the original version but I like the way it came out.
12. 'Firedealer'
This is the last song I wrote for the record, I stumbled upon the main riff just sitting at home one day, I remember just playing it and running into my studio to record it. It's a bit different than the stuff we have written in the past but I love the riff and the chorus. It's a weird time signature so the rest of the band hated playing it when we first wrote it. I think now it's everyones favorite song. I was taken back by Jeff Jaworski's vocals when I first heard it because it was so different but after two listens I was hooked, I absolutely love his vocals on this song, I think he makes the song. I love it because it's different and once again shows us trying to push the envolope a little more.
13. 'Dark Sun Sets'
I wrote and recorded this song in my room at my house. I did it in one night, just played my acoustic then just did layers of guitars over it. I wanted to end the record with something more easy on the ears, especially after a full hour of complete chaos. I love the way it came out and would love to do more stuff like this.
You can order 'The Heirophant' from HMV by clicking here. Tracks from the album are available to listen to on the band's MySpace.
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