Interview with Jay Postones of TesseracT at Sonisphere Knebworth 2014

This is Lisa Fox from Rock Sins and I’m here with Jay from TesseracT.

J:Hello.

How are you?

J:I’m very good thank you how are you?

I’m fine thank you.  how was the show?

J:The show was immense.  It was 30 minutes of awesome after a morning of horrible.  We had to wake up at a really crap time, like 4am to get here because we don’t live close by. We had to be at the stage at 6.20 sharp otherwise our tour manager kicked us very hard in our balls, which didn’t happen because we got here on time. But then unfortunately Iron Maiden didn’t have their shit together so we went on stage 10 minutes before stage time, which meant everything was hectic……so it was what it was but the actual playing felt incredible…

Good.

J:I love doing it.

It was a good crowd there as well given the time in the morning.

J:It was great, I mean I guess there’s quite a few hung-over people on a Saturday morning at Sonisphere.  But yes we had a sea of faces and that’s what you want to play to on the main stage at Sonisphere.

So now that TesseracT are on to their 50^th singer, is it my turn to sing for you guys yet?

J:Yes.  You can be on album three if you like. We’ve had ALL the singers.  You know, I’m just thinking how many changes have we had…  This is probably change number six but it’s the same singer that we had three years ago. So it’s kind of like we’ve gone back to the future.  We’ve got Dan back.

Is he back for good?

J:Yes he is.

It wasn’t just “we need someone for Sonisphere”?

J: No, not at all. We did an announcement but it’s clear from the reactions of a few people in the crowd that the news hadn’t actually got out that far.  Some people were like ‘woah what’s going on’.  It just wasn’t working with Ashe; there were too many differences, so we asked Dan if he would like to join the band again. We knew he always loved the band and we’ve been friends ever since he left. The only reason he left three years ago was because he wasn’t in a position in his life to be able to do this full time and we all were. Tess is a full time band.  Dan has engineered his life to be able to be a full time musician now so it’s perfect for us all – finally.

How much of a chance did you get to actually rehearse together before playing today?

J:Three hours yesterday.

And that was it?

J:That was it so, we did the same set today as we did three years ago at Sonisphere.

Definitely back to the future.

J:Yes. Part nostalgia, part because we had no choice. Dan’s getting up to speed with material from ‘Altered State’ but that takes time.  Before next week in fact we’ve got to learn a couple more songs for a show in Barcelona.  Towards the end of the year we’re heading off on tour with Animals As Leaders so there will be more to learn for that.  We’re trying to write some new material too,  so yes we’re just trying to move on.

Is Dan contributing to the writing process?

J: Yes massively. We’re demoing at the moment. A couple of the demos have just been vocal ideas that Dan sent through and Acle started writing to these. It’s a different way for us to start writing. Acle’s got back into the zone of writing too which is great.…You see it’s a strange thing with this band – if you give us a deadline you won’t get a result. If you light a fire under Acle, he’ll sit there and burn haha, so it’s amazing to feel free to write and record without the boundaries of a deadline hanging over our heads. The creative juices are flowing freely at the moment.

Fantastic.  So was that the biggest stage you’ve ever performed on?

J: Maybe. We’ve played some pretty big stages. I think that may have been the most people though – I don’t know. I looked out a few times and just saw endless heads but I don’t know really where that ends – it was hard to judge.  We’ve played to maybe 6000 7000 in India before, so we’re used to fairly big crowds – sometimes!

So what else have TesseracT got going on then?

J: Next week we’re doing a show in Barcelona, which is called Be Prog! My Friend – a bit weird.  It’s going to be full of dads, I just know it.  Then we’ve got Hevy Fest we’re headlining a stage at Hevy Fest, I don’t know on what day and I don’t know what stage but we’re there.  And then we’re going out with Animals as Leaders at the end of the year. It’s us and them on like a dual headliner act. That’s going to be amazing.  There’s posters announcing the UK leg of that tour up at Sonisphere. You know the edge of the perimeter where everyone goes to piss?

Yes.

J: They’re on that wall.

Is your face on it, are people peeing on your face?

J: I hope not, it’s some girl’s face.

So noones peeing on your face?

J: Noone’s peeing on my face directly, yet.

Yet.  There’s still time.

J: There’s still time, yes, it is a festival after all.

Well yes.  Peeing on people’s faces is kind of par for the course isn’t it at a festival?

J: Only if it’s on fire though please.

So are you going to hang round and see any other bands?

J: Definitely.  Karnivool tomorrow. They’re an incredible band, we toured with them last year and they’re just phenomenal.  Protest the Hero, they’re playing tomorrow I think, Devin Townsend. I want to see Gojira.  Tomorrow is the day for me, all the bands that I want to see are playing tomorrow.

So you’re going to sleep in your car and then roll in first thing in the morning?

J: Sleep in my car and then, yes, probably not wake up in my car because I’ll be on the floor somewhere passed out from drinking.

Drink lots and then you won’t care where you’re sleeping.

J: Unless it rains, I don’t want to wake up wet that would just be like it would be horrible.

So there’s one last question; what would you say your biggest Rock Sin is?

J: Rock sin, oh god.

It can be anything it can be a guilty pleasure band, it can be sex, drugs and rock and roll, it can be that you actually just sit on the bus and read books.

J: Probably the latter. We’re the lamest ‘rock and roll’ band. We’re not very rock at all like, we just kind of chill out. There will be some nights on a tour where you get lairey and everyone goes a little bit of the handle so, yes whatever.  But most of the time we just chill out in our bunks, reading a book or watching a film or something.  Being antisocial and lazy is my biggest rock sin.

Sloth?

J: Sloth, I’m a sloth.  Definitely.

Fab.  Thank you very much for taking the time to chat.

J: Thank you.

Awesome.