From its brooding passages to savage riffs, The Ocean’s Precambrian is a nuanced, intellectual album filled with progressive themes. Soon starting their U.S. tour, REAX sat down with The Ocean’s main architect Robin Staps to discuss.
REAX: With over 80 minutes of music spanning Precambrian’s two discs, you cover a lot of ground. What prompted you to such an epic undertaking?
Robin Stapps: We wanted to make an album that really captured all the contrasts of our sound. Our first album was very experimental, our last, more straight-forward rock. With Precambrian, we wanted to do it all. REAX: With a massive instrumentation (26 musicians), you must have hard time recreating the tracks live. How do you adapt?
RS: It’s not bad really. A laptop gives us click, plays samples, controls lighting and effects… all we have to do is play. But when it fails on us we’re fucked. REAX: On this record you also have many guests, including Nate Newton (Converge), and Caleb Scofield (Cave In). What’s it like having different people give input on your music?
RS: It’s great to have your favorite bands working with you. Of course, with so many guests, you need to have a coordinator. That means the individual freedom becomes somewhat limited.REAX: Where do you draw inspiration from?
RS: I grew up as a hardcore kid in the mid 90s, listening to Gorilla Biscuits, Judge, Rorschach, etc. I also always listen to eclectic music, from Jazz/Fusion, to Arab singers, and classical. I’ve been fascinated more by certain moods than genres, and a composer like Dvorjak creates atmospheres that are very similar to those created by Neurosis…
REAX: You’ve requested people take in the album as a whole. What are your feelings on an industry climate with more focus on the “hit single” than artistic vision?
RS: Fewer people buy physical albums these days; more and more just download songs. This is a direct result of sites like Myspace.com allowing but a glimpse of a band. I am a big fan of the kind of albums that you listen to from the beginning to the end. Precambrian is a praise of the album and a critique of Myspace-induced transience.REAX: I also noticed the album art was created by Martin Kvamme,( noted for his work on Mike Patton projects, including Maldoror). Did Kvamme play any part in exposing you to author Comte de Lautremont’s “Les Chants de Maldoror” that are quoted throughout the album?
RS: Funny, I didn’t even know that Martin worked on that! So no, Martin did not turn me onto Surrealism, it’s something I discovered when I read Breton’s manifestos for the first time at age 20. I came across the “Chants of Maldoror” and when I first read it I was thinking to myself, “this is the perfect metal novel." REAX: So one might assume the voice speaking to us may be that of Maldoror (Maldoror in the original text is a nihilistic character, in opposition to God’s works), or do the chants simply provide more of a brutal overtone?
RS: There is much room for interpretation about the connection between Maldoror and Precambrian. But Maldoror is certainly speaking, to us, to humanity, at various points throughout the album…REAX: Do you ever fear that such a positive audience response is threatening to the innate message of the album, or do you take it to be a sign of positive societal change?
RS: We got quite a few emails saying, “So, why is the Ediacaran period missing?”, etc… People have done some thinking, and that’s beautiful. It shows people are willing to discover and appreciate that we are trying to give them more than a handful of songs. Photo: Dennis Dolby You can find more about The Ocean at: www.myspace.com/theoceancollective
The Ocean on tour in Florida:
June 1 – The Backbooth, Orlando, FL w/ Kylesa, Lair of the Minotaur, Empyrean
June 2 – The Brass Mug, Tampa, FL w/ Kylesa, Lair of the Minotaur, Empyrean, Legions
June 3 – The Beta Bar, Tallahassee, FL w/ Kylesa, Lair of the Minotaur
