Master Sword is a somewhat frequent flyer on my blog. Having reviewed both of their albums and interviewing them before (click here). Well, now it’s time for round two! After completely crushing their Kickstarter goal for their new album Toying With Time, I thought it would be a good time to catch up with the gang and get a whole new round of questions to dig into the band mythos even more. So join me again for my second interview with the one, the only Master Sword!
Could you tell me some more about the new album “Toying With Time”? Will this be a concept album or a collection of ideas that are inspired by Majora’s Mask?
Matt: We're calling it a concept album, however, we use that term very loosely. The concept is the game Majora's Mask itself, and all of these songs are here to provide some backstory to the stories from the game. There won't be one overarching story between all the songs though, no.
Did you take any specific musical influences on this album that were different from the previous records?
Kojo: I can only speak for myself, but on this album compared to the previous album, The Final Door (which is the first Master Sword album I was involved with), I allowed myself to write a bit more freely and get "weirder". I don't really set too many rules or limitations on myself when writing to begin with, but we knew from the outset that this time we were going to allow ourselves to get darker, weirder, heavier and proggier in places than the previous album. Having joined the band in the summer of 2018, I also knew my bandmates better this time around, which made it easier to write parts with them in mind.
Matt: My influences are all over the place for this one. I wrote a thrash metal song, a hooky circus song, a dark and creepy ballad, our fastest power metal track yet, and a big wintery epic which Lily decided to add some gospel singing to. None of those things are really out of the ordinary for me, but I think we all made a conscious decision on this album to be weird and experimental and that it's fine.
You guys have once again crushed your Kickstarter goal. What does that mean to you to have a community that provides that support?
Lily: It means so much to us that so many people love our music enough to support us by pre-ordering the album and rewards we've offered. Honestly, I don't know what we would do without such incredible fans.
Matt: It means everything. We throw it all on the line during these campaigns with the cost of advertising, so it's always a sink or swim situation for the band if we're not able to reach the goal. However, without the revenue from these campaigns, we simply wouldn't be able to release any albums. So thank you so so much, everyone!
Kojo: We are thrilled to have hit (and surpassed) our Kickstarter goal for this album. It's always nerve-wracking during the campaign because we don't know for sure if it will succeed, and if it doesn't, then we get $0. We wouldn't be able to afford to record the album (at least, certainly not to the standards of quality we would like) without the support of our fans, and it means more than words can express that people care enough about what we do to want to support us so that we can continue to do it. Thank you, everyone.
Matt: My advice would be don't take advice from me. lol
In your opinion, what is the most important thing when it comes to writing songs (concept, lyrics, “Catchiness”)?
Lily: Honestly finding the balance between concept, lyrics, melody, and the "hook". It's important to me to reach an audience in such a way that the music is open to interpretation, interesting enough to keep listening, and easy enough on the ears to remember the chorus or the verse.
Kojo: For me, when I'm writing songs, I am thinking of multiple things at once -- how the song flows and grooves, the memorability of riffs/passages, how fun it is to play and listen to, and keeping things interesting throughout the song for the listener (rhythmic and/or melodic changes during the song to avoid monotony). Lily usually writes all the lyrics herself, so as a guitarist/composer, I just try to make sure the parts I write are conducive to adding vocals. I tend to imagine her voice in my head when I'm writing for the band, and other times, she provides vocal lines that Matt and I write music to accompany her, and build a song around that.
Matt: Strong melodies and interesting yet cohesive song structure. Being creative.
If there is one thing you would like to achieve in your career, what would it be?
Matt: To be able to pay the bills doing what I love (music). lol. Or for a more fun answer, I'd love to play the European metal festival circuit. Places like Wacken, Bloodstock, Download, Hellfest, etc...
Kojo: A personal goal of mine would be for us to play in other countries. Particularly a European tour, and I'd love to play in Japan someday, myself. I've been a couple of times as a tourist, and it would be amazing to go there to play a show.
If you weren’t playing music as a career, what path do think you would’ve taken?
Kojo: I'm not currently able to support myself financially with music, but that is definitely one of the goals for all of us I think. As for other career paths outside of music, for me, I'd probably pursue writing comics or novels, or maybe game development.
Matt: I always seem to be involved in the entertainment industry. I worked as a game tester for Bethesda Softworks for a while, which was fine but I don't know about making it my main career. Not sure about this question, tbh. Still figuring it out!
How do you feel like you’ve evolved as an artist over the years, if at all?
Matt: Certainly my playing skills have improved considerably. I think my songwriting has become a bit more organic as well.
Kojo: In my case, I feel like, over the past few years, I've learned a lot about thinking more critically during songwriting. I write in a very stream-of-consciousness approach, but I
feel like I'm better at arranging my ideas on the fly into an order that "makes sense" than I used to be.
I’m interested to know what music you’re currently listening to, and what you chill out to?
Kojo: I recently checked out the new Porcupine Tree album--it's really good! I've also been enjoying Trivium's recent album from last year. To chill out, I will either put on some ambient Devin Townsend stuff (like his albums "Snuggle" or "Ghost") or recently, the album Lamp Gensou by the Japanese band "Lamp". Casiopea, a Japanese jazz fusion band, is also great to chill out to.
Matt: A lot of Devin Townsend for me. The other bands I often have on my playlist recently are Kamelot, Metallica, Rush, Genesis, Blue Oyster Cult, and The Beatles. Also been revisiting a lot of my 90s/2000s favourites I haven't listened to in a while like the Foo Fighters and Dave Matthews Band.
Matt: I often get that feeling listening to Beatles songs. They're just so perfectly constructed and have the strongest hooks I've ever heard. I've never been a very good pop songwriter, so that would be an amazing skill set to have.
Kojo: Maybe it's a cop-out answer, but I'd rather be inspired by the music I like to create something new that is my own that I can be proud of, rather than wishing I had written someone else's work.
What is your favourite show you’ve been to as a fan?
Matt: Probably Iron Maiden's 2008 Somewhere Back In Time tour show. It was my first concert ever, and I was right up front for them playing all their 80s hits. Unbeatable.
Lily: Any Ghost concert.
Lily: MagFest mainstage for sure. It just feels like home every time we're playing it.
Matt: PAX West 2021 I'd say. It felt really special to me, and I was definitely playing at my best for that show. They treated us really amazing there, and it was the most professional setup we'd ever had before - not to mention we got to play on the same stage that bands like Queen, Nirvana, Pink Floyd, and Heart played on. I got chills being backstage in the dressing room. Just a cool experience.
Finally. Just a game of Desert Island Discs? If you were stranded on a desert island and you were only allowed 1 album, 1 book and 1 luxury item, what would you take?
Matt: Ugh, picking an album is so tough. Probably Genesis' The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway because it's one of my favourite albums ever and it's also a double album, so I'd get the most bang for my buck. 1 book would have to be Fellowship of the Ring. And a luxury item? Hm. I guess my guitar. That's a luxury item, right?
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