We Are Space Horses On the Making Of ‘Apologia’
What was the creative process like for this particular 'Apologia?'
‘Apologia’ came together through collaboration between Kevin and Gabbi. Some songs started with a lot of jamming. Either together, or separately with friends and we would bring the best ideas forward and hash them out as a band. Other more fleshed out songs (Ketoacidosis, God is a Ghost, To Let Go) came directly from Kevin and were more ready to go and tweaked as a group to accommodate the 3-piece band arrangement. Other songs started with finding fun sounds and writing little riffs and parts until they turn into something more substantial. Lyrics came from multiple sources. The final song arrangements were laid out by Kevin, but the process was very collaborative.
Were there any memorable or standout moments during the recording sessions for 'Apologia?'
The drums were recorded 4 times for the album! The drums were originally recorded by our old drummer, and the other instruments were recorded to that performance. However, we weren’t happy with the drum sound and performance, and we wanted our current drummer on the record after we moved to Boston. The second recording was with our current drummer in the Pennsylvania studio where we recorded the other instruments, but there were production issues, and the tracks weren’t usable. Third time we tried to record it ourselves in our practice space, but the sound of the small practice room didn’t mesh sonically with the guitar and bass recordings. The fourth time we rented a big room and mics from Guitar Center, and our drummer banged out the album in a day (he was very practiced at this point since it was his 3rd attempt). Recording drums to other instruments that were recorded to a different drummer with a different feel is very difficult, and not a recommended way to record an album! But having had multiple tries, we’re very happy with the final drum performance.
How do you feel 'Apologia' represents your artistic identity?
It represents it pretty well we’d say. There is a lot of variety and different emotions expressed in the tracks that we feel represent who we are as people and what we’ve been through. We take influence from many different genres of music as the 3 of us actually have a fairly different taste in music, which was what I think is responsible for the varied sound and moods of the album. But it came together as something we all are proud of and represents us as a group. ‘Apologia’ means a justification of one’s conduct, and lyrically this album really ran the gambit and touched on different topics related directly to our lives and personal identities.
Where do you find inspiration for your songs or musical ideas?
All 3 of us are music lovers and students of music in some way. But we also draw a lot of inspiration from life itself as the ups and downs of daily life play a huge part in our writing. The 3 of us use music as an emotional outlet, as a sort of escapism from daily life. For some of us in the band, it’s harder to write when life is going well compared to when we’re going through a depressive episode or when we’re going through something that is difficult to process. Good ideas can come about when music is used to shut out the outside world. This might explain the bummer vibe of our songs, it’s not really fun Friday night party music :p.
How do you continuously grow and evolve as a band?
All of us try to expand our musical horizons and listen to music we haven’t heard before. This gets incorporated into our own music either consciously or subconsciously. However, we strive not to sound like our influences but to instead borrow their overarching ideas and philosophies. We hope that as time goes on, new influences will continue to expand into new ideas.