Music Review – ‘Burn The Past’ – No Longer

This is brilliant rock track, hard hitting and angst driven, distorted and heavy in all the right places, yet melodic as ever and thus adding a wonderfully accessible and memorable element to the whole thing. From the intro there was a mild sense of what would follow, but the lead vocal and the melodic freedom and expressiveness was quite out of the ordinary, not what I expected from the music, which is great – the freedom and the newness is effective and pretty essential these days.

It’s a really enjoyable track, there seem to be new moments of sound and melody and instrumentation again and again as you get further into the song. There’s never a moment of dullness nor any feelings of repetitiveness to the sound, and yet still the band have managed to incorporate that necessary hook, that chorus part that steps forward just frequently enough to have an impact.

It’s a hit, definitely, there’s a slight hint of a Guns n Roses kind of vibe, maybe it’s the vocal, but the music behind it all was, for me, leaning in a more modern direction, punk rock of the nineties, or melodic metal of even more recent years. The opening riff and the guitars and the beat fused together to remind me a little of those short lived but memorable Greenday and Linkin Park days, only for a second, yet what I actually loved the most about this band was their lyrics, and this, plus the melodies and the lead vocal, made it a fantastic track.

The harmonies used as well, a wonderful touch, you can really turn this one up loud and get lost in the moment. It’s a great effect, great rock music, a really well written and brilliantly performed track, with a lot of depth it seems as well. The writing is lovely, and very musician involved plays their part with great skill and creative flair. It might even work to take those harmonies and double vocals further, but I wouldn’t want to tamper with the way the song came out as it’s original streak of art. I’d look forward to hearing more from these guys.

By Rebecca Cullen

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW:

Exposed Vocals: So tell us your story. Where did you grow up? What made you decide to become an artist?

Burn the Past: We’re all from different places around the country.  We became a band because we have unfinished business.  All of us have been in prior bands, and didn’t hit the mark we wanted to hit.  So this time, we want to use our collective experience to finish what we started.

Exposed Vocals: How did you come up with that name? What was your inspiration behind it?

Burn the Past:  We started with Burn Past Eleven, but that didn’t feel like it had much meaning, so we altered it to Burn the Past because we all have pieces of our history that we would just love to burn to the ground.

Exposed Vocals: What do you think about online music sharing? Do you ever give your music away for free? Why?

Burn the Past:  All for it.  We just want people hear our music.  Making money off of our art is not our goal.

Exposed Vocals: Since everyone was a start-up once, can you give any smaller or local bands or artists looking to get gigs and airplay some tips?

Burn the Past:  Don’t afraid to play for free.  It’s not about making money.  It’s about sharing what you have, and what you think with people in hopes of a genuine reaction.  Music is meant to move people, not to fill your bank roll.

Exposed Vocals: Where do you usually gather songwriting inspiration? What is your usual songwriting process?

Burn the Past:  So far, our music is written based on our life experiences….wait for it…things in the past that we would like to burn *wink*.  The process is that the songs are pretty much already there.  We just bounce ideas off of each other…one idea…two ideas….three ideas….BAM!  The shit just comes together.

Exposed Vocals: Do you have a band website? What online platforms do you use to share your music?

Burn the Past:  Our website is www.burnthepast.com.  We use soundcloud, and reverbnation right now, and will be adding iTunes and Spotify soon.

Exposed Vocals: If you were given half a million dollars and a year off, what would you do? How would you spend it?

Burn the Past:  Hookers and blow.  But seriously….music and blow.  But seriously….hookers and music.  But seriously……….

Exposed Vocals: How do you find ways to promote your music? What works best for you?

Burn the Past:  Right now, word of mouth and social media are our main avenues for promotion.

Exposed Vocals: So, what’s next? Any new upcoming projects that you want to talk about?

 

Burn the Past:  We are starting to write more music again.  We’ve spent a little time working up some cover songs to get out and play shows, but we’re pumped to get back to the writing process.

Exposed Vocals: If you weren’t making music, what would you be doing?

Burn the Past:  Hookers and blow.  But seriously………..

Exposed Vocals: How do you juggle the rest of your responsibilities while trying to stay ahead in your music life?

Burn the Past:  Chris says, “Masturbation.  That’s easy.”

 

Exposed Vocals: What should fans look forward to in 2016?

Burn the Past:  This is the year that we’re blasting off!  We’ve spent the last few months working up our song list, and we’re ready to showcase it to the world.  But as we write this, the band is breaking up and becoming movie producers who write their own soundtracks together.  You can expect our first movie by the end of this summer.  But seriously…………………………