Blindspott back in the spotlight

Blindspott are back with a new lineup and a new album. Picture / Brett Phibbs

Shelton Woolright says there was plenty to live up to with the making of new album End the Silence.

Their 2002 self-titled debut was a hit, going straight to the top of the charts ahead of some overseas heavyweights, and it also made the band temporary mega-stars in southeast Asia.

But since then the band have dropped the DJ and hip-hop feel, added an extra guitar and produced what they describe as a straight metal album.

The initial "nu-metal" tag put them in a category of new heavy metal bands coming out of the United States at the time and irritated the band.

Woolright hopes the new album, which is due out this week, will shake the tag but says the change wasn't deliberate -- more a natural development.

"We didn't decide to stop doing that style of music, we just matured and moved on," he says.

The new album is still heavy, with some fairly personal themes in Damien Alexander's vocal input, and the loyal and "patient" fans will be pleased to finally have it.

With side-issues like marriage, children and the odd personal challenge the band were slow to get enough momentum to get stuck into making End the Silence, but Woolright says once a handful of tracks were created the rest came quickly.

A couple of highly regarded Swedish producers, Pelle Henrickson and Eskil Lovestrom, came to Auckland and forced some discipline and fitness on the band before taking the raw tracks back to Sweden and giving them a workout as well.

"They gave Damien diets for his vocals and made me go for runs. They really worked us hard and we didn't really expect that," Woolright says.

"But it was good. It was refreshing and got us back a bit of focus -- which we needed at the time."

He says the band got a bit of a shock when they first heard their re-mastered songs, but soon warmed to it and appreciated the skill of the Swedes and what they had managed to do.

Woolright says the album will take a few listens to warm to but is confident it will stand the test of time.

The first album appears to have done so, having shifted 45,000 copies and rising.

But it was the initial reaction to their debut which left the band reeling.

It took off in a short space of time, both here and in southeast Asia.

"We were playing massive shows over there. I think the biggest was about 70,000.

"Our first ever international gig was in front of 45,000 people. You can imagine the feeling of playing smaller gigs in places like Invercargill -- which we love doing -- to turning up to something like that."

Having the young fans camping at their hotel and following their bus around -- on occasion forcing themselves inside -- became common place. "It was pretty full-on."

Woolright says the music had weak backing in Australia and never really caught on there.

"Then (after southeast Asia) we went to Australia and played to (small pub venues)... it was good though, it kept us humble," he says.

The first album sold about 20,000 copies in southeast Asia, along with 5000 in Japan, but the band estimates up to 200,000 copies have been illegally distributed in Asia.

Despite any apparent success, Woolright says the band's five members are still humble west Auckland boys who have to work to carve out a living.

It's a common theme for most New Zealand musicians, who would be rich if they had the equivalent level of success in a highly populated country such as the United States or Britain.

"It's hard," Woolright says. "Put it this way; basically we still can't afford just to solely concentrate on our music. It's a bit heartbreaking really because there's so much talent in this country.

"There have been so many points in the band where we've asked 'is it worth it, and is it worth doing another album?'.

"You do it for the love, not the money."

Woolright says the band can still enjoy a good lifestyle on the back of touring and is positive about the increased financial help and support from the government to the music industry in recent years.

Financial help through grants are available with the making of albums and tours -- something which Blindspott are discussing at the moment.

Blindspott play in Christchurch on Saturday and hope to get some tour momentum going with New Zealand, Australia and southeast Asia on the cards again in the near future.

- NZPA