We chat with Periphery about their upcoming Australian Tour

Periphery has defied the boundaries of conventionality, bringing new life to the metal scene. Their meteoric rise to the upper echelon of the metal world will be in full display when they return to Australia in January/February 2014 joined by Animals As Leaders. Jake Bowen, guitarist for the band answered a few questions about their impending visit.

You guys were Down Under for Soundwave in 2013 and we’re already lucky enough to have you back here a year later. What made you want to come back?
Besides the awesome weather? Our Australian fans like us a lot and there’s been a lot of demand for us there, it’s always a really fun time when we go to Australia.

You’re bringing along Animals As Leaders with you for support. Have you played many or any shows at all with the three-piece before?
We’re really close with AAL, our bands have known each other since the beginning. A little known fact is that Matt Halpern was AAL’s original drummer.

We’ve been told to expect the project Juggernaut to be released in late 2014, is it still on track to be released by then?
Pretty much, but the rule is we’re not releasing anything until we’re perfectly happy with the product, so as long as it takes to get it right!

We heard that the project was pushed back due to touring commitments. How hard is it to juggle the development of new music with playing live shows around the world?
If we’re already in the studio it’s difficult, because it means we have to load out of the studio, lose the vibe of recording everyday and go on the road, then we have to try to recreate that vibe and flow the best we can when we get back into the studio.

What can we expect from the Juggernaut material?
Dark, epic, groovy… doesn’t suck.

Juggernaut was pushed back so that you could finish Clear. The recording of this project was fairly unique in the sense that each track was assigned to a different band member as the “creative director”. Do you think you would use this process again in the future?
Let me make one thing “Clear” (har har see what I did thar?), Juggernaut wasn’t pushed back because of Clear, Juggernaut is just an ongoing thing we’re working in parallel with everything else we’re doing. For Clear it worked pretty well, and everyone in the band writes anyway so in a sense we’re always going to be using that process, Clear just enabled the individual to be in complete control of their song rather than face the production and scrutiny of the whole band shaping one song.

Juggernaut has been years in the making. Are you taking your time with this project deliberately or has it just been more difficult to finish than you first anticipated?
Both, it’s been challenging to try to do something that rises above our past efforts but still sounds like the band people are familiar with. So that requires a lot of thought, planning, and quality control.

The Clear EP is being released in late January just in time for your Australian tour. What can fans expect from this release?
Besides all kinds of summer jams, it’s a view into the musical mind of each member of Periphery, it’s a cool way to see what we each like, what influences us, how we each influence the Periphery sound.

Pre order Clear at: iTunes: http://bit.ly/Clear_iTunes or at JBHiFi: http://bit.ly/Clear_JB