Hey! First of all, for those who may not be familiar with your band - what is ABRASIVE TREES all about?
Hi! Matthew here.
We’re an experimental-rock band with definite post-rock and post-punk influences. Our aim is to create music that expresses feelings such as hope (within darkness) and inspiration through layers of sound - sometimes clean and ambient, sometimes more ferocious and distorted.
What can you tell us about ABRASIVE TREES’ latest album, Light Remaining?
Well, it starts with a track about moving on after a series of gritty events, then expands into a cleaner instrumental that also gets a bit heavy. The music then gets more psychedelic before becoming more inwardly focussed and slow when we contemplate our own impermanence. Then there’s a song about how fractured things can feel before we go on a very long odyssey which ends up in a fairly doomy musical space.
Overall the album is about finding beauty within the gnarly aspects of personal experience.
When can your fans expect to hear new music after Light Remaining? Is there any info on a new album in the works?
We’re always creating and have started work on the next album. We also have an unreleased dark ambient album which is likely to come out at the end of this year. I think any kind of follow-up to Light Remaining is unlikely to come out until the end of 2027 at the earliest.
Have you received enough positive feedback on the album so far?
Yes, some friends who are also musicians have said it’s the best thing we’ve ever done and some promoters who have heard it said it was excellent. It’s affirming to get this kind of response.
Light Remaining will be released via Argonauta Records. How would you describe your collaboration with them? Do you plan to continue working with Argonauta Records?
It’s funny how this came about. We’d actually decided to release the album ourselves - after pitching it at a LOT of labels I just gave up. After about two weeks, I then came across Gero’s label and decided to email him, not expecting anything. Luckily he wanted to release it, so we were very happy about that. So far, so good, so yes, we’d like to keep working with them.
You’ve been active for nearly 9 years - what keeps you motivated to continue making music?
Life. There’s always something to express. We’re all creative people so we can’t really stop.
How easy (or difficult) is it to play rock music and maintain a stable lineup in your part of the UK? Is it possible to make a living from album sales?
Things change, that’s reality. And I think I’m learning to be flexible. So far the ‘band’ version of the project has included quite a lot of gifted people, who are also friends. Our first drummer, Jerome, left after a couple of years, luckily Will was able to step in. Last year Ben, our cellist and bass player left to focus on his solo work, but that created an opportunity for Georgia to join on bass which has worked out perfectly. It feels pretty solid at the moment, and we’re working really well as a unit. This feels quite rare, so we’re in a really good place right now.
The place where we live, Totnes, is generally very supportive of creativity. So this really helps and practically means things like having a good venue to rehearse at (thank you, Barrel House) or people around, like Niall, who have production skills. There’s something of a ‘scene’ in this part of the world. It’s conducive to making music.
As to making a living, well it’s not really possible to make a full-time living from music. Many signed bands are also working full-time or part-time jobs. And that is our situation. We’re lucky in that we’re not losing money from recording and touring. Having music to sell on Bandcamp has been integral to the project and brought in a good amount of money to invest in the project. Live shows have also helped. We want to make it sustainable and worthwhile so we’re pleased to say at present it’s all do-able and incrementally improving all the time. Pre-sales for the album have been strong, it’s affirming. Bit by bit, step by step we’re increasing our audience and that means the band becomes more financially viable. But more importantly we’re just doing what we do, creating music that we love to play. From that everything else happens naturally.
How did you manage to establish a solid and permanent lineup?
I think it’s all about relationships - respecting each other in the good times and the more challenging times. That way things are open and things flow better, so communication is constructive. I think this is what makes us stronger.
If you had to introduce a new listener to ABRASIVE TREES, which song from Light Remaining would you choose and why?
Well, the opening track, No Solace means a lot to me personally. I think it expresses the illusory nature of the things we are promised will make us happy. I also love the final track, I Didn’t Mean To Hurt You - it’s how an album should end, IMHO.
Was there a specific band that made you say, “That’s it - I’m starting a rock band!”?
No, I don’t think so. When I was a teenager I saw Fields of The Nephilim play and that changed things for me. Before that I had seen a few heavy rock bands. I think I’ve always liked the darker sound and my earlier bands certainly displayed that. In recent years I’ve been lucky enough to become friends with some really quite wonderful musicians that have been successful, not just in terms of having a level of popularity, but also having a level of immovable creative integrity and this has been inspiring.
But I think basically I just wanted to express something through sound and being in a band or solo project is a vehicle to do that.
Any final words for the readers of Iron Backstage?
Enjoy your choice of music to the max, respect others and remember to be kind.
Thanks for your time!
Thank you for having me.
https://linktr.ee/AbrasiveTrees
