"All About The Album - 15 Questions" - a brand new section at the RockUnited site where a recording artist with an recently released CD is confronted with 'album'  questions (15 of them, duh!). If you'd like to have your material up here, email: urban "at" rockunited.com (simply replace "at" with your standard @ )

ALREADY GONE: "One Good Reason"

ALREADY GONE and their debut album 'One Good Reason' -  melodic rock from the Midlands, UK, influenced by classic acts such as Bon Jovi and The Eagles, and fused with elements of Nickelback? Yeah? Not to forget that vocalist Luke Maskery appeard on ITV's 'Stars In Their Eyes' already at age 18 and in the last 3 years they've been playing venues from Glasgow to London and back again to their hometowns of Stoke and Crewe. Find out more about their debut album, here's: ALREADY GONE...

How has the reaction to your latest CD been?

From the feedback we've had from both fans and reviews, it's been a great success. The biggest observation is that there is so much diversity on the album. In 13 tracks we move from classic rock, to hard rock, country rock and even commercial pop rock. But the flow of the album means that we never stray away from what's true to Already Gone. We've sold hundreds of copies worldwide and had great success with downloads via itunes, and we're very happy with the way things are going considering its only our first album.

How long did this CD take to make from start to finish, recording-wise?

Recording-wise it took around 12 months to complete. We spent a lot of time in the studio making the songs as perfect as possible, and being heavily involved in the mixing and mastering process. As an unsigned band it obviously cost us a lot of money but it was a price worth paying for the result that we have got.

What kind of 'sound', production wise, did you have in the back of your mind, prior to entering the studio?

With the 'sound' of the album, the hardest thing was covering so many styles of music, and at the same time creating the 'Already Gone' sound. We knew that we wanted a thick, heavy sound to the drums, and used Nickelback's 'Dark Horse' album as a reference. From there we created each song individually, using whatever guitar tones and effects would make each track reach its potential. But to tie the 13 songs together, we used the same vocal sound, and rich harmonies so that they flowed from song to song.

What kind of input did the producer have during the process?

The producer became a fifth member, but the kind of fifth member that you don't really listen to!! His opinions were always thrown at us, and sometimes they were fantastic. The track 'Stop Drop Rock and Roll' for example has a lot of the producers own ideas included. But with the majority, we knew what we wanted, and though the producer may have had different opinions, we wanted to stay true to ourselves and often had to discard his ideas.

And are you pleased with the final outcome? (sound - production wise)

We are very pleased with the final outcome of the album. It's a great sounding piece of work for a debut album from an unsigned band, but still leaves plenty for us to improve on next time.

Did the producer (you) use any (weird) experimental miking and/or recording techniques?

There was nothing particularly experimental about how we miked or
recorded the songs, we stuck to the usual tricks of the trade, to create a great rock album. We didn't want to pretend to be something we weren't and experiment around. The album is just intended to be a timeless piece of work that people can enjoy.

How did you go on about capturing your 'live sound' in the studio, or perhaps you didn't

We are a very energetic live band, and I believe we captured that with tracks like 'Sweet Lady Jane', 'What Does It Take?' and 'Make My Day. We just kept the recording simple, nothing was in the mix that didn't need to be. However tracks like 'Wash Away The Tears', 'Sweet Dreams Baby' and 'So Long Gone' would have suffered if we didn't build up the guitar sounds and add samples or keyboard effects. But again, it just adds to the diversity of the album.

Please inform us about your favourite songs and lyrical highlights and why?

Lyrically, we are very proud of the ballads on the album. The slower songs allow Luke to show off his Eagles influence, and play around with words and phrases to create poetry. But the highlight of the album is probably the very last track. 'So Long Gone' is our 7 minute epic, and we love it. It has been compared to 'Dry County' by Bon Jovi, and that's not something we're gonna complain about!!

Any overall theme of mood that you're trying to capture while writing songs?

There was no theme or mood to the album. If you try to stick to a concept then you're limiting yourself to what you can create. We gave ourselves complete freedom, and what we accomplished was our debut album, so we have no regrets on that subject.

Does your vision for coming up with music get affected at all by time?

It's hard as you get older and realise what the state of the industry is, not to sell out! You find yourself thinking, "would this track be played on MTV?" But it's at that point that you rely on your fellow band members to give you a slap, and remind you why you got into music in the first place, which is always for the passion of it!

Did the record company interfere with anything on your "sound" and songs?

When we recorded we were unsigned, so again we had complete freedom creatively. We are now working with a promoter, but still aren't signed to a record label. 

Are there any 'crazy' behind the scenes anecdotes from these sessions that you can share with us?

I can honestly admit that there are no crazy tales to tell about the sessions in the studio. Well......none that we can share with you anyway! Having a female drummer always leads to crazy scenario's!

How would you describe the sound of your new CD to any potential new fan? 

If you haven't heard us before then we urge you to give us a listen. The sound is somewhere between The Eagles and Nickelback, which leads to something just a little bit special! And remember, this is only our first crack at releasing an album! Who know's what the next one will sound like?

Who are your influences and heroes? (music-wise)

We are always very careful of discussing our influences, largely because we don't want to sound like any of them
particularly. But the people that we have been brought up listening to, range from The Eagles, Aerosmith and Bon Jovi, as well as Nickelback and Avenged Sevenfold! If you can pick out the Avenged Sevenfold influences on the album we'll be very impressed!

If there's anything you'd like to add, say, please do:

We're living the dream and working from grass roots level, gigging every dive that will have us just to gain a few new fans! Any money we make goes straight back in to more recordings or better equipment. So all of your support is greatly appreciated! The day you stop paying attention to us, or stop buying and downloading our album, is the day Already Gone will cease to exist!
Already Gone

Interview by: Urban "Wally" Wallstrom,
Photos from the band's websites 
www.facebook/alreadygonerock
www.alreadygone.co.uk

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