Long Distance Calling

LONG DISTANCE CALLING
Long Distance Calling
European Street Date: February 21st, 2011
North American Street Date: March 8th, 2011

Formed in 2006, LONG DISTANCE CALLING released a demo entitled “Dmnstrtn” in late 2006, with their official debut “Satellite Bay” surfacing in 2007 via Viva Hate Records. A split EP with the band Leech from Switzerland, entitled “090208”, was released in 2008, followed by a deal with Superball Music and the release of their second full length album, “Avoid The Light”, in April 2009. The Münster-based German instrumental rock quintet have returned with their third instrumental record, unashamedly staying the course on a scene loaded with power metal, black metal and everything in between, where singers great and small hammer the bands’ messages home.

Rather than baffling the masses with a wall of odd time signatures and synchopated rhythm – the proclaimed formula so many bands use and abuse when claiming to be progressive – LONG DISTANCE CALLING’s new outing serves up seven tracks written from a traditional song-oriented perspective in spite of the extended arrangements. This translates to instant appeal for fans of indie and prog rock as well as metal. “Our writing is very song orientated; the song itself is the most important thing. We’re mostly jamming when we write songs, trying to find a basic structure and then filling and building it up with sounds, melodies and atmospheres. On the new album we rediscovered the power of the riff. It's the most diverse recording we’ve done so far.” That diversity comes from the individual members’ personal tastes and influences, citing acts like Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Tool, A Perfect Circle and Alice In Chains as bands that have inspired the energy. “We don't listen a lot to other instrumental bands and we don’t see LONG DISTANCE CALLING as a ‘postrock’ band at all; it's instrumental rock. Classic progressive bands such as Rush or Dream Theater haven't been a really big influence, but it’s cool that some people hear them in our music anyway.” The suggestion that LONG DISTANCE CALLING has effectively cut their potential audience in half by not having a singer is met with contempt by its members. “We didn't plan to be an instrumental band, it just happened. At first we couldn’t find a singer who was good enough. Later on we realized that our songs worked pretty well without vocals. We prefer to allow the music to get our message across without any frontman bullshit. We enjoy creating a special atmosphere while rocking without the typical musical borders. The fact that we don't have a singer has enabled us to play to completely different crowds of people, supporting bands like Opeth, Katatonia, Dredg, labelmates And You Will Know Us By Trail Of Dead, Anathema, Coheed And Cambria, and Deftones.” A quality that is underlined by appearances on a broad variety of festivals such as Rock am Ring, Roadburn, Eurosonic Noorderslag, Area 4, Summer Breeze, Burg Herzberg or Wave Gotik Treffen. LONG DISTANCE CALLING push the envelope even further this time out with the surprise guest appearance by Armored Saint/ex-Anthrax vocalist John Bush on “Middleville”. The song pulls effective double duty in that it showcases LONG DISTANCE CALLING as a band that can indeed play both sides of the coin, and presents Bush in a brilliant and unexpected new light. “From the beginning of the band we thought it's cool to do the unexpected, especially from an instrumental band. We asked Peter Dolving from The Haunted to sing on a track of the debut album. We also did that on ‘Avoid The Light’ with Jonas Renkse from Katatonia. For the new one we made a list and John was on that list. We asked him and he wanted to do it, which is great because it’s a very strong song. We don’t like to go the easy way and ask the most obvious singers. Nobody is expecting John to appear on our album, but he’s such a great singer that the result speaks for itself.” However, John Bush’s guest-appearance on the album is not the only reason that should encourage people to check out LONG DISTANCE CALLING. In times of overproduction and compression in order to get a pumped up sound LONG DISTANCE CALLING went for the opposite and worked on an organic production that allows their music to breathe. Hence, the audiophile quintet headed to Hours Studios in Hannover where Celtic Frost, Donots, Paradise Lost, Eloy, Scorpions, Rolling Stones and many more produced some of their classic albums. The self-titled album was recorded with Benjamin Schäfer who has worked with diverse bands such as Celtic Frost and Subway To Sally. The result is a production that allows each instrument to unfold its unique sound and its waves to travel the air. Instead of just cutting your eardrums it’s a 3d sound that surrounds you like a cozy cocoon. With regards to issuing the new music as a self-titled album, the band reveals the name LONG DISTANCE CALLING is tied directly to the concept of the record, which focuses on time, space and distance. “We are just a tiny part of the ever growing universe. It's the important third album, so we decided to call the album Long Distance Calling as a statement.”