Peering Through The Gloom: Stereoboard Interview 40 Watt Sun At Damnation Festival 2012
Tuesday, 13 November 2012
Written by Ben Bland
40 Watt Sun certainly aren’t giving much away. As we sit in the press area at Leeds’ finest metal event, Damnation Festival, the trio seem far from the tortured souls their music may paint them out as being. “We’re just three guys playing together in a room” says songwriter and frontman Patrick Walker. “It can’t be that depressing doing what we do...” drummer Christian Leitch offers, “...otherwise we wouldn’t do it”.
If you are looking for pretension then perhaps 40 Watt Sun are the last place you should look. “You’re probably going to think we are just being difficult, but this is just us. We’re three guys in a band. There isn’t all that much more to tell I don’t think” Walker elaborates. “I don’t get on stage and clutch at my chest like you see some bands do. We just get up and play and hope that people appreciate it. What more can we do than that? I mean, I’m hardly a showman...” For all the passion and emotion displayed by some artists who are more expressive on stage, Walker’s honesty is still refreshing. “There is no approach as such to what we do, I don’t believe in trying to project all this doom and gloom whilst playing. It wouldn’t be worthwhile for us if we did it like that I don’t think”.
Walker is probably right. 40 Watt Sun’s music is, at times, so humbling in its beauty that it seems foolish to suggest the band need to act like anything more than they are on stage. Do the band feel out of their comfort zone at a proper ‘metal’ festival then? “I don’t know really...obviously for me Warning (the doom metal group in which Leitch and Walker formerly played) and 40 Watt Sun are different projects. It’s frustrating when some see it as a continuation I suppose but there is only so much I can say about it”. Clearly, 40 Watt Sun are far from just a straightforward ‘metal’ band. “I’ve always written songs on acoustic guitar” Walker imparts, “I just like the way it sounds with guitar, bass and drums. Chris and Will (Spong, bassist) really do add something to the songs I think and that’s really important. I suppose though that it’s true I wanted to get away from Warning partly because I felt it was slightly stifling genre-wise”.
“I think the next record is mostly there. It just really needs to come together in the rehearsal room I suppose. It will definitely be very different from the last record I expect, but then there’s no reason why it shouldn’t…” Walker stresses, tailing off as he realises that maybe his answer is not as elaborate as one would perhaps expect. “We’re hard work aren’t we?” Leitch offers, chuckling as he says it, and in many ways 40 Watt Sun are, but then given the emotional power of their music maybe it shouldn’t be such a surprise after all. “I don’t want to come off as really pretentious all the time” Walker admits, “It’s not really all that terrible being me!”
We will just have to take his word for it.
'The Inside Room' is out now via Cyclone Empire.
NOTE FROM THE EDITOR
We don't run any advertising! Our editorial content is solely funded by lovely people like yourself using Stereoboard's listings when buying tickets for live events. To keep supporting us, next time you're looking for concert, festival, sport or theatre tickets, please search for "Stereoboard". It costs you nothing, you may find a better price than the usual outlets, and save yourself from waiting in an endless queue on Friday mornings as we list ALL available sellers!
If you are looking for pretension then perhaps 40 Watt Sun are the last place you should look. “You’re probably going to think we are just being difficult, but this is just us. We’re three guys in a band. There isn’t all that much more to tell I don’t think” Walker elaborates. “I don’t get on stage and clutch at my chest like you see some bands do. We just get up and play and hope that people appreciate it. What more can we do than that? I mean, I’m hardly a showman...” For all the passion and emotion displayed by some artists who are more expressive on stage, Walker’s honesty is still refreshing. “There is no approach as such to what we do, I don’t believe in trying to project all this doom and gloom whilst playing. It wouldn’t be worthwhile for us if we did it like that I don’t think”.
