Review Fix chats with Broken Wings’ Mike McMillen, who discusses the band’s new album, “Disintegrator,†detailing its creative process and goals.
Review Fix: What makes Disintegrator special?
Mike McMillen: This is our first proper record in about 10 years! This is also the first record we did entirely on our own. When we recorded it we had no label to answer to, no deadlines – we had the opportunity to let things flow organically and revisit songs over a period of time that we didn’t have on the previous records.
Review Fix: What was the band’s creative process for this album?
McMillen: We were writing and recording at the same time. For our other records we had everything done and practiced before we ever recorded anything. I had a studio set up which we semi-converted into our practice space. We would record riffs into the computer and then go into the other room to jam them out with our drumm, Kev. After a few weeks we were like “Hey, this is almost there. We should just do the record like thisâ€. We changed up some of the gear we were using and started to take it more seriously. After a few months we had the record pretty much done. We started talking to labels and stuff but we weren’t necessarily in a rush, so we had the opportunity to go back and fine tune things we were unhappy about and in some cases re-arrange entire tracks. The album that’s coming out is exactly what we wanted, which is rare for anything you do creatively. It’s unrealistic to think we’ll keep doing that if we want to keep putting out stuff regularly, but it was a great experience.
Review Fix: What’s the standout song on the album? How was it written?
McMillen: Like I said, we’re pumped on the whole album. I know every band says stuff like that. Usually there are a few songs you know aren’t going to ever be played live and are forgotten about, but this record flows together as one piece that we’re very happy with. Personally, my favorites are “Dragging Weight” and “Dirt Nap.” I wrote and demoed “Dragging Weight†before I showed it to everyone. It’s one of the few times I came up with something and it survived almost unchanged in the end. Jonathan wrote his vocals, we moved a couple of parts around, but the version on the album is pretty much the same way I wrote it. I love the mix on “Dirt Nap.” When I was mixing the record it was the one I would keep going back to for reference. When you’re working in Pro Tools you can copy all of your track and plugin settings to use on other songs – the idea is that if you’re working on an album that was recorded similarly across the board it helps make all of the songs sound the same. It’s usually a great starting point but I’ve never had it work without tweaking everything afterwards. I thought “Dirt Nap†was perfect and used it as the template for the rest of the record. I like the rest of my mixes but that song was what I was chasing the whole time.
Review Fix: How was this album different?
McMillen: This is the first time we didn’t record to tape first. Our last two albums were tracked to 2†tape and then mixed in the computer. This album was done entirely “in-the-box.†It’s also the first time we recorded to a click track. Kev, our drummer, is a machine. Whenever someone would try to record us to a click we’d shoot it down because we knew he didn’t need one, and also because we change tempos and time signatures enough where we didn’t think it was even possible to map out. I recorded Kev to a click when he was working with another band and now he loves it. It really speeds up any edits or that need to be done.
Review Fix: What are your goals for this album?
McMillen: I think we want to accomplish two things. First, there are a lot of people who liked us back in the day, and we hope they embrace this new stuff. Also, working with Artery Records, we’re hoping to reach a lot of people that have never listened to us. Our roots have always been in the hardcore scene but we’ve always mixed it with this bouncy metal that puts a different spin on things. Hopefully people dig it!
Review Fix: How do you want it to be remembered?
McMillen: Hopefully it gets remembered as one of the “good†comeback albums. Integrity’s “To Die For†or Alice in Chains “When Black Gives Way To Blue†– those are awesome fucking albums that were released after hiatuses and they really embodied the spirit of those artists while sounding fresh and modern.
Review Fix: What’s next?
McMillen: We’re setting up some dates for this fall. A lot of that stuff is “hush hush†right now but stayed tuned to our Facebook page for all of the latest updates.
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