A rugged, Goliath-sized manifestation of inescapable prog, psych, doom and post metal, Mountain Caller are a wholly unparalleled entity even within the decorated halls of instrumental metal. Forgoing the standard and cliched approach to the genre, the London three piece instead use the titanous and vivid power of the post-metal genre to narrate a story that’s rooted within both fantasy and real world struggle.
As detailed within their monumental 2020 LP debut Chronicle I: The Truthseeker, the band use their thunderous and dynamic art to narrate a story of a nameless woman on a sprawling journey to recollect her history and voice. It’s a vivid story, one reminiscent of the fantasy epics that hallmark the fantasy genre as a whole, but one that’s a poignant and metaphorical depiction of the unceasing struggles and perils woman face in modern society as a whole. It’s a totally unique and riveting exploration of feminism and how woman within our culture must fight for their voice and place.
Following on from the release of their debut, Mountain Caller are gearing up for the release of their new forthcoming EP. Titled Chronicle: Prologue, the record isn’t just a collection of some of the band’s earliest work, it’s also the origins of the story the band serve to tell. True in its namesake, the EP sees the band tracing their roots back to their origins in order to place emphasis on what’s next.
With the Chronicle: Prologue released July 9th via New Heavy Sounds, we got in touch with El Reeve (Bass) and Max Maxwell (Drums) to discover more about the EP, their approach to unifying narration with post-metal, their signature artwork and lots more.
The new EP serves as a prequel to your first record, which brings to us the story of The Protagonist, can you tell us a bit about her and is this going to be the earliest glimpse we get into her tale?
El: “That’s a great question, and potentially quite complicated. I can tell you that this is the earliest we have written of her, I don’t know whether sometime in the future we might jump back with what we’re doing but we haven’t talked about that yet.”
Max: “It’s the Mountain Caller origin story, yeah.”
El: “Yeah, when we branch out into graphic novels! So, the protagonist is sort of conceived of the everywoman really. She’s intended to be someone that anyone could imprint themselves onto and it was important to all three of us that she was a woman. We really liked the idea of getting to go on a journey with someone who would be your conduit into these weird, wonderful worlds that we’re travelling through, someone to give it a sense of purpose and to connect emotionally with. But we haven’t really sat down and thought about yet, y’know what’s her personality like, what kind of things is she into? She is just very much a person whose been thrust into this situation and she’s on a mission. She’s on one, she’s out there, she’s got things to do.”
Max: “We’ve kinda kept her quite deliberately anonymous so that anyone can easily relate to her, we don’t want her restricted to age or race of any of those things, hence you don’t see her face on any of the artwork or merch or anything.”
So, speaking of origin stories, where did the idea come from to form a band that merges instrumental post-rock with a running narrative?
El: “Y’know it actually happened very naturally. I would love to be able to claim that we sat down and thought; well this will be fantastic let’s definitely do this! But we were in the practice room, and very early on, maybe session one or two, when we were jamming stuff together we just started talking about it. I’ve got a very visual brain, and when I listen to music anyway I tend to picture things in my minds eye, and I was describing, or one of us was describing how something would look if it were made manifest. Like, this is what it would like if you’re in a submarine, this is how the reverb should be, that kind of thing. We started talking in those terms for the rest of that session and then just had this idea that, well why don’t we base this whole thing about this woman who has just woken up under a ruined city and has no memory and take it from there and see what happens? We just kept going with it and ended up writing the main sort of beats of the overarching story and fleshing it out as we went and discovering that oh, this riff is very evocative of that kind of feeling or that kind of dramatic moment, or oh we need to write something that’s a bit softer to convey this sort of thing. It’s worked in a lot of different ways when it comes to writing it.”
Max: “It doesn’t feel like we thought about it that hard. We haven’t written songs on the basis of oh this is what happens next in the story, it all just kind of happens simultaneously really. I can’t really describe how that’s happened but it just kind of happened in that way, we all really tried to trust our instincts on it and just let both the music and the story come to us.”
El: “It’s been strangely effortless, and I just wonder if it’s because we all gel together so well as people and as musicians. I mean it’s pretty rare that an idea will be thrown out or a riff will come up and one of us won’t like it or won’t get it or something. Everything is very complimentary and I think that just makes the overall writing process quite easy.”
So with your writing process, do you find there are there times when the music comes before the narrative or the narrative comes before the music, or is it more strictly one or the other?
Max: “The music normally comes first for me I think.”
El: “Not for me.”
Max: “No? Fair enough, so yeah there’s no real set pattern to it but I’m definitely much more of a music person. I feel like I come up with a lot less of the visual stuff, music is much more my strong point, so that’s definitely where it starts for me and almost by chance it seems to fit in quite well with where the story is going. So that’s I guess what I mean by the sort of serendipity of it.”
El: “I think you’re really great at the story stuff!”
Max: “Thank you! I just feel like you guys come in with more visual ideas, and then I guess as a person I’m quite responsive, responding to what other people do musically and thematically with the story. I guess I contribute different ideas about the kind of, core of where it’s going, and like El said we’re all very complimentary.”
El: “It’s nice because when you bring something into the practice room, like Clair or I might sweep in and go oh I’ve had an idea! This is the next scene! But the rest of the guys will go oh yeah great, but what if also if it’s this, and this and this? And we just kind of get going like a bit of a runaway train.”
Max: “It’s always a million times better as well, like when I bring an idea to the rehearsal and they go oh yeah but what if we do it this way? And we’re all like oh yeah, that’s brilliant of course it should be like that! It’s such a nice feeling just sort of riffing off each other, I guess that’s both conceptually and literally!”
“We've always talked about those kinds of things, little fragments of poetry and graphic novels, even merch like action figures and such.”
So the new songs were actually written alongside your first record, what made you decide to hold these tracks back for a further EP as opposed to using them as the beginning of the debut record?
El: “A mixture of things to be honest. We had talked a lot about the length of the album and we’d asked a few people what they thought of it, people whose opinions we respect, and we were mindful of the fact that we are still a new band and this was a debut album. Of course we’d love to just cheekily come out with a double album straight off the bat but we didn’t really know if that was gonna fly. So we’d already talked a bit about what we should do because the linear narrative that we had written was obviously very deliberate and it’s important to not chop things around too much. We ended up all feeling that starting from ‘Journey (Through The Twilight Desert)’ with that ringing atmospheric intro and then closing with ‘Dreamspirals’ represented the strongest possible debut album that’d get people straight into us, sounding like us, and then we loved the idea, being sci-fi, fantasy nerds, the idea of releasing a prequel EP would be really fun and a nice thing to do in between albums so people have got a little extra something to enjoy. We also thought that by that point that hopefully the people that care will know us well enough that they will be interested in our earlier works, the very first songs that we ever wrote together.”
Max: “We definitely want people to listen to the EP and then the album as one complete thing, there’s something kinda cool about those two separate things coming together so nicely, like when you buy those DVD boxsets and all the images on the spine line up correctly.”
Looking into the future of Mountain Caller as a band, do you think there is potential to use other forms of media to convey the story, such as graphic novels?
Max: “We’d love that, we’ve always talked about those kinds of things, little fragments of poetry and graphic novels, even merch like action figures and such. We’re all such passionate nerds that we’d love to make all those things happen around the world that we’ve created, I mean I can’t speak for any definite plans but if we have our way then one hundred percent, right?”
El: “Yeah, absolutely, my dream would be to be able to create a graphic novel with Hannah Templer who did the artwork for our album, who is exactly the right kind of illustrator, produces her own comics and things like Cosmoknights which is fantastic, she would just eat it for breakfast and I know she’d get everything just right. But yeah, we do have pros written about the story, and we’ve needed to write it all down to help with things like artwork briefings and music video briefings, so it exists and I would love to be able to put some of that out into the world as well, and also as Max said there is a collection of poems for each track on the album in different forms that would be lovely to put out at some point.”
The artwork for the debut record was done by the aforementioned Hannah Templer, but we notice a different style on the artwork for the EP, who did you work with this time around?
El: “Yeah it was different, we were keen to go with Hannah initially and I’m hoping we’ll get to work with her again on some future stuff because she’s such a lovely person and a joy to work with. But the art for the EP was done by an equally incredible artist called Taylor Rose. I’ve been a fan of her for quite some time, I’ve got a print of hers here at my house just as I’ve got some of Hannah’s comics. Being able to work with her on this was such a dream, the detail that she gets into I feel like you spot something new every time you look at it and I love those sorts of things. But yeah, things just couldn’t quite work out schedule wise with Hannah but luckily for us we were able to get something absolutely phenomenal from Taylor.
Max: “I also like being able to get a different artists take on it as well, it’s really nice to see people’s different interpretations of how things look, and how it made to feel, going back to the faceless protagonist we’re really keen for people to bring their own sort of story to it. It is a very metaphorical story and isn’t meant to be taken too rigidly, so it’s just really collaborative, the whole thing.”
El: “It worked out for the best in the end, as Max said, getting a different perspective on it is really in keeping with the concept and the sentiment of it, as well.”
The image on the EP is of the Mountain Caller themselves, can you tell us anything about this mysterious character?
Max: “He’s steeped in mystery, no one knows about the Mountain Caller!”
El: “I don’t think we can yet because of where we might take things, but they key thing about him is; is he malevolent or is he benevolent? Is he an ally or is he up to no good when it comes to his soft guiding of the protagonist, and his following and observing of her as she’s making this journey? So apart from the fact he’s like an undead goat beast…
Max: “A zombie goat shaman, one of my favourite moments of being in this band was when we played a show at the New Cross Inn and someone came up and pointed at our shirt which has the Mountain Caller on it and said; oh it’s a zombie goat shaman! And we were like, well, yeah that’s exactly what it is!”
“We very deliberately wanted the protagonist to be someone who had forgotten who they were, didn't necessarily have a voice, didn't have a name and is out in the world seeking those things.”
Given that the tracks are written as a soundtrack to a linear story, how do you go about picking a setlist for your live shows?
Max: “We’re not very story oriented when it comes to writing sets, I think we focus more on thinking about the dynamics of the show musically. For our Black Heart show tomorrow we’re doing the whole album and we started introducing some atmospheric interludes that Claire, our guitarist made which are so so sick, but we focus much more on the music. We talk semi-seriously about like, wouldn’t it be sick if we could get Iron Maiden style stage shows with a giant Mountain Caller like they have Eddie, which is something it’d be cool to incorporate in the future.”
El: “Imagine a little three piece prog band could ever have such budget available, might have to be a DIY job, paper mache, chicken wire, lots of paint, get a really big van.”
Max: “As much as we do have a really expansive story we also really like the organic-ness of being in a band. I’m quite keen not to play to click tracks live and for it all to be actual instruments, so when we’re playing, apart from those little interludes, we’re all with each other’s groove, looking at each other, and I love that about our shows. It’s the best feeling for me.”
El: “I think it’s important that we get to cut ourselves a little bit of slack with live setlists, because being instrumental we’re also mindful of wanting to keep things interesting for the audience, and it keeps us on our toes too. I think it makes us better musicians to swap things around and think about the overall ebb and flow of a set a little bit differently, and there are gonna be times where we’re gonna want to start weaving in new material. I think it’s fun to be able to be freer live but the people that have our records they know what’s going on in the song, they’re more aware of the narrative and what it will mean.”
At the time of us speaking, you’re playing an ACTUAL live show tomorrow, how are you feeling about getting back into the world of live performances?
El: “Incredible, very anxious, it’s gonna be fine as soon as I’m on the stage but I always get quite nervous before that point, I’m a terrible over-thinker. I just really want it to be great, but I’m so excited just even to be out of my house, see humans, watch Morag Tong and appreciate music together and hang out. Oh my god I can’t wait.”
Max: “It’s so amazing that it’s gonna be back. I’m not someone that usually gets nervous before playing shows with other bands, I’m usually able to channel it into just excitement, but I do get quite nervous before Mountain Caller gigs and I think it is because we just want it to really be great, because we all care so much about it. We really want it to be great, so similarly I am equal parts super stoked and quite nervous. I mean I haven’t played drums regularly in like a year and a half so it’s all so strange. I don’t think we should put too much pressure on ourselves, it is our first show back after a year and a half, but it’s gonna be so lovely to be back in a room with actual people, playing music, and our gigs always have such a nice atmosphere too. This scene is so lovely, welcoming and genuine.”
El: “I feel like we’re very lucky that we’ve always attracted a nice crowd of good eggs for some reason.”
Going forward with Mountain Caller do you feel like you’re in a position to map out future chapters for the band and for the protagonist and her journey, or is that something that happens very spontaneously?
El: “We are currently writing the second album and we have already got an overarching narrative sorted for the whole thing and at the moment we are just getting into the detail of each chapter as it were. We know where she’s starting from, we know where she’s gonna get to, and a few beats along the way. And as we are fond of saying to each other, “the riff bank overfloweth”. So we’ve had a year of sending each other stuff on WhatsApp but we’ve only had a handful of practises in all this time, which is crazy because we normally play every week without fail like at least once.”
Max: “Yeah, I mean you and Claire have been working from home, and before lockdown I was making my living as a musician so that all kind of just shut down so there wasn’t a lot else to do for the summer apart from just write. It’s been quite different to how we’ve done it before because we are interacting so much more online. But yeah, we’ve got plenty on the go already, stuff that we’re really excited to dig our teeth into.”
El: “And as for other plans, there are particular festivals we would love to be able to do. We’re really hoping we’ll get booked again for ArcTanGent, because that’s a booking that’s rolled over twice now, that one’s a really big deal for us and also Roadburn eventually, which would be a dream. So it’s really about musicians we would like to tour with, shows we would like to be able to play, but we haven’t really talked in particularly great detail about traditional ambition things, like where wanna get to. We didn’t really start this band thinking it was gonna come to anything, we just wanted to play and write music that we loved, and it’s just turned into this marvellous, precious thing.”
Earlier on in our interview, we touched on the importance of the protagonist being a woman and of course there’s a lot of different themes that flow through the narrative, can you tell us about some of the major things that you want this tale to convey?
El: “Thank you for asking about this, I suppose the most major themes are ones of identity, freedom, and using your voice. We very deliberately wanted the protagonist to be someone who had forgotten who they were, didn’t necessarily have a voice, didn’t have a name and is out in the world seeking those things, which is an obvious metaphor in many ways for the experience of being a woman in this world, feeling disenfranchised, feeling unanchored from thing and as you get older, beginning to get to grips with your identity and what you will and won’t accept from the world. It was important for us to get to the point on the album of ‘I Remember Everything’ where for the first time you’ve got that first person title where now she has urgency, she is a person, she remembers and the moment she realises who she is she becomes exponentially more powerful, and she is now able to do things like fight in colosseums and begin to understand this quite mystical magical power she has, that is actually this world changing power, just because she’s able to stand of her own two feet and speak for herself. So I think those are the most important things, and as you’ll begin to see a bit more of on the second album, voice, language, history and things like that will come into play a lot more.”
Max: “For me, the stuff that I take from the story is freedom of choice, awakening and enlightenment. I’ve always felt like a lot of people aren’t really conscious that they have choices and what I meant by that is that there is kind of a set route through life, at least in this country anyways. Y’know, school, uni, job, wife, kids, house, retire, that kind of thing. It’s not that there’s anything wrong with those things but I don’t think a lot of people know why they’re doing it, they just have that life because it’s the one they’ve been given, as opposed to choosing it for what suits them and what they really love and the impact they really wanna make on the world. I don’t think people are really conscious of the effect that they have on the world, and that’s kinda what I take from the story. It’s a journey of self discovery and discovering that “wow I don’t actually have to do what everyone else is doing, I can decide for myself what I think is right, shit I have a lot more power than I thought I did”. I think I’ve been quite lucky to be able to have those choices and understand those things and it’s a message that I’m really proud to be spreading because I think the whole world could be much more diverse in, well, everything.”
El: “I think the idea of having this set life can also represents quite a lot of privilege, because on the other side of things a lot of people don’t have access to that and when I was growing up the idea of getting married and having kids and having that traditional life sort of dissolved into nothingness as soon as I realised I was gay. I think the protagonist’s journey serves that dual purpose of showing someone who’s breaking away from traditionally what has been laid out before them and forging their own path, but also someone that’s been denied traditional things and a nice settled easy time, she’s woken up from under a trashed, ruined city that’s totally devastated that represents the old world and the old way, and she’s trying to figure out what’s next, what does this mean if we’re leaving this all behind, what is life now like?”
Chronicle: Prologue is released July 9th via New Heavy Sounds.