Feature: Birmingham Band Blue Nation Give Us A Track By Track For Their New EP ‘Echoes’

Birmingham blue rockers Blue Nation have released their new EP Echoes digitally today and are set to release it physically on the 24th of September. The band gave us a track by track for their new EP which is available on all good DSPs.

Background

When recording we were in a great state, we knew the songs had something that we haven’t previously hit with out writing. We knew we had to step it up and we did. The next main focus behind the new EP was who to record with and who could do pull what we had in our heads out!. We only had one way to do this and that was to work with Trevor Gibson at Circle Recording Studios. Trevor is one of the best in the music industry and my god we were nervous! Trevor has won a Grammy in 2015 created / acted in his film (“Scream For Me Sarajevo”) and to top it all off has done several TEDx event talks! He is also one of the nicest people we have ever met.

Songwriting has never been a chore to us and we have never got writer block. We never force a song, if it is not working you just leave it and come back to it when it is ready. The songs kind of have a way of turning up at the right time. If you force the song it will be a poor versions of what your vision was. During preproduction was probably one of the hardest times for us. We have never done pre production before recording and Trev really put us through our paces. He wanted to make sure we took the songs to that next level. We never fell our or even got close to having an argument to be honest. It isn’t what we are about, we speak honestly with each other and listen to what we have to say. It also helps that our manager keeps us on the straight and narrow and Trev has a beautiful way of looking at songs and getting you to see what needs to change without actually telling you! He lets you get there!

The influences range from The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Cream, The Who, The Small Faces, Pink Floyd. You name any incredible band over the last 50 years we have taken inspiration from them to put into this record. The part in Come Back Home that leads into the end chorus (the ooooo bit) was us trying to create a Beatles type vibe. Same with the harmonies on Come Back Home, we wanted that Beatles gloss on it and Trev delivered.

We had no real difficulties with the EP to be honest, we run our own record label so it was more about working out when to release, how to plan the PR around the record and how we get everyone’s attention. The biggest thing we try to achieve is, “Can we make this song bigger than the last.” Looking at the reaction from the audience and the streaming numbers we have achieved that which is incredible.

All of our songs are about real life situations or what we have experienced individually or as a band.

I Feel Low

“I Feel Low” was written in a week at most. Luke is a riff machine and will send ideas constantly which land all the time. The I Feel Low riff was the basis of the song and from that we used the Jimi Hendrix chord to start it off. Lyrically the song is about a friend of mine that crossed the line with not only me but that band. The song is the conversations we had together before eventually a breakdown of the friendship. We recorded I Feel Low first with Trevor as it was the one we knew the most and could warm up with in the recording studio. We used every amp know to man on this one including some overdubs with a Kemper.

Come Back Home

The meaning of the sonf is about a friend of mine. He was in the final days of his current relationship when the small niggling arguments become full blown angry exchanges. In reality the decision to be apart is an obvious one but the toughest choice to make!He did eventually make the decision and now he is in a much happier, healthier place. The vocals took the longest I think on this track as we have so many layers to it. Luke and I were adding oooohhhs and aaaahhhh all over the place to make sure we got the right amount of vibe on the track!

Echoes

This song is the special one. As soon as I wrote this I knew that it had some potential to get to the right audience. It took about 10/15 min to write out in full. It dropped totally from the sky for me into my tiny mind. When I took it to the lads we refined it but it was still a little too long. Roll onto Pre Production and Trev really helped us change up the song so it pulled out all the best parts and it then really took shape. I can’t (and won’t) tell you Trevors process as it is unique to him. If you want to find out you will need to record with him. We thought this one was going to be the toughest one to record as we had such high expectations for it but in all honesty it was a dream. Once we nailed it within pre production everything else fell into place. I used my Gibson Goldtop on the song to give it that warmth and Luke used his Lakland bass which is a beast of tone! “Echoes” turned out much better than any of us could imagined. The sound, the emotion, all of it was just spot on. We really couldn’t have done this with the guiding hand of Trevor though. He really did help us to bring our song to life.

The Reason

“The Reason” was all of us in our studio working the parts out from something we messed about with during sound-checks. This was the toughest one to record and pull together as it was the newest one we had written before going into the studio. If I remember we actually started with the riff and by the end of the song it had started so high but fallen away. When we sat with Trev we worked out that it needed changing and that is the result you hear. Probably the most unique thing about this song is that it has a clock on it! We actually recorded a ticking clock and the mic was up so loud you could hear me breathing and my heart beating. I won’t tell you where on the track it is but it is in there! Luke also plays the xylophone on this as well. Although he wanted to hide sonic the hedgehog theme music in the track as well! That isn’t in there. The meaning behind The Reason is pretty complicated as it is a story from 2 sides of a story of a couple. If you speak to one person they tell a very different story to the other person. It’s a conversation between them which never matches up but both believe they are right all the time. The line “I will be your greatest mistake, you make all the time” is the only area in which they agree.

In regards to the whole EP when deciding on what to record it was a no brainer, these four tracks stood together and told a story about Loss, Love and belonging to something

Check out the band’s track ‘I Feel Low’, below: