Quickies : Grant MacKenzie from Jupiter Hollow

Toronto’s purveyors of progressive metal, Jupiter Hollow , have returned with the follow-up to 2018’s AHDOMN. This new collection, is not just a mere follow-up but a conclusion to the story that began on AHDOMN. This dynamic duo have been writing some really technical material for several years now, and have, in fact, already put out two albums this year alone. I suppose for some, this global pandemic is providing the time it takes to write and create new art. Hopefully that means that the future is going to be packed with new music and other art forms for us all to consume. Until then, here is what Grant MacKenzie of Jupiter Hollow had to say about his bands newest release.

You have a new release coming out, tell us about it and why people should give it a listen.

We sure do, we just released our 2nd full-length record titled Bereavement on June 12, 2020. This is part two of two, of our conceptual story of AHDOMN and Bereavement; 2 albums, 1 story. As artists, we didn’t want us to be tied down to 1 stereotype or genre, so we wrote the music that we felt best suited us as artists for this time. You’ll find styles of music from acoustic, to piano, from rock to death metal. We are very proud of the work we’ve done on this record and have been thrilled with the feedback from our fans and the press.

How was the writing process for these new songs and what was your mindset going into this recording session?

The writing process was very natural. Most of the record was written in the same room together, jamming the songs out and structuring them as we progressed. For those who don’t know us, it’s just Kenny Parry (vocals, drums, piano) and myself Grant MacKenzie (guitar, bass) who write, record and produce all of the music. Our mindset was, let’s be as real as possible on this record.

See also : Quickies : Zach Dean from Messora

Nothing is quantized, there’s no vocal correction and minimum edits to the performances. We want people to hear who we are as artists and steer away from sounding computerized; which is, unfortunately, an industry-standard in a lot of people’s opinions. For us, we don’t care what the standard is. There is no standard for artistic expression.

Do you do anything special when writing new music? Any specific routines or traditions?

No, we just write naturally. When the magic happens, it happens as it pleases.

How did you choose the studio and engineer(s) for these new tracks and what sound were you looking to capture? Walk us through the studio process!

We chose to record the entire record with Zane Hawley of Shadow Studio in Pickering, Ontario, Canada. We chose him because he’s a good friend of ours, as well as the guitarist in Kenny’s other band Chasing Shadows. Aside from that, his production skills and the studio is state of the art, and we love that his creative vision was in-line with ours. He was truly the person for this record to record and mix. For the mastering, we hired Ermin Hamidovic of Systematic Productions. We chose him because, in our opinion, he is the guy to do mastering for our genre. He is responsible for mastering records for artists such as Periphery, Animals As Leaders, Architects, Plini, and so on.

Who would enjoy your new music and where can it be heard?

Anyone who has an interest in music that focuses on the art aspect of music as opposed to the mainstream aspect of music. It can be heard on our website, Spotify  or iTunes 

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