BLACK SMOKE TRIGGER – AN INTERVIEW

 

New Zealand’s Black Smoke Trigger is on a crusade. With the release of their debut 7 song E.P., Set It Off, the band is taking a strong stand. I haven’t heard a solider first offering in a long while. Set It Off is a powerful piece of music that incorporates many different genres including hard rock and grunge. Black Smoke Trigger has infused each tune with high dosages of Adrenalin and dares you not to head bang.

Black Smoke Trigger consists of Josh “Baldrick” Rasmussen (Vocals), Charlie Wallace (Guitar), Dan Fulton (Bass) and Josh Te Maro (Drums). If you need a reference to where they stand just think Alice In Chains giving birth to Nirvana and Guns & Roses. Everything on Set It Off is hi energy. Black Smoke Trigger doesn’t fuck with fillers. Also, to cap things off the band recorded the E.P. in Nashville with acclaimed producer/engineer Michael Wagener who has worked with the likes of Metallica and Ozzy. Not a bad opening stand.

From the first song, “Caught In the Undertow”, Baldrick’s vocals are glorious and gravelly. His inflections are perfect. Wallace’s guitar riffs are superb and Fulton’s bass is heavy yet sublime. Te Maro’s concrete percussion hold everything together. Black Smoke Trigger‘s musicianship and vision carries Set It Off into a new dimension.

Baldrick and the band were kind enough to spare some time to answer a few questions from AMP.

AMP: Give our readers a brief history of Black Smoke Trigger.

BST: All 4 members of Black Smoke Trigger have been in the local music scene for awhile. Charlie had a a band called Horusset that was in need of a singer. They asked me if I was interested in joining and I did. I’ve been good friends with Charlie since the age of 13 and also jammed out with him on other projects. I was playing more guitar than singing. Josh joined us for a few shows and things clicked right away. We knew when we were forming BST he was going to be the man for the job. All we needed from there was a bass player. We knew Dan was an absolute beast on the bass. There was a discussion about inviting him on board and with that the band was born. We immediately started writing demos for our debut E.P., Set It Off, and though it was a long and at times daunting process we are very happy with the results.

AMP: How is the New Zealand music scene?

BST: The New Zealand music scene is great!! We can guarantee when bands come here, so will the people. Our home town has a number of venues that support local artists. The Cabana, the Paisley Stage and the Common Room just to name a few. Rock and metal are still very much alive in NZ.

AMP: Your 7 song E.P., Set It Off, is full of fire. Explain a little of the songwriting process?

BST: Glad your enjoying it, thanks! When we started writing the songs for our E.P. we approached it in a very different way to how we did in the past. All four of us collaborated and contributed to the music. We went through various stages of analyzing and revisiting the ideas we had in order to flesh out the best possible outcome. Then we showed them to the producer which in this case was Michael Wagener. He understood perfectly where we wanted to go and helped us yield some killer tunes.

AMP: How was it recording with Wagener?

BST: Recording with Michael was awesome! I don’t think we could have found a better fit. Not only is he a legendary producer responsible for much of the music we love but he captured our sound perfectly. He maintained that raw energy that is “hard rock”. These days we see a lot of over production going on. Authenticity was as much a “must” for him as it was for us. We learned so much from him and look forward to working with him again.

AMP: Your video concepts are really interesting. Who comes up with the storyboards?

BST: Much like the music, we collaborate on the videos as well. We all sit down with a pen and notebook and throw ideas around until something grabs our mutual attention. We then develop that idea and pass it on to the producer to see if what we have in mind will work on screen.

AMP: What’s in the future for the band?

BST: We had planned to be back in the studio with Michael later this year. Due to the Covid-19 outbreak, borders are closed so we will have to wait a little longer than expected to leave NZ. We’re taking this opportunity to fine tune our writing skills even more. So when we get back to Nashville the result will be an “album to remember”!! There are some things we are working on which you will hear about soon. It’s been a hell of a ride so far and we ain’t slowing down.

I want to thank Black Smoke Trigger for their time and energy. Please check out their music. It’s well worth it.

 

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