Cortez – In questo mondo di ladri

Il 08/11/2024, di Carlo Monforte.

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Boston heavy rockers Cortez are back on the scene four years after the epic ‘Sell The Future’ and they do it with an album, ‘Thieves And Charlatans’ that picks up the thread where it left off four years ago, with a contagious groove, an epic and powerful sound, with its sharp vocals and an energy that pervades every track of this work, in a perfect balance between the love for Black Sabbath and everything that is classically heavy, and a look to the future. To find out more we contacted the whole band, namely singer Matt Harrington, guitarists Scott O’Dowd and Alasdair Swan, bassist Jay Furlo and the new entry on drums Kyle Rasmussen.

Guys, today you present your new work ‘Thieves And Charlatans’. How do you think the songwriting process has evolved from your last album ‘Sell The Future’ to this one?
“(Alasdair) I think as a band we’ve always focused on the power of the song and over time we’ve gotten quicker at the editing process of taking riffs and forming them into a complete song. This is my third album with Cortez and after writing together for so many years the main evolution I’ve noticed is a collaboration and easier communication to take initial ideas and turn them into a complete song.”
“(Jay) I don’t think the writing process in the band has ever changed. Usually Scott or Al will come in with an idea or a group of ideas. Then as a band we work together to turn those ideas into songs. Sometimes it takes a few rehearsals. Sometimes it takes a year. Matt writes all the melodies and lyrics.”

You’ve been around for over fifteen years now. How do you stay motivated and inspired to create new music after all this time?
“(Alasdair) We all like to play music, it’s what we choose to do to take a break from life. It’s a great outlet to get rid of the stress of the day and lose yourself in the power of music.” “(Matt) I’m very lucky to be in a band with a group of people who encourage me, push me to be creative and build and foster an environment where we can all do that together.”
“(Scott) There are always more riffs to write and lyrics to sing. If you can’t stay motivated, even after eighteen years of being a band, you should hang up your instruments. We don’t plan on doing that any time soon.”

Now for the new work. What is behind a title like ‘Thieves and Charlatans’?
“(Matt) It’s a line from the song ‘Liminal Spaces’ on the album. The song is about fear, uncertainty, frustration and anger in the face of a negatively changing and unforgiving world. Much of what we see and read on the news and social media is propaganda of one kind or another, be it government, corporate, upper class or otherwise. We are surrounded by thieves and charlatans who pretend to be part of the solution, say all the right things with all the right hashtags and pretend nothing else is being done when they inevitably and intentionally fail to act. If you pay attention to their actions versus their words, it seems they never miss an opportunity to lie, cheat and steal on behalf of their interests and the masters they truly serve. Traditional and streaming corporate media, dishonest content factories masquerading as social networks, and media personalities of every stripe are morally culpable for this carefully curated, insidious, and fabricated ploy.”

What are the main themes explored in your new album ‘Thieves and Charlatans’?
“(Matt) Capitalism, imperialism, the resurgence of fascism and right-wing populism, how these have been and are being enabled by centrists/moderates, and how this affects us as people in terms of our mental health, our interactions with each other, and how we see and experience the world around us.”

Special guests on this album include Craig Riggs (Kind, Roadsaw, Sasquatch) and Jim Healey (We’re All Gonna Die, Black Thai, Blood Lightning). Can you tell us about these collaborations?
“(Scott) We always like to have a few guests when it comes to backing vocals. Matt asked if it would be possible to have Jim and Craig on backing vocals because he thought their voices would complement his and provide a bit of contrast. Jim had actually recorded some backing vocals during the recording of our last album ‘Sell The Future’, but the songs didn’t end up on the album. He and Craig are both friends of ours (and former bandmates) and amazing singers, so it seemed like a natural fit. They’re both professionals and did amazing vocals.”

What role does collaboration play in your music-making process?
“(Alasdair) It’s a vital part. It’s rare that someone brings a completed song to the band, usually just one or two riffs are presented. We then play those ideas as a group, through collaboration new ideas emerge and the song takes shape. Everyone writes their own parts and everyone has ideas about the structure of the song that guide the writing process. The lack of ego makes it a very fluid process.”
“(Scott) Collaboration is everything to us. There’s nothing more exciting than having an initial idea and seeing it become something more than you ever imagined once everyone has contributed. That’s why I love listening to our album for the first time after it’s finished. Thinking about how the songs came to be and what they’ve become.”
“(Matt) It’s the soul of our process. The songs almost never come into the room fully formed by one person. Most of it is the result of us working together to try to make a song the best it can be. We try to write for the song first and operate with the mindset that every idea is worth trying once.”
“(Jay) I think collaboration is really important. I always think songs are better when there’s more people contributing creatively than just one. If it’s just one person that’s great, but this is a solo effort, not a band.”

Your approach to music inevitably looks to the past and the bands that were classics in the genre, but once you play you can hear fresher, more modern influences. How do you balance these two aspects of your sound without one of them taking over?
“(Alasdair) The classics are the ones that influenced us when we first started out as musicians, so bands like Black Sabbath, Motörhead, Thin Lizzy and Iron Maiden are fundamental to our musical DNA. But when you listen to more diverse music and new bands come along, you can’t help but evolve your musical point of view. We’ve never had a conscious approach of “this is what a Cortez song should sound like”, we just find the riffs we like and turn them into songs we like. And while we love classic rock, it’s not the only genre we listen to, and I think that’s where the more modern influences come in. In terms of the sounds the band uses, we don’t approach the recording or the performance from a pure vintage point of view. The guitar amps are mostly Orange and Matamp, which is a pretty classic sound, but there are a lot of pedals to add color to the parts.”
“(Scott) It’s honestly not something we think about a lot. We try to write songs that we enjoy playing and just let things happen naturally. We tend to spend a lot of time arranging and perfecting the songs, because we’re our own worst critics. We try to draw from all our collective influences and create something that ultimately feels purely “us.” As far as production and tone, we’re not a retro band even though we have a lot of influences that could be considered that, so we prefer to use more modern sounds.”

How do you approach the heavy riffing and powerful vocals that define your sound?
“(Scott) I think I speak for all of us when I say that we are all huge fans of guitar heavy music, whether it’s Black Sabbath, Bad Brains, My Bloody Valentine or Entombed. In terms of approach, Alasdair or I usually have an idea that we bring to the rest of the band. After a certain amount of time, we come up with a finished arrangement. Matt starts with vocal ideas early in the process. We’ve always preferred to have melodic vocals in our music, and that creates a good mix. Dark and light, hard and soft, loud and quiet.”
“(Matt) As a band we try to find ways for everyone to shine, but also focus on the fact that every single part and structure has to serve the song. We spend a lot of time on the arrangements, and it’s a very collaborative process where we work on every idea that comes to mind and the end result never feels like a compromise.”
“(Alasdair) Riffs are the starting point for most of our songs. Scott or I bring riff ideas to the band and through jamming and adding/removing/changing parts that’s how the songs take shape. Matt adds vocal melodies during the writing process, but they’re a reaction to the riffs that start the process.”

How was it working with producer Benny Grotto again at Mad Oak Studio?
“(Matt) We’ve worked with Benny on three full lengths, our side of the split 7′ with our friends Borracho and our contribution to Ripple Music’s ‘Burn on the Bayou’ CCR tribute, ‘Gloomy’. At this point, Mad Oak feels like a second home to us and we’re really lucky to be working with someone who knows exactly what we’re trying to do, understands the creative vision of the band and whatever we’re working on and provides us with a lot of helpful and creative input along the way. Benny is a true master of his craft and always manages to get the best sound out of us as individuals and as a collective. He’s also a ton of fucking fun, a really solid guy and makes every session a blast.”
“(Alasdair) This is the third album we’ve done with Benny and the relationship has gotten to a point where we know he’s going to get the best performances and sounds out of us. The trust and communication are effortless and he makes the recording process fun, with the end result always capturing what we’re aiming for as a band.”

Can you describe the creative vision behind the track ‘Gimme Danger (On My Stereo)’?
“(Alasdair) Musically it’s high energy rock and roll but with a bit of metal grit added to it. I think it’s one of those songs where the arrangement was more complex than it first appears because we’re switching between parts a lot but there’s a nice natural flow between the parts.”
“(Matt) This was one of the first songs we wrote once the COVID lockdown in the US had eased. If I remember correctly, Alasdair brought a killer riff and it didn’t take long to nail the rest of the song and the arrangement. It felt like it was the lead track from the start and had a, and I mean this in the best way possible, ‘big idiot rock’ vibe and I wanted it to have a similar energy vocally. The lyrics have gone through several rewrites and reworkings, but I think it was always meant to be something along the lines of ‘dancing naked and stoned with the Stooges in the face of the end of time.’”

Another highlight is ‘Levels’. How does this track reflect the band’s musical growth?
“(Scott) ‘Levels’ is a song I worked on at home during lockdown at the start of the pandemic. It was my first experiment with writing a fully formed demo version. We usually get together in a rehearsal room with some ideas and work them out together. Because of the pandemic, we couldn’t do that. As far as musical growth, I think it’s just a natural progression of a certain part of our sound. From the beginning we’ve always had longer, more psychedelic, almost epic songs. This was just a natural evolution of those.”
“(Alasdair) With ‘Levels’ the word ‘anticipation’ comes to mind. The music starts off quite sparse and builds for over three minutes before the full band comes in with the first heavy riff. I think growth is realizing that if you wait and build the tension, when the heavy riff finally comes in it’s much more powerful.”

What do you want listeners to feel when they hear ‘No Heroes’?
“(Matt) A mixture of anger, frustration and hope for a better world.”
“(Alasdair) I think with every song we write we want people to enjoy listening to it, to throw their horns in the air and bang their heads.”

You’re from Boston, which is a very vibrant city in terms of art. Do you think your background has influenced your sound in any way?
“(Scott) Musically, it’s influenced me a lot. Some of my favorite bands in a variety of genres are from Boston. As a band, I think we’re more influenced by the amount of incredibly talented bands and musicians that are in the city. You always have to step up your game, whether it’s writing, recording, or performing.”
“(Matt) We’re really lucky to be here. Between the bands that came before us and the bands that are around us now, I think this can be an incredibly vibrant place for the arts and music. It’s easy to be inspired by the hard-working people in other bands, in advocacy, in booking, in sound, and in club staff that make it all possible. As far as heavy music goes, we have a great scene full of incredibly creative people who are pushing their genres forward and who have put out some absolutely stellar records in the time I’ve been here.
There’s nothing more beautiful than watching from a hometown stage and seeing someone you admire having fun in a creative way, and I think this community does a really great job of supporting and celebrating each other.”

What are your favorite memories from the 18 years of being a band?
“(Scott) Going to play in Belgium in our first year as a band. We had a blast. Also some random nights in the rehearsal room when things are going great and you’re playing the best you’ve ever played in your life. Sharing that with five good friends is one of the greatest experiences you can have.”
“(Matt) My favorite memories are random…looking around the room and seeing everyone engaged and in the moment. It could be a show, a recording, a new song we’re working on, fine-tuning a set, or whatever…my favorite memories are somewhere in between.”
“(Alasdair) I really enjoyed recording our version of the CCR song ‘Gloomy’ for the Ripple Complication album ‘Burn On The Bayou’. We had two days in the studio with Benny to record the song and the main track came together quickly, so we had plenty of time to add more subtle background sounds, like organs and wind-up Halloween toys.”

How do you handle the challenges of being an underrated band in the heavy rock scene?
“(Alasdair) We focus on the music. It would be nice to tour internationally and make a living from our music, but the reason we play is because we like to get together as a band and play our music.”
“(Scott) We don’t worry too much about that kind of stuff. We try to manage the parts we can control. Write good songs, do our best on stage. Whatever will be, will be. If we’re underrated or a bit of a well-kept secret, so be it.”
“(Matt) Well, thanks for the compliment. When someone has little to no expectations of you, I think it’s maybe easier to provoke a ‘holy shit’ moment or two. We keep trying to make those moments happen, and we appreciate the people who follow us.”

What hobbies or interests do you have outside of music?
“(Alasdair) I’ve always loved horror films, like the Universal classics ‘The Wicker Man’, ‘An American Werewolf in London’, ‘Killer Klowns from Outerspace’, ‘The Exorcist’ and ‘The Shining’. I also enjoy reading, recent favourites include ‘The Indian Pond Trilogy’, ‘Cursed Tales’, ‘The Valancourt Book of World Horror Stories’ and Grady Hendrix books.”
“(Scott) Travelling, football (soccer), spending time with my wife and dog, beer.”
“(Matt) Travelling is the most important thing to me. Even if it’s just a short drive somewhere, I always come away feeling more alive and more connected to the world around me.”
“(Kyle) I’m a sound engineer by trade, so I love anything to do with sound. I’m also an electronics enthusiast, so I enjoy working on my car and doing little upgrades (when it’s not broken). I bought a motorcycle last spring, and it’s been a blast to ride and learn how to work on.”

Can you share any memorable experiences you’ve had on tour or in concert?
“(Alasdair) At the end of 2019 we had the opportunity to go to Las Vegas to support John Garcia’s band, which was a great experience. Watching him and his band soundcheck Kyuss classics was very special and it was a lot of fun playing for his audience.”
“(Jay) One time we were on the road with We’re All Gonna Die (Boston) and Solenoid (Belgium). We were in Washington DC and we got too close to the Capital Building with two vans and a trailer. The next thing we knew we were surrounded by heavily armed police officers. They took one look at the vans and realized we weren’t terrorists but a bunch of rockers trying to get to a show. After a few minor heart attacks, they told us we couldn’t drive through that area with our trucks and redirected us in the right direction.”
“We were playing another show in Connecticut and they had a huge banner in front of the stage promoting the venue. In the middle of our second song, I looked up and saw that someone had written ‘Don’t Suck’ on the back of the banner. We didn’t suck that night, but I always thought it was funny. The best part of touring and playing shows is being on the road. Meeting new bands. Reconnecting with old bands we’ve played with in the past.”
“(Kyle) One of the most fun shows I’ve had on tour was in Columbia, MO, a small college town with not much to do. We’ve played a lot bigger cities on this tour, but this one was off the rails. It was packed, there was a huge circle pit at one point, I think we sold $300 worth of merch, they were going crazy. Small college towns, man. Those kids are hungry for entertainment.”

What advice would you give to aspiring musicians trying to break into the heavy rock genre?
“(Alasdair) I think just being authentic goes a long way. If you try to follow a trend or jump on a bandwagon chances are there will be a different new thing along before you make it. Play music for yourselves first and foremost, and enjoy it.”
“(Matt) Be loud, get weird with it, and then keep getting louder and weirder and weirder and louder.”
“(Jay) I think any advice I would give to up-and-coming bands would be to practice hard. Write songs that come naturally to you not songs that you think people want to hear. Play any and every show you can and try to develop friendships with those bands. Those friendships lead to other shows and opportunities. Make sure you’re in a band with people you get along with. It’s really hard when you don’t. Lastly, do it because you love it.”
“(Kyle) Three things, and there’s no way around any of them. You have to be a badass at your instrument. Period. Do your homework and practice. Then, put yourself out there. If you’re new to a city, make yourself known to the local scene. Go to shows, make friends who work at clubs or play in bands, become a recognizable face. No one gets caught shredding in their basement. Lastly, don’t be an asshole. It seems obvious, but there are a lot of egos out there. Be the coolest, friendliest version of yourself. If you stick to those three things, it won’t be long before someone contacts you for a project. Spend a lot of time writing. Play like you mean it.”

In closing, how would you like your legacy to be remembered in the heavy rock community?
“(Alasdair) I hope people appreciate the songs as complete musical expressions. Even though the riffs are the focus, I like to think we turn them into hit songs with strong vocals and melodies.”
“(Scott) I would like us to be remembered collectively as a band that had good songs, put on an incredible show and were made up of solid dudes.”
“(Matt) I hope they remember us as a band that constantly evolved and defied expectations.”