San Diego’s psych rockers Birth released a mind-melting album ‘Born’ via Bad Omen Records.

Birth evolved from Astra, whose two albums for Rise Above Records – 2009’s ‘The Weirding’ and 2012’s ‘The Black Chord’ – had already reinvented classic sonic textures and mind-melds in lucid and intoxicating style. Conor Riley and Brian Ellis nonetheless found themselves seeking out new life and new civilisations. Initially this led to a collaboration with Psicomagia’s Trevor Mast and Paul Marrone, although later Marrone (while he does play on ‘Born’) was replaced by Thomas DiBenedetto (of Sacri Monte, Joy and Monarch) as sparks began to fly in earnest.

“Being highly influenced by psych rock and jazz, having longer improvisational parts helps to create space and lead us to different places”

It’s fantastic to have you guys. Birth was born out of the ashes of Astra. Would you like to discuss how you originally met and what led to Astra?

Conor Riley: Fantastic to be had by you. I became interested in psych, jazz and metal at an early age and began playing in similarly influenced bands. Richard Vaughan, Stuart Sclater and I met in San Diego through that scene and started a pop psych band called Silver Sunshine. We naturally became heavier and darker and brought on a more jazz influenced drummer, Dave Hurley. Shortly after, Dave brought on Brian Ellis. The chemistry was immediate and the sound changed so much that we decided it had to be a new thing which we called Astra.

You’re all coming from a rich musical background and I would like to take this opportunity if you can talk about the two albums that Astra released.

The first album we released was called ‘The Weirding’. In true prog spirit, it was a double LP and consisted of songs we had been working on for a few years prior. This album was mostly self-recorded and it sounds like it too! We learned a lot about recording during this album but the whole process from tracking to mastering took almost a whole year and countless hours. In the end we had several issues with the recording but were happy with the song writing. Although this was our first prog album you can still hear the pop-psych influence if you listen closely.

We then released ‘The Black Chord’. This album is more on the prog side, but still has several catchy vocal based songs. We recorded this one in a couple nice studios and enlisted the help of producer Ian Lehrfeld. The contrast in recording quality between the two albums is really apparent.

Were there a certain concept behind the albums?

We never intended to have a concept and I wouldn’t call it a concept album but there was a theme that was tacitly present. Richard was dealing with a rare form of cancer and we were all uncertain about his fate. I was also slowly losing my father to cancer. We all wrote and made individual contributions but the general feeling we had when writing the majority of those songs was weighted by the heaviness of those topics.

So what led years later to the formation of Birth?

After doing some touring with Astra and many of us having major life changes it became apparent that the motivation was waning. I can’t really speak for anyone else but after being in a five year long hiatus it just felt like it was time to move on. Brian Ellis and I have always remained close so we’d jam on each other’s ideas we had been working on. Paul Marrone, who was formerly drumming for Astra after Dave’s departure, along with Trevor Mast helped us develop the songs and Birth was born.

In 2021 you released your first EP. How did you enjoy working on it?

Honestly, it was a rough one. Pre-pandemic, everyone had many different things going on and a few of us were going through some difficulties so finding time where everyone was practicing and in a good mental state was not easy. We got through it and I was glad that we had something for people to listen to but it was exhausting. It wasn’t until the pandemic that we were able to focus on the music and get back to being creative.

Bad Omen Records recently issued your brand new debut album. I would love it if you can share what’s the story behind it?

The pandemic seemed to give us some space to clear our minds and reconnect. Some of the songs like ‘For Yesterday’ were written almost in complete seclusion with little outside influence. Bad Omen Records reached out to us at the perfect time since we were ready to record an album.

<a href="https://birthprog.bandcamp.com/album/born">Born by Birth</a>

Would you share your insight on the albums’ tracks?

‘Born’ is probably the happiest song on the album. Not really sure what inspired this song. It came out of messing around with different piano patterns and I was probably listening to a lot of egg at the time. ‘Descending Us’ was one of the first songs we jammed on. The intro was written a long time before Birth was conceived, but the rest of the song came about while dealing with some pretty heavy issues and major changes in my life. ‘For Yesterday,’ was written mostly in complete seclusion during the pandemic. ‘Cosmic Tears’ and ‘Another Time’ were songs that Brian had that we had been jamming on and rearranging for a couple of years before its release. The ‘Long Way Down’ is somewhat of a Mahavishnu Orchestra influenced song with darker lyrics about the state of the world.

“Being able to balance structure and jamming is important”

How do you approach writing in the band? Does it differ from other projects you are involved in?

It varies but a song usually starts with a part that one of us has written independently. Sometimes we’ll demo it out at our individual homes before taking it to practice. There’s a certain amount of experimentation that we do to get the songs to the point where we’re happy with them. It’s usually a process of writing, listening back a few days later, re-writing, recycling old parts, knowing when to compromise and when to let go. Every project is different. Some projects are completely written at practice with no vision beforehand. Being able to balance structure and jamming is important.

How important is improvisation when it comes to Birth?

I wouldn’t say it’s particularly important to us, it’s just another tool we can use to write and be creative. Being highly influenced by psych rock and jazz, having longer improvisational parts helps to create space and lead us to different places that we wouldn’t be able to go to if we just had melody based parts back to back all of the time.

Are you planning to play some shows?

We just got done with a small California tour. We’re taking a small break to write new music so we don’t have anything on the books right now. We hope to be playing some shows in the summer this year so stay tuned!

What are some future plans?

We really want to play in Europe so we’re trying to make that happen. We’re also writing music for a second album. We don’t have definitive dates on either but hopefully something soon.

What are some of the most important players that influenced your own style and what in particular did they employ in their playing that you liked?

There’s so many! I’d say that Vangelis has been a pretty big influence. He was really a revolutionary in creating ambient synth tones and landscapes. John McGlaughlin was also a big influence on guitar mostly because of his incredibly diverse and unique styles.

Let’s end this interview with some of your favourite albums. Have you found something new lately you would like to recommend to our readers?

Aphrodite’s Child – ‘666’ is probably one of the most influential albums for me. I really enjoy the heavy sound and subject matter. Comus – ‘First Utterance’ is another album I’ve listened to hundreds of times. It took me a little while to get into it but once I did it became a huge influence. Premiata Forneria Marconi – ‘Storia di un minuto’ is a very dramatic album that has a really nice mix of classical, rock and jazz influences. Some new bands that I’ve really enjoyed are Hallas, Needle Point and Wobbler.