Aug
02
1.07pm

CALIGULA’S HORSE // Is Reclaiming Dad-Rock … For Dads


Since that release of fourth LP In Contact, Brisbane prog powerhouse Caligula’s Horse have gone from strength to strength on the global stage.

MORE: THE HYST LIST: Ten Bands To Keep Tabs On // OUTRIGHT: Don’t Holler Atcha Girl // XIII: New Music Video For Hell Mary
REVIEWS: OUTRIGHT: Holler // BAD JUJU: Hidden Desire // AS IT IS: The Great Depression // TROPHY EYES: The American Dream

Nabbing European dates alongside Opeth, Anathema, and Pain of Salvation, as well as numerous festival and headline appearances, the quintet have been flying the flag for Aussie metal nerds in a big way.

Now, with time for it to settle, the band will be bringing In Contact to Aussie audiences in full for an East Coast run alongside James Norbert Ivanyi & Opus Of a Machine. We set aside a few minutes for guitarist Jim Grey to chat about articulating yourself in art and how being a Dad has changed everything.



HYSTERIA: A year in, and you guys are only now going out and playing it in its entirety! When you wrote the record, was it meant to be presented this way?

JIM: Not at all. Like most concept albums that I’ve worked on, the concept came to itt’s finished form as it was being written. So you have this basic spark that might be a vague idea, but I got to really know the characters and the in’s and out’s as we were writing it. Once we had all the four chapters, it did feel like one big piece. It had all the stylistic passages and lots of variety, and it did feel like a whole album journey. It was only recently that we had the idea to play it in full, and it feel like only recently have people really become intimate with the music after listening to the record a great deal.

How did that conversation happen when you realised you’d be doing the complete thing at this point in the record cycle?

To be honest, I don’t even remember what I did yesterday. We haven’t even taken this record to Europe yet. We’ve toured a bit in Australia with material from this record, ubt in terms of touring the record ut hasn’t been out all that long. We’re all excited an slightly daunted by the idea of doing it, but after rehearsals have gone super well it’s starting to feel really nice.

What’s going to be some of the trickiest material to pull off that you haven’t showcased yet?

Song’s like Capulet and Feel My Heart feel like the different, softer moments, but even I didn’t realise until we started rehearsing that songs like Feel My Heart are really heavy when you put into a live context. That’s been a really interesting journey seeing what they feel like in a live context as oppose to polishing them in the studio.

The record seemed to really broaden the palate for the band. Do you think revisiting it now is going to propel you towards more experimentation in the future?

We already have been doing that. Sam and I sat down and had a chat with the guys about what we want from the next record and what kind of flavours we want to go for. The minute an album is finished we almost start doing that straight away. We really like a good turnover. I listen to In Contact regularly still, especially coming up to the tour, because I will forget lyrics every show. But you start reflecting immediately about what you’ve learnt, what you can do next and what you want to take away from the entire experience.



What are those flavours that you want to push for with the next record?

Now that Josh and Adrian have joined the band everyone wants to get in on the writing process, which is really nice so we might get some different flavors coming out on the next record. I’ve always been a fan of the more colourful stuff that we do. I revisit the colorful stuff on Bloom pretty regularly, and I love performing that live. Stuff like Daughter Of The Mountain and Dragonfly and stuff. at the same time though, we’ve been listening to a heap of Leprous so there could be some darker stuff there. Right now though, we’re just seeking a direction and thinking what we want to say, as opposed to what sort of noise we want to make. as an individual, I’ve absolutely been in a situation where I don’t know what I want to say, so what I try to do when I’m sitting down and writing is that I put aside time to doing that, and nothing else. Good or trash, I keep it all, and then when I come back to it I can polish those ideas. Sometimes when I feel lost and chase nonsense down a rabbit hole that I can’t get out of, I write a little note at the top of the page to say “what am I trying to do?” Putting that on paper makes you question what you want, and then you can detect what the fluff is, and what is actually the content.

What were you trying to say when you wrote In Contact?

I wanted to tell stories that highlighted a lot of the issues with how we view art and it’s creation. also, a lot of the family stuff. Particularly in Graves there is a lot of stuff for people who’ve become fathers, which is where I can speak from, and the doubts and the fears that are involved with that. I feel like that’s not an audience that gets written for a lot of the time. I’m going to re-appropriate Dad-Rock. It’s now songs that are written by and about being a Dad. There’s a lot in there, but it’s stayed true to itself and it’s meaning.

How have you managed to balance being a Dad and touring? Because that’s something that we take for granted with those challenges that come along with the entire package of being an artist.

I’m super lucky because I have a great deal of extended family who are massively supportive. It’s hard for a bunch of reasons, but mostly on behalf of my family who struggle while I’m gone. I take care of all the home duties while I’m here, but I’m just lucky with my family, and I know some people have it way rougher. We don’t make any money out of this, but this is what I choose to be and this how I’m using my gift. I want my message to be heard, so I’ll make the sacrifices that I need to.

I’m going to re-appropriate Dad-Rock. It’s now songs that are written by and about being a Dad.
[JIM]

How do you combat that inevitable self-doubt that will come up when you’re on the road, especially with a child in the equation?

Honestly, it’s not as big picture as all that. I know some people think that way, but for me, and I’ll get laughed at for this I think, but for me parenting has been like stimulus response. THing’s come up, and you deal.  With baby stuff, thing’s come up, and you didn’t read the books, and the books don’t cover all the challenges that you face. You just try and keep up. Obviously you plan school down the track, but it doesn’t come up for awhile, and then it’ll rush up and then you deal with it. I’m not thinking ‘God, what’s she gonna do when she goes to uni’ because that’s not happening yet, and I’ll think about it then. That might make me a bad Dad though….

Being a Dad can be so isolating for a lot of men. How has being in Caligula’s Horse helped that transition in life, and how have you touched on that in the record?

It’s one of those things where the band itself is a form of me time that I don’t get anywhere else. What people don’t realise going into parenting is that you’re entire sense of individual self will periodically disappear. I can’t imagine life without a kid now. I can’t remember it properly. I can’t relate to it. What it means is that you start to really relish ‘me’ time. Making music and touring is where I can be an individual and use all those skills and goals and dreams that I’ve developed. The other part of that is just the gym, being alone and thanking the good Lord for 20 minutes off. In the record, particularly in Graves, there’s a lot of reflections and feelings that I had in the lead up to becoming a Dad. I think any Dad’s out there that go and read those lyrics will really get something out of it, because it’s very common to have those fears and doubts, and then realising that those fears and doubts come from a place of a lack of self belief and actually hoping that your kid isn’t like you. There’s a beauty of going forward. One of the lyrics that closes the thing goes; “Naked in the wild, all was reconciled as I held by child.”  



Circling back to the tour, it’s really cool that you’re going to put sets together based off fan response. What are some golden oldies that your keen to uncover?

I’m not going to fucken spoil it am I? We put a list together for people to vote on, and it was made up of stuff that we don’t play super regularly. It was for people that want to hear Undergrowth etc. What I will say is, our fans are a pack of nerds and instead of voting for a series of shorter songs, the by far majority want to hear some of the longer ones. There probably won’t be that many requests on the setlist as a result to be honest because of that, but people will still get to hear their jams.

Are there any tracks that are getting a huge hit of the vote that you have to veto?

No, there is one that has literally hundreds more than the others. Everyone that we put on that list was a ‘if they win they win’ mentality. Even if it was a weird set of like the acoustic stuff, that’s what people want, so that’s what we will do. That’s not the case though. It’s a cool novelty, and I don’t want to rule it out in the future. We don’t wanna just play In Contact stuff, we wanna do some extras.

To wrap up, Josh and Adrian bring in a great new dynamic for the band. One year on, how has it changed the way the machine runs?

Innumerable ways. It’s like night and day to be honest. Firstly, I don’t think the band touring dynamic has been better. It’s a really positive environment now. We can talk to each other about stuff when we are spending a month on the road with each other. Adrian is very good at that, and he’ll call people on their shit and ask questions until that person realises they are being silly, and that’s happened to me a number of times. The vibe is strong. Musically speaking, Josh is rock solid. The dude is immovable. I’ve never felt so safe with Josh. There was a lot of fear before of things not being as good as they needed to be, but now Josh is this rock that just sits behind us, and nothing can go wrong.  

Caligula’s Horse Love Conquers All Australian Tour:

Friday 3 August  // Oxford Art Factory // Sydney
Saturday 11 August // Wooly Mammoth // Brisbane
Thursday 16 August //  Howler // Melbourne

Tickets available here.




 



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