Photo: Shimon Karmel
Canadian band Unleash the Archers through a solid discography and consistent touring schedule have elevated themselves to reliable headline (or strong special guest) status as a veteran metal act. Phantoma as the group’s sixth studio album starts a new story concept – which vocalist Brittney Slayes will discuss a little bit in this latest talk for our site. The songwriting takes on numerous angles that can be more AOR-like one minute, or energetic the next – but always keeping melodic power metal first and foremost as the base aspect that the listeners can rely upon. We got the chance to also talk with Brittney about the importance of guitarist Andrew Saunders role in the group as a songwriter and producer, what it was like being back on the road in 2021 after the pandemic, thoughts on the growth of North American festivals versus the steady European circuit, AI / internet concerns, her latest sci-fi/fantasy recommendations in a host of media platforms, plus what is on the horizon for 2024 into 2025.
Dead Rhetoric: Phantoma is the sixth studio album for Unleash the Archers – and another conceptual outing regarding AI gaining sentience on a dystopian, near-future planet earth. How did you see the development of this set of material and the tools you used currently at your disposal with AI to shape the final outcome?
Brittney Slayes: We started the whole writing process in 2021 during the pandemic because we didn’t have anything else to do – because we weren’t touring, that’s for sure. I wrote the story out in a track-by-track overview, chapter by chapter, what part of the story each song would be telling, what I wanted the listener to feel, and I gave some samples of what I would hope the song would sound like, and we used that to write. I was inspired by my love of science fiction, especially the depiction of androids and sentient AI in science fiction – like Bishop from Aliens, or even David from Prometheus is fantastic. Blade Runner, the old and the new, Star Wars and Star Trek. All the millions of ways androids and sentient androids have been portrayed in science fiction over time. I wanted to tell my own story and put my own spin on it, see what I could come up with.
We tossed riffs back and forth, tried to figure out which song they would be best for, made sure there was a foundation, and each track was exactly where it should be, sounded like it needed to sound to tell that part of the story and take the listener on this musical journey. While we were in the studio, I was finishing up the lyrics, as that’s always the last thing that I do – ChatGPT was kind of big in the news, so we decided to use AI to write a song about AI. Put a prompt into it, it made a poem, so I continued writing like I normally do instead of looking at my thesaurus I looked at the result from that, used some of the words and a couple of phrases to slot that in a song where it fit. We wanted to use it to say we could use it. We filmed a music video while we were in the studio, we wanted to get that studio vibe on one of the singles. The guys from RuneGate said, have we heard about this new AI program that can paint green screen footage with artwork. We heard about it, because the AI has been a big headline thing for over a year now. We love being in our own music videos, so it allowed us to act and be depicted as androids in a way we have never seen otherwise. This was for the “Green & Glass” video.
The rest was always business as usual. Inspired by typical nerd culture (laughs).
Dead Rhetoric: Was it obvious the first three singles you wanted to premiere from the record?
Slayes: No, it was difficult and really hard to choose. We had originally chosen “Seeking Vengeance”, the one filmed in the studio – but we heard the rest of the album come together after the mastering process and thought it should be something else. We always struggle with this every time, especially with concept records. How do we choose a song that doesn’t give away all of the story – and gets the listener interested, doing something new musically so it doesn’t get boring? We don’t want to alienate our fans either – so how do we tread this fine line? I don’t know if we got it right, but hopefully everyone has enjoyed the singles we’ve released so far.
Dead Rhetoric: Do you consider that the biggest challenge – to be able to create songs within a conceptual framework that can stand apart but also tell the story as you said from beginning to end?
Slayes: Absolutely. It’s really tough. It’s important, the way the people consume music, that a song can go on a playlist and be the only song that someone hears from you. Not be something super wonky. You want it to be something that someone can relate to on a super surface level so if they don’t want to dig into something deeper, they don’t have to – catchy and memorable. We always strive to not only write the music in a way that these songs can stand alone, but we want them to have at least one memorable riff that you can be thinking about and come back to later, but also in a way that the lyrics aren’t super out there and telling the story too literally. If you can veil it in another way, it makes it a lot easier for people to relate to your music and put themselves in a position whatever is going on musically, lyrically, within the character or scenario that is going on within their lives. We try to do both, and it was especially difficult on this record because there is only one way to say the word computer, how do you tell the part where she is turning herself from code into the bot/ android without saying that? How do you veil that into this fantastical, escapist theme? It’s very difficult, but I still had a great time writing this record.
Dead Rhetoric: It seems like the band has even more trust in the main songwriting skills and behind the boards production abilities of lead guitarist Andrew Kingsley as the years go by. How important has his work and professionalism been to aid Unleash the Archers during this era of the group – especially as you rise up the ranks with more of a global footprint in the scene?
Slayes: Yeah, he’s been amazing. One of the things that’s so great about what Andrew does is he plays like his demos. It’s really easy to envision his demos on a record. You feel the vocal melodies that you would do, or if it fits the theme of the album or that particular song. He’s been taking charge when it comes to writing the albums lately. I don’t know what it is, he has so many ideas. You send him something and say we are looking for riffs, every day he has something new.
Also, he works really well with my thing and the way I write a story. He is very cooperative on that side of things. You send him something and describe the song, and he goes, ‘yeah – I get it!’. He’ll send a riff and it’ll be like; you do get it. The fact that he is behind the board as well. Even with Apex and Abyss he was in that producer role, on the couch for everyone doing their parts. He is an overall shaper of the sound. On this one he did the engineering as well. It was a big responsibility, and it took away from his ability to actually record himself. We found that as the recording went on, he didn’t have time to do his parts. Did not foresee that – so we switched things up a bit and brought someone in to help with the recording of the drums. It was a learning curve, and he took it like a champ – he was working twenty-hour days for a bit there. We trust him with the whole process and he came through in the end.
Dead Rhetoric: You worked with Dusty Peterson again for the cover art – who previously created work for you with the Explorers single back in 2019. What do you enjoy most about his style and approach this time around?
Slayes: He’s got this wispy, dream-like style quality to his work, which we immediately loved when we first discovered him. We are always looking for new artists, and his style just appealed to us. Especially with the Explorers EP, he has a darkness to his work that we really enjoyed. When we came back to him on this one, he said that this isn’t really what he does, but we love his style, and we thought what he does applying to this style of science-fiction sort of idea would work really well. He sent some pieces that would be along the lines of what we were looking for. He was inspired by specific artists, and we loved it. We had a bit of direction and the moment we were wanting to depict on the cover. He sent some sketches to us before really diving into it, and he killed it.
Dead Rhetoric: How did it feel to finally get out there to do some extensive touring following the pandemic shutdowns – as it seemed to me when I took in the North American run you did in the fall of 2021, there was genuine enthusiasm and newfound appreciation for live entertainment that may have been taken for granted previously?
Slayes: We never take touring for granted, because it’s the best thing ever. We’ll always strive to tour as much as we can for as long as we can. It’s the best part of the job. When we couldn’t, it was heartbreaking. That was the worst part – we put a record out, and we had so many shows booked. We had a legitimate world tour booked, and it was just gone in the blink of an eye. Watching all that slip through your fingers, it was a tough moment for us. Finally getting to be back on the road again, it was great – and we definitely enjoyed ourselves as much as we could, safely. We were really careful and did our best to keep the wellness of our fans in mind at all times. It was a little precarious on that first run in September of 2021, but it felt so good to be back on the road, and it was such a good time. Everyone was excited to be there. Every night I would ask, ‘who’s first show since COVID?’ and a lot of people put up their hands. So, we were honored that we were the band that got them going to live shows again.
Dead Rhetoric: Your last album Abyss won a Juno award (the Canadian equivalent to the Grammies) in the best metal/hard music album of the year category. How did this make you feel, and does the respect and achievement through the industry validate all of the work and sacrifice you put in to this group?
Slayes: In the minds and eyes of some, yes it does. I personally feel like absolutely it’s an honor, it felt amazing. Yes, recognition, and not just from your peers but national recognition is incredible. But it’s not what motivates us. Winning awards doesn’t motivate us – we do what we do because we love music, and we love playing live the music that we’ve written, and we love performing in front of our friends and our fans. Everything else is a perk and a plus. It was amazing to win the Juno, and hopefully someday, maybe we will win another, who knows. It’s not what gives us purpose. The validation is amazing, but we look within ourselves for validation. Success is something that is a bit subjective. We take things day by day, keep on going and we keep hoping that more and more people will keep coming out to the shows, and more people will listen to our music. There is no baseline that we are looking to pass, let’s just keep going and move to the next thing. It was a great moment and one we were glad to share with our friends on Twitch because it was during the pandemic because the whole thing was happening via Zoom.
Dead Rhetoric: Do you believe the heavy music/metal festival circuit across the US/Canada is getting stronger – taking a page from the healthy quality of festivals small and larger that have developed across Europe for decades? What improvements (if any) would you like to see made?
Slayes: I think so, yes. Especially in the states for sure. I love that there are so many more festivals down there, and bigger festivals. Ones that are willing to invest in artists that are going to bring people out. I love that, I think it’s awesome. I would love to see this be something like Europe where you could spend a whole month going to different festivals every week. We have some really good festivals up here in Canada, unfortunately Heavy MTL hasn’t recovered since COVID. Armstrong Metal Fest, the same thing – but that’s just starting to build back up again. We have new festivals like the Manitoba Metal Fest, they’ve got a great lineup. It’s starting to build a little bit up here in Canada. It would be nice to see a little bit more in Canada – something in Toronto, something in Vancouver, a bit of a festival season. It’s such a huge endeavor, a huge investment, and we just don’t have the population.
We don’t have the infrastructure for people to travel here. In Europe you can hop on a train and travel to every big city and major destination and make your way to that small town that’s holding that particular festival. Here, we have highway 1 going from one end to the other – and that’s about it! (laughs). If the country could invest in a way to connect to us better, give me a 400 km bullet train from Vancouver to Toronto. It’s hard when you don’t have the population, and the major cities are spread out by thousands of kilometers as opposed to hopping through the huge cities in Germany within two to four hours or so. We have a lot of growing to do, but I think it will happen.
The metal scene is growing and fostering that in young artists. We are seeing a lot of bands making a name for themselves outside of their own home country. It’s inspiring them to do the same.
Dead Rhetoric: What is a pivotal or critical moment that helped shape your musical career?
Slayes: In 2013, we lost Brayden, who was our principal songwriter and one of the founding members of the band. And we also lost three weeks before that our bass player Brad. So, Grant, Scott, and I were in our jam spot going, hey – do we just quit, what do we do here? What’s the plan? We had Time Stands Still mostly written, we had music videos filmed, ready to go. Let’s do this. If the three of us in that moment had had any doubts, we wouldn’t be here today. That’s when we brought Andrew on board, which changed everything. That changed our whole trajectory, especially in the style and songwriting, the way that we sounded changed, infinitely. We were already moving in that direction, we put out the Defy the Skies EP, which Grant had done a lot of writing on in addition to Brayden. Gear us into that direction that he loves, which is traditional heavy metal and power metal. We were moving there, and Andrew is like yes, this is where we are going. We put a demo up from the album on YouTube, and Napalm came knocking on our door in early 2014. There was a lot of back and forth about that, we signed with Napalm and in 2015 Time Stands Still came out. It was a very pivotal moment.
Dead Rhetoric: What would you say are some bucket list items you’d like to check off in the coming years – either in the career of Unleash the Archers, or something personally that you would like to achieve creatively maybe outside of music?
Slayes: Wacken of course is one – and we will be achieving that dream finally this summer. God forbid if anything should be happening like another giant pandemic taking place (laughs). That box should get ticked. Brazil, and we would love to play in other parts of South America. Personally, I just need to finish these Apex and Abyss graphic novels (laughs). That’s my come-on moment. I work on it when I have tiny moments in between everything else that is going on, it’s slow going. It will happen one day.
Dead Rhetoric: If you had unlimited time, energy, finances, and resources to tackle a major issue or two that is critical to the survival of humanity over the next generations, what areas do you believe are most important to improve? And how can the average person make things better in the here and now?
Slayes: Wow! If I had infinite resources, I would somehow figure out a way to make war a non-entity. We have to stop murdering each other. It doesn’t matter what is going on, or why you are fighting, who is right – none of it matters when human lives are being destroyed on the scale that they are right now. It’s blowing my mind that we are all standing by and letting everything that is happening right now happen. What can we do? College students in the states are protesting, the American government is giving aid to the Ukraine, and let’s figure out what’s going on. As a human race, we need to stand up and say the UN isn’t working, how about something else? When the country that is doing the destroying has a veto, it’s just… it doesn’t make sense. I would whip some of these places into shape. Make it so that the second you lift an arm against another person, it gets shut down, no questions asked. No death on either side. Figure out a way to do this without shooting missiles at hospitals. That would be my big one for sure.
As to what each person can do. Have empathy and compassion for one another. When you are out there on the internet, try to be on the positive side of things. If you are going to comment on something, comment in a way that it’s going to help others, not tear them down. Not be a voice for hatred and intolerance and negativity. Just stop – the reason why the internet is such a horrible place right now is it’s our fault. Humans are doing this – it’s not the AI, I can tell you that much (laughs). Think for a second that there is a human being with thoughts, feelings, and emotions on the other side of whatever it is their doing and put yourself in the other person’s shoes. Take a minute.
Dead Rhetoric: I always feel like checking in to find out what has been capturing your attention in the sci-fi/fantasy landscape as far as books, movies, video games, television series etc.… any recommendations that you got into over the past few years since our last talk?
Slayes: I just finished the Broken Earth trilogy by N.K. Jemisin. Absolutely fantastic, and what a cool spin – a sci-fi / fantasy combo series. What an awesome everything – magical system, interesting look at the future of our planet, I powered through that whole series. In terms of movies, I really enjoyed The Creator – I thought that was awesome, beautiful. Especially for someone who is all about that guerilla, cinematography style. Such an inspiration from young, up and coming filmmakers. He didn’t have a million-dollar red camera, he had a handhold and some stabilizing equipment. They used what was on hand, and I thought everything was great. TV – I finished Shogun, everyone tells me I need to get into The Three-Body Problem, but I don’t have Netflix, so I am watching Fallout instead, and the first episode was fantastic. I haven’t read too many comic books lately. I got the tenth omnibus of Saga, the continuation after taking a five-year break. Can’t wait to dig into that when I have a free second.
Dead Rhetoric: What’s on the schedule for Unleash the Archers related activities over the next twelve months or so?
Slayes: The album release shows, Australia and New Zealand tour, then a whole bunch of festivals. We will spend five weeks over in Europe, fly to each one and stay in Air BnB’s where we can. The Powerwolf tour in September, supporting them across North America. And then a Europe headliner is in the works for 2025.