TRADE WIND // Cyclones Ahead of the Rest

Full time touring is a tough gig. Throw in a tour with your other band and it’s bound to be exhausting.

For Stick To Your Guns frontman Jesse Barnett, his recent European tour with the hardcore outfit has him “a little bit jet-lagged.” When discussing his upcoming shows with other band Trade Wind (Barnett’s project with Stray From The Path guitarist Tom Williams), it seems like spaced out is the right way to be. “The kind of state that I’m in right now… when you’ve been awake for two days straight you kind of feel a little bit insane. With the Trade Wind mindset that actually helps a little bit. The music is so much more mellow obviously than Stick To Your Guns, but I put so much more pressure on myself. I play guitar and sing so it’s a rough transition.”

The pressure of an acoustic set isn’t the only vulnerability that affects Barnett as lyricist. When questioned about the different subject matter between his two acts, the singer is candid on why STYG has an easier writing process. “When I’m with STYG there are issues I sing about that upset me or frustrate me. But I find those issues a little bit easier to deal with than the issues that are more personal or depressing about what’s going on in my own life.” he laughs. “Sometimes it’s easier to focus on other things than it is to focus on yourself…” Delving deeper into what it is about himself that makes Trade Wind so vital, Barnett notes that his lack of openness led to a blood-letting that drips from the band’s material. “It’s hard to express myself personally to people that are in my life so Trade Wind is kind of the outlet for that. I don’t have to be direct to them, I just have to hope that they hear a song,” he laughs. That’s pretty much how I get my point across.”

—

“Sometimes it’s easier to focus on other things than it is to focus on yourself…”

[JESSE]

—

Deciding on evolving from debut EP Suffer Just To Believe towards a full-length record, the band opted to ease previous fans in rather than shock them. “We released I Hope I Don’t Wake Up first because we felt like it was the most relatable track for someone who’s familiar with Suffer Just To Believe”, says Barnett. “That song very well could’ve been on SJTB. We released Lower Form next to show the direction this record goes… I don’t want to say softer, but it’s a different direction that’s not so heavy as far as music goes.” Coming out of a recent breakup with his girlfriend of six years, Barnett has clearly channelled his ability to deal with pain into the record. “That’s how I am. [The record] is the ‘Stages of Grief’ of me being angry, being in denial, angry, then like ‘holy shit, what am I going to do?’”

Holding himself personally responsible for the dissolution of the relationship, the singer is more than willing to admit that there’s things in his life he could’ve done better.  “Me being gone as much as I am with my touring, I interpret her anger and resentment [on the record]. Even though she won’t say it, a lot of it is me not being there. Even when I am there, I’m managing bands and running record labels. So I fucked up a lot,” he laughs. Barnett sums up the record as his method of putting into words what he should’ve said during the aforementioned fuck ups.  “It’s me coming to terms with that and saying everything that I wanted to say. That’s my classic style: too little too late. This record means a lot, and it’s a lot more personal… I guess that’s life.”

Album Insights

You Make Everything Disappear refuses to give too much away in terms of its inspiration. However, Barnett himself notes “One of my favourite things I love about bands – I don’t have a specific example right now – but you’d hear these rumours about ‘oh I heard this guy doing this when he was in the studio’ and you never really know for sure.” So of course, we at Hysteria had to request an explanation for some of our favourite tracks on the album, which Barnett was more than happy to provide.

Je t’aimerai toujours (Trans : I will always love you)

“My girlfriend’s French-Canadian and her first language is French. My Dad, maybe he fucked up as well,” he laughs, “because he’s always been great at advice even though he doesn’t take any of his own. He once said to me that his biggest regret in his whole life was that he was never able to speak to his mother in her native tongue which is Spanish. That was his biggest regret because my grandmother was married to a white guy, had my father and my aunt, then he was killed by a drunk driver. My grandmother remarried a Puerto-Rican and so everyone born after that speaks Spanish. My dad’s family is eight people, so two can’t speak Spanish and the rest can. He never learnt it and that was his biggest regret. So that song is kind of the same thing for me. I was with her for over six years, I still very much love her and she’s still very much the centre of my universe even though situations have changed a bit. But I never learnt French and that’s her native tongue. I guess that song’s another too little too late situation but that’s basically me saying “fuck it, I’m sorry, here’s a little bit of French,” he laughs. “Hopefully that can make up for something.”

Untitled

“It’s actually just a piano and a vocal. Randy, our bass player, played the piano and recorded it on his iPhone. I did the vocals in a Starbucks bathroom. I had just left my girlfriend’s apartment and didn’t have a place to go. I was going to stay at a friend’s house that night so I had a backpack with all my stuff. Then I got a call from Tom [Williams] saying ‘hey those vocals need to get done on that song’. So I went into a bathroom, opened up my laptop and just sang into the microphone of a laptop in a Starbucks bathroom. It has its own tragic kind of beauty to it. As I was doing it… I think in that song you can definitely hear the sadness in my voice, which was a pretty low point for me there,” he laughs. “It ended up coming out really cool, and it’s just one of those stories that only people who’ve read an interview will know. I like it not really being unknown and [it being] appreciated though.”

—

You Make Everything Disappear is out now through UNFD

Read our review, here!