Earlier this week I got the opportunity to sit down with Islander before their headlining show in Cleveland and talk about their upcoming album, what the process behind the album was like, and parenthood.

Interviewer: You’ve got a new album in the works, Fire In The Shade. Where does the name of the album come from?

Islander: It’s just the idea that even when things are going good in life, there is always that one thing always still bugging you; it’s like even if you find shade, there is just always something else. At least on this earth, and that’s kinda what it’s talking about, like no matter how much joy I have in Christ and being a Christian and knowing where I’m going when I die. On this earth, no matter how much shade there is, there will always be that fire eating things up and making it more difficult, and that struggle is a part of this side of heaven and this life that we lead and live. Even though that there is that fire in the shade, it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t seek that joy either. 

Interviewer: What was the creative process or inspirations for the album like?

Islander: It’s kinda just us being us. We always have our influences in terms of the bands that we like and stuff we’ve listened to. We know what Islander is supposed to sound like, but it was just us coming up with a bunch of different riffs. Sticky will come up with a riff and I’ll be like, oh that’s a verse, or that’s a chorus or whatever. Chris came up with a bunch of riffs on this record, and he actually sings a ton of choruses on it too. We didn’t overthink what it’s supposed to sound like; instead, what does it sound like when we do it?

Interviewer: You just recently wrapped up touring with Flyleaf with Lacey Sturm. What was that like, and would you work with Lacey again in the future?

Islander: Massive sold-out shows; Lacey is amazing to work with every time. Would I work with her again? 100% every day; she is one of the best people we know in the music industry.

Interviewer: Any more features on the upcoming album?

Islander: No, Darby is the only one we got on this record; we just wanted it to be kind of different as far as like having a lead singer or having someone from a band. We were like, who do we know that would be cool for doing a track that not ever done a vocals before, and Darby was awesome. We actually tracked his vocals in the car on my phone, so he was just in my car screaming; it was cool.

Interviewer: Curious how you and Allin came into contact and became friends.

Islander: I met him through Sting. He’d built up a relationship with the wrestler Sting, and one day Sting introduced us to Darby; eventually we started going over to Darby’s house sometimes to hang out, and it just went from there. I asked Darby one day if he’d jump on a track, and he said yeah. He was really cool about it all.

Interviewer: What should your fans expect or anticipate from the upcoming album?

Islander: Most of this album is actually really heavy. There is a song on the album called “It’s Your World Now,” and actually we’ve posted some snippets of that song on our socials. That song is cool because it was all done in one take, no tracking involved, or anything as far as like going back, doing anything to it. It’s an acoustic song. Sticky put a microphone in the middle of the room, turned the gain all the way up, and I sat there with a guitar that had 4 strings and played the song and sang. What you hear right there, that’s the track no going back and doing anything to it after. Even Chris’s vocals, he was doing them in the background as well, so everything is live. That’s actually one of my favorite things about that song, but for this song it needed that intimate moment, so we just wanted to make it sound like you were in the room with us. We feel like we did a good job at capturing that.

Interviewer: Any additional plans to tour this year?

Islander: We have plans, but nothing solidified. We are hoping that there will be something in the fall. There have been talks about the U.K., and there’s talks about the states. We don’t know what that entails yet, so we don’t know what it is or if it is; we just know that we are trying; maybe we will headline.

Interviewer: In the past few years, you guys switched to being a fully independent band. How do you feel that has aided you as a band?

Islander: It has been better in terms of not having people tell us what we can and can’t do, like scream more or whatever; we can just do whatever we want. We are not opposed to signing a deal or a distribution deal as long as it’s good; just usually they aren’t. We want it to be good for them and us, but normally it’s just good for them. We’ll see what happens.

Interviewer: Have there been any songs past or present that started off different to how it was released?

Islander: There is a song on the newest record called “Kishimoto;” it’s the last name of the guy whose claim to fame is arcade beat-em-up games. It used to be called “Someone Else” because the chorus says that, but I was writing a song about a video game and wanting to chose a different person in a video game because you didn’t know how to play the on that you chose, but trying to make it sound like a relationship and I just thought I wondered about who invented that type of game, so I found his name, Kishimoto

Interviewer: Mikey, you had your first baby, what has that been like for you?

Islander: I had a baby; well, I didn’t, my wife did. It’s been amazing. I love being a dad; it’s literally coolest thing ever. It has changed my life; it’s given me- I mean, I already had purpose, but it’s given me more purpose, let’s put it like that. It’s also scary because it makes you examine yourself even more because they are examining you, and so I’m like, who do I want him to see me be? Its kinda sharpening me up.

Interviewer: That’s all I got for you. Thank you

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