As the calendar turns to 2024, Unquiet Nights, the renowned rock trio based in Northern Ireland and Italy, is set to captivate the music world with their latest offering, "Seasons In Exile," releasing on January 19. This album marks a significant milestone in the band's journey, following the success of their shimmering single "Diamond And The Missing Son."
In an insightful interview with Unquiet Nights, Luke Mathers delves deep into the creative process behind their latest album "Seasons In Exile," revealing the intricate tapestry of inspiration and hard-earned experience that shapes their music.
The album's inception traces back to a single track, "Diamond and the Missing Son," a song that lingered in the realms of potential until a super fan's persistent curiosity brought it to life. This track not only set the stage for the album but also ignited Luke's challenge to himself: to expand this story over nine more songs, creating a cohesive narrative journey.
"Seasons In Exile" explores the lives of two central characters, Diamond and The Missing Son, who find common ground in their shared desire to break free from oppressive conditions. Their story, as Luke describes, is a testament to the power of unlikely triumphs and the strength found in unity.
The significance of Credential Sound, the band’s self-built studio, cannot be overstated. It provided an environment where time and financial pressures were alleviated, allowing for a degree of creative freedom and experimentation rarely afforded in commercial studios. This freedom led to spontaneous moments of magic, where unplanned changes in key or rhythm evolved into defining features of tracks, such as the dramatic key change in “Diamond and The Missing Son” or the unexpected creation of “Thuja Green.”
Drawing inspiration from legendary artists like Tom Petty and Genesis, Luke emphasizes the delicate balance between honoring these influences and forging a distinct sound for Unquiet Nights. He finds joy in unexpected comparisons to artists they don’t directly emulate, suggesting a unique quality in their music that defies easy categorization.
The release strategy for "Seasons In Exile" reflects a thoughtful approach to changing industry trends. Opting for digital lossless downloads and branded USB flash drives alongside traditional CDs, the band acknowledges the shifting preferences of music consumers while still valuing the tangible connection that physical formats offer.
Financial challenges, a ubiquitous reality for musicians, stood as the most formidable obstacle in creating "Seasons In Exile." Luke candidly discusses the relentless grind required to bring a music project to fruition, a process that demands sacrifice and tenacity.
Thematically, "Seasons In Exile" marks a departure from Luke's previous autobiographical style, adopting a more narrative, cinematic approach. Musically, the album stays true to the roots of rock, with live-recorded tracks forming the backbone of its sound.
The band's journey through the evolving music industry landscape has been marked by both opportunities and challenges. Luke sees digital streaming as a leveling field, enabling their music to reach audiences far beyond their local scene. However, he also observes a shift towards positive discrimination in the industry, posing new challenges for emerging artists.
The local music scenes in Northern Ireland and Italy have played distinct roles in the band's development. While Italy offers a nurturing environment with respect for artists, the UK and Ireland's harsher climate has bred resilient and versatile musicians. Unquiet Nights has thrived in this diverse landscape, contributing to its vibrancy through their enduring dedication to original music.
Through their journey, Unquiet Nights have received invaluable support from local fans and venues, with memorable moments of encouragement and appreciation that have sustained them through challenging times.
"Seasons In Exile" is more than just an album; it's a narrative of resilience, creativity, and the unyielding pursuit of artistic expression in an ever-changing musical landscape.
Interview with Luke of Unquiet Nights
Luke, can you take us back to the moment you first conceptualized 'Seasons In Exile'? What sparked the idea for this album?
The song that sparked it is called “Diamond and the Missing Son”. We had a super fan who knew that a demo of it existed as far back as 2007 and kept asking about it. When we recorded it off the cuff one day it sounded good and so I challenged myself to write 9 more songs and continue the story.
Your new album tells the story of Diamond and The Missing Son. How did you develop these characters, and what do they represent in the broader context of the album?
Both of the characters met under circumstances where they had oppressive conditions to escape from. They quickly understand that they have needs and interests which align to each other. Their story represents an unlikely triumph for two characters which where not expected to amount to much.
You mentioned that having your own studio, Credential Sound, played a significant role in the evolution of your sound. Can you elaborate on how this creative space influenced the making of 'Seasons In Exile'?
Not having the time and financial pressure to have every song come together in a very short space of time meant that we could hit record, leave it rolling and improvise the song idea long past where we would’ve called an end to it in a studio if we were paying by the hour. Many of these experiments morphed into pleasing results, whole new sections happened by accident, and in some cases the song itself started because of some experimental key change or time signature that wasn’t meant to happen.We’re also quite nocturnal people and like to be able to keep recording as long as we want and as long as the ideas are still coming and getting committed to record.
Incorporating elements of spontaneity and experimentation seems to be a key part of your recording process. Can you share an instance where this approach led to a breakthrough in a track on the new album?
Several examples come to mind. The final track on the album “Thuja Green” is sung over a drum groove which was just something that happened immediately following another song where we kept playing around with it’s rhythm. In “Diamond and the Missing Son” there’s a key change right before the guitar solo that wasn’t on the original, it just happened as we were recording and seemed to heighten the drama a lot going into the solo. “Things Could Be So Good For You” is another like that where we improvised what was a musical song idea with a different set of lyrics and it turned out well. We never would have felt free enough to do that outside our own studio because it wastes too much money if the result doesn’t end up getting used.
Drawing inspiration from artists like Tom Petty and Genesis is quite intriguing. How do you balance the influence of these icons while ensuring Unquiet Nights' unique sound shines through?
That’s the right way to phrase it because it is a balance. In the history of Unquiet Nights though people always have said we don’t sound like our bigger influences, and have often compared us to artists that I don’t remember ever listening to. On this album I actually went out of my way to colour some of the tracks with Mellotron to try and incorporate a bit of my affection towards Genesis, which never seems to have been that obvious before. Another one that people comment on is that I often say my favourite singer is Roy Orbison. They find that surprising because Unquiet Nights don’t seem to be influenced by him I guess. The first reason for that though is that when they were giving out voices, Roy Orbison turned up earlier than me! I love being compared to Tom Petty though, or to Mike Campbell’s guitar playing. Whether it’s accurate or not I don’t know, but I’ll take it happily.
The single 'Diamond And The Missing Son' has been a hit. How does this track set the tone for the rest of 'Seasons In Exile'?
People are liking it so far. Stylistically it is the most direct, and given the whole album is the story of the same two characters through different situations, it helps that the album starts with something very direct which introduces the point of view of these two. It also helps if that same song gets a bit of attention on the band at the same time of release through radio, and these days through social media, streaming services and so on.
Can you talk about the decision to release 'Seasons In Exile' on various formats like CD and USB Flash Drive, in addition to digital platforms? How important is this physical connection to your music in the digital age?
Having physical formats available seems to still be important to e smaller number of people, but it is notable that appetite today to pay the exact same price as CD was ten, twenty or thirty years ago is diminishing badly. In the same time as a CD album has stayed stagnant, the costs to a band have more than a band have more than doubled. So to load the van with stacks of CDs and go on tour hoping some people will want to pay for them is getting less and less sustainable. Digital lossless downloads are great for us, and we've been selling out discography on branded USB flashdrives for over ten years. This is great because every new release we have we can immediately load it on there with the other albums and it is very compact to either post or take with us on tour. That way with every album we don't need to figure out how we're going to travel with enough copies of every album to sell. It's all there on one flash drive that they can plug into their car radio, smart device or laptop.
What was the most challenging aspect of creating 'Seasons In Exile,' and how did you overcome it?
I think the most challenging thing to most musicians is the financial pressure of finding time to make music while real life is happening in the back ground. There are many sacrifices every day where you have to forego something that your friends and family are able to take for granted. Since we started in 2010, and even before that Rodger and I have been in a band together since 2002, there has just been this continuous grind to see music projects through to fruition. The whole of 2023 in particular was spent just working on the album itself, seven days a week. Editing through material, trying to get mixes right, organising the physical release along with the promotional stuff you do in order to try and get attention on it. I think that’s why there aren’t that many musical acts that have real longevity behind them, because it’s a consistent grind that filters a lot of people out after 2-3 years.
How does 'Seasons In Exile' differ from your previous works, both thematically and musically?
Thematically I have usually written directly about my own life a lot of the time. On this album I thought about it more from the point of view that it’s a movie I’m watching. It was an interesting way to do it, and I love the way some songs just sprung out of nowhere and would never have been written without forcing this kind of concept. In terms of musically, the whole thing is approached with the instrumentation of a Rock band, it could have been made in the 70’s I guess as easily as today. We did record all the skeleton tracks live and in many cases kept the original guitar and guide vocal along with Rodger’s drums. All the songs are based on electric guitar.
Finally, what message do you hope listeners take away from 'Seasons In Exile' after they've experienced the entire album?
In all the songs pretty much the characters are considering a very definite obstacle they’ve had in front of them, and by refusing to accept that where they started was their station in life, they managed to overcome all the challenges eventually. The people who know us best seem to think this album has a more optimistic tone than our first two. I think maybe we figured out how to do that more on this album, and I’m quietly optimistic that people who have already been with us this far will get the same thing out of it.
In an era where streaming services dominate, how do you navigate the challenges and opportunities of the music industry to ensure Unquiet Nights' music reaches its audience effectively?
The classic advice was that musicians needed to build a dedicated local following first before branching out. In our case the digital age has been very helpful because the places that took to us were only able to know about us through the internet before we ever got the idea or chance to go there. Getting our music to travel for us and get onto people’s iPod’s and so on has been essential to building anything. It’s a mistake to think that playing gigs in your own country first is the only way to get established. With streaming I see more opportunities than challenges to be honest, and similarly I know so many friends in music who have had their music picked up by big broadcasting companies through online exposure. We couldn’t have gotten so much radio exposure for example in the older CD and Cassette age because the cost of sending registered mail envelopes to thousands of radio contacts with a physical CD inside would have bankrupted us. I remember doing that when it was still a thing in 2002-04 period, and the amount of money was staggering to try and run a radio campaign that way. So yes, digital streaming links are very convenient and have levelled the playing field.
How has the music business evolved since you first started with Unquiet Nights, and what strategies have you adopted to adapt to these changes?
I think it’s noticeable that positive discrimination is a thing in recent years, in terms of influential organizations and people in the industry feeling the need to give opportunities out to acts based on quotas rather than for the quality of music they produce. Although everyone is free to observe this has become the norm, it doesn’t bother us now at this stage, but it’s been unfortunate to see in terms of younger bands trying to get a break in they don't fit whatever the quota is. Also, I think the quality of music being put out has suffered for that too.
In your opinion, what is the biggest challenge facing new artists in the music industry today, and what advice would you give them based on your experience?
People have different ideas about this but in my opinion, it’s better to put out your first release before doing any gigs. It helps your music to find people if you already have something tangible available on all the music platforms so that if you do a gig or interview and people want to check you out, it’s right there in front of them. Your early fans will be obsessive people, and so you have to give them the chance with a release to actually obsess over. People not knowing any of the songs you’re playing in your early gigs isn’t a positive experience in my opinion.
How has the local music community in both Northern Ireland and Italy supported Unquiet Nights throughout your journey, and how do you give back to this community?
I can speak about individual people more than communities. We have had dozens of individual people who have gone out of their way to help boost us up the ladder a bit when they’ve noticed that we’re sticking to our game. There are some DJ’s who could easily have not played us, but they did. Some journalists have stuck their neck out for us and written something about Unquiet Nights when they could more easily have chosen the thing on their desk that comes from a paid PR company. There are people who when we have needed our press release or bio translated into a foreign language, they have done it for us and refused payment. These things matter a lot.We try to give back by attempting to represent Northern Ireland well whenever we’ve been given some kind of opportunity where people are maybe looking at us in those terms. That might be going on Sky Italia to discuss the impact of George Best, or going to Toronto to play Indie Week. Whenever we turned up at a venue in some place where they had a poster outside with our band name and (BELFAST) beside the name, I always thought to myself “Yeah, we definitely better be pretty good tonight”. I felt like the locals were expecting something that lived up to a certain expectation. I love the chance to talk about bands from my own country when I get the chance on the radio or wherever else, sometimes they will ask for a playlist or picks and I love namedropping.
Can you describe the role local fans and music venues have played in the development and success of Unquiet Nights? Any particular moments that stand out?
Local fans are awesome. There have been many times where we’ve played places where the attendance hasn’t been all that good, and a few people have come over and told us they drove maybe 200 miles round trip to be there. Even if we’ve lost a lot of money on the gig, which has often happened, I know it would’ve killed our progress if we didn’t have those people encouraging us to keep going. Particular moments stand out to me, but I won’t embarrass people by saying their names. I do have memories of this happening in places like London, Amsterdam, Rome, Innsbruck, Toronto, Munich and now I’m starting to feel guilty because there are many others.Yes, many local venue owners have taken a risk on his to bring us there in the first place. We appreciate them intensely and are sad to see that the lockdown wiped a few of their venues out. We hope they’ll be able to rise again so we can go and play for them again.
What are your thoughts on the current state of the local music scenes in Northern Ireland and Italy, and how do you see Unquiet Nights contributing to its growth and vibrancy?
The live music scene is great in Italy in terms of the size of the country and the fact that it’s considered quite normal to get paid as an artist, and that the venue will feed you and do some in house promotion usually. It’s a great country for touring because of how many different cities there are and more of an artisan culture in terms of artists being respected regardless of their stature. In the UK & Ireland I find it to be different in the sense that if you’re not a very prominent act who is rammed down people’s throats on TV, you aren’t worthy and your art isn’t respected as much. Cover music is more likely to be seen as worth paying for than original artists. Because of this harsh environment though, Ireland and the UK keeps producing pretty rugged touring acts. They have learned to punch above their weight. There continues to be a very strong conveyor belt of acts that are out-performing in the music industry.
Lyric Review for George Best City
The lyrics of "George Best City" paint a vivid, introspective journey through life's challenges and realizations. The narrator speaks of garnering wisdom from unlikely sources, as highlighted in the line "Sometimes strangers give the best advice." This introspection is a thread throughout the song, with the narrator reflecting on their personal struggles and resilience, particularly in lines like "Every time I needed the money to run, I always did what needed to be done" and "Just how my skin became so thick."
The chorus, "The bravest city in the world, I hope she gets what she deserves," serves as an anthem for the titular George Best City, portraying it as a place of courage and deserving of recognition. The repeated line "But I'm just trying to make it through this life" resonates with a universal struggle, encapsulating the feeling of pushing through life's challenges.
The lyrics also touch upon a sense of nostalgia and appreciation for the city, particularly in the verses describing the physical and emotional landscape, like "Crossing the east bridge, I was caught in the breeze, The leaves were brown and falling from the trees." These lines evoke a strong sense of place and time, suggesting a deep connection between the narrator and the city.
Overall, "George Best City" combines personal introspection with a deep sense of belonging to a place, offering a narrative that is both reflective and evocative, capturing the essence of life's journey and the special connection one can have with a place.
Fictional Story created from the lyrics of George Best City
Resilience in the Heart of George Best City
Created by Idie Mastered
Copyright 2023 Luke Mathers
In the heart of George Best City, where the whispers of history and the hum of the present intertwine, there lived a soul named Jamie. Jamie, a figure etched by the trials of life, carried stories like the city bore its scars and triumphs. The city, known for its resilience and courage, was a sanctuary and a challenge, much like life itself.
Jamie's story began on an ordinary day, under the vast, open sky of George Best City. The city was a vibrant tapestry of memories and dreams, its streets a maze of lessons learned and yet to be discovered. Jamie, with eyes reflecting the wisdom of hard-earned experiences, walked these streets with a purpose known only to those who had braved life's tempests.
"Sometimes strangers give the best advice," Jamie would often muse, recalling the myriad of faces that had come and gone, each leaving a mark, a lesson to be cherished. Life had been a relentless teacher, demanding but fair, pushing Jamie to limits only to show the strength that lay within.
Money was always a runner in the race of life, elusive and fleeting. Jamie had known the weight of empty pockets and the burden of necessity. "Every time I needed the money to run, I always did what needed to be done," Jamie would say, a testament to a life of grit and determination. It was in these moments, against the backdrop of struggle, that Jamie's skin became thick, armor forged in the fires of life's furnace.
Amidst the bustle of the city, there was a bridge - the East Bridge. It stood as a silent witness to the changing seasons, its structure a metaphor for transition and passage. Crossing this bridge, Jamie felt the autumnal breeze, its cool fingers playing with the leaves that danced their final waltz before surrendering to the ground. This bridge was a place of contemplation, where the past, present, and future seemed to converge.
"The bravest city in the world," Jamie would whisper with a mix of pride and hope. George Best City, with its unyielding spirit, was a mirror to Jamie's own resilience. It was a city that deserved the best, its bravery an emblem of survival and triumph.
Life was an ongoing journey, a flight through time and space, and Jamie was its seasoned traveler. "Flying into George Best City tonight," was not just a physical return but a metaphorical homecoming, a return to the roots, to the essence of existence.
In this city, where every street corner told a story, and every face was a chapter in a larger narrative, Jamie found a reflection of self. Sometimes, the city felt small, its walls echoing with tales too familiar, yet it was in this familiarity that Jamie found comfort and understanding.
As the leaves continued to fall, painting the city in hues of amber and gold, Jamie's journey meandered through the streets of George Best City, each step a testament to the enduring spirit of both the city and its inhabitants. In this dance of life and survival, Jamie and the city moved in tandem, each a brave entity, trying to make it through this life, glowing in the light of their shared resilience.
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