Question: How do you know when you’ve pushed something as close to perfection as you possibly can?
How do you truly know when it’s time to stop learning, digging, exploring and developing before you lose the original essence of what you wanted to achieve?
Deep, right?
Welcome to the mind-set of The Glitch Mob… Three artists who pose those very questions to themselves – on the regular – at an extraordinary level; especially during the process of writing their new album Love Death & Immortality. To the point they cancelled an entire tour as they knew – deep down – that they still hadn’t pushed quite enough…
It had to be the best it could possibly be.
“In September 2011 we moved to the Joshua Tree dessert and worked solely on the album. It was a two year process and when we thought it was done we knew something wasn’t sitting right,” explains Josh, a man known more favourably amongst the TGM fan throng as Ooah. “We went back to scratch, learned some new tricks, got even more new tools and took the time to make sure it was as good as it could be.”
“Some people think three of us means it’s faster to work. Not so…” laughs Justin Boreta. “But we all have to be happy with it. We all have to be satisfied with every element so we push and push until we all feel right. It was a process of inching forward with every track. It had to be the best it could possibly be. We had a full tour booked for autumn 2013, all confirmed and secured, but we cancelled because we didn’t feel it was right.”
Listen to the album and you’ll know their pursuit of perfection has paid off. Written entirely with the live environment in mind, the band describe the album as something “larger than life” – something which had to be suggested in the title. Naturally the title was born with the same incredible levels of attention to detail as the music itself… To the point they explored ancient Samurai texts.
“The title was just as important as the sounds themselves,” explains Josh. “We were fully immersed in the project for the whole time. The title resonates on a much broader scale. Everyone’s had love, everyone’s had death and immortality which is the mystical element… the unknown. The scary thing; which is intriguing and amazing.”
Intriguing and amazing… Just like their current live performance plans. As you’d expect from a band who immersed the last two years into every single minutiae of their album, the live process is equally insanely developed.
We knew we wanted to do this – the power of a dance show but the drama of a rock show.
“Right now we’re taking all the songs and working out who’s playing which element,” explains Justin. “We’ve got eight people working on the live performance system which incorporates 25 controllers, four computers and all this crazy shit! It’s a mesh of insanity! We knew we wanted to do this – the power of a dance show but the drama of a rock show. Everything is split out into separate tracks like a traditional band – kicks, sub bass, snares and everything.”
And with the album out and smashing the Billboard Top 20, we know this tour won’t be cancelled!
Catch The Glitch Mob near you…
3/11 – State Theatre – Portland, ME
3/12 – House Of Blues – Boston, MA
3/14 – Electric Factory – Philadelphia, PA
3/15 – The FIllmore – Silver Springs, MD
3/17 – Orange Peel – Asheville, NC
3/18 – Marathon Music Works – Nashville, TN
3/19 – Minglewood Hall – Memphis, TN
3/20 – Tabernacle – Atlanta, GA
3/21-3/22 – BUKU Music + Art Project – New Orleans, LA
3/24 – House of Blues – Dallas, TX
3/25 – Emo’s – Austin, TX
3/28-3/30 – Miami, FL @ Ultra Music Festival
4/11-4/13 – Indio, CA @ Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival
/18-4/20 – Indio, CA@ Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival
4/25/14 – Fillmore Auditorium – Denver, CO
4/26/14 – Fillmore Auditorium – Denver, CO
4/28/14 – The Complex – Salt Lake City, UT
4/29/14 – Knitting Factory Concert House – Boise, ID
5/1/14 – Commodore Ballroom – Vancouver, BC
5/2/14 – Roseland Theater – Portland, OR
5/3/14 – Showbox at the Market – Seattle, WA
5/4 The Showbox at the Market – Seattle, WA * new!
5/6 McDonald Theatre – Eugene, OR * new!
5/7 The Knitting Factory – Reno, NV *new!
5/9/14 – The Warfield – San Francisco, CA
5/19/14 – Flex – Vienna, Austria
5/20/14 – Komplex Club – Zurich, Switzerland
5/21/14 – Centralstation Halle EG – Darmstadt, Germany
5/22/14 – Uebel & Gefarhrlich – Hamburg, Germany
5/23/14 – Gretchen Club – Berlin, Germany
5/24/14 – Festival Weekend Des Curiosites – Toulouse, France
5/26/14 – Roxy – Prague, Czech Republic
5/27/14 – Vaartkapoen – Brussels, Belgium
5/28/14 – La Machine – Paris, France
5/30/14 – The Forum – London, England
6/6-6/8 – New York, NY @ Governor’s Ball NYC Music Festival
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