Ray Alder is one of the great vocalists in progressive rock. Whether it’s with Fates Warning, Redemption, A-Z, or his solo work, Ray’s voice and lyrics are unmistakable. He has once again teamed up with Fates Warning partner Jim Matheos in a new band called North Sea Echoes and they are about to release their debut record Really Good Terrible Things. Recently, Ray took some time to talk about it.
Please press the PLAY icon for the MisplacedStraws Conversation with Ray Alder –
On working with Jim on a non-Fates Warning project – Actually, it was never a plan. It was Jim just called me out of the blue one day and said he was working on some new music and his idea was instrumental, but he said he just kept hearing a melody over the top, and would I be interested? I said, “Of course”. I would love to work with him again. So he sent me a few songs to check out and I really loved it. , I said, “I think it’s gonna be difficult because I think I think the music is beautiful. I don’t know, it’s gonna be hard to write over this and not feel that I’m ruining something”. But, he said, “Give it a shot, pick a song”, and I did. It was “Open Book”, the one that’s on the lyric video now. It just hit me that song and I finished that song so fast for me, I probably finished the entire thing in four days, I think that’s the melody, the lyrics, and the actual tracking of the entire song. There were a few changes in the bridge, but other than that, that was it. That was when we knew that we were on the same page, “Okay, let’s, let’s continue with this and, and see what happens”. Again, it was just a surprise, and yeah, here we go, a full album later.
On coming up with a band name – I think the band name thing was a struggle for us both. We didn’t really know what to do with it. I don’t know, is it a group? Is it a solo project? Is it a band? I don’t know, because it’s really just the two of us. We did have Gunnar (Olsen) play drums on three songs. Originally, that wasn’t going to be at all. It was just going to be the two of us, but we felt that the songs actually needed real drums just sort of to push it over the edge, give push it over the top. So we couldn’t do Alder/Matheos or Matheos/Alder because he’d already done Arch/Matheos. So that was already taken. It just seemed the logical thing to do was give it a name. We did kid around, I’ll tell you, it was a joke literally for about two seconds that I said, “Why don’t we just call this Fates Warning?” Jim said,” Huh? hmm”. Then we both said, “No, there’s absolutely no way. No, no, it’s not going to happen”. First of all, Jim said that he was not going to write another Fates Warning album, and I respect that. Second of all I just wouldn’t want to disappoint the fans. I know Fates Warning fans expect something else and not this, so it just wouldn’t be right. So we just decided to go with North Sea Echoes.
On whether using a name other than Fates Warning frees them to develop new sounds – It is. I mean and not to be negative, I guess, we wanted to do something different, and again, use a name. We knew Fates Warning fans were going to pick it up because it’s Jim and myself. But also sort of have a different identity and just kind of try something else, try something different. I don’t know, honestly, that anyone else outside of the Fates Warning realm would actually pick it up. But just to be different and not completely depend on the fact that we were both in Fates Warning and the songwriters. So, I don’t know, we’ll see. I’m happy that so far the fans are loving it and that’s all I could ask for, honestly,
On his lyrical influences – Honestly, the music. Once I start listening to the music, I don’t mean to sound like flowers and incense, but it literally moves me. The music takes me somewhere. I listened to it and this is what I picture in my head, and that’s where I start to write. A lot of times when I’m writing melodies, I’ll just, I think I told you this in the solo thing, I’ll just sing words that make no sense and sometimes when I look back, they actually make sense because I do write down the vowels and, and the syllables and things so that I know what I’m doing when it comes time to write the lyrics. But with these, I just sort of started from scratch and would let the music (play) and come up with a melody. Then I would start writing the lyrics for it.
I tend to write more of human emotions. It’s not for me to write about love stories and things like that. It’s just not in me. Or, “Let’s have another beer, cool stuff”, which I enjoy listening to, it’s just not what I write about. I’ve heard from some journalists, “It’s really sad”. It’s not meant to be sad. It’s just more feelings we all have, I think, from one time to another and I think it’s okay to feel alone sometimes. I think it’s okay to not be jumping over rainbows all the time. It’s fine to feel that way sometimes. A lot of times I listen to music like this. I love Hollow Coves and Novo Amor, music like acoustic bass, really beautiful type of music, ambient stuff. I love where it takes me. I love putting on my headphones and just listening to the music. That’s what I wanted to do with this. I didn’t want to paint a negative picture. I hope nobody thinks that, but it’s just where my mind was at the time. Again, I’m not an unhappy guy. I’m in Uruguay for Christmas, on the beach drinking beer. It’s just I think human emotions that we all have from time to time. I felt like I needed to get that out…Human emotions are all part of us. Most pop songs I think are love (songs). I don’t know, this isn’t pop. It’s just different. I ambient and so it is open your mind or close your mind if you want to.
On adapting his vocal style to North Sea Echoes musical style – It was great. I mean, I love everything we do in Fates Warning, but I really like doing the quiet stuff, I always have. I like being able to sing and not yell and scream all the time. I mean normally in the studio, I’m pushing two compressors. I sing really loud I sing improperly first of all, but that’s just how it is and for this one, man, I was so happy. I just would wake up in the morning, get a cup of coffee. I have a home studio and I’d start singing, writing and some of that was my voice actually not being warmed up enough. I guess, it’s just how it was. But to be able to sing quietly for an entire album was just such a treat, man, I gotta tell you. believe you’re able to emote even more quietly than you are screaming. There’s the attitude, but yeah, it was a joy, it really was. Writing to me is one of the worst parts of being in a band, it really is, it’s just, it’s torture, writing lyrics for me, I don’t know of anybody else. But this was actually a joy. I was sad when it was over, to be honest with you.
Oh, here’s the funniest thing was when we did finish the album, we had nine songs and “Okay, well, that’s over”. Then about a week later, I guess Jim called me and said, “I think it’s too short, man. I think we need to add another song”. We had another song, which was “The Mission”, which we left out because it just kind of didn’t fit. It was more boppy and up-tempo than everything else. We said, “Well, let’s give that a shot.” So I worked on that one. I was a little apprehensive because I’m thinking, “How are we going to make this fit?” But I started working on that song and that, that line, “Oh, I’m on a mission”. It just stuck in my head and that, and that’s exactly what I kept saying. “I’m on a mission. I’m on a mission”. I don’t know. My wife was like, “Why do you keep singing that line?” I don’t know. I just stuck in my head. She can hear me in the house. So, yeah, that ended up being on the album. The whole point of that is I thought it was over, but we had that one last little one to work for. That one probably took a couple of weeks, which was an interesting song for me. I thought it reminded me of a spy movie or something, somebody sneaking around or something. So I decided to write about, sadly, a person with schizophrenia who is on a mission and he is to eliminate, I guess. I don’t know who. That’s up to you to decide. But anyway, there’s that story.
On the future of North Sea Echoes – Not quite sure. We never discussed, Jim and I never discussed what was happening afterwards. We really just said, “Let’s do this” and that was it. We were looking for different labels and after a while, we just said, “Let’s just see if Metal Blade wants it”. We know it’s completely different than anything Metal Blade puts out and even what they’re putting out now It’s more extreme than anything. But we are great friends. We’re basically family We’ve known them for 40 years and I know everybody in the office, even in the European office, it’s like just a family. They were like, “Sure, of course”, so let’s do that. But as far as anything else, the future it’s in the air. I don’t know. Maybe it depends on what happens with this one, if it’s a success or not.
On any plans to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of Fates Warning – I can say that we are in talks right now to see what can be done this year, actually. There’s talk of stuff in 2025, but then I spoke with Jim not two days ago and we’re looking into doing some shows in 2024, hopefully late, the end of the year. We’ll see what happens. We’ll see. I would love to. It’d be great.
On if there will be another A-Z record – Right now I took a break from the A-Z record to come on vacation. I’ve been on vacation for a month now, which is the longest vacation I’ve ever had in my life and I’m itching to get back. So, yeah, I’m working on the A-Z album. We have several songs left. I have several songs left to record. Then I don’t know, I may start another solo album, I guess. But I always like to keep busy. So, as soon as the A-Z album is done, then I’ll figure out what I’m gonna do next.
