Author: Alex Lynham Posted on December 21

Guitarists John Helps and Robin Southby used Skype and Dropbox to talk about the creation process of their latest album No Feeling is Final, the equipment involved in the creation, and how Robert Smith helped them reunite after five years of retirement

In the mid-2000s, a series of critically acclaimed albums and ruthless tours won Maybeshewill's ardent followers.

In their early version, the band mixed heavy guitar and electronic music with mathematical rock and post-rock elements. EPs like Japanese Spy Transcript make them one of the most exciting bands in the British instrumental music scene.

Their first two albums, Not for Want of Trying and Sing The Word Hope in Four-Part Harmony, witnessed them expanding and diversifying their voices, introducing orchestral and film elements. In 2011's "I'm Here for a Moment, Then I Go", the band made its boldest statement to date. I Was Here... is a nearly perfect record with double the metal influence.

By developing more complex arrangements and expanding their voices into adjacent genres, they surpassed the crescendo core trap of contemporary post-rock scenes. As a result, they found themselves on a long tour with experimental legends, such as "You will know us on the road to death" and "Dillinger Escape Plan".

But just as Maybeshewill seemed to usher in something bigger, they called it the day after the fourth album "Fair Youth". To ordinary observers, the band seems to be making great strides, but the heavy schedule of albums and tours makes them exhausted.

Now, five years later, Maybeshewill is back with a new album, aptly named No Feeling Is Final. This is a provocative and militant record that reflects both the band's return and the band's theme, which is the ongoing climate crisis.

Guitar World called the founding members John Helps and Robin Southby to learn more about their resurrection.

What happened to those who joined the band after breaking up?

John Helps: "I think that when you are in a band for a long time and touring like us, even if there is no external pressure to continue to create music, you will enter a somewhat similar loop to feed the machine. You are making a record , Release it, tour it, and make another record again.

"It feels very ruthless and restrictive. We have never worked with any record company. They expect us to go directly from touring one album in large numbers to producing another album, but we put this pressure on ourselves. For a while, it felt like there was no way to get rid of this situation. We were exhausted."

Burnout seems to be a very common cause of interruptions and breakups. How did you all reconnect?

Help: "Once you leave it, you will see that doing things differently is within your control and operating the band in a way that works for all five of us. After we stopped the band for a while, Robert Smith of The Cure asked us to hold his Meltdown Music Festival at the South Bank Centre. It felt like an opportunity we couldn’t refuse and gave us motivation for at least one more show.”

As far as commitments outside the band are concerned, we will have more choices. Everyone has all kinds of things, they are spinning the plate

So this is a bit like a small reunion?

Help: “When we did this, we didn’t intend to do more than one show, but it did trigger a conversation. Then some members of the band started to make music that felt that they might suit her, so in the end, a few years later, they combined these The song was brought to the other members of the band. 

"Everyone is very excited about the new material... This means that we spent most of our time in 2020 and 2021 producing these songs-this will be a new record."

What happened to the band’s dynamics this time?

Robin Southby: "In terms of commitment outside of the band, we will be more selective about what we do. Everyone has all kinds of things they are involved in, and they are spinning the plate. It's about time for us Be more careful and concentrate our energy... [Make] everything to the best quality. 

"Like John said, when you treat the band as a full-time job, there may be some negligence in quality control, or you may fall into a mentality to take everything you can and go with the flow."

Help: "Look at some of the tours we did during my stay here for a while...and Fair Youth, we went out-well, we will do a title tour that will last a few Months, and then there will be a support trip that year. This will be a similar time. It’s crazy to think of so many tours together at that time. It’s really intense."

What was the writing process of "No Feeling Is Final"? When they sell to the band, are things basically done, or do these ideas require a lot of work?

Sosby: "There is a slight difference between the repertoires, and there is a lot of material that has not entered the stage of performing together. There are some demos at different stages of completion still exist, but we have not really developed it. I think most of the content that was recorded in the end Most of it is quite complete, but like all Maybeshewill stuff, everyone has their own opinions on how things will end."

What changes did the band make when they collaborated on materials?

Southby: "I guess, we did a lot of tricks on the Internet. We have a Dropbox folder where we dumped a lot of ideas, updated versions of demos, and other things, because obviously all this happened during the pandemic. It's a long time. Can't get together for a while. 

"A lot of it was brought together through online collaboration​​; we did some writing lessons, all of our videos came in, DAW was installed on someone’s screen and writing-well, basically on Skype calling. 

Maybeshewill's way of working has always been to write on the computer. [Music] Arranged in order and carefully arranged

"So the idea is definitely there, and then the atmosphere of the music and track collection is there. The real collaboration part is to solve the problem and develop some somewhat tedious parts. Then, when we are finally able to meet again, play them before recording, Just to understand how they work and to a certain extent, to give them more humane elements."

Listening to this album, I feel that some of the tracks may start with the guitar, while others are more based on synthesizers, or may be more impressionistic sound sketches. Is that right? What tools are used to generate ideas?

Southby: "Interestingly, you think some of them are guitar-based, because Maybeshewill has always worked on a computer to write. [Music] is sorted and arranged quite carefully, except for some early pieces that were played in the room People interfere. 

"Some of the heavier records in the first two records must be like this. In the last three albums, it has been on the computer, written in DAW, put the synthesizer and programmed drums as sketches, and then put It’s enriched and played by humans [recording]. It’s no different, because all sketches start on people’s computers.”

Is there any difference in the way you approach the guitar?

Help: "We have been working hard to get rid of relying too much on traditional strong chords to get the energy on the record. When possible, finding other ways to use the guitar to achieve this goal is the key to many tracks. 

"There are some bow guitar uses, we have done this in the past, but it is not very important. I think we may have tracked three or four tracks in different places. For several very heavy parts, we used bitcrushed sound, Create a really thick guitar sound from single-note performance."

Speaking of which, what pedal are you using? Are there any new toys?

Southby: "We have a large number of pedals available. We have brought together the collections of the different members of the band, as well as the collections available in the studios we track. The idea is that the guitar is almost a supporting element of the melody focus, and the melody focus is mainly on this one. On the strings of the record. 

"This means that the guitar has super texture and brings interest in sound, not just focusing on powerful chords. There are also many main lines played with guitar, but I think there are many more interesting guitars on the record, just like John said. , Was crushed, or huge delay and reverb chains, things that were washed off, pedals inserted backwards or anything else. We experimented a lot on the sound and got some very wild tones."

I play guitar, but I am not a good guitar player, I am very practical...I just like to be with people who make music

Helps: "There are several pedals that have become the subject of records, and we have been looking back. The Boss OD-3 [overdrive], the one used for rugged sounds, and then Walrus Audio's Iron Horse for louder things. For reverb and delay, we used a Walrus Audio Slö load. Once, at the end of the studio console, there was a pedal."

Southby: "For each part, we will take apart the pedal chain and try different things. The combination of delay and reverb, the delay becomes the distortion at the end of the distortion, which gives it a different, more saturated sound."

What do you rely on for amplifiers and guitars?

Helpful Worrying that we will replace the valve at some point, it sounds completely different. [We also used] Marshall JVM410, I know Jamie [Ward, bass and production] is a true fan of heavier drive sounds."

Southby: "We also use JMP for cleanup."

It sounds like you are a heavy user of Marshall.

Southby: "Yes, Marshalls and mainly Fender guitars. Most guitars are tracked on Tele, isn't it yours?"

Help: "Yes, Fender Telecaster Deluxe. It's just a Mexican one. It seems to be tuneable and has a wide range of dual pickups."

Sosby: "I didn’t have a jazz master until I sold it recently. In most of the band’s career, we already have something. I have an SG. I was when John got JCM. I got it."

What is SG like? P-90 or pickup?

Southby: "This is humbuckers, it's not old or anything. I bought it around 2005, around that time. It's a special one, so it doesn't even have a fancy character binding. It's clumsy and beaten It's...but it has a special "singing" quality to the lead wire. 

"When I was on the Jazz team, I retired for a few years. I kind of went back to the studio. It was really good for the lead, but not good for the rhythm, because we played in C flat, sometimes When you make chords, the tuning on the bass strings is a bit fashionable, but it really doesn’t work for that reason. We also used the baritone in this record, which is the first time for us. Only For a specific part [adjusted to B]."

Music can speak a lot, you can’t always communicate through language, through standard human interaction

Help: "We borrowed it from our friend Charlotte Carpenter, she is an evil musician here. She lent it to us, we immediately replaced the string, and it broke it briefly. Borrowed Someone’s pride and happiness, and then messed up in about half an hour, it’s really bad."

Southby: "From wound to flat."

Ouch. What do you think is the philosophy behind the guitar you use?

Helps: "We didn’t really accumulate guitars—I don’t think any of us often owns more than two or three guitars. They go back and forth. We have used Gibson 335 in many of the previous [recordings], But it failed because of the pandemic. I want to say that we don’t cherish musical instruments very much. I built a parts casting machine during the pandemic for use with fragmentary parts."

Southby: "This is really an example. We just want to put together all the things between us or things that can be borrowed, and then see what works for each part. We will use two or three different guitars Try each part on the combination of, amplifier, and pedal, and Jamie’s keen ears will determine what works best."

So the last question. What do you like about music?

Help: "I don't know. [Long pause] Good, isn't it? In the past 15 years, everything I have done in and out of the band has to do with music... I never really thought of myself as a musician Home, this is very interesting to talk about in the guitar interview. 

"I play guitar, but I am not a good guitarist, I am very practical... I just like to be with people who make music and people who are passionate about music, so this has spread to my entire life .Why, this is an interesting question."

Southby: "For me, this [sigh] is a bit cliché, but music can be said a lot. You can't always communicate through language, through standard human interaction. For me, it’s a face-to-face communication with me. A channel for people to communicate, or to express thoughts or feelings that I find difficult to face-to-face... I can’t imagine not doing this. It’s just a part of me, it defines how I see myself.”

Alex Lynham is an equipment fan who has been collecting and manufacturing modern and vintage equipment since he got his first job on Saturday. In addition to reviewing the countless pedals of Total Guitar, he also wrote a guide on how to build your first pedal, how to use the kit to build a tube amplifier, and quickly became popular when he released the malfunctioning delay pedal Atom Smasher.

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