Joe Bailey and Mark Anthony K join Preston Frazier for a Something Else! Sitdown to discuss the Dark Monarchy’s new album, ‘All Roads Lead to Rome,’ working on two different continents and plans for what’s next:
PRESTON FRAZIER: I’m blown away by the album – especially after coming so soon after the Dark Monarchy’s self-titled debut album. When where these six songs written?
JOE BAILEY: We made a plan in late 2020 to start the writing sessions for album No. 2 in January 2021, and we managed to stick to that plan! And I think we had the album written and recorded by April, and Mark immediately started the mixing thereafter.
MARK ANTHONY K: Yeah, we always had it planned that the start of 2021 was going to be our time to write and record the new album. It went extremely smooth with no issues.
PRESTON FRAZIER: Explain the writing process you two use. Does it differ from song to song?
JOE BAILEY: We each write a collection of unfinished songs, usually about three to four minutes of music. We aim to have about four tracks each, and then one sends the partial songs over to the other to complete and arrange. It’s a system that we devised from the very beginning, one that works extremely well.
MARK ANTHONY K: Exactly. It’s a system that seems to work really well for us, because you end up writing things you may not have thought of otherwise. I really enjoy finishing the songs for that reason. When you are the one starting the song, you sort of need to have a slight vision of how you want it to go.
PRESTON FRAZIER: The production is mind blowing, from the first notes of “I Lucifer.” How has your approach changed in recording the album since the debut?
JOE BAILEY: Personally, I don’t think my approach to recording has changed all that much – although I did consciously put more effort into my bass playing on this album. Dare I say, I wanted to show off a bit! I think that we were both a lot more comfortable with the process on this album, and with each other, and I definitely think that comes across in the finished product.
MARK ANTHONY K: Well, for me quite a bit changed. I really made a big effort to beef up the drum sound on this album, and by using some different drum kits and pieces, it really helped the overall sound. The main thing was the use of the 1979 Ludwig Black Beauty snare drum and using the Neve channel strips for mixing. It added a lot sonically. Also Joe’s bass sound was really punchy this time, but I decided to add a little more growl to it. That made it stand out a bit more, without losing the bottom end. As for the guitars, I really nit picked a sound I was happy with. That was made from using my 2012 Gibson Les Paul and SG. Also, I used a Marshall JCM 800 and a Soldano amp for the rhythm and solo sounds. The trick this time was to use less distortion. This made the sound more clear, and single note passages came through better.
PRESTON FRAZIER: Given the difference in continents, how do you record and mix the album parts?
JOE BAILEY: We both record our own parts in our home studios, and email the files back and forth.
Mark takes care of the mixing and mastering side of things, and I totally trust him to do an excellent job.
MARK ANTHONY K: Thanks, Joe! Yeah, with the whole file sharing process, recording is fairly simple. The mixing part of the album is critical, I feel, but if the recorded tracks are noisy or not recorded well, the best mixer in the world won’t help it. So, hats off to Joe as well for the attention to detail. As for the mixing, Neve channel strips, LA-2A & 1176 Compressors and Pultec-style EQs really helped shape the sound of the mix this time. Oh, and high and low pass filtering. I can’t stress that enough.
PRESTON FRAZIER: Is there a theme to the six songs?
JOE BAILEY: Not really on this album. It’s more of a collection of songs written about varying subjects.
MARK ANTHONY K: Yeah, there wasn’t any sort of plan for a story or overall theme. We just wrote about topics that we wanted to talk about. And for the first time on a Dark Monarchy album. I’ve wrote a few full lyrics. Namely, “The Light of Day,” which I was very happy with.
PRESTON FRAZIER: How did you conceive of the songs “I Lucifer,” “T.M.I,” and “All Roads Lead to Rome”?
JOE BAILEY: “I Lucifer” was musically conceived by Mark, and “T.M.I” and “All Roads Lead to Rome” was musically conceived by myself. Lyrically, they are all very different from each other. “I Lucifer” is a song written from the perspective of the Devil – sometimes the biblical Devil, and sometimes a cultural Devil. I’m not praising Satan here; it’s just a tongue in cheek song! “T.M.I” is about privacy, or rather, the lack of privacy that we all have these days, and how we openly surrender our personal details. The title track is about being judgmental towards the wrongdoers of society, and how we judge people with very little knowledge of the lives that they are dealing with. I think we’re all guilty of this to some degree; I’ll hold my hand up.
MARK ANTHONY K: Yes, Joe did a brilliant job with lyrics and vocals on this album. It really pushed me to up my lyric writing and songwriting. The bulk of the lyrics were done by Joe again, but I did a few. One that appears on the album, “The Light of Day,” which is basically about inspiration – that can come in many forms but usually they do the same task: inspire someone to better themselves. And I also wrote a song called “The Carousel,” which will be on an upcoming three-song EP later this year. Basically, it’s about how things never seem to change, no matter how much we try.
PRESTON FRAZIER: The piano and synthesizer parts seem more orchestrated and even have a Geoff Downes feel. Has your approach to writing and arranging keyboards changed?
JOE BAILEY: I’ve used some different sounds on this album; I’ve been playing around with lots of different synth and orchestral sounds. But I think for the most part, Mark is responsible for the new keyboard sounds. He played a lot more keyboard on this album, and used new sounds too.
MARK ANTHONY K: Actually, Joe added a lot more then he thinks. A lot of the keys are fantastic and have come from his recordings. I have added a lot more this time, it’s true – mainly from my Roland GAIA keyboard, which ironically Geoff Downes has used on several Yes and Asia tours. So, it’s possible you hear that influence from those parts.
PRESTON FRAZIER: Which song was the most difficult to bring from concept to reality?
JOE BAILEY: I would probably say “All Roads Lead to Rome,” purely because of the ridiculous time signature changes. However, I wouldn’t say it was particularly difficult, just more so than the rest. To be honest, this album was a total breeze to create, from start to finish.
MARK ANTHONY K: I would agree. “All Roads Lead to Rome” was an experiment in time signatures and rhythm. The end result is fantastic, I think – and it’s one of our best vocal performances on this album.
PRESTON FRAZIER: What equipment was used to record the album? What guitars, bass and keys?
JOE BAILEY: I used my Music Man Bongo 6 copy, which is an enormous six-string bass that I played exclusively on the album. I use a Nektar Impact midi keyboard, and an Audio-Technica AT2020 condenser microphone.
MARK ANTHONY K: [Laughs.] I think I listed a lot of what I used earlier, but to recap – Gibson Les Paul and SG, Yamaha EX-7 keyboard, Roland GAIA keyboard, Novation Bass Station keyboard, Marshall and Line 6 amps, Warm Audio W47jr microphone for all the vocals I did. That vocal mic is outstanding; I’m looking to add a few more Warm Audio mics into my studio collection.
PRESTON FRAZIER: How did you two meet and become the Dark Monarchy?
MARK ANTHONY K: I’ll let Joe explain this.
JOE BAILEY: We met through an online chat room, hosted on the progrock.com website. DJ Peter Prog has two shows on the station, and my solo album “A Price to Pay” was being featured as the ‘Album of the Week’ on his show Check It Out! Mark messaged me privately during the show to congratulate me on my album, and eventually asked me if I would like to do some backing vocals on the next Projekt Gemineye album. Of course, I was honored to do so, and ended up doing a little bit more than backing vocals! Mark gifted me with an awesome guitar solo for my song “Ghost Town” during this time also. Because we enjoyed working together so much, we both decided to start an official project together, and so the Dark Monarchy was born!
PRESTON FRAZIER: Anything else you want to add?
JOE BAILEY: I would just like to say a huge thank you to everybody who has checked out the new album, for those who have purchased it digitally or preordered the CD. The support we have received has been incredible, and for that we are both extremely grateful.
MARK ANTHONY K: Yes, I would like to thank everyone who has supported the Dark Monarchy from day 1! It’s been steadily growing, and I can only see things going up from here. And thanks to websites, blogs and radio shows like the one you have, Preston, for helping us new acts get some attention in this large music world. We really appreciate it.
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