Superheist: Lost Control.

Superheist

Superheist play the QUT Club, Gardens Point on Friday. Identical Remote Controlled Reactions is in stores September 9.

Superheist guitarist DW Norton sounds like a happy father. He should be; the band’s new album, Identical Remote Controlled Reactions is a corker. While the band seemed in turmoil following the departure of vocalist Berger late last year, the addition of new frontman Joey Biro (ex From The Inside) has not hindered the band, rather they’ve punched through to new heights. Liberate, the kick off track, drops straight into one of the biggest metal sounds you’ll hear all year, and as a whole the album is more than a match for anything the US sees fit to launch into the Australian market.

“We don’t muck around,” DW jokes.

Recording for Superheist has, in the past, been an arduous process, recordings being re-done or updated as the band evolved. In 1997 the band released their awesome Chrome Matrix debut, and back in 2000 they put together their debut album Eight Miles High, which was held up and eventually released with limited tracks as an EP. The remainder of the recordings we shelved and the band went back into the studio to put together The Prize Recruit, which kicked out some powerhouse tracks in Bullet, Crank The System and Step Back. Identical Remote Controlled Reactions takes the band in some different directions.

“It’s a lot heavier record that The Prize Recruit,” DW confirms. “But it’s also more melodic, and there’s no rapping at all. The new single, A Dignified Rage, is almost like a ballad, which is something we’ve never done before. There’s a lot of things on the record that we’ve never tried before, but it’s still classic ‘heist. It’s a lot heavier emotionally as well. It’s exactly the record we set out to make.”

We’re you trying to get away from some of the sounds the band put together for the last album?

“No. But getting away from the hip-hop aspects, yes. Definitely still a lot of keyboard action, and there’s a bigger sound as far as the production goes. Heavier guitars. The only thing we were trying to escape was that hip hop action.”

The undercurrent of exotic keyboard flavours drives tracks like False Idols or the band’s first single 7 Years, which also showcases some of the dynamic range of Joey.

“He’s been fitting in like a treat. He’s one of us now, and it didn’t take long for him to get that way. He’s busted his balls to deliver, and it shows. I think one of the huge differences with having Joey in the band, is that he’s far more open to other suggestions on lyrics and vocal melodies. Berger was very addiment that he wrote the lyrics and the vocals, and no one else was allowed to contribute, or even ask what the song was about.”

“Joey’s all about the band being the best it can be, and if he’s feeling they lyrics that someone else has written, then he’ll sing ‘em. So what we’ve got now is a record with me and Sean contributing to vocal melodies, everybody has ownership on every song. Before it could be like, we’ll I’m feeling the music, but I don’t really know what the vocals are about… You’re not as close to it.”

Just after Joey joined the band, there was talk of going back into the studio to re-record some of the material from The Prize Recruit. Haw far did you get?

“That’s still a possibility if we get signed in the states,” he explains. “What we’d be releasing there would be a best of, but for America it would be like a debut album. I think that would be a corking record…”

What would you put on it? What do you consider the best of Superheist?

“Um… Bullet, Slide and The Ghost. Pulse from Eight Miles High. Those kind of songs. I think it would be about 60% new stuff, which I think is the best stuff we’ve ever written.”

As well as working as the band’s six stringer and songwriter, DW is also in demand as a producer, putting together recordings for a variety of Aussie acts including Toe To Toe, Alchemist and Frankenbok (who were initially signed to his Faultline label before Dark Carnival picked the band up for Roadrunner). Not surprisingly, he’s manned the desks for Superheist on their latest outing.

“One thing that we wanted to do was keep the budget down, but not have it sound like the budget was down. I’ve been producing other bands for years. We just decided the best option was for me to produce. I think it sounds better than the last record, which cost us twice as much to make. It’s bloody difficult to produce your own band. It’s a lot harder than producing someone else’s band. I can’t really look at myself as the guitarist, more just somebody who plays an instrument to make those sounds. I guess the hardest part is when you’ve got an outside producer you’ve got someone to kick your arse into shape and make you get the best sounds and ideas. All of a sudden you have to be the arse kicker, and you’re the band guy. It gets hairy in the studio at times, but I think everyone gets that.”

The end result is an album which, not surprisingly, kicks a wealth of arse on it’s own.