You’ve got to love a song that needs a background story. A few years before social media, Glaucon & Socrates had a dialogue about the fallacy of knowledge & assumed reality. The wall in the cave has shadows projected on it by objects, which becomes the inmate’s reality. Only the ones wise enough to understand the projected lie and leave the cave will perceive higher forms of knowledge.
I had the pleasure to ask Zander from British metal group Take Flight about their latest track-
Exploring beyond the pale
1) How did A Modern Allegory of The Cave come about? Do you explore riffs & instrumentals first or dive directly into the dominating emotion of the track?
Like a lot of songs, one of us will come with an idea, a riff, a chorus or a hook and we will develop the idea from there. Cave was an idea that Mike had been playing around with for a while, but disregarded it as it was “too weird”. When he played it to us, we loved it and jumped on it immediately! We felt it was a great way for us to harmonize and use our voices in a different way, but also to expand on the sound that we had established on our debut EP ‘Grey’, exploring the more emo/post hardcore sound of our song ‘Listening’, concentrating on the emo vocals and lyrics but keeping the riffs for good measure.
Now, lets get down to why I brought this up. Take Flight’s riveting new track- A Modern Allegory of The Cave. It opens with a cascading duet of vocals & guitar, leading to an explosion of sound- reminiscent of the Howard Jones era of Killswitch Engage.
2) The latest track has some Trivium & As I Lay Dying guitar attacks. Are there other inspirations in your musical journey?
Love that, Thank you very much! Everyone in the band has a slightly different taste of rock and metal. I (Zander) love everything from emo, to hardcore, to deathcore, with modern metalcore bands such as Currents, Fit For A King and Crystal Lake being the top of the pile. Mike has a more emo/punk rock background – especially judging by the NOFX tattoo on his arm… Jack brings a more hardcore/metal vibe while Matt and Max a more on the rock and roll, Alter Bridge / Avenged Sevenfold vibes.
When we started the band we wanted to aim for the big riffs of Deftones with the emo sensibilities of Taking Back Sunday with the lyrical and sonic scope of Fightstar and Thrice. I think because we all listen to different bands, we don’t necessarily fit into one type of rock music, and that’s not a bad thing.
The instrumentals are fierce & consistent, the band telling the story in their own way. This single really launches forth what the group is about, tackling the noxious nether that is social media- which would be the modern allegory.
Themes that matter
3) What are other themes that Take Flight would like to tackle, in a landscape post a pandemic?
With the first EP the focus was very much internal, the mental struggles we all go through. We all have our own problems, thoughts, feelings and emotions but we can also all connect and see the similarities between our collective struggles. It is not something to be celebrated, but it is definitely something to be open about, create a conversation and normalize.
Cave takes more of an existential view of the world and added some social commentary regarding the echo chambers of social media and how people don’t like being challenged and being told they are wrong… Mike has a deep love of philosophy and science fiction, which is where the alignment with Plato’s allegory of the cave came from.
I write lyrics from a personal point of view, but when Mike and I work together, we usually come up with metaphors ideas that marry personal experiences with much grander narratives.
We have all been on such a wild ride over the past year and a half, where so much, yet so little has happened. Lockdown 1 in the UK was a great excuse to sit down, take a step back and reflect on life, love and what we truly value. There are silver linings to be found in even the darkest of times and one of them is the pause on the rush of life and the questions and answers that we found during that period.
4) The track has some Mark Tremonti inspired intros to open space for your vocals. Are bands like Alter Bridge styles that you would like to explore?
That is a massive compliment and Matt will be very happy! Matt and Max love Alter Bridge and that style so I think that will always have a place within our sound. We all vary so much in our influences which means that we can push on those boundaries and explore the sounds without focusing on one particular style.
While there is a part of us that want to emulate and be our idols, we also want to create something new, something fresh and something we can put a stamp on and say, yeah that’s Take Flight. Our next track, which will be released later this year, is a much heavier sound, exploring hardcore, emo and metalcore all in the space of about 3.5 minutes, its definitely a ride!!
Take Flight push beyond the poor loop of lyrics that we’ve heard in the past few years in mainstream genres. They explore- and take us on the expedition with them. From metalcore to punk, Take Flight will hover to a space above the normal sound of metal.
5) What’s next for Take Flight? Album with singular theme or singles with varying themes?
Cave is one of two singles we recorded during the pandemic, and the next step is to get back to playing gigs. We are playing a show at The Boileroom, Guildford on 14/08/21 with many more planned for the future! Another single has also been recorded which we will release in the Autumn (stay tuned!) and then I think we will head back into the studio.
The band has a lot of great songs and ideas we are playing with now which we will push to record this winter. I think we will focus on recording singles which we can release throughout the year but I would love to record an album when the time is right. We have a great relationship with our Producer Oz Craggs at Hidden Track Studios in Folkestone so we will work with him to further develop our sound!
Mark your calendars for 4th of August, this is going to be a release you guys don’t wanna miss!
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Discovered via http://musosoup.com
Self professed metalhead, moderately well read. If the music has soul, it's whole to me. The fact that my bio could have ended on a rhyme and doesn't should tell you a lot about my personality.
