Talking with . . .   Blueprint

Interview with guitarist Matt Grundy
The Blueprint is a new band from England but features some familiar faces, including vocalist Karl Middleton (ex-Earthtone 9) and guitarist Matt Grundy (ex-Pitchshifter) and bassist Mark Clayden (ex-Pitchshifter). Their style is somewhat similar to both Earthtone 9 and Pitchshifter, but even more progressive and dynamic. They have released two stellar e.p.'s so far, chosing to take their time to develop rapport with each other. Here is Grundy tell check in with more info.

How did you come to form the Blueprint?
Myself and Mark had always talked about wanting to do something like this. We started writing songs when we were both on tour in the U.S. in the summer of 2000 playing with Pitchshifter. We were both friends with Chris, our drummer, so we emailed him and asked if he'd be into working on some music when we got home. Chris then brought in Will, who was playing guitar in his other band, Consumed. We met Karl when he was singing for Earthtone9, who supported Pitchshifter on tour in Europe. I played him some of our stuff and he said he'd be into singing for us. It was around December 2001 that it all finally came together.

The formation of your band followed the break up of both Earthtone 9 and Pitchshifter- why was there a desire to end these bands and what do you hope is different with the Blueprint?
There was no desire to end the previous bands, the had simply run there course. What we're doing with the Blueprint is simply writing music we like. I think it is quite obviously different to the bands we were in before, but you have to bear in mind that no one in the Blueprint was a song writer in their previous bands, so it's not that we're going "Let's do something different", it's more "Let's do what we always wanted to do".

You've released two e.p.'s thus far- why are you taking your time before recording a full length?
We didn't want to jump in and try to write and record an album when we weren't ready. We wanted the ability to evolve the sound of the band, and not having the pressure of touring an album for a year or two has allowed us to do that. The way we work as a unit has developed greatly and the songs we're writing now are a big step up from our previous stuff. Basically if we'd written an album when we first formed, it would've sucked.

Do you feel confident that Copro Records is the best label for your band at this point in your career?
Copro are our friends and allow us total creative control, so that's awesome. We would like to get more global distribution, but that may be a case of licencing our stuff to people for other countries, as opposed to signing to a bigger label. If anyone out there wants to put our stuff out in the U.S.- get in touch.

How is it working with Andy Sneap- does he encourage your own creativity? How much input does he have on the recording?
Andy is an awesome producer and a amazing musician as well, and as such he gets you to focus on the tiny details that you hadn't thought about, and make a better record. In terms of creativity, the songs are always finished when we get into the studio, so as opposed to trying to create something it's more a case of "OK, how are we going to record this, how do we want it to sound?" and Andy has a lot of input on that because his knowledge of recording is a lot greater than ours.

Your members come from different backgrounds, how were you able to agree on a sound and direction for the Blueprint?
We don't always agree for a start, so sometimes democratic process has to come into play. But, generally we have a lot of common ground in the bands we like and how we want our stuff to sound- that's a big part of how we came to from the band in the first place.

Does it feel like you are starting over again with the Blueprint or does it help with your previous experience with other bands?
The experience with our previous bands definitely helps, it allows us to avoid problems we've met before, be they within the music industry or just internal communication problems within the band.

What are your plans for the rest of the year?
We're working on new songs at the moment, and playing a few shows here and there to try them out. We're planning to record late this year/early next year.

Final comments?
Anyone who's interested in us and our music should check out our website- www.the-blueprint.net.

Discography:
2003... Ecliptic (Copro)
2002... Zero Zero One (Copro)

Current line-up:
Karl Middleton... vocals
Matt Grundy... guitars
Will Burchell... guitars
Mark Clayden... bass
Chris Billam... drums

the-blueprint.net