Your album 'Operate The Light Chain' is out now. How as the album been received so far?
I don't know, no one really listens to us. I can see where we are shazamed though, and we are usually shazamed in war torn countries.
What was the inspiration behind its name, 'Operate The Light Chain'?
The album was called 'Serfbored' for the longest time, but it lacked that magical quality, you know? It just had no bite to it, all the consonants in it are very soft. But this album is more than soft, it's also hard. I was eating breakfast one morning and saw a box of Christmas lights, and on the box was something near enough to 'Operate the Light Chain'. That as a phrase seemed appealing, so the album name was immediately changed to that.
Is there a general overarching theme running through the songs, what can new listeners to Transmissions expect from the album?
We at Transmissions are all dirty reactionaries, this album is very much a reaction to our first album. It's written from a totally different headspace. I like to imagine this album kicks down the front door of our first album, takes a huge piss on its laminate flooring then sets it on fire.
There's not really an overarching theme, other than maybe joy and sardonicism.
Do you have a favourite song from it, or perhaps you one that you are most proud of?
I can't speak for the others, but I like 'Mermaid'. I think it rocks. I like to think Peter Gabriel could have written this song if he was a senile old man in the back of a coastal tavern in the 1700s.
What or who if anything inspired the writing of the songs?
Probably Seamus.
You're from Liverpool - how does it feel to come from such a famous musical city and what do you think you add to that heritage?
We're not really from Liverpool, we just formed there. So it doesn't really feel like anything. Dan is from Birkenhead. If anything we take away from the heritage. The more music we do, the more the Beatles' legacy gets tarnished. And those other bands, those other bands from Liverpool.
What can readers expect from Transmissions in 2024?
I don't know yet. This is a weird point where we don't really have much new music ready. We're just about to start recording the lead guitarist Dom's second solo album in an abandoned radio station, which is very exciting. Matt is gathering an album of songs he wrote for a Transmissions album, but he's taking his sweet time with that. No rush though, you can't hurry love.
I know the direction we're going to go in for the third album, but with the Transmissions tree having so many limbs, it may take a while to get there yet. That's fine. It's nice to take a break, even if I don't feel like I've earned it. I'm just reading Lord of the Rings at the moment.
It would be very easy to put out nothing in 2024, but we're not going to. There's this one song we have that we're going to take into the studio which I think will be our sell-out hit. We have some b-sides from the last album that are too nice to throw into the dumpster just yet, so we'll put them on an EP with that new single we're going to record.
I think EPs are kind of the worst thing ever, but I think we've proved ourself with 2 albums and 30 songs, so we shall drip feed the masses with EPs over the year. I have ideas for about 3 or 4, one of them being a split EP with Henry Walters, who is an amazing musician and friend of mine.
I want to get a proper producer and studio time for the third album, but that all remains to be seen.
Add comment
Comments