More about: Projector

When they announced that their new single ‘ZERO’ would be released today, PROJECTOR described it as “by far the wildest thing we’ve ever done, beyond belief’. We caught up with vocalist Lucy Sheehan to talk about the new single and how the band are ready to make up for lost time in 2021...

It’s certainly an impressive piece of rock music that sees the band turn to a darker sound - with drastically different vocals from previous releases such as 2018's EP How Does It Feel? Switching to a louder, more Gothic feel, the new tone is driven home by a barrage of roaring guitars and some damn impressive drumming. Lucy is confident that the unexpected new sonic direction still represents PROJECTOR: “it’s probably the wackiest song we’ve ever done” she explains, describing the spontaneous recording of the song in the studio one fortuitous moment. “It wouldn’t have happened if we hadn’t been in the studio that day” she says, “I think it’s the best thing we’ve ever done”. 

There is an obvious difference between ‘ZERO’ and previous releases - a difference that was born out of a period of uncertainty. Lucy (vocals, bass) and bandmate Ed (vocals, guitar) found themselves in what she describes as a “a period in the wilderness” in which the duo were in between drummers - and instead experimenting with drum machines and recording software. “We were searching for something a bit more aggressive that reflected the brutal sounds that you get on a drum machine. We still wanted it to be grungy...I guess it’s just grunge in a different way”. Lucy cites Mark Lanegan and Placebo as big influences on the new music – “a lot of messy, industrial pop songs”. She also mentions Radiohead’s Amnesiac as an inspiration that helped them capture that “sound of dissociation”.

There have been some changes in the band since they last released music. PROJECTOR recently took on new drummer Cal, a recording engineer who has previously worked with heavyweights such as Noel Gallagher and Tom Jones. PROJECTOR has worked with a lot of drummers, each one having their own influence on the musical direction. “[Cal] is really influenced by a lot of electronic music and EDM and that kind of hyper-energetic sound that has really informed this new music. It’s quite inspiring to work with a new person and see how their style alters the music." The new trio haven’t had a lot of time together as the new line-up: within three weeks of meeting they had recorded and set off on tour together. Then, a few days after they got home from tour, everything shut down. And they couldn’t get together as a trio for another 6 months.

Lockdown has of course had an impact on the band's plans over the last year. For one thing, it’s been the biggest break they’ve had between performances for as long as they can remember. But there were a lot of emotional consequences, too. “In the fast way we consume music now, what your Spotify looks like and when you last released music is so important - and you feel like you’ve disappeared if you go away for that long”. As musicians, that kind of absence makes for an eerie feeling of absence. “It’s quite weird. You feel like you’ve lost your identity a bit. It’s been great getting back to it and being able to make those plans”.

PROJECTOR are well-known for their electric stage presence, so to have been making music when no live shows have gone ahead for a year is novel for them. Lucy found that she was getting nervous before livestream performances in ways that hadn’t really affected her before, so getting back on the road is the number one priority as soon as it’s safe enough.

Looking to the future, this isn’t all that we’ll hear from PROJECTOR this year. Lucy teases future releases, saying “we will be releasing more but I can’t be too specific. We’re definitely gonna make up for lost time and we think it’s going to be a pretty full year”. Don't make any sonic predictions yet, though – “we’ve had to stand still for so long, our main thing [now] is that we want to keep going in odd directions sonically and not doing things that people expect every time. Hopefully 'ZERO' represents that”.

More about: Projector