Interview with Jono Bacon Guitarist and Founder of Baron Carta
By Mick Michaels
Cosmick View: Hello, Jono! Welcome to The Cosmick View. Thanks for taking some time out of your day to speak with us. It's greatly appreciated.
Jono Bacon: Thanks so much, we really appreciate you covering Baron Carta!
CV: What's the dynamic like working on a project, with the level of
artistic talent involved, such as Baron Carta? Is there a certain
amount of awe and excitement for you where you have to pinch yourself to know
it’s really happening?
JB: It is pretty incredible. When I started putting together the
different pieces of Baron Carta, I always planned on singing and playing the
drums myself…like a solo project. I then came to the realization that the music
I heard in my head demanded much more in the vocals and drums department than I
could provide.
I originally got connected to Ralf when I booked some singing lessons with him, and I couldn’t believe that I was going to get on a Skype call with him. I had been a fan of his since 1999. From there we started to become friends and when I asked him if he would be interested in singing in Baron Carta I was blown away when he said yes.
While I didn’t know Morten, Ralf introduced me to Jacob Hansen who mixed our first two records and he introduced me to Morten. I knew exactly what I wanted when it comes to drums for Baron Carta, and for me it wasn’t all technicality, but it needed real…feel and emotion. Morton blew me away with his sense of how to apply the right amount of technique and power to the songs.
This has resulted in an amazing dynamic…Ralf and Morton are remarkable, skilled musicians and this has expanded the creative canvas enormously than if it was just performing everything.
What’s more they are true professionals. To be honest, I was a bit nervous for the first record because I knew how talented they were, but I wasn’t sure if it would fit what I was envisioning Baron Carta to be. Those nerves were completely unwarranted and their performances were just perfect. They are masters of their craft.
CV: Coming from a writing and software background, how
has that experience enhanced, or even altered, your overall perspective of the
world of music? Has it been an asset in your opinion?
JB: Great question…it has kind of been a blessing and a curse.
I have a bit of a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde side of my personality. On one hand I am very structured…very data driven…and like to manage projects and expectations carefully. On the other hand, I am very creative and hate too much structure and rigor. I bloody hate lists.
Musically this can be challenging. For many years I wrote pretty predictable music: the structured part of my brain wrote music like a programmer writes code…organized, predictable, and safe. This annoyed the hell out of me because I wanted to write music that was different and exciting.
For some weird reason that changed with Baron Carta. I just decided I didn’t give a crap about that any more. I think for too long I was trying to make a business case for music - how do I make money to support the band? How do we make great music with a commercial mind? When I decided to just make art for the sake of making art, all the creativity came flooding back…and in some unexpected ways.
For example, one thing people often say is that many of our songs don’t have the verse/chorus structure, and I think this is a good example of how my writing has changed: when I write now, if I hear in my head what comes next logically in a song, I throw it away. I tell myself…”this is the programmer writing code”, and I find that throwing away my intuition makes for much more exciting music.
Where my background in writing and tech has certainly helped though has been on the marketing side. There is a huge opportunity to make an impact online, but it requires careful consideration, data, and prioritization, and I think this has helped.
CV: What do you see as the biggest difference between working on music
for an album or EP compared to working on software development? How different
is the mindset?
JB: They are totally different.
Software ultimately has to have utility. It has to do something that people will find useful. It also has to be maintained and updated or it becomes a relic that no-one cares about.
What I love about music is that none of that matters. Music is pure art…it just has to be appreciated by at least one person: the person who creates the art.
If more than one person collaborates together on music…or more than one person likes it…that is great. This is why I love art in so many forms…music, photography, sculpture, food…it just needs to be interesting.
Also, music doesn’t rot and get old. Today I was listening to Chuck Berry - his music is 60 years old and still sounds awesome. I love this about music…it lives forever if just one person wants to listen to it.
The tricky thing is balance. Much as I love weird bands who push the
envelope on what music is and should be…I still like to write tunes. I like
songs to make sense…to have a narrative…and this is where I sometimes face the
internal struggle I mentioned earlier: to be ultimately creative but not
shackled by the temptations of predictable structure.
CV: What can listeners expect from the new EP, "Shards of Black?"
How has the Baron Carta legacy continued to develop? Any surprises on
the horizon?
JB: I think this new record is a genuine evolution of our music.
When we put out ‘Step Into The Plague’, it was a statement of what we were…thick, heavy, driving metal with ripping vocals. It painted four corners of a box we were quite happy to play in…and our second record, ‘In a Concrete Room’ colored in some more bits of that box.
‘Shards Of Black’ is a little different. I think it is a little more playful, a little more adventurous…but ultimately still exploring the style we love to play. It is also a record where we changed some elements of the mix and made the band a little more focused in the mid-range to bring out some of the guitars.
For me, Baron Carta has a very distinctive sound. I have been hearing this sound in my head for years but struggled to reproduce it. It isn’t just the music, but it is also the vocals, and the very specific tones in the guitars, the bass, and especially the toms.
This sound has the guitar tone of Death Walking Terror by Cannibal Corpse, the brooding of Nevermore, the energy and heavy metal sensibilities of Iron Maiden, the guitar breaks of Megadeth, the fun of Overkill, and vocals of Iron Maiden and Primal Fear. I feel like ‘Shards Of Black’ is where this sound that has been rattling around in my peanut-sized brain is finally starting to form and this makes me giddy with excitement.
Mark Mynett did an amazing job mixing and mastering this record and his attention to detail was remarkable. He made me explain what I heard in my head in great levels of detail and he managed to capture it so perfectly while also making me challenge my pre-conceived notions of what Baron Carta should sound like. What’s more, Jacob Hansen, who recorded Morten’s drums did a phenomenal job…his drum sound is the best in the business. Mark and Jacob are dream duo to work with.
CV: With so many artists opting not to release albums, have EP releases
become the new, modern standard in getting the music out there as opposed to
the full album model? Are EPs more digitally friendly to the artist in your opinion,
both creatively and financially?
JB: I am not sure what other bands are doing, but EPs make sense for
Baron Carta for a few reasons.
Firstly, I find it easier to write EPs than albums. Albums are a mammoth amount of work when you are writing most of the parts…and I found myself getting wrapped in circles in my own head in the songwriting process when I tried to write an album. Now, I think this would be different if Ralf, Morten and I were in the same room…but I have literally never met those guys…we have only ever collaborated online. I hope I get to meet them soon!
So, when I am stood in my home studio writing music, I find it much easier to focus on writing 5 killer tunes, rather than feeling the pressure to fill up an 11 or 12 track album.
I think too many bands are on a production timeline with a fixed deadline, and this is when they run the risk of creating filler tracks to just get the damn thing done. I am not willing to do that…the fans don’t deserve that…I would much rather be laser focused on 5 tracks where I can really devote the time and mental energy into making them the best they can be.
Secondly, I think there is a real benefit to shorter releases more often.
Most bands put out a record every 2 years or so and then they tour it. This means they get one bite of the publicity cherry every 2 years. I think this is a missed opportunity.
People consume art differently now. Youtubers put videos out every week, people subscribe to artists on Patreon and get content every week, Netflix pushes new content every week, people subscribe to newsletters and blogs and get content every week.
I think fans want more music more often, and as a band this gives us an opportunity to have another publicity push with every new record. We are releasing records about every 6 - 8 months now, and this means we get regular opportunities to push and promote out new music on a more regular basis.
For example, as I write this right now, we are in the middle of teasing ‘Shards Of Black’ and I can tell our fans are getting super-excited for this new record. This is awesome…waiting for new music from one of your fave bands is amazing…like when I was waiting for Senjusu from Iron Maiden. So my thinking is…why only do that every 2 years? That is nuts.
CV: The world has changed in so many ways over the last couple of years. The
pandemic has created new perspectives and alternative meanings for a lot of
people. What has changed for you that makes you look at the world more
differently now than before the pandemic?
JB: If I am being honest, not a huge amount has changed for me, but I
am kinda weird in this regard.
For a lot of people it meant working from home and getting used to a new online lifestyle. Well, I have worked from home for my entire career, and I kinda live online. :-)
CV: Many have said that the music industry was in need of a major change
even before the pandemic. Some feel things are no better now than they were
before and in other cases maybe worse. How do see the current climate of the
industry since the pandemic? Is a change needed?
JB: The pandemic was utterly devastating for the live music community.
Promoters, artists, roadies, electricians…they all suffered. The good news
though is that people will ALWAYS love the live experience and things will
bounce back.
The music industry definitely has challenges, and the major challenge is that the historic distribution mechanism has been killed. People used to buy tapes, CDs, and vinyl and that has largely been replaced with streaming. Now…this isn’t going to change…you can’t put the smoke back in the box…so we need to find new ways to make the business of music work.
However, I don’t subscribe to the view that Spotify and online streaming platforms are evil. There is a major benefit to them: every band has an opportunity to make a splash.
When I started playing in bands when I was 16, the only way to succeed was to get a record deal. A tiny number of people dictated the art we all got to see and hear.
Now that has changed…and anyone with a band, a CDBaby account and some energy can get seen and heard. I think this is awesome, and streaming enables much of that.
I am convinced that there is a new model out there to fund artists, and I just think we haven’t found it yet. There are some things people will always pay for: t-shirts and merch, live shows, personal/interactive experiences…we just need to weave a business model with a predictable flow of traffic and clear products people can buy. I am not convinced people will pay for either digital music or NFTs on masse…
CV: In addition to the new single, "Lethality," and the
upcoming EP, what more can fans expect to see coming from Baron Carta?
JB: I am really excited about the new songs on ‘Shards Of Black’. As
you say, ‘Lethality’ is our single and our music video, but we also have two
other videos coming out too - one is a music video and another is a lyric
video.
In addition to this we are getting the new record transcribed into musical notation and tablature. One dream I have is that musicians around the world record their own versions of the songs and put them online…and I would love to see people playing the songs in different styles, on different instruments, and more.
We are also focusing a lot on building a fanbase. We are a very new
band…we have only been around for just over a year, and this is our third
record. We want to find fans from all of over the world…and it has been amazing
to see just how far we have spread in our first year. This is what our fanbase
looks like own Spotify:
We want to keep this train rolling and do everything we can to not just bring more fans to Baron Carta…but to really build a community where everyone can get to know each other, become friends, and enjoy music together…no matter where you are in the world.
And finally…I just started writing the next record, and I always have some fun ideas I am excited to share.
CV: Thanks again Jono for taking the time to share with our
readers. We wish you all the best and continued success.
JB: Thanks so much…I really appreciate the awesome support and
featuring us. You rock!
Check out Baron
Carta at:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/baroncartaband
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/baroncarta/
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnpnceuI0BlVfIIMvZGyPyQ
Twitter: https://twitter.com/baroncarta
Like The Cosmick View on Facebook at:
The Cosmick Voice
Music, Talk & Nothing But Business
www.thecosmickvoice.com
www.anchor.fm/the-cosmick-voice
Spiritual Counseling and Sessions Available
www.pamelaaloia.com
 |
| The Cosmick Voice Music, Talk & Nothing But Business www.facebook.com/TheCosmickVoice |
Comments
Post a Comment