Review Fix Exclusive: Infrared’s Kirk Gidley Talks New Album And More

Review Fix chats with Infrared’s Kirk Gidley, who discusses the band’s reformation, creative process and goals for the future, as well as their new album, “No Peace.”

Review Fix: How did you guys get together?

Kirk Gidley: We were four young teenagers that were all huge metal fans and wanted to create our own music. None of us in Infrared had any music training, just a love for metal.  In 1985 we formed and began to write original songs. For the next few years we played gigs in the Ottawa, Canada forming a loyal following, but then disbanded in 1988. In 2014, We reformed, with the exception of original bass player Shawn Thompson, to do a reunion show with another local band. We also had the intention of recording our original songs written in the 1980s. We felt that our songs needed to be recorded or they would be lost forever.



Review Fix: What’s your creative process like?



Gidley: Usually someone will have a main riff they have written and the song will be written around that one riff. The songs are written with the guitar riff in the forefront being the nucleus of the song. The lyrics are usually written after the music is completed and we usually have a working title that will drive the lyrical content.



Review Fix: What do you think makes this bad special?



Gidley: Infrared was around when thrash metal started. We literally witnessed the birth of thrash.  We were lucky enough to live in a city where local bands like Exciter and later Annihilator began and with all these influences have a very true and genuine classic thrash metal sound. All the members of Infrared have careers and families and are not creating music to attempt to make a living.  Infrared only want to create metal because we have fun doing it and we are huge fans of metal.

Review Fix: How would you describe your style?



Gidley: Infrared is a thrash metal band with a punk influence. The punk influence came from going to metal shows and seeing punk bands on the bill. Punk and Metal bands seemed to have the same musical aggression and passion.  Infrared is heavily influenced by the big 4 of thrash as we listened to those bands 24×7 in high school. Like all metal fans we never stopped listening to metal.

Review Fix: What are your goals for this album?



Gidley: We want to reach as many people as possible to listen to our album. We are attempting to spread Infrared’s music all over the world via social media. We love getting feedback from metal lovers and it is very interesting when people tell us they hear certain band influences in our songs. Having a metal album with your original songs is a dream come true and learning that people are digging it is an incredible feeling.

Review Fix: What’s the standout song? Is there a story behind it?



Gidley:No Peace, but it changes on a regular basis for us. No Peace was the first song Infrared wrote. It started off with the opening riff and built from there. When we were teens all there was on the news was war and this song is even more relevant today than ever.



Review Fix: What’s next?



Gidley: Infrared still have some songs from the ’80s that have not been recorded, but we are writing new songs as well.  We are very eager to release our second album as we are more curious than anyone to see what they all will sound like. We would love to travel anywhere and play our metal for whoever wants to hear it.