Their hard work, flair and proclivity for blurring the lines of heavy and happy led them to make the top 100 for Eurovision this year, going far closer to the mainstream than what most metal bands could hope to achieve, and becoming the first full band to represent Australia at the event. Mere months after their star performance, and with a new album arriving imminently, guitarist Scott Kay took the time for a talk about how surreal the last year has been for him and his bandmates.
“It was surreal for us. Even though we treated the actual performance like a normal show just cranked up to 11, a lot of thought went into capitalising on the event. We had this opportunity to earn some new fans in front of us, so we needed everything around our performance curated and ready to go. The hype of Eurovision is so massive, but to be able to maintain the hype and capture a new audience is a completely different story.”
Reaching that mainstream audience – many of whom hadn’t had much exposure to metal – was a challenge that the band took on enthusiastically, Scott says.
“You’re going to get more casual listeners in that environment, and that was something we weren’t used to, but we want to be as welcoming as possible – all of us would rather see metal everywhere than nowhere.”
Though still featuring big riffs and occasional screams, the band are far from being inaccessible to people from other genres. “We’re not neck-deep in blast beats and double kicks.” Scott chuckles. “So, we’re very fortunate that we have the opportunity to be a gateway band for people”.
“We want to be as welcoming as possible – all of us would rather see metal everywhere than nowhere.”
Their appearance on the international stage seems to have come at a perfect time for the group, with a new album, Fearless in Love, ready for new converts to enjoy.
Scott told us about his thoughts on the album and how he sees Voyager’s songwriting process. “I don’t know how or why but this album feels way more cohesive and focused, and it really speaks to me in a way that no Voyager album has. We never really go into a writing session with a clear idea in mind, we just write what we feel at that moment.”
“We usually start with a few of Danny’s ideas (vocals) and just flesh it out from there, but there’s never an obvious planned process. It just so happens that every time we write a record, something different comes out!”
Far from comfortable just writing what they know, the band makes sure to keep things fresh, scrutinising their work so that they get the best results. “We do reflect upon the things we’ve done in the past and think ‘does this sound like something we’ve done before?’ ‘Is this almost derivative of ourselves?’ ‘Is that okay?’ – we ask these questions of ourselves as writers because we do want to be moving into something that’s different. But we ultimately do what we think is right.”
In the beginning of writing the material, Scott told us that the band approached things in a less conventional way, even recording live in the studio for a more energetic feel. “We’d try to do things like writing a soundtrack to a film, and Fearless in Love is the closest thing we could get without that idea being the brief; after a few songs, it started to feel like that’s where it was heading.
“We took the idea of writing a song for Eurovision and applied it to everything. It’s almost the opposite of the idea of prog, but we went in with this pop focus where we shaved off the sides of things and asked ourselves if we really needed to have a certain instrument in a certain place. These things allowed the record to become much more cohesive.”
The care and attention put into the album is obvious to even a casual listener. Time was spent making sure each transition flowed smoothly, that each part of the journey made sense to the listener. “There’s intention there, a specific listing to encapsulate the mood.” Scott says. “The key markers were obvious – The Best Intentions was going to be the opener and ‘Gren (Fearless in Love)’ was going to be the pensive finish. We wanted a slow curve into the abyss for the listener, until ‘Submarine’ hits and changes things up.”
“I don’t know how or why but this album feels way more cohesive and focused, and it really speaks to me in a way that no Voyager album has”
As the designed ‘vibe guy’ for the album, Scott’s job was to help the story come to life, comparing his role to that of a movie editor. “You get all the footage, and you arrange it to make a journey, getting the best permutation and cohesiveness in the story.” Such awareness of the listener’s experience makes Fearless in Love a thrilling rollercoaster ride of twists and turns, rises and falls. Heavy breakdowns and glittering synths take centre stage, with catchy hooks ensuring you immediately want to queue back up to ride again.
Scott’s attention to detail and love for the genre started when he was young and has been developing ever since. “Prog has been a part of my life since I was 13. Looking back, a lot of the ideas seem awesome but sometimes a little dragged. We have itchy feet in the band – we don’t like to hang on the same idea for too long; we want to get to the next thing sooner. When putting an album together, we look for that middle ground of having enough ideas but not too many.”
It’s this passionate but analytic approach to writing music that leads Voyager’s sound to be exciting and keep you on the edge of your seat, and Scott thinks younger musicians could benefit from this approach. “I think you should treat records as a learning experience. Try to write like similar musicians of your style and pay attention to what they do well.”
Despite an impressive number of achievements under their belt already, the band still stay humble and appreciative for what they’ve got, looking forward to their upcoming European headliner tour this October. “It’s really awesome having the capacity to tour as a headliner, it’s an honour. We’ve deliberately chosen places on this tour where we had great responses previously, so we’re really stoked to just do it!”