Cerebellion - Beyond Our Failures
Happy Cerebellion Day!
If you didn’t know, Cerebellion released their new album today 11/11, which also happens to be National Metal Day. What a coincidence! And what better way to celebrate the new Cerebellion album Beyond Our Failures than with an album review. Not only a review, but an exclusive interview with guitarist John Arnold. I caught up with John, and this is how our conversation went:
CB: First of all, congratulations on the new album! Cerebellion released one song (off of Beyond Our Failures) at a time throughout this year. How did that idea come about?
John: Thanks! I was observing Spotify, and how people were consuming music nowadays. I saw the singles and playlists and realizing consistent content is the name of the game, it’s not enough to just drop an album every few years. That’s an old model at this point. So Spotify and streaming had a lot to do with it. And the idea that every song gets a chance.
CB: So have you gotten feedback from people about that, did people like it? Is this something that people prefer?
John: That’s an interesting question, because we didn’t really ask people about it. We’ve gotten a lot of feedback from the songs, but not the way it was presented. We’re planning on recording a couple songs next year (2021), we’re going to write and record more music, maybe some covers.
CB: Have you been keeping up to date with your streaming numbers? How are the new songs doing?
John: Yeah, they’re doing well. I look at Spotify, I don’t really look at anything else. I’m guessing that Spotify is our leading streaming platform, it’s doing really well, its consistent. It’s great, its been an effective strategy. Its still a tough game, getting your music heard. And we’ve been getting feedback online with the videos.
CB: Back to your streaming numbers, were you surprised by anything you saw? For instance, were you shocked that one song had way more streams that another had? Were you looking for anything in particular?
John: There were some surprises, I would say Redemption did pretty well, lots of likes and added to a lot of playlists. The percentage of likes per listeners was really high. We love that song but it’s not as predictably acceptable as like say, Now or Never. People seem to really like Redemption, we love the song but we were surprised so many others did too.
CB: Beyond Our Failures is your 3rd album, was there anything about the writing and recording process for this record that was different than the other 2?
John: When we were writing Regeneration (2015), Joe (Arnold, singer/twin brother) had left the band so Marc (Battung, bass/beard) and I wrote most of that album. Marc was really involved when we started writing (Regeneration). This time around, it was more Joe and I. Joe quit his job to focus more on the band, so he and I were grinding it out. Johnny (Arnold, John’s son/musical prodigy) was involved as well with a couple songs, and Joe did most of the drums in the demoing process.
CB: I’ve heard the album a few times, and I found certain themes throughout (finding true happiness, seizing the day, speaking up). I know that you guys write from a personal place, but I noticed that these lyrics and content and themes are also relevant to what’s going on in the world as well. Was it a conscious effort for you guys to do that? Or was it more of a coincidence?
John: I would say its conscious. generally that’s where Joe writes from, he’s very interested in social issues.. We have worked together close together on lyrics, he obviously writes most of the lyrics but I have input too. I always come at it from a more personal angle, and he comes more from a more social perspective. I mean, the band is called Cerebellion, that’s kind of our theme. What we try to do, the lyrics can be perceived both ways, or a multitude of ways but if you can listen to the song and it means something personal but another hears a social message then that’s what we try to do.
CB: Yeah that stood out to me, because I know a lot if not all of the album was written before Covid-19 and all the social justice issues were going on, so I thought was interesting how it all tied together.
John: Yeah we were tripping off that, how the songs relate to what people are going through now. Not just with Covid, but with the tensions that people have been experiencing this year.
CB : Question about Struggle for the Soul. Instrumental track, right in the middle of the album. Is there a reason for that? Is it a bridge track? Was it meant to be instrumental?
John: Yeah that song was pretty deliberate. It was something that kinda came about from a jam, derived at the end of Redemption, and we were kinda like “why don’t we make it its own thing as an instrumental interlude?” It is after Redemption right? (editor’s note: it is!) and it was a prefect break before we slam back into the brutality of No Space for Silence. Other than that song (No Space for Silence) and the last track (Up From The Dust), the whole album is just hitting the whole time, so it was just a good opportunity to have little breaks. If you’re listening to the album beginning to end it just kinda flows.
CB: Yeah No Space for Silence is pretty heavy. It’s quite a monster so you definitely need some foreplay before going into that song.
John: Haha exactly.
CB: Who produced this album?
John: His name is Chris Eck, he produced Regeneration as well. He produced one of our songs called A Better Version, that was our first time working with Chris. He’s worked with Haster (local metal band friends), that’s how we found out about him and after he did A Better Version we wanted keep working with this guy. Joe and I were involved too (in the production), but it was mostly Chris. We definitely trust him to give us a third pair of ears. He’s definitely got a producers’ brain.
CB: At what point in the album process is the producer decided?
John: Good question, early enough so you can book him. I felt like for me, I wanted Chris from the get go. Even when we were just talking about starting to write. It ended up being more or less unanimous.
CB: Is it as simple as “we liked how he did Regeneration, lets get him for Beyond Our Failures as well?”
John: Yeah pretty much, he’s just dope and not only that, not only is the final product dope but he’s a great guy to work with too.
CB: I follow the band on all the socials, and there was a recent post on Instagram that said half jokingly that the band almost breaks up during every new album. All jokes are based in some truth, so how true was it this time around for Beyond Our Failures?
John: Yeah that’s kind of a joke but its kinda not. I mean, it’s mostly just Joe and I. And our twin brother tension. You’re familiar, you know.
CB: I may have seen some examples of that a few million times before, yes.
John: Yeah so we actually started writing further back. We started writing sometime in 2017, took a break because we were doing shows that year, then resumed in 2018. And then he quit his job, he built a studio, then we got real serious about finishing up the writing recording and demoing. But to answer your question, it’s the same issues with Joe and I, trying to learn how to work together as adults (editor’s note: they’ve been legal adults for 24 years now). Trying to overcome that childhood dynamic, it’s hard to do.
CB: And maybe one day, you and Joe will get it right.
John: And even if it wasn’t my twin brother, if you’re working that closely with someone for hours and days and weeks and months and years, it’s going to be hard. This is our passion. We both have really strong opinions. I had a couple meltdowns, a couple times I was straight out like, I don’t know if I can keep doing this. I like to think that we’re catching our groove. Like we realize that through it all, we have something special. I don’t know if the tension adds to it, or the honesty. It’s being totally blunt and honest about our feeling about what we’re coming up with, which is where the bruised egos and hurt feelings come from. Hopefully that adds to the process.
CB: Is the issue always with you and Joe, or does say, Marc get frustrated at you? Does Jimmy (Schultz, drummer/wall of arms and hair) butt heads with Joe? Are the other 2 involved in that, or just you and Joe?
John - Yeah its mostly me and Joe. I don’t know for sure, but apparently that’s why Joe quit in 2012, he was like “fuck this guy” (meaning John). And I almost quit numerous times. But I do think we have something special. If we can just get through those ugly moments it’ll be alright.
CB: But it comes from a place of love and a place of passion.
John: For sure.
CB: So did you have songs written that didn’t make the album?
John: No, we had riffs and parts that weren’t developed. We had a song on Inalienable (2010) that was demoed, and basically done musically but it didn’t fit the album. But yeah we’re too slow to have the luxury of extra songs to choose from.
CB: You mean you’re not sitting on an extra 47 songs like Justin (Schulze, The Even Order)?
John: Ha, no definitely not. We barely write enough to be considered an album on Spotify.
CB: It was hard enough to squeeze out these 8 tracks.
John: Exactly.
CB: Earlier you mentioned that you’re planning to record a couple songs in 2021. What else does the band have planned for next year? What is Cerebellion’s approach to 2021?
John: Yeah funny you should ask, we’ve been thinking about it. Lots of question marks, we’re thinking about trying to do something in the summer of 2021, at least our own 2-3 week tour. Which is gonna be tough, with the circumstances there are a lot of un knowns. We’d like to do a lot more than that, but we just don’t know what is gonna be possible.
CB: Would you jump on someone else’s tour, is that an option too?
John: Yeah totally, depends on the circumstances but yes. Not so much who the band is, just the circumstances. We’re gonna focus on recording the new songs, and in the meantime try to plot and game plan for a little tour, but if that can’t happen, because of Covid or whatever, then we’re gonna talk about getting into the livestreaming game.
CB: Hey everyone’s doing it!
John: Yeah we’re trying to figure out how to do it without a big budget, but we’re only in the brainstorming phase now.
CB: Yeah because you guys know a lot of talented audio visual people like Justin (Schulze) and Ian (Mora, Smash Standard Cinema), so I’m sure they have ideas.
John: Yeah for sure. I think what we really need is a good sound guy.
CB: So I’ve heard the album a few times, and I was a big Now or Never guy, but I’ve been way into No Space for Silence lately. It just sounds so beefy, it blew me away. The breakdown at the end with you and Marc and Jimmy, it turns me on so much.
John: Oh thanks man, I know, that part was wild! Man, I’m already pumped on the stuff we’re working on now. Dude, it’s heavy, it’s sick, it’s definitely a new realm for us. And it continues where it left off but goes further.
CB: Yeah I can’t wait to hear it. Congrats again on Beyond Our Failures!
John: Thanks, this is the best interview I’ve ever done!
(editor’s note: that’s not really how the interview ended, but John and I spent the last 10 minutes of the interview stroking each other and got off track so we just kinda ended abruptly. But if I were a professional interviewer, I’m sure that’s how the end of the interview would’ve concluded.)
John touched on something in our interview that I thought was interesting. Earlier this year, Cerebellion began releasing songs via video (official and lyric) one by one, every 6 weeks, leading up to the release of Beyond Our Failures on 11/11. I asked John about it, and he basically said that this is the new model nowadays. The way music is consumed nowadays is different than 10, 20 years ago. It’s less about full albums and more about singles and likes and playlists and stream numbers. I love me an album full of songs, but I reluctantly agree to what John says. In an age where every song you can imagine is online, the idea of releasing one collection of songs every few years is starting to become antiquated (if it isn’t already). And I’ll admit, that kinda bums me out. There’s a particular joy I get from listening to an album all the way through, from beginning to end. Even if some of the songs suck, I want to hear the album the way it was meant to be heard. I’ve put together a few playlists in my day, and I spend way too much time thinking about which order the songs go in. So I can image what a band and producer go through when putting an actual album together.
(Cut scene to me yelling at kids to get off my lawn, telling them to stop listening to shitty music, while my arms are full of CDs and vinyl records)
Here’s the thing about Beyond Our Failures; it doesn’t matter how you consume these songs. Whether it’s all at once, in order all the way through, or individually. There is no wrong way to hear these songs. The songs hold up on their own, but to me they’re better as a unit. Like Voltron. Yes, each individual song bangs on it’s own, but when you put them all together? Now you have a super metal robot. A huge riff-filled, head-banging beast.
Musically, the sound of Beyond Our Failures is some of the heaviest stuff that I’ve heard Cerebellion do. Get your Spanish guitar fix with Before the Storm before you enter the storm that is Through Darkness. Now or Never is an absolute banger, a definite air drumming song. Plus with part in the middle that I love screaming in my car. Someone’s American Dream is the perfect song to blast from your car after your last day at your shitty job. No need for redemption on Redemption, that song has nothing to atone for. Struggle for the Soul is the aforementioned foreplay before the BDSM of No Space for Silence. When I say No Space for Silence has a beefy breakdown, I’m not kidding. I don’t kid about shit like that. And there’s few things I love more than a beefy breakdown. My favorite thing to order from Taco Bell is the grande beefy breakdown. When I was overweight and emotionally unstable, I would have beefy breakdowns. That’s how seriously I take it. And last but not least is Up From The Dust, the ideal song to listen to in your refractory period after getting brutalized by No Space for Silence. A lovely acoustic jam that shows that they can make love just as well as they fuck. The beginning has a little Pink Floyd/Behind Blue Eyes vibe, and the whole tune is a beautiful end to the album.
Lyrically, is it hyperbole if I say Beyond Our Failures had a profound effect on me personally? Possibly, but I’ll let some of the songs explain:
Now or Never: the title says it all; if I can’t get my shit together to write during a pandemic, I never will - it’s now or never. The line “Cant wait forever anymore, change must come now or never” is so fitting, and something I needed to hear.
Someone’s American Dream: to quote the band, this song is “an intimate look at the experience of having to choose between a path of financial stability and pursuing one’s deepest passions and the structures that make this dilemma a reality for so many.” Yes, a reality for so many, including me. It’s a question I’ve been asking myself for so long - how long do I have to tolerate a soul-crushing dead end job before I start following my passions? “What’s the point of sacrifice, if I lose what makes me alive?”
No Space for Silence: How do you have conversations with those with different beliefs than you? Especially in an election year? As you may have noticed, it’s not easy for people to do (me included). Not easy, but not impossible either. Respect and understanding. “There is no space for silence, conversations must be had…to end discourse is violence, nothing new to understand.”
There is no wrong way to listen to Beyond Our Failures. Listen from beginning to end. Listen to one track at a time. Listen to one song over and over and over again. Doesn’t matter the format, good songs are good songs, no matter how you choose to hear them.
Honestly, is it in you to hear Beyond Our Failures? I think it is.
Because I believe in you.
And I believe in Cerebellion.
Can we still thrive?
Will we survive?
Hold onto what makes us alive?
- Cerebellion / Now or Never
