Interview by Kris Peters
Rising from the ashes of the grunge era, Melbourne rock outfit Cicadastone have spent just over ten years refining their sound amid a musical revolution that saw their style of music shunned from mainstream darlings to backseat troublemakers.
Following their 2016 debut Chance Collide, Cicadastone found strength in the fact that although grunge-infused rock was generally on the outer, people started gravitating towards their version of it. With more than a passing nod to some of the heavyweights of that musical movement, Cicadastone quickly set about sprinkling their own DNA into the mix and by 2020's Cold Chamber their efforts in bringing together music from all corners of the rock spectrum were beginning to be noticed.
For their third, and most decisive album to date, Cicadastone have signed with new label XMusic and are obviously enjoying the freedom to allow their natural creativity to dictate the sonic balance of their music.
The result is Future Echoes - out May 31 -, an album that draws from both previous albums, but also shows Cicadastone's musical growth and diversity like never before.
The band last week dropped lead single In The Crossfire, a meaty slab of rock goodness that offers a glimpse inside Future Echoes while only scratching at the surface.
HEAVY sat down with vocalist Mat Robins to find out more, starting with In The Crossfire.
"It's just one of these riffs that I had lying around for a long time and I couldn't do anything with it," he began. "And then one day it all happened in half an hour. I bashed the song together and jotted down the lyrics and found my focus. It all came together really fast, and we demoed the song, and it was the last song that we wrote for the record. But it's probably the most radio-friendly rock single we've got, so it worked out pretty good."
We ask why the band chose In The Crossfire as the first single.
"I just think it's the most obvious, forthright song," he shrugged. "It's got the pace - we're predominantly a band that doesn't push pace. We love our sludgy, slow riffs (laughs). The label were eager to push the faster songs, so it was an obvious choice."
In the full interview, Mat talks more about In The Crossfire, Future Echoes as a whole, what they were going for musically with it, the press release claims that it is Cicadastone's biggest statement yet, how it is a new chapter in the band's history, signing to XMusic and what it means for the band moving forward, how Cicadastone have grown musically over the three albums, their upcoming Stay Gold gig with The Midnight Devils and more.