It seems odd that the frontman for Caligula’s Horse, one of Australia’s biggest progressive rock acts, should have such an air of disinterest in the city’s events. Stranger still that Caligula’s Horse’s upcoming fourth album, In Contact, invokes and surveys the masses.
A conceptual exploration into unity and similarity, of what connects us as human beings, In Contact is divided into four distinct and deeply personal chapters, with much to be taken away from its onslaught of metaphors. “We wanted to have a fair bit of variety on the album,” Grey says. “In between albums, we always have a discussion as to what we’re going to do next, how we’re going to step forward from previous stuff we’ve done.
“In this case, we very much wanted it to be conceptual in nature – bigger, heavier sounding. We wanted some more aggressive tones in there, take the heavy riff approach to stuff we’d stepped away from with [2015’s] Bloom.
“Within each chapter, because of the conceptual nature of the album, those separate stories, they have their own sound. The first chapter has a distinctive sound compared to what you’ll hear in the second chapter and so on and so forth. It’s definitely a journey.”
That musical journey and narrative, though Grey says it isn’t necessarily biographical, does carry personal stories. “It’s very much the case that our lives inform the way we write because part of our entire mission statement as a band is to be honest,” Grey says. “There are moments in the album that do reflect my fears of fatherhood when I became a dad, but a lot of it, particularly the first chapter, is looking at the way society treats artists in general and whether it’s healthy.
“It’s a discussion I think is important right now, particularly with the rate of suicide in the arts and particularly alternative music.”
That discussion and that investigative connection running throughout the new material will translate to the live stage perfectly. Caligula’s Horse are indeed preparing for a nationwide tour, ready to relay the bittersweet hopes and tragedies of In Contact with a rare rock savagery.
Yet given the nature of this release, it’s hard to shake off Grey’s previous statement of not being a crowd person. How, as the first point of contact between the fans and the band, does Grey practice extroversion and execute the meanings in the music without hypocrisy?
“I would definitely describe myself as an extrovert but my anxiety is tied up in small spaces and things being outside of my control. I tend to not enjoy being in public,” Grey says. “The biggest difference being that if I’m up on stage, I have a microphone in my hand and I’m essentially running the thing. That’s the place I feel most confident, most comfortable.
“In that way, I can have that musical conversation with people, we can feel that connection with people without all this mental illness and fear stuff pushing in from the outside.”
For each city they tour, Caligula’s Horse will be joined by a different local support, Mercury Sky, Branch Arterial and Kripke’s Illusion to name a few. Grey says these bands complement the mantra of Caligula’s Horse’s new release while also showcasing the diversity and success of the current scene with their own sound. “Australia has a really strong progressive scene and the world has grown rather fond of it of lately” Grey says.
“For us it’s not that difficult when we’re touring to find local acts in each city that are exciting or interesting and that’s exactly the case on this particular tour. We have I Built The Sky as national support for all the shows and it’ll be really cool to have a bit of instrumental stuff on the lineup as well, something a bit different.”
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