Wall Of Sound – Virtual Hangs: Sam Carter of Architects

Walladmin
Heavy Metal Wordsmith
Feb 25, 2021
7 min read

G'day mates! Its been a hot minute since we've done a virtual hang and what better way to pick it back up again than with heavy music royalty, Sam Carter of Architects!

As you should be aware, the band have their ninth studio album For Those That Wish To Exist out today via Epitaph Records (our review here) and to celebrate the momentous occasion, Wall of Sound jumped on a video chat to have a good old fashioned chinwag, mate to mate, to discuss their new masterpiece and what else the band have been up to.

Spirits were running high because moments before the chat took place, it was announced that the UK's COVID lockdown restrictions would be lifted on June 21, 2021, something Sam and co. were very pleased to hear:

"A date has definitely been really helpful [in] moving forward. It's been a nice time to really spend some time with yourself... It's been important to sort of stop and check in with yourself mentally and also be there for your friends."

And we offered Sam (and the entire UK) a glimpse into the not-too-distant future with the revelation that mosh gigs had finally returned to Australia and, with that in mind, it wouldn't be too much longer before Architects could get back into a live setting with actual sweaty fans in attendance (in comparison to performing at an empty Royal Albert Hall as they did with their 2020 livestream performance).

[gallery type="square" ids="https://wallofsoundau.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Architects-albert-hall-8.jpg|,https://wallofsoundau.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Architects-albert-hall-10.jpg|,https://wallofsoundau.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Architects-albert-hall-1.jpg|"]

Sam, overly keen on the news expressed how important gigs were to not only the band, but the entire scene:

"That's amazing, hearing that really does give me some hope... especially [because] I think this scene is so important to people and that connection is so important.

During that live stream it made me realise, two songs in, I'm like 'this just isn't the same!' It's amazing to be here playing these songs with the guys, but that connection of like just catching eyes with the front row [and] seeing how much a song means to one person, let alone 5000, 6000 is unreal."

"And it goes both ways, we get something out of it and the crowd does as well."

How keen is he to play a live show with actual fans? Well, read for yourself:

"Honestly, I would play a pub right now. I would play the pub next door to my house!"

Can you imagine an Architects pub gig in 2021? Sign us the fuck up!

But it's going to be hard for the lads to fit all of their instruments and gear into a smaller size venue like that, especially considering the large scale brass and string sections they incorporated on For Those That Wish To Exist, which in turn take the band from metalcore giants, to atmospheric stadium rock icons!

In case you've wondered what the band thought about their own progression through different genres, Sam elaborated on the band's original motivation for making music stating:

"We never set out to be a metalcore band... You know 'metalcore', I don't see it as a dirty word at all, but we never set out to be a metalcore band. We just sort of happened to fall in it, in this sort of evolution of our band and where we were going."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZmjG3wuUes

But in terms of these "new" sounds and direction, he claimed the band have always been dabbling with them (in some way) since the very early days:

"I feel like, obviously we have sort of changed direction slightly but I always feel like these elements have always been there and I feel like 'True Fans' really understand that. Even from like down to Ruin (2007) and to Hollow Crown (2009)... these sides of our band have always been there, it's just now we feel able to express them more easily and it just feels like a breath of fresh air after nine records."

And when it comes to "feedback" from elitists, don't worry, Sam agrees with you:

"I saw someone say 'It's a shit metalcore record' and they're right, it is. It isn't a metalcore record, so it would be a shit metalcore record"

Architects' latest album covers some pretty intense topics, with drummer/songwriter Dan Searle announcing the inspiration came from “the part we are all playing in the world’s slow destruction” and that he wanted to “tackle the biggest questions facing the future of our planet."

For my review wrap up, I mentioned that the purpose of For Those That Wish To Exist is for the listener to sit on what’s being sung/screamed at them and for it to sink in overtime. Then, they'll start making those changes to save the world around them and when I brought this up with Sam, he concurred:

"Yeah I think it's definitely not finger pointing and I think it's more from the perspective of 'we' and 'us' rather than 'you' and 'them'. It's more of a whole [all-in mentality]. And I think it just discusses essentially where we're heading, which is not a nice place."

"You're seeing snow storms in Texas, you're seeing the forest fires in Australia going out of control, you're seeing the Antarctic melting, you're seeing animal's numbers in serous decline... the list goes on of how bad things are getting..."

"And how many more signs are we gonna have put in front of us until somebody, higher up in the government goes 'we need to do something!?'"
questions Carter. "We have to seriously address where we're heading because the changes that we could make now, would feel way less significant than the changes we will have to make in 'X' amount of years when things start having to be taken away from us because we're just completely destroying the planet."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lm7ejB08cbQ

It's these harsh, yet scientifically accurate claims that have sunk in more and more with every stream I've had of this album and I hope that you too will listen with open ears and take in every single word that is being said, instead of wondering where the breakdown or "bleghs!" are.

On a lighter note, we ended our virtual hang discussing hardcore fans by introducing the world to Australia's BIGGEST Architects fan, Joshua Whitehead and his more than impressive vinyl variant collection (catch a glimpse in the video below) and I questioned Sam about the artist he fanboys over (and would probably "shit himself") if he got the chance to meet, to which he answered without hesitation:

"Paul McCartney!"

And it turns out, he's just like the rest of us when it comes to his obsessive hunting of Beatles memorabilia: 

"I mean my collection of Beatles stuff is outrageous. I have every original record from the 60s, like 7 inches, you name it! I spend my life hunting different variants... My t-shirt collection from like originals and 80s and 90s t-shirts is absolutely outrageous."

"I just wouldn't even know what to say, I don't even know if I would be able to say something to him, or Ringo [Star], or anyone associated to the Beatles..."

Someone reading this please make this happen... and film it, you know it's going to be wholesome as fuck. Gotta love a good hustler, a great bloke like Sam Carter and an incredibly forward-thinking band like Architects.

Virtual Hangs/Words by Paul ‘Browny’ Brown @brownypaul

For Those That Wish To Exist is out now.
Purchase/Stream here

Architects For Those That Wish To Exist album

Architects – For Those That Wish To Exist tracklisting

1. Do You Dream of Armageddon?
2. Black Lungs
3. Giving Blood
4. Discourse Is Dead
5. Dead Butterflies
6. An Ordinary Extinction
7. Impermanence ft. Winston McCall (Parkway Drive)
8. Flight Without Feathers
9. Little Wonder ft. Mike Kerr (Royal Blood)
10. Animals
11. Libertine
12. Goliath ft. Simon Neil (Biffy Clyro)
13. Demi God
14. Meteor
15. Dying Is Absolutely Safe

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-2zcz8i0yY

Walladmin
Heavy Metal Wordsmith
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