Heading Towards The Light

Before Misery Signals announced that their fourth album was actually happening, sceptics the world over thought the band was done for. Following 2008's Controller, there was trouble with long-term record label Ferret, and then line-up changes led to a cessation of all Misery Signals touring. A pretty hectic period for the band, Ryan Morgan says there was a time when he thought Misery Signals were over – but the guitarist sounds almost wistful upon reflection over the last few years.

“Sure, the band's been in different forms the last few years leading up to the record. There were definitely moments when I was writing things alone with just a guitar in my room. Y'know, not really sure I was writing songs for Misery Signals. I was just writing music to write music. A couple people left the band, we were sort of scattered in different areas and the future was uncertain.”

Morgan persisted with writing because the band he founded with his brother, drummer Branden, seemed to be falling apart around him. The writing was therapeutic, and the results speak for themselves.

“I had to deal with the things that were happening. Even without the support of the band, even if it wasn't going to end up somewhere, it was just a bit of therapy. There was a certain point when I realised that Misery Signals were still a band and that we were going to continue and I became more comfortable with what I was writing, but it's good to escape those confines and write whatever you feel like.”

According to Morgan, that freedom would go on to have a major influence with the band, even if the album was realised the good old fashioned way: five dudes getting sweaty in a room. “We were able to get back to a point where we were writing like we used to write; everyone together, making calls together and basing everything on vibes rather than individual decisions.”

Before the band could get to that stage though, Morgan could indulge his creative whims without having any designs as to where the music was going.

“It was really liberating to not be writing for anything in particular, that mindset really helped how this record turned out. Then when we knew we were writing for a Misery Signals album, we wanted to capture certain things that we liked, but also we wanted to just broaden the horizons for the band. I think every time you do something that's courageous, that allows you to push things further, and expand your sound so it's wider for the future.”

It seems like Misery Signals are now back on track – the guitarist promising an Australian tour “the sooner the better, man”. But if he always wanted to be in the band, why did it falter in the first place?

“I had seen myself on a certain path/people in my life, and then they were no longer there. I think it's a hard thing to change courses and to feel a little lost. A lot of Absent Light is about losing that guiding light. And Misery Signals was one of those things that was changing [while I was writing this record]. I had become a father and I wouldn't be able to tour as much, and then there were a lot of rough decisions that had to be made that completely changed things in the band.”

These changes ultimately led the best Misery Signals record to date. But sans record label, the band needed to turn to crowdfunding to get the album made. Something of a hot button issue in the cultural world at the moment, Morgan weighs in on the debate.

“It's a little bit controversial but I think it's cool. When we were discussing what approach we were going to take to this new album I still had apprehensions about crowdfunding, because I think there have been bands that have been a little… corny with it. They offer these perks where you get to hang out with the band and bask in their celebrity for some ridiculous amount of money. And that seems a little skeezy in a way. But then if you take out some of those extreme examples, and strip it down to what it really is at its core, it's an awesome thing where fans can just pay for the album, the only difference is that they're paying for it before it's made. Then the band can make the album without having to borrow money and be beholden to a big company, a record label, whatever, and it puts a lot of freedom in the hands of the artist, and again, that's a very liberating thing.

“I think the industry's heading in that direction, where this gap between the audience and a band is the smallest it's ever been through social networking and the internet. So a label's place, traditionally, was to fill that gap, but that's getting smaller and smaller and I think that affords artists a lot of freedom, and that's a good thing.”