Golden Void interview with Isaiah Mitchell
The members of Golden Void have been connected musically off and on since they were teenagers. After playing in various bands together and apart throughout high school and the intervening years, Isaiah Mitchell (guitar/vocals, also of Earthless), Aaron Morgan (bass), and Justin Pinkerton (drums) coalesced as Golden Void after Mitchell’s move to the Bay Area in 2009. When the group realized they needed a keyboard player, the addition of Camilla Saufly-Mitchell seemed only natural.
Golden Void is brand new project. Isaiah Mitchell (Earthless) and Camilla Saufley-Mitchell (Assemble Head in Sunburst Sound), Justin Pinkerton and Aaron Morgan (Eyes) got together and formed Golden Void. You know each other from your teenage years?
Aaron, Justin and myself went to high school and junior highs school together. I played in my first bands with Justin and Aaron played in a band that Justin and mines band played with. Then Aaron and Justin started a band and there cross pollination all over the place. I moved to the SF Bay Area in 2009 to be with my now wife Camilla and I got in touch with Aaron and Justin who had been living here for some time. We started jamming and we wanted a keyboard player and Camilla played keys so she was a quick and easy addition to what is now Golden Void.
The album is coming out soon. Is recording a lengthy process for you, or how did you got material together?
It took us awhile to write all the material for the album because everyone was so busy with other things outside of the band. Camilla and I got married. Aaron got married. Honeymoons were taken. A few of us play in a bunch of other bands with touring obligations. When we finally found time to practice we jumped on it and wrote songs. We had 4 days to record and mix the record. I think we did it in 5 days. Technical difficulties got in the way. We persevered.
Would you like to tell us about the material on the album? It was done in Lucky Cat Studios in San Francisco, and was recorded live to tape with few overdubs.
Our good friend Phil Manley engineered the session and had his hand in mixing the album. Recorded the basic tracks first. Did some organ and guitar overdubs then on to the vocal tracks. Mixing took a while. We were working with 16 track tape and some of the songs had more than 16 track so we bounced and sent to digital. It took a while but it was fun.
It’s quite a step in perhaps a bit different direction, than with ‘Earthless’…
Yeah it’s pretty different than Earthless most noticeably in song structure, song volume and lyrics. Earthless usually has 2 songs per album with each song taking up a side. Mixing isn’t as intense because its pretty much the same the whole side of a record. Golden Void has loud and quiet songs with different instruments and vocal harmonies so the mixing process is much more involved than any Earthless record I’ve been a part of.
Do you have any concept behind Golden Void?
There isn’t a defined theme to the Golden Void album. There’s topics of war, destruction, nature, devotion, peacefulness and love. If it does have a theme it would be the dealing with powers of good and evil.
What are some future plans, since this is a brand new project? Can we expect an album promotion tour?
We’re working on getting everyone’s schedules together for a promo tour. Definitely play local shows but we’d like to play shows in Europe etc.
Where from have you gotten your influences that became an inspiration for this new project?
I’d say some of the musical inspiration from this album comes from Can, Black Sabbath, Jimi Hendrix….lots of places. Naturally, moody music came out and it struck the right chord with all of us. The overall vibe is dark and heavy but there’s also light and hope.
Thanks for taking your time? Any final words for It’s Psychedelic Baby Magazine?
Thanks for the interview and it’s always a pleasure Klemen! Anytime. Hope to see you soon and enjoy Golden Voids debut album.
– Klemen Breznikar
