The long awaited debut album by Coventry (UK) based hardcore band Conduit will be released by Whirlwind Records and Meltdown in April 2010. The album has been produced by guitar virtuoso and renown album producer JEFF SCHEETZ. Recorded in the UK and completed at Jeff's Grey Wolf Studios in Kansas (USA), the album promises to be one of the hardcore releases in 2010 that should not be missed. Raph Merriman interviewed the band shortly before the release of their debut album......... It was a Tuesday evening, and I sat down with a telephone recording device that, despite numerous trial runs, I wasn't completely confident would actually record the conversation. Luckily, it did, and Dave Boyle (Vocals/Bass) and Ian Harris (Guitar/Screams) [yeah, that's what it says on their website…] managed to juggle the phone on their end efficiently enough to discuss the imminent release of their debut album, “ Fear For Those Who Missed It ”, their association with Meltdown and Whirlwind Records, and fainting in the recording studio!

The first thing I'd like to ask you about is the name of the band. Why did you change it from Ignited to Conduit?

Dave: When we changed from Ignited to Conduit, Bailey was just joining the band and we just had a new direction, and a conduit transfers energy from one place to another, and without pushing it in people's faces we just want to be God's message so we felt we had a new message and a new front that we could bring to people.

Tell me about your relationship with Meltdown Music Ministries. How did you become involved with it? How would you say this has influenced your ministry?

Ian: Our relationship with Meltdown Music Ministries is really great. It's pushed us in many levels, you know raised the bar within the band a bit. We became involved with it by playing shows. We played on Dave Williams' stage at Greenbelt and it just came from there. We played at Greenbelt for a couple of years and Dave approached us about the whole thing, but at the same time we started going to Meltdown a few years back now and we just loved it. When we went there, the whole atmosphere, the whole fellowship, family related environment. It's like one big family. It really appealed to us. We thought this is really great, what they're doing to reach out in the hard music ministry, and that's how that came about. Influenced? I'd say yeah, it's pushed us to the next level. It's really helped us as a band. They do a conference thing called In-tune where they actually teach the band, knowledgeable tips on how to use your ministry and how to take it to the next level, and that's really helped us, influenced us. Met a lot of friends through it. We're just one big family. We've been to three Meltdowns, but we've known Dave a little bit before. Greenbelt was the first point of call. Dave phoned us and asked us if we wanted to play on the stage. At this point I knew who Dave was within the music scene but I'd never met him. Ended up playing Greenbelt , played the stage and it went from there really. I was blown away because the year before I was thinking to myself I'd love to play Greenbelt sometime, and half a year later I get a call from Dave asking me if I'd like to play Greenbelt. God works in amazing ways and at the time I knew Dave's reputation within hard music scene and knew he'd run Meltdown Music. I didn't know exactly at that time an awful lot about Dave. I just knew he was a guy that knew his stuff within the Christian hard music scene.

Could you describe your ministry? How do you prepare for ministry?

Ian: Just really want to represent another way. That's as simple as it is. One thing our drummer's got tattooed on his arm is Out Of Step. It's not just a little limerick from a band known as Minor Threat but it's also something that we put in the band. We've gotta be living out of step to everyone else and as Christians that's what we're called to do. We're still called to go to them places to follow certain things, but at the same time living out of step, not doing everything that the sheep are doing, not doing everything that everyone else is doing and representing a different way. We never wanted to push it down anyone's throat, we just wanted to represent a different way showing that there is a hope there and that there is someone who loves them and loves them more than they can imagine really. How do we prepare for it? I'd say we strive for excellence. That's the number one thing we strive for excellence in the music. We practice a lot. We make sure we've got things as tight as we possibly can. I'd also say that ministry is number one priority so even though we strive for excellence in the music, the band is fuelled by prayer, I guess like any ministry, so we'll pray before we go on stage, we'll pray before show's are coming up and we'll pray for other bands and the whole community in the hard music scene as well. And yeah, that's what it's always been about. Kind of just representing another way.

What kind of support does your ministry get? From whom?

Dave: We get so much support and I'd like to give a bit of a shout out to a few people; Andy Churchill, pretty much from day one he's been there with us. In the early days we were really terrible, unorganised and Andy has been there with us all the way, supported us not only in encouragement but financially. When we were young and foolish, we got ourselves into a few situations we couldn't have gotten out of ourselves. Our church, they pray for us all the time. They support us financially and just encouraging us and stuff. Our friends… all our friends and bands… It's just awesome how many people get around us and encourage us.

Do you have a network of bands that support each other?

Dave: Mainly again this is thanks to Meltdown. At the Meltdown retreat you get to hook up with other bands and from that we've made so many friends; Back Pocket Prophet, Firefalldown, The Irrelevants… you know, we're all messaging each other when we're not at these festivals. You get to make some great friends, you get to encourage each other as band members. Yeah, it's really awesome.

Do you meet any resistance to your ministry?

Dave: I suppose we've come across a few places where they're like, “Oh this is Christian, this is metal, how is that possible?” but to be honest I think over the last couple of years or so we've not really faced that. People are more accepting to what we are doing

How do you express your Christian faith on stage? Is this different to when you're off stage? Should there be a difference?

Dave: As Ian said, we pray before we go on, we don't want us to get any glory, it's not about that. The aim of the band is to share the message God gave us to share. We want to share God, we want to share love. So I guess we say it how it is, we don't push it down anyone's throats, but we just pray, you know? This is for Jesus Christ. I think that you shouldn't let yourself down when you come off stage. I've met too many bands that have been all holy and stuff on stage, and I don't want to judge or anything, but there's things I think people shouldn't do. I mean, what people do is between them and God, but there are certain things you just can't do if you're proclaiming to be for Jesus. You can't be going out and getting drunk, or swearing in front of people, you've just got to live how Jesus would live, and try and make as much of an example of that as you can.

Is that difficult to do in the modern age?

Dave: Yeah, it is. Because I guess when you've said that you're a Christian, and you're playing in a band, or whatever you're doing, people are always watching you, even at work, and people are just waiting to watch you fall. I guess some people take a sick joy in it, because people just want to watch you fall and they just want to bring you down to their level and say, “You say you're this, and you say Jesus is this, but you've just done so-and-so…”, so yeah, I think it is hard.

Do you prefer Christian or non-Christian audiences?

Ian: They're all people at the end of the day, and we don't really mind what audience we have. It's just their faith that sets them apart from one another. But they're all people, they're all human at the end of the day. You could look at it in two ways, I guess you could say that within life we all go through dark situations at times, or situations where we might find things hard. For example, we might lose loved ones, you know, the sort of curve ball life can sometimes throw at us. That's for Christians and non-Christians! We could be playing to Christians, and we might encourage a Christian to continue in their faith, when they could be struggling at that time, or we could help them get out of a situation, or just encourage them, if maybe they're feeling like giving it up, we might bring them a hope to carry on. For non-Christian audiences, it's the whole thing about the message again, we can bring this message that there's another way of living. You don't have to live that way, you don't have to be involved in that stuff, whatever it may be that they're struggling with, maybe it's addiction, maybe it's depression, and we can say it doesn't have to be like that, that there is someone there who loves you, and he died for you and won the victory for you.

How does your approach to each gig change to reflect the audience?

Ian: I think we play the same every time. Before we go on stage, when we're praying, we try and come up with a theme of what God wants to say. It's not always easy to get something and say, “Oh, God's saying this,” but you know, if we're playing in a pub, what does God want us to say that could really help these guys? Maybe a message of hope, maybe a message of there's light at the end of the tunnel. And maybe at another gig, it might be a different theme, like playing to a younger crowd, we may think of something else and pray about it. We try and come up with something we feel God wants to say to people, or something that can just positively encourage people, maybe it's about chasing your dreams, and not letting your dreams die. Whatever we feel god wants us to say. I have to say sometimes we're on stage and around about the seventh song, or the sixth song, something might just pop in our heads, you know?

Does having an album released change that in any way?

Ian: I wouldn't say it changes the way we approach a gig or an audience. We always put 100% in when we play. Like I say, we strive for excellence, so we're always trying our best. Having an album is great. Obviously it ups the level of the band, but it ups the level of responsibility of the band as well. It allows us to let people know there's a CD at the back, and if you want to go and buy it, feel free. And hopefully when they buy that CD, they'll see through it, and see the message in that, but I wouldn't say having an album out changes the way we play because we always strive for 100% anyway. So without an album, or with an album, we're still putting our all into it.

Will it be easy to avoid being a rock star with the album out?

Ian: It's something we've always said, we never want to have rock star attitudes. I don't really know how to explain this, but we don't want to become too big for our egos. When that happens, I think it's time to pack up and put the guitars down and go on to something. But when we pray, we say we don't want that to happen, it's something we're quite strong about, and we don't want a rock star attitude to come across, and just because we've got an album out doesn't mean we're a bunch of rock stars. At the end of the day, we were blessed with that album, we've gone through a long journey, and God's blessed us a heck of a lot. We've brought that album out for a reason, and I don't think it's so we can show ourselves off as rock stars.

You've just recorded an album, “ Fear For Those Who Missed It ”, with Meltdown and Whirlwind Records. Did that go the way you anticipated? Do you have any amusing stories to tell? What has surprised you most about recording it?

Dave: Did it go the way we anticipated? I didn't really know what to expect, to be honest, because this is our first time recording an album, and there was a lot to do. We were a bit unprepared, not like weren't musically able, but there's just so much to do in so little time. Funny stories? Well there was once when Ian was recording, he was screaming so hard into the microphone that he fainted. He landed on the floor, he'd blacked out for a little while. And me and Bailey and Dan were playing a game called Milk Lizard, which is where you drink lots and lots of milk until the first person is sick. It's kind of sick, but it's funny. To be honest, I'm just surprised at how great the album sounds, and that's not trying to make us look like bigheads or anything, if you'd heard our first ever recording, which was called “ Gold, Girls and Glory ” it was absolutely shocking. And if you just take a look at this one now, Jeff's done a great job, and I'm really pleased with that.

I heard that when you recorded your vocals, you had to have your bass with you because you struggled to record the vocals on their own. Is that right?

Dave: Yeah… we tried to record the vocals first, and I found, I don't know, it was just not there. It just wasn't at its full potential, and Jeff just said, halfway through the recording, “Hold on, I've got an idea. It might sound weird, but put your bass on.” We tried like that, and it just really fits, I feel at home when I'm playing my bass guitar. I was playing, but it wasn't plugged in.

You play a Tanglewood Rebel 4K. Is that a sign of a good bass player, d'you think?

Dave: Well, speaking from experience, I know a guy called Raph, he's pretty awesome on the bass guitar, so yeah, I'd say so.

Can you explain the concept of the album? Fear for those who missed what? Does the title reflect the theme of the songs?

Ian: This is pretty much something from Dave, he watches a lot of Inspector Morse . Morse likes to go down the pub and have a pint so he can think. And we want to make people think, really. Don't get me wrong, it can mean many things on many different levels. We want people to listen to the album and know there's something in there, that they can take out of it. I love listening to CDs and hearing what the songs are about, what's this whole album about, what's it based around… I guess it can be different for different people because it depends on what sort of point or situation you're in in your life as to how the album will reflect to you. That's the concept of the album. A lot of the songs were written about finding ways out of different things. Again, this idea that there's light at the end of the tunnel, there is hope there, and we don't have to struggle. God already gave his son, and therefore his grace is everywhere. It's all around us, all the time, and at any time, even in the deepest of our struggles, we can reach out and we can grab onto it. You know what I'm saying? We can grab onto that grace. God's son has already been sacrificed, everything's been paid. It's just down to us to accept it. And if we don't, we risk falling further into our struggles, maybe further into that depression, or that situation in your life that you feel there's no way out of. You reach out and you grab this, and take it, then there is a hope there. A lot of people have us this, “Fear for those who missed what?” and we've had some quite humorous comments at times, and other ones that got it pretty much correct. But it makes you think. A lot of the songs are written about coming out of places and situations and finding grace, finding God there. But it depends on what point a particular person is at in their life, because a non-Christian could listen to it and it means something different to when a Christian's listening to it, and asking the question, “What have I missed?” because a Christian's already reached out to this grace.

How do you write songs?

Ian: We start by writing the lyrics first. We've all had input in the lyrics at times. And we'll look at the lyrics and see what God's trying to say through them. We choose one that we think God wants to say to people, because we could have a number of lyrics there, we don't just go for the “best” ones, but “What's this one saying?”, you know? And then we'll expand on that and we'll continue to write bits of lyrics that we need to put in there, or bits that we need to take out. And then, from there we begin to write the music. We might have riffs already written, that we might have been fiddling around with at home, Dan's very good at that. And we'll come to practice, and try and go over something, bring some of that, new ideas, new riffs, and then just start to jam with it really. Once we've got an idea, we'll begin to jam with it, and mix it up a little bit. We like our songs to be catchy in places, but we like the heavy bits as well, we like the beat downs. It's always good to have a good beat down in a song. But at the same time, we don't just want to be beat downs and heaviness, we want something catchy that people can relate to. For example, I've got a lot of friends at work who have listened to songs of ours and really enjoyed then. But they wouldn't usually listen to hard music, but because there's a catchiness to it, they seem to be able to grip onto it. But we've always been influenced by that. Rise Against was a big influence of ours, and on the heavier side of things, Norma Jean, Underoath and Biffy Clyro. There's a whole range of influences, but with us, because Dave's got a strong voice, we just felt that the catchiness would be something that we'd always like to write a song on, but keep the heaviness and the beat downs as well.

What makes a song good, in your opinion?

Ian: For me it's something that isn't too generic. You listen to the radio every day, there's so many bands doing verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge-end. I'm not saying you can't write verse-choruses-verse choruses, but something that isn't just so generic and straight down the line. We like to mix things up a little bit. And I think also, bands that take influences from many areas, not just one genre, like, “We like metal, so all bands that have influenced us are metal bands,” but bands who've listened to a variety of music. We've all got different influences, I mean we've got our heavier ones, but for me, I like some instrumental guitarists as well. So you've got those influences as well. I know Dan listens to things like American Football as well, some chilled out stuff, like Postal Service. Taking a whole load of influences and putting it into the song is something that makes a good song. And not being too generic. Not trying to not be generic! Just trying things differently, now and again, just trying things your own way.

Jon from Firefalldown is really into Motown, and that comes across in his music.

Ian: Yeah… Firefalldown are amazing! Really well written songs!

Do you have any specific criteria for writing lyrics?

Ian: I wouldn't say there's certain criteria, I mean, we try not to be really pushy, but at the same time, we're not ashamed. What needs to be put in the lyrics is put in the lyrics. There's not bits hidden away, or anything like that! But if I'm writing a song, I'll try and see what God wants to say. A lot of my songs are written on how frustrated I get with the world, and how things are out there. And I guess Dan's songs might be written on other things, I mean, he's going into theology right now, so he's got some deep writing anyway, and Dave's songs on various different things, so there's no set criteria, we just come with the lyrics and we just see what does God want to say? You know? How can this help? How has this got a message in it? It's kind of personal as well, because I wouldn't say just because you're a Christian band you have to write about God, you know? There's many things that happen in life, like lost loved ones. For example, there's a song on the album and it's dedicated to a girl who used to come to our shows. Unfortunately she passed away, just after coming to a few of our shows. We'd known her for quite a while, she'd become quite a good friend, she came to a few shows, and then she suddenly passed away, she was taken from life, just like that, and that really touched us. Dave was really quite upset and he wrote a song about life and how it can suddenly just be gone. How you can just be snatched, and that's it, gone. And how we don't know how much time we've got left, so we've got to do the best we can now. So there's no specific criteria, but it's all life experiences.

Can you describe any risks involved getting this album done? Were there any, or was it an entirely stress-free process from start to finish?

Ian: Entirely stress-free? No way! Not at all! I don't think it ever is, for any band really. Main risks? Money issues was a big one. We've never been a really wealthy band, but God has blessed us so much. And we've got a great family behind us, who really support us. And when I say family, I mean everyone who's involved in making this happen. There was a point, I have to be honest, when I actually thought we might not even have an album. I got quite doubtful. But the way God works is just amazing. I'm just amazed at how much has happened, and how all this has come together. I look back on it and think, “Wow!” How everything just came together, it's just amazing really, and we are really, really blessed. Also there was one point where we struggled as we were getting a producer. It was hard for us really. We didn't really know any producers. So that, and the money issue were the biggest problems.

The album was produced by Jeff Scheetz. How did that come about?

Dave: Well, we had ideas about who could produce the album to begin with, but... we decided as a band that it wasn't right for us to do that, so we were pretty stuck, we didn't have any idea who would be doing it for us, we didn't think it would happen at all, and Dave Williams just said, “I've got an idea; Jeff Scheetz is a really great producer, let's get him down.” And we're like, “Ok, we haven't really got the money, but ok,” and it ended up happening that Jeff came down straight after we played Greenbelt, and he played there as well, and the following week we went down to our friend Andy's house to record.

Were you aware of Jeff Scheetz before he came?

Dave: Yeah, yeah, through Meltdown, really, I'd seen him play there myself, I'd heard of him before, and he's a world class musician!

Was he easy to work with?

Dave: Oh, absolutely, yeah. I mean, I know some people have hard times recording because of the person that's producing their album, but Jeff was just fairly easy-going. I mean, we're jokers, and he knew when to have a laugh and when to get down to work, but he was so easy, just a fun, bubbly guy, he was awesome. I'd love to do it with him again.

Did his involvement influence the way you approached the project?

Dave: Yeah… as I said earlier, we didn't really know what to expect, so we just came in this sort of rookie mindset of how to do things. For example, if Jeff didn't like something, he'd say, “That doesn't sound too great, maybe we could try this,” and I guess that helped us change a few things, and approach how to do things in different ways. So, yeah, he was a good influence on us there.

So, did Ian and Bailey show him some new tricks on the guitar?

Dave: Ah, he showed us all, to be honest. He's a wizard! Superhuman!

Tell me the story behind the cover design and artwork.

Ian: We gave the theme of grace, and the lyrics, to a friend of ours, Lisa. And she designed the concept of the artwork, and then it went to Paul Hatfield, who put it all together. Both real blessings to us, and both great support. We really appreciate them. The artwork is fantastic. We gave Lisa the idea of the hand of God reaching out to people. It's as if we're just mere ants on this earth, and God is so amazing that he still wants to reach out to us, his grace is still relevant today, it's still something we can grasp on to, there's still something in the deepest and darkest place in your life. Again, there's this hope there, there's his hand reaching out to you. And within the book is what Lisa saw through the lyrics as well, different ideas she saw through the lyrics. The idea that there is a way out of when you're finding things really difficult, when you're struggling. But it was Lisa who came up with the sketching, and Paul who put it all together. They brought it all about, we just gave them the goods to work with.

You've got a distribution deal with Whirlwind Records. How did that come about, and what impact will a German distributor have on a British band?

Dave: Same again, really; Dave was managing us for a little while, and it was all pipe dreams for us guys, because we'd been dreaming of this sort of stuff happening, and I didn't know if it could ever come true, and Dave said, “We need to start looking at getting you guys on a label.” and we were thinking of a few, and Dave said, “I know a really great one that's fully for God, and we'll try and get you on with these guys.” We had talks with Whirlwind, we met them at Greenbelt , and they're absolutely amazing guys. They love God, and that's good enough for us. So that's how that came about. I think the kind of impact it'll have on us is it'll give us more exposure not only in Britain , but out into Europe . We've been into Europe once before, to Denmark, but I guess this will expand our music and what we've got to say, and hopefully, as well, it'll expand Whirlwind and their ministry, because as much as they're helping us, we want to be able to push them along as well.

You're on Whirlwind's website ( http://www.whirlwind-records.com ), along with some other pretty meaty bands.

Dave: Yeah! Kashee Opeiah, we had the privilege of playing with them before, and oh, my gosh! They are absolutely incredible! It's great to see that every band I've looked at on Whilwind's label, they're all for God, and that's what it's about, and will continue to be about, and i'm blessed to see that.

Will there be opportunities to tour European venues with Whirlwind?

Ian: Definitely, yeah! We're looking into it at the moment. This summer, there should be some really cool opportunities to go over to Europe and tour some European venues, and have some fun with Whirlwind, and be touring with a Whirlwind band. (They have) some incredible bands, as Dave said, Kashee Opeiah , we got to play with them two years ago, and we're just amazed that we even got to play with them, and then two years later, God puts us on Whirlwind Records! It's amazing! But, yeah, there's some great bands on there. They're a great label, they've been really supportive.

Were you aware of Whirlwind Records before Dave hooked you up with them?

Ian: Always. We were definitely aware of them. From going out to Europe just once, like Dave said, when we played in Denmark, we played with a band called Sacrificium, who used to be a Whirlwind band, and, wow! They were just incredible! We were just blown away at the professionalism of the band. And playing with Kashee Opeiah, and then since knowing that Whirlwind were coming down to see us, and knowing that there could be a possibility with the label, I began to check out more of their bands and it was amazing. I'd heard of Saphena, and quite a few Whirlwind bands before, and I'd heard some of their music... and they were all awesome.

Do you think the other Whirlwind bands will push you to another level?

Ian: Definitely. Most of them are older than us, and being a fairly young band, I think it'll help us, and push us, because we've played with European bands before, and a week ago we played with a band called Escape From Sickness, they were just incredible. And they were the nicest people ever. And so it will really push us, because in Europe they really know how to do their music. Again, in Denmark , every band was just incredible, and even from playing that festival we had to pull our socks up a bit, and I think it'll continue to do that. Again, Kashee Opeiah are coming out with some amazing sounds, and you can't even get your head round some of their time signatures! They're also encouraging to tour with, we've known of Kashee Opeiah helping us in the past, after we'd played with them, mentioning that we were a really good band and putting a word in for us, so again, really blessed there. I should think it'll be an amazing opportunity to do that. Whirlwind bands, we call them our brothers, because they've really supported us. We've only played two shows with them, and they're really nice, really supportive.

How do you think Whirlwind and their bands will benefit from you?

Ian: That's difficult, really. Just hanging out, being friends, with bands from different countries. I'd say what they're getting from us is they can come over here and do a UK tour. We'll happily book the venues, we'll happily try and push them and promote them. We already do, to be honest, when I speak to people about Whirlwind Records, or about our album, I explain about other bands on the label as well. And maybe they'll be influenced by the style of music. Maybe they'll get a little bit of “Oh, that's a cool thing to do,” because that's what we do when we watch bands, we see something we like, we're like, “Oh, that was awesome!”

What do you hope to achieve through this album? Are you likely to follow it up with a second one?

Dave: With this album, the message inside it, we just want people to get hold of it, obviously. I'd love for the album to go worldwide. I think anybody would love to be in a band full-time. But I just want God to do with it what he wants, and I want people to look at what we've written, and grasp what it's about. I want it to help people, and sometimes, when you hear the feedback from a song you've written, or something you've said, it's the greatest feeling ever. We had one person once tell us how the words to one of our songs helped him get through a difficult time, and that was an amazing feeling, so that would be great. As for doing a second album, absolutely. We're maybe planning for that already, but we'd absolutely love to do a second album.

Have you got anything planned to celebrate the release of the album?

Ian: Yeah, definitely. It's in the final stages of confirmation, and it'll be on flyers and on MySpace and on websites. It's 10 th April, the release show, for the UK release of the album. We just want it to be an amazing celebration, really, I think it'll be really great night. Davey from JXC is a really great friend of ours, and a really big support, he's put us on a lot of shows, and he's doing great work in Coventry with his promotion company. He's doing all the organisation and promotion for the show. We're really excited to have him on board. One thing that's really cool about the show is anyone who's pre-ordered an album gets in for free because of their support. We want to give something back to say we appreciate you supporting us, because we didn't have the funds to manufacture the CDs. We were walking out in faith, we've recorded this album, but we've got no funds. How are we going to get the funds? So we want to give something back to those who've supported us, and supported the ministry, and pre-ordered albums so this could happen. It's down to them, and the family. So, yes, the release night is 9th April, it'll be a great night, there'll be some great bands on, and it'll just be a great celebration.

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