COMING TOGETHER AS A BAND IS NEVER EASY
A CONVERSATION WITH NEIL ARTHUR, LIAM HUTTON & FINLAY SHAKESPEARE OF THE REMAINDER
While The Remainder may be new, it consists of some New Wave/Electro veterans. The band consists of Blancmange’s Neil Arthur on guitar, keyboards and vocals, Boxed In’s Liam Hutton on drums, keyboards and guitar, as well as solo artist Finlay Shakespeare on synthesizers and vocals. Neil Arthur calls their sound “Organic Electro.
According to Neil Arthur, “I was introduced to Liam by my manager Steve [Malins], who suggested we could write together . . . remotely. We started exchanging files in 2015, slowly building up a body of work, between our commitments with other projects. Along the way Liam also became an honorary member of one of those projects — Blancmange — playing electronic drums on several tours. It was while planning for one of these tours that I met Finlay Shakespeare. In fact, Bernholz, who had previously supported Blancmange on tour, suggested Finlay to be a special guest on a forthcoming tour. So, as Liam and I were looking to finish off the collection of songs we’d got, we invited Finlay to add his input. I’m glad we did.”
Finlay Shakespeare added, “I remember Neil telling me about the project whilst supporting Blancmange on tour, and whether I could add some weird noises to a few tracks. When I got the first couple of songs to add to, ideas started rushing to mind, always the sign of a promising collaboration. I know Neil and Liam had been bouncing files between each other for quite some time before I was invited into the fold. From there on in, it was very much a case of exchanging files between the three of us, each of us adding to and tweaking the tracks. At one point, I think we realised “hang on, we have an album here, don’t we?”
But being apart can have its problems when it comes to writing new music. According to Arthur, the writing happened “in fits and starts, lots of short bursts of energy exchanging files, then a final push and added momentum when Finlay joined us.”
EVENSONG ALBUM REVIEW
But the band did come together for the mixing. Even at the mixing stage, some writing occurred. Shakespeare pointed out,
“We managed to mix the album with us all together in the same room – there are elements on tracks that got “written in” even at that stage. I think that was the first point we actually focused on material for The Remainder in person – everything had been done remotely up until that point.
Although The Remainder is a trio, there is an unofficial fourth member, who helped them out with their debut. Jo Hutton wrote and performed the beautiful interludes between the songs on the album. “It was actually Neil, our manager’s idea. I hadn’t planned on getting my mum involved but was very much up for it upon hearing the suggestion! All of the interludes are her own sonic art takes on the tracks which she composed using the original stems from each track.”
Coming together as a band is never easy, especially in getting your music released and heard. In the case of The Remainder, they have a further challenge of competing with their past successes. But Shakespeare is very clear that this is not a big issue for him or the band. The music they are doing is very different from their previous bands, and they have created something special and entirely new.
Said Shakespeare, “I really enjoy collaborating with others, and to work with people with as much energy for music as Neil and Liam have is excellent. I don’t think anything we’ve done as The Remainder treads on the toes of any of our other projects at all, and if working together means we can push each other’s boundaries a little, then that’s fantastic.”
Now that the album is complete and ready for release, The Remainder has sincere hopes for the album. Shakespeare is very happy with what the band has created and hopes that music fans will enjoy their work. “A bit of a surprise, perhaps. There’s certainly common ground between what the three of us have done previously, but working collaboratively has allowed us to share each other’s spaces too.”
Artist Links
SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: THE REMAINDER – EVENSONG
SPILL FEATURE: AN IDEA OF WHAT COLOUR SOUNDS LIKE – A CONVERSATION WITH FADER
SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: FADER – QUARTZ
SPILL FEATURE: IT’S FIVE TO FIVE AND TIME FOR CRACKERJACK! – A CONVERSATION WITH NEIL ARTHUR OF BLANCMANGE
