Ironstone: A Downpour of Sonic Intensity

Ironstone: A Downpour of Sonic Intensity

Ironstone present their own imaginative brand of progressive metal and the results are absolutely epic in scope.  Based within the vast confines of Australia, this young band possesses vibrantly skilled musicianship and highly memorable songs.  Prophecy is the name of the recent EP, and it’s sure to stun the senses of music fanatics all across this great big world.  Highwire Daze recently interviewed lead guitarist Edward Warren to find out a whole lot more about this amazing band on the rise.  Read on…

Introduce yourself, tell me what you do in Ironstone, and how long the band has been together.
Hi I’m Edward! I’m the lead guitarist for IRONSTONE. The band has been together for quite a few years with various member changes but our most recent line-up (and the line-up on our current releases) is about 1 year old.

Where are you based out of and what is the local music scene like there?
We all live in Bendigo, a regional city with a population of about 90,000. There is a healthy music scene here, especially for blues, folk and indie. Sadly a major heavy venue closed its doors over a year ago and with it we lost our local metal scene. We play primarily in Melbourne which is a 2-hour drive away. The scene in Melbourne is healthy and very supportive of newcomers! We’ve already made lifelong friends in our local scene and find it really rewarding to network with other bands in Melbourne.

Is there any overall story or concept behind the Prophecy EP title?
We felt that the word ‘Prophecy’ conveys a degree of power and inevitability that we found really inspiring so we decided to use it as a title. ‘Prophecy’ refers to being a self-fulfilling prophecy and channelling your fear of what the future holds into affirmative action in the present. We can’t predict the future, but we can affect it with our actions.

Select two songs from the Prophecy EP and what inspired the lyrics.
‘Killed A Man’ was inspired by the juxtaposition of a heavy topic like murder along with the triviality of saying ‘Ooops!’ I really wanted a song where the vocal style and bounciness of the music heavily contradicted the subject matter and created a strange, disconnected, whimsical feel. It’s definitely satirical and we felt that it was a golden opportunity to tell a real story and show our characters at the same time. I just wrote about killing a man, but pretended when wording it that I had lost my wallet or something.

‘Better Unseen’ came to be when we discussed writing a really old school sounding power metal riff and then abruptly shifting it back into our typical djent style at random points to achieve the same disconnect and unpredictability that we LOVE. This song is also supposed to really show Dan’s raspy vocal quality and is slightly tongue-in-cheek on account of the delivery. The song is based off power metal stereotypes that we found really aggressive and indicative of the weight of message. The lyrics talk about the importance of keeping your composure. Flying into a violent rage looks really ugly to others and once people have seen you really ‘lose it’ they may never see you the same again. The song talks about anger having the potential to take everything away from you and treats the anger like a separate entity that we need to fight and control.

Who produced the Prophecy EP and what was it like working with them?
We didn’t have a producer for this EP. We wrote all the songs ourselves, recorded everything ourselves and went through the arduous process of refining and perfecting the songs all the way through the journey of creating ‘Prophecy’. Some changes were even made during the final recordings! In our minds it was absolutely worth it because we can now stand proudly behind our creation knowing that it all stemmed purely from our ideas! Of course, after we had everything recorded, we sent all the finished tracks on to Chris Themelco of Monolith Studios to have them mixed, mastered and turned into what they are now. We are beyond delighted with the fantastic sonic result Chris produced for us. He really MADE the EP sound fantastic!

How fun or maybe difficult was it to shoot the Downpour video with all that water?
It was very tiring being energetic over such a long stretch of time. It’s kind of like a gig that goes all afternoon and night… but we loved it! The water actually added relief as it cooled us down and kept things interesting whilst adding to the aesthetic of the clip. It was really a great experience and we were so excited to see the end result, even as we were filming it. The fun far outweighed the work that needed to be done. It doesn’t really feel like work when it’s something you like doing so much. The only thing is… I nearly took my own eye out trying to windmill with sopping wet hair hahaha!

How has the current pandemic affected your band and the release of your EP?
It’s only really affected us in terms of band rehearsals and collaboration which was unfortunate and we really missed rehearsal, but luckily things are now heading back in a more normal direction. We decided that the pandemic offered a unique opportunity to release our EP during a very quiet time. It’s normally really difficult to be heard over the roar of other bigger, more successful bands releasing high quality music. We thought it was perhaps better for us to beat the avalanche of new releases when Corona is finally over, whilst simultaneously providing music to fans at a time when maybe they needed it most. It has been a pretty difficult time, but we really tried to make the most out of a bad situation.

What could one expect from a live Ironstone show?
Lots of energy, hair flying everywhere, enthusiastic crowds and a world class stage performance faithfully reproducing the recorded tracks with 3 part harmonies and all!

If Ironstone could open for any band either now or from the past, who would it be and why?
Periphery. They are absolute geniuses and a huge influence on us and our musical taste. We all admire them very much and it would be a dream come true to play with them.

Has Ironstone ever played in the States or plan to do so in future days?
We have not left Australia yet but we are hungry for any opportunities to play music and meet new musicians, so America is an absolute must I reckon! It’s hard to plan for the future in such uncertain times and considering 4 of the band members are only 17 to 18 and still completing school (myself included) decisions aren’t really easy to make. But we have big aspirations and want to make our name globally known… so America is definitely a future destination for us.

What’s up next for Ironstone?
Rehearsing and getting to an even higher standard than where we left off before the pandemic so we can really do this EP justice and deliver an awesome live show when everything is back to normal. We are already working on new material and getting prepared for the future!

Any final words of wisdom?
The harder you work, the luckier you get. Go and be your own Prophecy!

Band Members:
Dan Charlton – Lead Vocals
Edward Warren – Lead Guitar, Vocals
Aidan Kalms – Guitar, Keyboards
Oliver Hosking – Bass Guitar, Vocals
Jackson Whyte – Drums,Vocals

(Interview by Ken Morton)

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