Jester: Why did it take so long between the release of your debut album and "Loaded"?
Todd: The album was totally written by December of 1996, but wasn't recorded until February of 1997. There was a bit of a delay prior to it's release during the summer of 1997, but the time certainly flew by for us. We are actually going into the studio in March to work on the third album so hopefully there won't be as great of a time lag before the release of our next record.
Jester: Both the production and musical composition are of a noticeably higher quality on "Loaded". Did you invest in any new equipment or utilize a new producer for the new album?
John: We couldn't really afford to spend the time we really wanted to in the studio for our first album. Devin was only in the studio for a week with us producing our first record. This time around he sat in on two sessions, which were about a week each, as well as about another week's worth of time spread out over a month.
This time we are going into the studio for a month straight. We will totally be dedicating all of our time towards the production of the next release. We have never spent that kind of time in a studio before, but we now have the luxury of having more money available for studio time so we are really excited about spending the time.
Jester: What do you do outside of music?
John: Todd and I have jobs. Byron and Jed play with a lot of bands. Todd does animation and Jay used to drive trucks. However, music is the number one motivation in our life right now.
Jester: Isn't spending a month in the studio going to be really expensive?
Todd: We have actually written most of the material for the album. We are just planning on spending a month in the studio recording the material.
John: Devin works at the studio where we are recording. We have arranged a really good deal because Devin is our friend and work there. We just happen to have the luxury of being able to spend as much time in the studio as we like, so we are going to take advantage of it. While we may be spending a lot of time in the studio, we are still going to be very frugal with the assets provided to us by 21st Circuitry and OffBeat.
Jester: Has the OffBeat licensing deal for Europe worked out well?
John: OffBeat really likes us. Stefan really enjoys us both as people and as a band. When Jed, Byron and I were over in Europe touring with Strapping Young Lad, we all hung out a great deal. I think Stefan really believes in us unlike some of his other projects.
Jester: Do you have any idea how well your sales are in North America and Europe?
John: I heard that Metropolis said that they sold hundreds our CD's. I heard that we sold around 2000 copies in Germany. Both Don and Stefan are happy with our sales so that is what matters. We certainly can't live off the royalties and we certainly are not doing this for the money.
Jester: Will there be any type of West Coast tour in support of "Loaded"?
John: We just played a really good show in Victoria and we are going to Ottawa in March. To be honest, we haven't really toured a whole lot in support of this album because Jed, Byron and I have been busy performing with other bands like Strapping Young Lads and Front Line Assembly.
Both those tours went a lot longer than we thought they would and we kind of
wasted the best touring season. So we decided to skip the national touring and
work instead on the album in hopes of touring for the next record this summer.
Jester: What happened to Ash?
John: Personal issues. No one else really got along with him when he was in the band.
Todd: We function better as a band with the current line-up. Ash was more of an outsider from the beginning and didn't have much to with the band outside of the studio. Jed is also a far superior musician.
John: When Ash left the band, we really looked for a replacement. However, Todd and I were fully prepared to continue UNIT:187 as an Electro project. Byron and Jed were really good friends of ours and one day they asked to play with us and it has worked out really well. As a result, this next album will be much more of a band effort. Jed and I are writing a lot of the music together and it is turning out great. We will also have a live studio drummer for the first time.
Jester: Were all of the drums on previous releases sampled or sequenced?
John: We did write one track with a live studio drummer but it never made it onto "Loaded". In fact, we were trying to get Gene Hoagland to play drums for us but it never worked out. However, our new drummer, Jay, has worked out great. We are so excited about the studio now because we finally have a full five piece band.
Jester: Are you excited to have a remix EP/single released for 'Stillborn'?
John: When Don offered to release a single, I wasn't sure what to expect. In the end, the single sort of came together over my free time in the studio. The single wasn't planned too well and I was away on tour when it was released, but I think it turned out for the best.
Jester: Why are so many of the tracks on "Stillborn" radio edits?
John: Don did that. He has this big radio airplay promotion because in the US, unlike in Canada, you cannot play songs with profanity on college radio. So Don asked us to edit some of our tracks so they could be played on the radio. I personally would not have put any of those tracks on the single.
Jester: Why did you decide to cover 'Planet Claire' by the B-52's?
Todd: One of Byron's old bands, Caustic Thought, used to perform a wicked cover of that track. So, we just revamped that track as a UNIT:187 song.
John: The next probably won't have any cover songs, except for maybe the single, if we release one. I want the next album to be very cohesive and cover songs tend to detract from that.
The funny thing about "Loaded" was that it was written during a very transitional period in the history of the band. Ash left the band in the middle and then we picked up Jed and Byron towards the end of the writing process, so the album didn't end up as consistent as we would have liked.
Todd: We both feel that "Loaded" feels more like a bunch of songs on a CD rather than just an album. We want to the next release to focus more on a solid structure that flow well together.
Jester: Yet, "Loaded" is more consistent than your first record. Why is that?
Todd: The first album should have really been a demo.
John: It was great that Don afforded us the opportunity to release that material on his label, but looking back we wish we had spent more time producing our first album. We have all grown so much, and have spent so much time touring, that if we re-wrote that album, it would sound totally different. We have so much more experience now to draw on that our third album can't help but sound so much better than our previous two.
Jester: "Loaded" sounds very crisp. Did you use any new equipment on that album?
John: Yes. However, a lot of the tightness of the sound was
due to Jed and Byron not wanting to record shoddy sound onto tape. They know
exactly what they are looking for in a guitar sound and they make it happen. As
far as keyboards are concerned, we have a bunch of brand new equipment. The
tools that we now have give us the ability to ignore any previous gear
limitations and just concentrate on our music.
Jester: How did you first get involved with writing and composing music?
Todd: John has been in a few bands before UNIT:187. One day John and I were on our way to a Chemlab show in Seattle when he mentioned that he was interested in starting something quite a bit different from his previous projects. I offered to help him out and it went from there.
John: We started out writing songs in Todd's basement. One of the first tracks we did was a crazy cover of Depeche Mode's 'Master & Servant'. We wrote a handful of really badly produced songs that Don from 21st Circuitry really liked, so we lucked out as far as a record deal is concerned.
Jester: How has the writing changed now that all five of you contribute?
John: In the past, I wrote all of the songs and Todd wrote all of the lyrics. For "Loaded", I wrote most of the material and Jed came in at the end and wrote some of the guitar parts. This time, Jed and I sit down together and write the core of the track while asking Todd for input throughout the process.
We are also going to rehearse all of the new songs with the full band for about two weeks prior to going into the studio so that we all feel comfortable with the material. We want to make sure that the songs feel right for both the album and for future touring which is quite different than the way we wrote music in the past.
We want to make sure that our songs are playable live. 'Loaded', while a great studio track, didn't end up sounding very great live, so whenever we play live, we use the remixed version. The song was too slow, so we want to avoid pitfalls like that in the future.
Our live shows are going to be really different now. Every one of us plays keyboards at some point in the set. We are also writing songs that have no guitar, just bass, keyboards and percussion. I am really excited to play some of this music live.
Jester: What is your favorite song from "Loaded"? Why that song?
Todd: I really enjoy 'Stillborn' because someone is very paranoid that the track is about them. The whole thing is a joke and it isn't about them, but it makes it very amusing to play live. It makes me laugh because it really annoys someone.
John: My favorite track is probably the original mix of 'Loaded'. I haven't really thought about it much. There isn't a song I dislike on the album even though I am really critical of my own material.
Jester: Do you ever find that you can't stop working on a track?
Todd: Yes. A few times John has played me some of his new material and I think it is perfect. Then he turns around and changes all of the material before the track is complete.
Jester: What is the new album going to sound like?
John: It is going to be amazingly heavy. It is really hard to explain, but some of the sounds are crushingly heavy with bass and sound unlike anything we have ever written before. The material sounds really dark and evil. We are shying away from the happy Techno beats that are really popular right now.
Jester: Is there anything you'd like to add in conclusion?
John: Just that the band is working really hard on defining our sound.We are taking a far more serious attitude with our music because we all realize the potential that we have available to us now.
Todd: We have gone this far on almost nothing and now that we finally have a decent line-up, there is no stopping our potential. We are really focused on the future of UNIT:187 for the first time.