Morning Metal: Interview with Where Giants Once Stood
Guys, thank you for joining me!
Let’s start easy – who is Where Giants Once Stood?
Austin – Where Giants Once Stood is comprised of four members at this time. Jordan Turnbull on lead guitar and vocals, Scott Major on rhythm guitar and vocals, Austin Hamilton on drums, and Reshaun Page on lead vocals. We officially launched in March of 2013 and shortly after released our first EP entitled The Changing. We hit the road on the day of our E.P’s release which took us all the way out to northern Halifax. After our second tour, we wrote our second EP we called Live Above which was released in September of 2014. Both CD’s have managed to break top 3 on the iTunes metal charts.
If you guys had to have a message with your music, what would it be?
Jordan – We write what we feel. Both records are unique from one another in their content, but the one constant theme with us is basic; be yourself. Letting someone or something dictate how you live will end in a sad death, hence our lyrics in living in security “We all die alone”. Do what you want and die happy.
Tell us about Live Above.
Jordan – Live Above came from a happier place than The Changing. We were all in better mindsets and areas in our lives. We had done a few tours together and had started to come together as brothers, not just a band. Live Above is our best shot so far at what we can achieve as a band, it’s a nice snapshot, but we plan to blow it away when we release new material.
How was the recording process?
Scott – The writing process for our latest E.P. ‘Live Above’ began in mid 2013. Some songs took longer to write than others, but by the end of the year we had 4 tracks solidified and ready to bring to the studio. The recording process was done over a couple months, due to schedule conflicts and jobs.
Who’d you record with?
Scott – In January of 2014 we entered Woodward Studios in Hamilton, Ontario, where we worked with producer Jon Howard of Threat Signal. Working with Jon was a great experience for us because we’ve all respected him as a musician and a producer for years. Once we had all the material tracked and edited, we sent it to Jordan Valeriote (Sundown Studios) for mixing. Jordan had the mix sounding great in no time at all, so we then sent the tracks to Troy Glesner (Spectre Studios) for the mastering process. We had worked with Troy in the past and were very happy with his work, so we didn’t hesitate at all to work with him again.
We highly recommend working with all of these people, as they are great guys and were able to prepare us a product that we are truly happy with.
Tell us about your endorsements with Ernie Ball and Music Man – how have they been with you guys?
Jordan – Getting an endorsement is probably one of the best things we have achieved so far. I grew up reading Guitar World and looking at all the famous players with their cool guitars and signature gear. Mind you, we are not even near that level, but even to be considered as a small part of the family with such an amazing company is more than we could ask for. They have been very generous and helpful so far, we cannot thank them enough.
Does Where Giants Once Stood have any upcoming shows that we need to check out?
Austin – We don’t have too many plans for upcoming shows just yet, we’re still in the planning stage.
What are the plans for the New Year? *crosses fingers* New music?
Reshaun – We will be doing a new cover, recording and releasing it just like our last Sum 41 cover. We are discussing some new material as well, but not likely another album just yet.
Any shout outs to fans, promoters, etc?
Reshaun – We would like to say a big thank you to any promoter that has taken a chance booking us on all three of our tours, There are so many people and we don’t want to leave anyone out, you know who you are. And of course the fans/friends/family in any and every city/town we have played so far, we do not get to do anything without an audience, big or small, to make the night a blast and possibly help us get to the next town. Thank you to everyone who has bought any merch or both/either albums, it truly means the world to us.
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Pick up a copy of Live Above here!
Where Giants Once Stood will be featured as Morning Metal‘s Artist of the Week as of December 29th, 2014. Tune in on CKCU 93.1 FM at 2:00 am on Wednesday morning to hear Live Above in full! You can also stream our shows here.
James Rockso – Host of CKCU 93.1 FM’s Morning Metal & Music Publicist at Dark Matter Relations