Barisal Guns release long awaited debut album at HOB

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By Jason Andreasen

“We’re expecting it to be kind of a breaking point. That’s when people will be able to say that’s when it took off,” explained Barisal Guns bassist Liam Catchings, only days before the local band was to take to the stage of The House Blues’ The Parish to unleash their debut album, the self-produced, No. 1.

On Saturday, Aug. 16, the band finally released No. 1 to their fans after months of recording, mixing and mastering the album’s 11 tracks at the famed Studio in the Country (which has recorded the likes of Stevie Wonder, Trent Reznor and Willie Nelson). While appeasing their fans with plenty of local shows, the band (which lead vocalist Ben Catchings admits is democratic to a fault) has been working tirelessly to perfect the album by ironing out kinks and accessorizing it with hints of nuance.

“The creative process does not end with the last note that you play on the album,” explained Liam Catchings. “[Creativity] is very much involved in the studio and actually working at turning knobs, creating a sound palette out of something.”

Having pushed what they call “all the good buttons,” Barisal Guns will return to one of their old stomping grounds, North Gate Tavern, for a local CD release party on Saturday, Aug. 23. That will be the first chance, for those who couldn’t make it to the HOB show, to get their hands on the elaborately packaged debut release.

“Now, we’re starting to see the fruits of a lot of our labors. We’ve got this CD release party, some high-profile shows this fall and our own line of merchandise. We want to use [the CD release party] as a gateway into more high-profile gigs,” said guitarist Ken Faucheux.

While the quintet recognizes that part of being a functional, viable rock band means honing their business acumen, they are very much aware that the music is paramount. Even while finishing No. 1, the band was crafting new material, never resting on their laurels. The band’s focus at the moment, however, is squarely on bringing that album to every pair of ears that will let them in. The question is: What will they hear?

According to guitarist Marc Cenac, “It’s really layered. It’s something you should listen to more than once. You’re gonna hear different things and if you’re in different states of inebriation, you’ll hear other things.”

Faucheux added, “When we first recorded it, the bare tracks, it was very raw and skeletal. In recording a lot of the tracks on the album, we wanted to achieve movement. It was very much the kitchen sink idea; there was nothing that was off limits. We’re looking forward to exposing it to people that have heard us before and to people who haven’t. Everybody’s gonna get something new.”

No. 1 has a number of standout tracks that showcase the band’s aptitude for both the craft of songwriting and experimentation. Tracks such as the ethereal and acoustically tinged “Trip Through the Hills” and the haunting “Stagelight” highlight the band’s ability to flirt and sleep with any number of musical styles.

“I would point to ‘Postal’ as experimentation gone right,” explained Faucheux. “After the second chorus, it begins this kind of psychedelic section of the song and the sounds are coming at you from all over the place. There’s everything from theremins and synthesizers to guitars recorded in closets. Then, all of the sudden, chaos breaks down into something much more structured. It was a victorious moment for us to have this abstract idea that doesn’t have a lot of structure be expressed in a way that came out with some structure.”

Another glorious example of the band’s foray into experimentation on the album was “Son of Kong,” a nearly six-minute John Bonham-inspired drum thumping. Often one of many climaxes during a Barisal Guns live set, the adrenaline of the song was accurately corralled on the album, though drummer Ashley Sutton admits it was a multiple-take labor of love.

“The first take was 22 minutes long,” he explained. “I go into it the same way all the time but sometimes I’ll pull something out of my ass.”

The album as a whole demonstrates a definite affinity for blues-based rock and the ability to bring something new to the deep well they draw from. While the band has heard plenty of comparisons to classic rock bands of yesteryear, they aren’t intimidated or put off by them. In fact, they embrace them.

“I once read something Branford Marsalis said speaking about jazz that goes the same for rock music. He said, ‘I think the most innovation is gonna come out of tradition rather than going against it,’” Faucheux paraphrased. “That goes with what we’re trying to do. We’re trying to take a tradition that we make no bones about playing into and evolve out of that ... and create something new that way.”

“There’s a reason they call it classic rock,” added Ben Catchings. “It’s timeless. You can listen to something nowadays somebody makes and it’s gone in a week or a month but, if you turn on the radio you still hear The Beatles, The Allman Brothers, everything like that.”

Faucheux chimed back in, “People talk about classic rock as this monolithic idea. There’s extreme diversity there. If there’s anything that we get from classic rock, it’s variety, and I think that’s something that you see on our album. That’s us, just stretching out, trying to find out who we are in that tradition.”

Cenac concluded the interview by saying, “It’s best just to listen to it and see what you think.”

If you’d like to get a taste of the album, your best bet is to call into KLSU and request it or venture out to North Gate Tavern on Saturday and give a listen to what might just be one of this year’s best local albums.

Originally Published: Issue 701 - August 19, 2008

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