Constants



Constants
have always been a band open about their love for the musical output of Godflesh and Jesu mastermind Justin K. Broadrick. That's why it made perfect sense with the recent news that the heavy stargazers of Constants had signed Broadrick on to produce their upcoming record. For singer/guitarist Will Benoit, having Broadrick aid them in their efforts to make follow-up to 'The Foundation, The Machine, The Ascension' could not bring him more any more excitement. "Everything [Broadrick] has done has had an influence," Benoit exclaimed to Noisecreep soon after the press releases made the news official.

We asked Benoit what of Broadrick's extensive and eclectic catalog holds the most memories to him. "The mid-'90s Godflesh stuff was when I was starting to get into heavier music and getting into electronic music as well," he replied. "I heard the 'Selfless' and 'Cold World' EP and they pretty much changed the way I wanted to play music. I mean there were other bands back then too, but it's cool now looking back because the stuff he does now is just as influential as the stuff he was doing 10, 15 years ago."

The upcoming recording won't be the first time Constants and Broadrick have worked together. If anything, this is just another step in a relationship that began when Benoit briefly met Broadrick during South by Southwest. After the festival, the Japanese label Stiff Slack -- which was putting out 'The Foundation, The Machine, The Ascension' -- wanted to discuss having a B-side added to the Pacific release of the album. Soon a remix song became the idea, and meeting Broadrick became a connection. "Of course working with Justin has always been something we've wanted to do, so this just presented itself as a good time so we reached out and got in touch with his assistant, and the guy was basically, 'Justin will listen to it and if he likes it he'll get in touch and you guys can work it out.'

"Justin ended up getting back to us, and we went back and forth for a little bit, but he signed on and wanted to do it. It was just a chance reaching out and him having the time and the interest."

The remix was for the track 'Those Who Came Before Part 1,' and it shined with Broadrick's trademarked style. "He changed the key of the song," Benoit explains. "Which is very interesting. When we first heard it, we were like, 'Is that right?' It was definitely an interesting direction to add just a low keyboard melody that changes the tonality of the song." That of course was only part of the remix. "He re-did the middle section, which is this long sprawling in an odd meter. He left the drums alone and took a guitar melody from earlier in the song and brought it back. It was a really interesting and different approach to the song. It was definitely unexpected."

From that moment on, Constants and Broadrick began a relationship that also resulted in Broadrick helping the band shop their album for a U.S. label, and helping them tie up loose ends on their first European tour by hooking them up with bands he knew. "He was very into helping us. It was obvious we respect him a lot and what he was saying, so in passing I said, 'Hey, where probably going to try and do a record a lot quicker this time, would you be interested in mixing it?' He said he'd be interested in that but would rather full-on produce the record." Benoit laughs, "Immediately it was, 'Yes!'"

The band will be using Broadrick's knowledge of the craft in the studio as much as possible to create something wholly new for the band. "We're just writing a lot of material, and rather than edit ourselves were going to let Justin have that role this time," Benoit said over the new material that is "heavier and a little faster."

"I think I said this in an interview already, but if you write 12 songs and Justin likes six of them then we're doing something right."

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