For those people that haven’t heard of Rendered could you tell us a bit about the band & your story?
We are a 4 piece band from Blackpool, Lancashire. England.
Dale Ball – Vocals, Guitar
Chris Phelan – Guitar/Bass, Backing Vocals
James Routh – Guitar/Bass, Backing Vocals
Craig Bunney – Drums, Backing Vocals
Me & Chris have been friends for many years & were in a band together back when we were in college however, that band split in 2008. After the band, I got serious into boxing & also became a family man. Chris had dabbled in & out of various music projects over the years, though he felt something was still missing.
We spoke occasionally from time to time over the years then randomly bumped back into each other one night last year at a mutual friend’s house where we both expressed our love & passion once again for making music.
It felt exciting again, we were on the same page so we started writing songs & recording demos together not long after, think it was around June/July 2021.
James an old friend of mine, also a former bandmate from our school days had started boxing pt’s with me late last year & as I was telling him about the project… it turned out he was the sound engineer at Rock Hard studios!
This was like music to my ears ha! We soon booked in & recorded our first single “These Times” with James doing a top job & laying some of his own guitars & backing vocals down, he soon joined the band.
Craig came for a jam one night, we were buzzing with the sound of a full band blasting out our songs so we hit the studio & now here we are!
Who inspired you to get on stage and perform?
I liked sticking on the Oasis “There & Then” VHS as a kid & visualising being on that stage!
Just the time wasn’t right for us.
I was sat in the back garden one sunny day last year after meditation & was really chilled listening to Bitter Sweet Symphony on full whack in the headphones it was a performance at some big festival, they sounded awesome & could hear the crowd singing along, gave me goosebumps so I fancied a bit of that!
We feel now is our time & we are going with what feels right.
The lyrics & melody come from the heart… me, Chris & the lads believe we make soulful music. We had some growing up to do back when we were performing together back then, always partying hard, expecting success to come to us but now we are extremely serious, driven & fully focused.
What are some of the artists & albums that have stuck with you throughout the years?
Nirvana – Nevermind just a great album!
Oasis – What’s The Story Morning Glory… I thought it was a stronger album than Definitely Maybe myself for the stand out songs.
I love listening to Roy Orbison, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Queen and most of the old songs, from the 60s-90s – the songs have great melodies which stick in your head.
To me a good melody will last forever, that’s why we still remember hymns & nursery rhymes, a decent melody will sound great when boiled down to just a single instrument, this to me is how you know if a song is seriously good or not.
Could you tell us a bit about the writing/recording of the track Must be the enemy!?
Yeah, I’d started working from Brian Rose’s boxing gym in Blackpool at around the time we were working on the song, which was just after the last lockdown. Chris had sent me an instrumental & untitled demo version of the song which he’d recorded a couple of years earlier. He said he didn’t think much of it but I liked it straight away & usually when a melody pops into my head then I know it is going to be a decent song. So I said, believe me with this one & he did to be fair.
As far as the lyrics go, I suppose parts of it are self-explanatory really… We’ve all suffered with our mental health at times & have no shame in admitting it. We hit the partying hard in the late 90s/early 2000s which has probably had an effect on us & since then we’ve all calmed down a little so we wanted to send a message by letting people know we all have our issues, so don’t be afraid to speak up & there is help out there for you!
It gets a little aggressive towards the end of the track as I go on a bit of a rant expressing some frustration towards the current world issues, especially aimed at the time when we were recording the song, the times were odd & feel many were/still are blind to it.
We recorded the song at Rock Hard in Blackpool, using a lovely Neve desk with fantastic plugins, awesome guitar amps & Neumann microphones, the mic selection there is a vocalist’s dream!
James mixed/produced & I co-produced.
The original demo was very nu-metal, we used some of that style, yet took some away to give it the Rendered sound.
Do you have any plans for a new EP or album?
Yes, we are planning an EP release around July/August & have already written the songs for our debut album. We want to get recording the rest & finishing the album before the end of the year… it is costly when you are an unsigned band!
What are some of your favourite venues to perform at?
We are yet to perform as Rendered.
However, we’ve all had plenty of gigging experience between us over the years. I used to gig weekly from the age of 12 in the mid-90s at a venue called “The Durban” which got demolished & is now a block of flats, it was the go-to venue to watch the top local bands back in the day. We used to play all over… another pub “The Venue” in Cleveleys which was called “The Royal” back then which overlooks the sea was a nice place, plus we’d gig weekly at Blackpool’s original rock venue “The Tache” which has now moved.
We like The Bootleg in Blackpool which isn’t huge but has a great vibe. We plan on playing in cities like Lancaster, Preston, Liverpool, and Manchester first, then we’ll start to look at the bigger venues around the UK leading to Europe to start with and maybe more further afield.
Here at Artistic Echoes, we are always on the lookout for new artists do you have anyone to recommend?
Well, this man from Blackpool Nathan Parker is a spoken artist & he is fire! We would like to team up with the fella at some venues in the near future…
Check him out! IG @parkerwoods
What plans do you have for the rest of the year?
To get this EP finished & release a physical limited edition which will also be available for digital download. Performing our songs to the public & get our songs into the ears of as many people as possible… Record & release our debut album!
Follow our journey on SM!
and please Like/Subscribe/Share our work…
YT: OFFICIALRenderedMusic where you can watch our music videos and keep up to date with the band.
Much more to come from us!
Thank you, much love…
Dale
