Russian Circles are already looking ahead to their next release, despite just having issued their latest album “Gnosis” this past August. In a recent interview with New Noise Magazine, guitarist Mike Sullivan spoke of what the band plan to do with some excess material they have leftover from the sessions from their eighth full-length outing.
Commenting on that, he offered:
“It feels good to finally have [‘Gnosis‘] out because it was recorded so long ago. When we handed in the record, we realized—with the vinyl delays, you had to request X amount of records to be released on X date, and we requested a single LP, and when we turned in the record, we had enough material for two LPs, not even realizing that we had written that much, or that it was that much over the requirement for just a single LP.
So we are sitting on a number of songs that were meant to be on the record. It’s funny; it could be a totally different record if we were to swap out some of the songs. So there is talk of doing an additional EP tethered to—kind of a companion piece to ‘Gnosis‘. But I think we’ll touch up some of the songs and maybe include another one or two, and there’s some other ideas.
We don’t want to make another full-on release, like, ‘This is where we’re going; this is the direction,’ because that’s not the case at all. We’re just thinking about being careful of how to display the music. I think ultimately that will see the light of day hopefully in the next year or so. This isn’t locked in stone, but hopefully that EP will come out soon.”
Previously in the conversation, Sullivan also spoke on how they try to limit their output to what they can pull off live:
“We try not to paint ourselves into a corner when we’re writing as far as, ‘Let’s add another line here,’ or, ‘I’ll do this crazy narrative guitar solo that’s non-repeating on top of this.’ That’s so tempting. I want to add so much to our songs, but when it comes to playing it live, it’s going to sound like crap. The crowd would be like, ‘The meat and potatoes are gone’ or, ‘Where’s the hook; where’s the top layer?’
So we do have to be mindful of how this will translate from the studio to a live environment. We’re a three-piece band ultimately, and there’s times where you can’t just add parts even if we want to. Sometimes we do—This part’s not strong enough; it needs extra elements on top, and extra texture to help support the melody. But we’re aware. We don’t fuck with backing tracks, obviously.
So it is a shame, because there are times where we talk about doing an EP where the only concept that’s different than other records is that we’re not concerned about playing it live. Not that there would be over-production, but so much of what we do, as far as with a loop sequence happening, things need to be written more mechanical if not as organic of a song because you’re tethered to this repeating clock of a loop which is not growing and not changing; it’s staying exactly the same. There are limitations as far as just being a three-piece rock band. It’s tempting to do more, for sure.”
You can see for yourself exactly what the instrumental post-metal trio are capable of on stage at the following shows:
09/20 Seattle, WA – Croc Showroom
09/21 Portland, OR – Revolution Hall
09/23 San Francisco, CA – Great American Music Hall
09/24 Felton, CA – Felton Music Hall
09/25 Los Angeles, CA – The Regent
09/26 Phoenix, AZ – Crescent Ballroom
09/29 Austin, TX – Empire Garage
09/30 Dallas, TX – Amplified Live
10/01 Memphis, TN – Growlers
With Rezn:
10/27 St. Louis, MO – Delmar Hall
10/28 Louisville, KY – Headliner’s
10/29 Atlanta, GA – Terminal West
10/30 Orlando, FL – The Social
11/01 Asheville, NC – Grey Eagle
11/02 Carrboro, NC – Cat’s Cradle
11/04 Washington, DC – 9:30 Club
11/05 Philadelphia, PA – World Cafe Live
11/06 Brooklyn, NY – Warsaw
11/08 Boston, MA – The Sinclair
11/09 Montreal, QC – Theatre Fairmount
11/10 Toronto, ON – Opera
11/11 Detroit, MI – El Club
11/12 Chicago, IL – Metro
With Cult Of Luna & Svalbard:
03/17 Copenhagen, DEN – Vega
03/18 Berlin, GER – Huxleys
03/19 Wiesbaden, GER – Schlachthof
03/20 Utrecht, NET – Tivoli
03/21 Brussels, BEL – AB
03/22 Paris, FRA – L’Olympia
03/23 Stuttgart, GER – Wizemann
03/24 Lausanne, SWI – Les Docks
03/25 Ljubljana, SLO – Kino Siska
03/27 Vienna, AUT – Arena
03/28 Munich, GER – Muffathalle
03/29 Prague, CZE – Roxy
03/30 Krakow, POL – Studio
03/31 Warsaw, POL – Progresja
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