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JAYCE LEWIS - Ascension of the Watchers


Date: September 2020
Interviewed By: Jack Mangan

 


Ascension of the Watchers consists of Burton C. Bell (Fear Factory), John Bechdel (Ministry), and JAYCE LEWIS (solo artist). Their new album, “Apocrypha,” is one of the most fascinating and exciting new albums of 2020.


JACK MANGAN: We’re talking today to Jayce Lewis from Ascension of the Watchers. Jayce, thank you so much for taking the time to talk to us today.

JAYCE LEWIS: Thank you for having me on.

JACK: We'll, let's start with the record, “Apocrypha.” Congratulations on putting together something that's really special. I think it's absolutely a fantastic album.

JAYCE LEWIS: Thank you. Yeah, it was a lot of work, taking our time and making sure that everything was in the right order and sounding great, you know? I'm glad it's being well-received. I'm grateful.

JACK: So let's clear the air a little bit. Is this a supergroup? Is this a new primary project for you guys? Because it's a pretty amazing lineup.

JAYCE LEWIS: Well. . . . I would day. . . I would say it's probably a supergroup. You know, John and Burton's background working together is somewhat pretty well known in the Metal and Industrial community. My career is more of a slightly mainstream Electronica Industrial. But the fact that we've all got together on this is pretty extraordinary, actually. And the outcome of it all is very telling, for what we've all brought to the table.

JACK: Let's talk a little bit about the record itself. I've seen the term "Goth" associated with it a lot. For myself, I get that, but I think there's something more. I hear all of your pasts in it too. What do you say to people about it?

JAYCE LEWIS: Yeah, the word "Goth" has been bandied around a lot. I think a lot of that is because of Burton's singing style on this, in particular. And it's quite a poignant subject actually, because the first person that actually brought up the word "goth" was Burton. And the backstory of that is that I have been a follower of Burton's work in a multitude of ways; Fear Factory, G/Z/R, and some side projects he's done with other people, and I really missed his Gothic voice that he used to put on in the mid-90s. Mostly in "Demanufacture,” G/Z/R, and “Obsolete.” So I had a vision when I was producing the album and mixing it, that I wanted to revisit that era of his singing career. And when I reminisced on a few tracks with him in my studio, he literally replied with "Oh, my goth voice." And I said, "Yes, that's exactly what we want!" So, we brought that back. It took a little while. . . it almost like blowing dust off the pipes when we were delving back into that world of his. But man, when it came back, he was cooking, you know? And so, I'm not surprised that the term "Goth" has been used for this album at all, because vocally, that's what we were aiming for the whole time.

JACK: I love that you referenced the G/Z/R album and “Demanufacture.”

JAYCE LEWIS: Yeah, they're great albums. And obviously, “Demanufacture” was iconic in the Metal community, and it really really set the bar for everybody else to follow suit. But I really, really missed that voice of his, so I'm glad we've made that the feature for the Ascension of the Watchers going forward now. It's always going to be that way, you know.

JACK: So, I think it's a great-sounding record. As the producer, can you tell me how the samples were assembled? Was that you? Or was that kind of a group thing?

JAYCE LEWIS: Yeah, all the quotes from films here and there, that's Burton. He's all about that. He just turned up at my studio with a pen stick full of all these mad quotes and all that. He's really on top form with all of that.
As for the production and mixing, I mean, I spent about between 4 and 6 months mixing the album and about 4 months recording it and editing. I mean, I don't think I've spent so much time as I did on this album, because I really wanted it to have a very spacious and very submersed kind of audio dynamic. And thankfully, everybody's picking up on that. It's being picked up as this very detailed, clean sort of production. And that's what's given it its weight and its energy.

JACK: How did the 3 of you collaborate on the songwriting? And was there social distancing? How did you manage everything?

JAYCE LEWIS: COVID wasn't a thing then. I finished mixing the album early to mid last year. Basically, Burton would come over; he had, I would say, about 5 or 6 complete songs, in terms of the riffs and vocals and lyrics. And the rest was just either a little bit of a riff here or a piano there or a bassline, so we really got together on that and put our heads together. There's two tracks in particular that I was involved with right from the beginning and that was "Ghost Heart" and "The End is Always the Beginning." They were the 2 songs that we really composed together. Thankfully we're both vocalists, so we'd come up with melody and all that.
Burton was with me in South Wales in my recording studio, and then we would send things to John, who would put Synths remotely in PA. And then he would send us, oh God, 20? 30? 40? tracks of synths. So I would have to sort through all of that, and some of it stayed, and some of it didn't. And of course, I'm a synth producer and programmer as well, so there's a lot that I brought in as well. So we've all done a bit of everything. We've all played a bit of bass, we've all done a bit of guitar, obviously I've played the drums, so it's a bit of everything. It's a collective; it's a real sort of collaboration together, equally.

JACK: That's great. And so I have to ask then, who's idea was it for the Terence Trent D'arby cover?

JAYCE LEWIS: (laughs): Ha, oh that's Burton. That's Burton, all day. Yeah, I didn't produce that or mix it. That was done by a friend of ours in L.A. by the name of Stewart, and he did a great job. And they weren't sure about putting it as a bonus track on the CD, but I was the one that flew the flag that it needed to go on there. I think John was a bit unsure, but Burton was convinced that it needed to go on and so was I, so on it went (laughs). Burton and Stewart did a great job on that, I've gotta say. Really knocked it out of the park.

JACK: And were the lyrics on the album also collaborative, or was that something that Burton as the vocalist handled?

JAYCE LEWIS: Yeah. Burton and Stewart did a great job on that, I've gotta say. Really knocked it out of the park.

JACK: And were the lyrics on the album also collaborative, or was that something that Burton as the vocalist handled?

JAYCE LEWIS: Oh no, lyrically, everything is Burton. He's a very talented writer. Very talented. So no, that was all him.

JACK: Yeah, as a huge fan of his whole career, I agree, it's fascinating to contrast this. But we could both talk about how much we admire Burton, but I definitely want to focus on you and your career, and what this album means to you.

JAYCE LEWIS: (laughs). Nah, it's cool.

JACK: As I say, I really admire the album. Do you have any favorite moments or any favorite tracks on the record?

JAYCE LEWIS: Oh. . . God, my favorite moments. . . To be honest with you, the recording and mixing process of it is somewhat of a blur. It was very long days. I guess just having Burton over, and for the pair of us to really put our minds together. But I think - - this answers 2 questions - - my favorite track and my favorite moment is all surrounding "The End is Always the Beginning." There's synths right at the end when it comes into the final chorus. And when I'm writing synth programming, I'm MIDI inputting, so I draw it in MIDI. And I could hear, just as we were leading up to the chorus, there's this very soaring top synth, it's very piercing, you know, very "Bladerunner." Literally, I was writing that MIDI playout of that synth, where it was going, live, as the song was playing, and I remember Burton just turned to me, and was like, "Oh my god!" And I was just going from one note to the other live, I was so down the rabbit hole with what I could hear. It was actually playing out as the song was playing through, I was like, "Oh, bit there, I like it, here's an F, and now a D, and then an E." And that was quite a moment, because we were both a little drunk on Jagermeister (laughs). But that is also very poignant for me. It's the 2nd single of the album campaign. It just represents a lot to do with the whole process of us writing this album and working on it together. That's my favorite one.

JACK: Yeah, that's a great story. You can;t really plan for those moments.

JAYCE LEWIS: Yeah, this synth is like, it does this sort of (sings the line), something like that, and that was done live as it was playing back. I had the idea in my head, and I know it freaked Burton out a little. He must have thought I was a little inhuman for 2 minutes (laughs).

JACK: Well thanks for the great album. It's taken over my earbuds for the past 2 weeks. I'll say one last thing about it: I promise this is not some kind back-handed compliment. . . I felt like this "Apocrypha" was a real grower. The first time I listened to it, I thought, "Yeah, there's some good stuff." But then on the second listen, I really started to notice the great moments, and I started to say, "Wow, this is something special."

JAYCE LEWIS: Yeah. Well a lot went into it, and you're not the first person that's said that they just keep peeling, unfolding things. . . There's detail, there's a lot of things. There's a lot of landscape, soundscapes, to go through. And I've always thought that that's the making of a great album, in my opinion, something that just keeps pushing a button somewhere and you rediscover something else. You know I think that's where a lot of thought went into it. And I'm not surprised, Burton had written this stuff over a span of about 10 years, so it was a lot to get through (laughs)

JACK: And now, Burton and John Bechdel are not the only interesting people you've worked with. You've worked with many people I think are amazing, but can you talk a little bit about your Gary Numan collaborations and tours?

JAYCE LEWIS: Yeah, me and Gary are very good friends, and yeah, we've got some crazy memories together. We've toured a lot. You know, I think I've done about 2 or 3 tours with him. And his fans - - not all of them were big fans of mine - - but the Numanoid community really took me under their wing. And every time me and Gary announce a tour together, it really does very well. And yeah, Gary's such a great guy. He's the real deal. He's a very talented, humble, modest, fascinating person to be around. And you know, I've stayed at his house in LA in Northridge, and I've seen how he works. He's a great man and very accommodating as well. A really really welcoming chap. I love hanging out with him and his family.

JACK: And OK, one more person I wanted to ask about is David Prowse. You've had a great relationship with him.

JAYCE LEWIS: Yeah, he's been an enormous part of my life, Dave. We've been friends for I think 18, 19 years now. Maybe a little longer. And uh, he became a real mentor for me and somebody that looked out for me, and wanted to bring me in his world, which is pretty insane actually, because I come from a very sort-of down-to-earth community in a place called Bridgend in South Wales. It's a great place; it's very beautiful. Like most places, it's got its problems. But for me, a boy in Kenfig Hill, which is my village, to be on the road with Darth Vader and hang out with Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill, oh man. . . You know and I was doing it for years, you know we would just fly around or travel, and it was a very surreal existence for a long time. Obviously he's retired now, but we wanted to make sure that as a good send-off, because he's retired due to ill health, and that he's getting on a bit; he's 85 years old now. We wanted to make sure that he appeared in my music video, "Shields," and that was his final onscreen performance, and also his last public appearance. And I'm glad I got the opportunity to do that with him, because we talked about it for so long, appearing in a music video together. So yeah, you should check it out, it's called "Shields." Awesome.

JACK: And what was your role when you were working with Dvid Prowse and the Star Wars actors?

JAYCE LEWIS: Oh you know, it would just be me to hang out, really. He wanted to bring me into the film industry, because he was. He often said he saw a lot of himself in me, and he said he never had the opportunity to have somebody to bring him into the entertainment business in some way. And I guess maybe he thought I was a little wet behind the ears or something, I don't know. I know that he kept promoting my talents, and really spoke up highly of me to so many people, which opened up so many doors. But it was mainly him supporting me, and he became my manager in the end. He managed my music career for about 8 years and did a brilliant job, you know. So it was a real partnership that worked very well, and it sadly came to a bit of an end about 2 years ago because he had to stop because of his ill health.

JACK: Circling back to something else you mentioned it - - it does seem that your Welsh heritage is a big part of your identity and your background. Can you tell me a little bit about what being a Welshman means to you?

JAYCE LEWIS: Yeah, it's a beautiful place. It's had a lot of success in music, especially where I live, which is a town called Bridgend. Musically, in Metal, in Rock, it's been massively successful. I don't know what's in the water here, but there seems to be something where people flourish musically and all of that. You know, it's a very tight-knit community. Everybody knows each other. The scenery here is very, very beautiful .The history is insane. And obviously we've got our own language, and probably the coolest flag in the world with a dragon on the front, you know? (laughs) So there's a lot of history here and it's great. I love Wales. But I also love New York. (laughs) I'm torn between the two.

JACK: Couple of things I want to touch on before we finish. I want to make sure we don't skimp on your solo career, because that's also been very successful. What are some favorite moments from your solo career, outside of Ascension of the Watchers?

JAYCE LEWIS: Oh, me favorite moments, bloody hell. . . Oh, there's loads. I wouldn't say favorite, I've had some very memorable, whether it's good or bad. My whole solo career, that took me by surprise, to be honest. I didn't expect it to do as well as it did. I mean, the level of success it had wasn't lived very long. I'd say I probably had a very good 5 or 6 years out of being propelled into the mainstream. Because MTV were all over, and VH1. And the BBC; the BBC even made a documentary about the rise that I was having in the Asian market. But you know, looking back at it all, I can't quite fathom or believe how it all came together so fast, because for years I had been trying in other bands as a drummer or guitarist to strive and strive to make a career for myself in the music industry, and here I was trying out being a frontman for the very first time and it literally took off overnight on one song, and it's been 1000 mile-an-hour ever since. You know, you literally couldn't make up how it all happened and the people it attracted, including Burton. You know Burton reached to me via the fact that my solo career was so poignant in the Electro world. So yeah, I'm sure one day I'll look back at it all and think, "My god, how the hell did I do any of that? And how did it come together the way it did? It's almost like a movie or something, it's very bizarre. But yeah, very enjoyable times.

JACK: So I wouldn't call your music Metal. . . Ascension of the Watchers certainly has Metal elements, and certainly your solo stuff has some heaviness there, but can you tell people some of your influences?

JAYCE LEWIS: Yeah. I would say that I was actually inspired by Dave Gahan from Depeche Mode to actually go solo. He had his own solo album called "Hours," which was a genius, genius record. And that's what inspired me to do what I was doing. But I think I was inspired a lot by Depeche Mode, Mike Oldfield, there's elements of Fear Factory, Killing Joke, Royksopp. And the strange thing is that I've often been compared to Gary Numan, or called “the next Gary Numan,” but the mad thing is that I didn't own a Gary Numan album, I didn't really listen to Gary Numan. Obviously I'm familiar with Cars. But for some reason. . . when you compared what Gary was doing and what I was doing, it was very similar. It must be that the likes of Fear Factory were influenced by him, and I think it's gone down through a generation to me and I've picked up on certain elements of that.

JACK: So obviously, the future and the present are greatly affected for all of us by the madness we're all dealing with, but what is in the near future for Ascension of the Watchers - - and just for Jayce Lewis? What's coming up in the next few years or even the next few months?

JAYCE LEWIS: Yeah, I'm completely focusing on Ascension of the Watchers. I've had a good 10 or 11 years with my solo career. And over the last few years, my solo venture has been kind of a lonely world, so I couldn't wait to work with a bunch of people. When I was doing this album with Burton, it literally began as him coming over and I produced it and played drums for him and that was that, but I've become such a part of it now, and it just feels right. I feel like a good sense of belonging to this, and me and Burton and John, we're all very similar people, we've all done our things in the industry, we've paid our dues, we've earned our wings. We've done what we've all done, and it feels great. it just feels like a real respectful camaraderie, and this is the beginning of a new genre, a new sort-of supergroup, whatever you want to call it. This is for the long term. So I'm really looking forward to seeing how this album develops, and we're talking about doing many more albums after this.



Official website: Official website: https://www.ascensionofthewatchers.com/

 

 
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