The Death Of Us is the alternative rock n roll band led by Glasgow musician C.J. Millar. Their latest E.P. “Am I Even Here?” features three high energy tracks that sound best played at high volume.
I sat down with Millar to talk about his early musical influences, how he first started playing music and the making of the new record.
CMM-What was the first music that really made an impact on you as a kid and what artists or bands did you enjoy the most?
C.J.-The first artist that got me into music as a kid was Elvis when I was around 4 years old. Other than The Beatles I don’t know if there is a better introduction to music than Elvis. I later found Guns N’ Roses who were the only band I listened to for probably 2 or 3 years. I watched their Ritz performance more times than I can remember, and the chaos and energy of that performance is still something I aspire my live shows to have.
CMM-When did you first start playing music and writing your own songs?
C.J.-I started playing guitar when I was 7, I’ve always written songs but I got seriously into songwriting and recording when I was around 10. I went to a small school and didn’t know many other musicians growing up, so recording demos by myself was my way of making music without a band. I finally got my first band together when I was 14, but we never made it out of the garage, the neighbours said we sounded great though. Since then I’ve always had a band on the go in some form or another.
CMM-You recently released a new album called “Am I Even Here?” What was the writing and recording process for those songs like? Any particular gear and instruments you used during the recording sessions that helped inspire you?
C.J.-I lost my nerve a bit in the last couple of years and was struggling with the direction I wanted to take as an artist. I spent a long time unable to finish anything or get any song I was writing to a place I was happy with. I wrote all 3 songs on the EP completely separately, there was no theme or reason as to why they are together, truthfully. It was more about putting my focus back on creating music. I decided to take the pressure off and just follow where the songs took me and the end result was a lot more immediate than my previous work.
I self produced the EP and played all the instruments apart from the drums. I sent the tracks to a great drummer named Kyle Adams who I work with a lot and he recorded the drums in his studio in Seattle. It’s amazing to be able to work remotely with such great players from anywhere in the world.
In terms of equipment, I’m on the move a lot at the moment and can’t always get in a studio to use a real amp, so I’ve taken to using a Rat pedal direct into an interface, inspired by Kurt Cobain’s guitar sound on Territorial Pissings by Nirvana, where I heard Butch Vig used a Rat straight into a Neve console. It’s not an elegant sound but I’ve found it very inspiring to play through. Guitar players spend years perfecting their tones and collecting gear but that all feels like a waste of time to me if you’re not using it to create anything. I’ll take a cheap guitar and a Rat pedal any day of the week, I don’t care about the equipment anymore, I just want to create as much as possible, with whatever is around at the time.
CMM-If you could do a score for any film director who would it be and what would the film be about?
C.J.-There are too many interesting directors to pick one, I’m very interested in cinema. I will say recently I’ve been inspired by the way artists like Trent Reznor and Johnny Marr have adapted from making their own records to working on film scores. I don’t think I could score a blockbuster, it would have to be something more subtle and atmospheric. I’d like the blockbuster money though.
CMM-What do you have coming up next? Any new recordings or shows?
C.J.-I recently shot a live film for the EP which will be coming out very soon, I took my live band to a studio and we performed the entire EP in full. I’m halfway through the next ep, it’s a refreshing change in direction, I’ve had these songs for a while but it feels like the first full piece of work I’m really proud of. It will be out later this year and It’s a big step in the right direction. After a couple of years out I’m returning to playing live with a tiny gig in Glasgow at Bloc+ on the 22nd of April featuring my new live band, and we’ll be announcing other UK dates soon.
