Prepared Like a Bride

Prepared Like a Bride are on a blazing trail to success. Having already gained a significant following, the Queensland band's debut album, 'Overcomer' is initially being met with solid reviews and praise. The group's upcoming Australian tour will only prove just as well-received. We spoke with lead singer, Ryan Bowles to discuss the album and the upcoming tour.

So how did 2013 fold out for you guys?

Fantastic. It was absolutely incredible. A big year for touring and recording for us but well worth it.

Quite a few highlights actually. Definitely touring with House vs Hurricane. One of the most fun bands we've ever toured with. That and recording the album were highlights. It was a great year.

And this year has already started off nice and well for you guys being on the Boys of Summer tour. How was that?

It was amazing. It was a brand new audience for us to play to. Blessthefall and The Color Morale have such a dedicated fan base. And it's cool to play to a lot of them, a lot of kids who haven't seen us before. We made a lot of friends on that tour!

What will be the highlight of this year do you think?

I'm looking forward to people hearing the album [Overcomer]. Releasing that is what I'm really looking forward to this year. We're so stoked to be in the grasp of releasing it to the world and having them listen to it finally.

Are you pumped to be going on the album tour for the album with Vices and Rivalries?

Oh for sure! It's an absolute privilege to go on an album tour and have Vices and Rivalries do it with us.  

Have you guys toured with these bands before?

Vices are probably our best friends when it comes to bands and before they were called Vices we played stacks and stacks of shows with them.  I brought them up here [Gold Coast] and they took us down to Sydney. We've played about fifty shows together over the years. Rivalries, we've played shows with them on occasion but we've never been in touring schedule with them expose them to Australia!

What's your favourite song to play live?

At the moment, a song called 'Breathe'. It's off the album and I like playing it. And even if people don't know it they can still get into it feel the groove to it. It's probably my favourite.

How about the hardest?

Vocally, 'Breathe' is up there. Either that or [the title song] 'Overcomer'.

Who did you work with on the album in terms of producers and engineers?

We worked with Sunny Truelove at STL studios on the Central Coast. He has been a big part of our band for the past two or so years. He worked on our last release and we wanted to work with him again so we stayed at the studio the whole time and flew out Ben Humphreys and John Mitchell from Outhouse Studios in the UK. Those guys engineered and produced the majority of the album. Then we sent it over to the UK to get mastered by Harry Hess and that is basically the four way partnership that helped us craft the album.

And do you think that they helped you capture the sound that you wanted?

Of course! There'd be no reason to get them if we didn't have faith that they could get us the sound we wanted. So for sure!

Would you aim to work with them again I'm the future?

They're a great bunch of guys and we worked really well together so there'd be that option definitely to work with them in the future for sure.

What would you consider the most challenging aspect of the recording process?

There were a few things obviously but one of them is the fact that we'd never spent a month in the studio. I think we'd spent two weeks tops for our EP, maybe even seven or eight days. So getting used to being in the studio for a month straight and recording for nine to ten hours a day was a big part of it. We all matured in that time frame. Musically, I guess it was having ideas come in from outside the band and learning to work with them and use them. There was also the lyrical content with singing about such personal stuff was one of the hardest things for me.

Of course man. Now can you tell us how Prepared Like a Bride write their songs?

Rumond Dassonville, our guitarist, he writes predominantly around ninety-five-to-ninety-nine percent of our music with input from the rest of us on little bits here and there. He'll write from his bedroom with little guitar riff ideas and drum beats. He locks them away and he'll finish off a song after awhile and send it off to us to see our opinions on it. Then after that we will mould some lyrics to the songs and seeing what sort of feeling the song gives. Then we'll start practicing it before we do pre-production tracks.

You know a lot of young aspiring song writers can take a lot from that I think.

(laughs) Well it's pretty simple but it is a natural process.

Well it has to be to achieve that kind of sound. Anyways, moving on, PLAB have been a driving force in the Australian music scene as of late, why do you think that is? What makes you guys stand out in your opinion?

Good question, I think with us, we've got nothing to show. We're pretty open, what you see is what you get kind of thing. Whether your hanging with us outside a venue or if we're on stage, we're the same people; we don't put up any fronts. We try and keep pride and ego aside and really do it for a purpose. For us and other people is what we do it for, because we believe in a God that created us all and we're here to love all people. We think music can do that and if we can give people encouragement or hope when they need it most then we're not going to stop [making music].

Very inspiring! I've got another question just relating to the band in general and I was wondering, do you still see PLAB as a local band? You've toured outside the country and around this country and I just thought it would be interesting to see your view on that.

I think a long time ago, we dropped it [the local band title]. It's more of a mind set. I think if you have goals and aspirations and you want to reach them you have to move out of being a local band that doesn't get a lot of respect or only gets supported on a smaller scale. But yeah, a long time ago we moved away to a more positive direction of things. Obviously we are still a "local band" in actual geographical terms but we're not gonna say we're Paramore or something! We know where we sit. But we've toured enough and been overseas enough to drop that label, if it is a label.

That's good as this leads into my next question. I have no idea what it's like on the Gold Coast as I'm from Victoria but what is the local scene like where you're from? Is it in a good state or is it a bit dismal from both a listener and a performer?

I  think it goes through stages. It's like anything. Obviously people grow up. It's not like people five years ago are going to go to the same shows now. I see the scene growing in different states. At the moment whether it's because our band is becoming more well know or whatever but I definitely see more people coming out to shows and expanding it.

All right, I think that is about it. Thank you very much Ryan, have a good one and I wish you all the best for the tour and album release.

Thanks mate, you too.

You can see Prepared Like a Bride on tour this March in support of their debut album,'Overcomer'.