Spear Of Destiny - Days of future past!!

Interview with Kirk Brandon by Steve Harrison

Spear of Destiny

Spear of Destiny announce new double album 'Janus' out April 2025 and extensive UK tour.

We sat down with Kirk Brandon to discuss his upcoming double album "Janus," set for release on April 23rd, coinciding with the start of his tour. He explained the album's title, referencing the duality of the god Janus, which symbolizes the reinterpretation of past music while looking forward.

Brandon reflected on the challenges faced during the recording of his previous album, Outlands, where many songs were excluded due to industry pressures. Drawing parallels to Taylor Swift's re-recording efforts to regain control over her music, highlighting the ongoing struggle for artistic freedom in the music industry. The recording process for "Janus" took over two years, primarily conducted remotely, allowing for a collaborative yet flexible approach.

Of all days to sit down and talk to Kirk, it just had to be Good Friday and the irony was not lost on either of us!! ‘Is it?’ says Kirk with a wry smile on his face, ‘I don't know I'm not up on my biblical studies I'm not keeping track of the exact, you know, feasts of saints and deaths and resurrections and who's dead now, whatever.’

Enlightening us on the reason to rerecord tracks from albums ‘Outlands’ and ‘The Price you Pay’ as well as include songs that didn’t make any albums but were b-sides.

‘Most people are familiar with the double-headed god. The album The Price You Pay, which was looking backwards, kind of, pretty much, and Outlands, which was looking forward. I mean, Outlands is real dystopia. And the idea was because Outlands was recorded on a Fairlight three and it was all programmed pretty much against my will. I didn't really want to do that, but I bowed to the pressure coming from all sides and recorded it that way, which I shouldn't have to say the truth……..we should just put it down as a band, much better.  So straight away, Outlands, although it's got, you know, two quite big hits on it, it should have been band orientated.'

'So with this, I get a chance to go back and put it down the way it should have been. I mean, this is simpler; and as for The Price You Pay of the original recording, most of it's really good but a lot of the songs that should have been on it, they weren't on it. And that was down principally to the record company. They just didn't want things with contentious lyrics or things which were like, what's that all about?’ Kirk continues ‘You know, they just they didn't want that. They just basically  wanted some kind of basic pop star. That's what they want.

Somebody they could manipulate and put in the charts. And as a young, bright, hopeful with a beaming face. And which is pretty much how I was cast at the time.’

It's like you got on the train in 1980, whatever, and you got off about 1990 or 1992, you know?’

The influence that record companies have on artists then and now, seem to be still very prevalent and Kirk admits to being influenced at that time as well.

‘I mean, a lot hasn't changed. And, you know, I give great kudos to someone like Taylor Swift, believe it or not, who went back and did exactly what we've done. Re- recorded her albums so she could release them. We've done the same here because the companies wouldn't release or allow us to buy our own material or use it in any way. So it's just sat there in a vault and no one cares about it. We re-recorded it so we have the actual power to release it so that is another big plus point of re-recording all this as she has done. With many artists you know they [the record companies] would rather you didn't make a penny on it because they're not making any money on it yeah so they've got no interest in saying yes or helping you it's quite negative but this is the way the industry is, you know.’

On the selection of certain tracks to include and on leaving others off the new album ‘Janus’.

‘…there's a lot of songs that should have been on the original album, but the company really didn't want it, they simply didn't want them on there. And in the end, you know, it was a bit of ‘fait accompli’ by the company. A lot of things I thought, you know, I mean, how is Pumpkin Man and The Jungle not on the album? And that's ridiculous. Yeah. Because the crowd love, they've always loved Pumpkin Man. You know, whenever we play, people love it. They sing along.

Whenever I do it acoustically, they sing along. You know, it's just one of them songs. I mean, it's very dark. I mean, if you listen to the lyrics and read into what happened, it's like, wow, which kind of mystifies me in a way because it's so bleak. I just think, why are they into this? You know, the company didn't want that, or the Jungle, you know, they didn't want that. And Jungle is arguably one of the best songs we ever did in that period.’

On recording the tracks in the 80’s on synthesisers and programmers and the technique recording them now, Kirk laughs and tells us ‘The Fairlight 3,  Yeah, I mean it was state-of-the-art back then, Fairlight 3 is state-of-the-art and everyone's lauding it as, you know, Jesus has arrived in Fairlight 3, you know, get stuck in, enjoy You know, I actually, and I'm going to sound very rock and roll and I don't really care, I couldn't sit there listening to it’

Kirk laughing starts imitating  beep, beep, beep of the computer. ’ I said, I can't sit here. I'm not a robot. I'm going to play pool. So I spent the whole time playing pool while he programmed the whole thing. Very rock and roll statement’ he laughs!!

‘But that's what happened. It's my own fault.!’

I asked Kirk whether there was a defining moment that he said no, this is what I want, this is what the band requires?

‘That's really difficult to say, really, because, you know, the management, record company, even the agent had a say. You know, everyone had their opinion. Yeah. And I always felt I should be fair and listen to these people and just it's not just, you know, a megalomaniac what ‘KB’ wants. I've never really thought that way. But is there a point? I don't think so. I'm looking in my mind, I can't see a particular point.’……’  The situation in that time, in the 80s, was moving so fast. And, you know, I was rarely at home….. every single day of my life was taken up with something. And going somewhere, doing something. It was like, you know, keep dribbling the ball around the pitch, you know, you just keep going, keep going, keep going, keep going. After a while, you're not even sure where the goal is, you know?’

‘I mean, I've talked to people like Craig and Adrian about this and other people, and they all say the same thing. It's like you got on the train in 1980, whatever, and you got off about 1990 or 1992, you know?’

Going on to tell us about the re-imagined versions ‘To be absolutely honest, it took over two years to record this. I mean, we couldn't get all the band in the studio at the same time. You know, Craig Adams, who plays with the Mission, Craig's off. And Adrian, the guitar player, he's got to take care of the horses’ he laughs ‘A lot of it was done over the net. He did come in and put his stuff down in the studio. But Steve and Craig did a lot over the net. It was pieced together like that. I've done a lot of albums where I've just put down the basic stuff with just me and the drummer. Yeah. I actually like working that way. I actually like, you know, the immediacy of just me and the drummer.’’

‘It did take, I think, three times on the mix. Yeah. We sort of worked it and some of the mixes I feel were outstanding, like The Jungle, March or Die. Well, there's lots really, also Whole World's Waiting, there's some great mixes on there. But it took a while to do it. You can't do this in one sitting. I'm incapable of doing one sitting, you know, I had to keep going on it and build it up’.

Talking about the upcoming extensive UK tour and playing 28 shows on this run, Kirk explains, ‘It is a lot. I have to say I do enjoy it a lot, I enjoy the company, the lads. I mean, it's all very funny,  sometimes it's like the laughs supersede the idea of playing music. You know, it's kind of it's just all about the laughs. But we do play music as well. But this tour should have happened a couple of years ago, or at least a year and a half ago. But it's taken so long with the availability of people and the availability of the engineers and crew, but it's now, coming up to it now very quickly. I'm looking forward to it. Playing the tunes and it's going to be great.’

For the latest Spear of Destiny information checkout the following:

New album Janus is available for pre-order here

You can also check out upcoming tour details and tickets here