Architects’ Sam Carter Made a ‘Studio’ Out of Pillows to Demo New Album

Architects vocalist Sam Carter was the latest guest on Full Metal Jackie's weekend radio program and was on hand to discuss the group's forthcoming album, For Those That Wish to Exist. A number of events led to the band globetrotting in an effort to being the demo process for what would ultimately become their ninth studio album.

The frontman also discussed the vitriol that's pervasive in the world today and instead encouraged people to point the finger at themselves instead of others and question how they can begin to have a positive impact on things.

Read the full chat below.

Recording for the new album was supposed to happen in Australia but started in Bali then concluded in Brighton. How did that change in the environment affect the attitude and tone of the music?

Not too much. We're pretty good at being a being Architects and and being pretty angry. Originally, we planned to go to Australia and demo together. That was after headlining a festival in Australia and then there was those insane forest fires.

So we had to move somewhere else where we could continue to work and Bali is a place that Dan [Searle] and Ali [Dean] had spent a fair amount of time traveling around and they've been on holiday there.

It felt like the right place to go — they knew their way around. It was amazing. We stayed in a great place. We set up microphones in my room and made like a recording studio out of duvets and pillows. We were super happy with how it all came out. Then we went back to England and went into the proper studio and made everything happen.

Sam, the last several albums were made through illness then loss. What was most noticeable about making a new album without the shadow of that emotional turmoil?

It was time for us to continue to explore as a band and not stand still. Throughout the whole journey of losing Tom and Tom being ill, we felt a duty to tell his story. Moving into this one, it just felt like it was time for us to really look after ourselves and as artists as well. We want to create something really special and move in a direction that maybe we weren't brave enough to do on Holy Hell. We worked super hard on this and I think it's an album that Tom would love and it's one that we're all extremely proud of.

From music to merch, there's an underlying activism to Architects. What's the biggest challenge about implementing awareness within an audience?

I think the biggest thing is to not make anybody feel stupid. I don't want to point the finger at anybody and say that anybody's doing anything wrong or right.

People are so willing to take shots at people, but I think it all starts in yourself. It starts by pointing the finger at yourself and being like, "What can I achieve to do something better? How can I change? If How can I ask people to change if I can't change myself?"

It's really just trying and encouraging people, whether it be going vegetarian or cutting out those drives that you don't need to do or buying your clothes from responsibly sourced places and making sure that hundreds and thousands of gallons of water hasn't gone into a pair of jeans that you're going to wear once.

It's about opening up a conversation rather than just shouting down at somebody and telling them that they're wrong because we're all new to this. We're moving into a into a new and special place now with the world. We all need to pull together and work out how we're going to keep going.

The record focuses on societal indifference and the implicit responsibility of being human. How can music and, specifically this album, affect change?

It really affects us. It's more of a kind of documentation on pointing the finger at ourselves as humans. We live in a world where everybody's so ready to point the finger at everybody. It feels so black and white — the left against the right, the greens against the reds and the blues against the reds…

What we need to do is be able to have a conversation instead of everybody trying to profit off of everybody. It feels like the brakes need to be to be pulled and we need to just have a look around and think of what we can do as one world instead of just different countries.

It's an important time for everybody to pull together and to really make change. We are all brothers and sisters and it feels stupid to be a war with each other.

Recently, Architects staged a livestream show at the Royal Albert Hall. What was the biggest challenge about maintaining the intensity of a live performance without an audience in house?

A lot of alcohol. [laughs] It was really surreal.

The fact that it was such a beautiful venue and such a historic venue not just in the United Kingdom, but in worldwide music. Everybody from Jimi Hendrix to The Rolling Stones to The Beatles to Bob Dylan played that room.

Walking into the room, all you want to do is be able to play. For me, it was really drawing in on that history to get that buzz and that excitement of bringing something special.

Normally those moments are made special by the interactions that you have with your fans. It was about moving into that headspace and and remembering being a kid and hearing these bands for the first time and also hearing about the Royal Albert Hall and wanting to create something that we could always look back on and be very proud of and and know that we gave it everything we possibly could.

Thanks to Sam Carter for the interview. Get your copy of 'For Those That Wish to Exist' here (as Amazon affiliates we earn on qualifying purchases) and follow Architects on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Spotify. Find out where you can hear Full Metal Jackie's weekend radio show here.