Audioworks: An Interview with Chris Clancy

OK folks, so time for another lovely edition of my interviews section.  I'm sure some of you have come across the band name MUTINY WITHIN (from New Jersey).  They got an ink deal to Roadrunner Records, composed a great debut album, toured the s**t out of it, only to fall short for a follow up (till recently).  Quietly but surely, former vocalist Chris Clancy was hard at work in his studio mixing and prepping for the upcoming Mutiny Within 2 album (F**K YEAH!) for your anticipatory ear drums.

(Photo courtesy of Alan Snodgrass/Digital Version.net)

While Chris is no longer an official member of the group, he is not willing to let go of all the previous material set aside for the MW2 album and basically a chance for him to tailor it the way he wants it to sound (Chris is also mixing/mastering the new album).

I was fortunate enough to get in contact with Chris and see what he has been up after his departure from Mutiny Within and what endeavours he has been up to.  So without further delay...

- Chris, much thanks for taking the time to do the Q&A with me.  So let's dive right into it.  What are you up to today?

Well this morning I'm just working on some mixes for 'Mutiny Within 2'. I'm a few tracks into final mixes now.  After that I have work at the gym until 2pm.



- "I play piano, guitar, bass, drums, sing and scream and am very interested to work with bands and artists as I feel I have a lot to offer them."

Do you offer any lessons for these?

I don't currently offer any lessons for anything. My strongest points are vocals and audio mixing/engineering. To be honest I feel there's better people out there to teach. The human voice is something that can be quite delicate. I leave it to professionals who have studied vocal teaching. It's a hard thing to teach, especially over the internet. I personally feel anybody paying for vocal lessons online with somebody who isn't actually a teacher such as Melissa Cross, is wasting their money. Melissa has spent years studying how to teach people. I just sing and tour.

- Fair enough.  I myself have not dove into the online lessons.  I will agree though that Melissa is a great teacher and I actually lend out my Zen of Screaming DVD's to fellow musicians quite often.



- Where did you get inspiration/jump start to pick up and learn these instruments and music in general?

My parents bought me a keyboard when I was around 10 years old and I just took to it really quickly. It soon became my focus in life. Everything has always revolved around music for me.

- How did you manage to get involved with I Legion? Were the lyrics your own or were they already taken care of by Frederic?

I was actually mixing Frederic's band at the time until he decided he wanted to do it on his own (it's not for me to list reasons) [Understandable].  He asked if I would sing on a few tracks and I said 'yes'. It kind of went from there really, he asked a few more people and eventually it ended up becoming a project for him. Frederic gave me lyrics, I just tweaked them to fit my melodies.

- Can you take us through an average day in the studio and/or a regular work day for Chris?

I work at a local gym around 24 hours a week. It gives me plenty of time to do music still so it works out really well. I generally get up, go to work and listen to mixes I'm working on while I walk. My headphones are my best friend when it comes to finishing mixes. I find I get a lot more perspective when I'm not sat in front of a screen. You listen with your ears, not your eyes.

When I get back from work, I generally work on music mixes/vocal recording until I start to lose interest. At this point it's best to either take a break or just pick up another day. I work quite intensely so I get more out of hammering a few hours out then leaving it.

- £100/track is a great deal for up and coming bands looking for that professional touch. Have you been keeping busy with the mixing and mastering part of your job?

I've not been a busy as I'd like to be honest. When I first left Mutiny Within, I wanted to do mixing as my main job. I worked hard at it, but I just didn't get the work I needed to survive on that alone. Recently it has picked up though and I'm starting to get more regular work which is fantastic. It enables me to spend more time working with music. I try to keep it cheap because I know bands are struggling as it is. Some people seem to charge insane amounts. You really don't need to pay that much these days to get a good sound.



- Mutiny Within 2. What's going on there? Are you doing vocals for the entire album? What is our role in this album? I have heard the track "In My Veins" as well as "Falls To Pieces" and your vocals are top notch as usual.

Thank you! It was great to finally get some tracks out. Those songs have been totally re-mixed now to fit the album. They were half thrown together just to get something out earlier in the year. I'm doing vocals on the entire album. It's essentially the old lineup but without Drew. We're just doing it in our spare time. They send me parts over and I put it together in Pro Tools. I just have a few more tracks to record vocals on, Brandon has a few solos to record and then we're done.

- Can you drop any information such as an approx release date, track listing, etc?

We're not sure on the track listing 100% yet. There's one song that I'm having a really hard time writing vocals for so we might lose a track.  It should still be 11/12 tracks though.  We want to get it out before the end of the year.



- Will MW tour the album? Will you be taking part in such or just sticking to the recording/mixing/mastering?

It'd be really great to tour, but it's just impossible now. It's mainly immigration issues. It'd cost me $5000 just to get a visa to tour with. Same with Dan. On top of that we had to sell our van to cover debts, and everybody has jobs or is in college now. Getting good tours without a label is near impossible too. Without tour support we'd never have gotten out of New Jersey as we lost thousands every tour due to fuel costs and lack of merch sales.

- "I try to see life from an 'outside the box' perspective and am interested in theories on life and existence. With this mindset, most issues seem insignificant when shadowed by a bigger picture."



Does this relate to any of your lyrics or music when writing?

Definitely. I try to keep a lot of my politics out of my writing, but I think if you re-read "Lethean" with the concept of humans being taken out of their natural environment and forgetting what we really are, it'll make a lot more sense. Lethean is a river in hell. When you drink from the water you forget. Imagine that river is society...

We live in a prison of our own making. A society where we police ourselves and being different isn't accepted. It's a sad state of affairs. The only real winners are big corporations and obviously the World Bank.

Like I said though, I try and keep things as uplifting as I can in my lyrics. There's no point adding to negativity to our lives.



- Do you see yourself (down the road) continuing the front man position or more comfortable working behind the scenes in the studio and such?

I'd love to do both. It's about the only way I could balance it all financially. I think Jon Howard (Threat Signal) has a good setup. Studio when he's not touring, then he gets on the road, kills it, and comes home to work.

- What are you doing in your free time away from music?

I spend a lot of time at the gym, I'm learning German and I moved in with my girlfriend a few months ago so we spend a lot of time together.

- You seem to be very much into various politics around the world, such as Arab Spring and 9/11. Would you consider yourself a conspiracy theorist or just thoroughly interested in politics?

I don't really like the term conspiracy theories as it rings the 'oh no, nut job' bell. But I guess I fall into that category. I don't see everything in the world as a conspiracy, but there's a lot of stories that don't add up.

If a story doesn't add up, it's generally not true. It's a shame some theories are shunned so much. If you take the official 9/11 story and think:

19 men armed with box cutters directed by a man on dialysis in a cave, using a satellite phone and a laptop orchestrated the most sophisticated penetration of the most heavily guarded airspace in the world.

Using 2 planes in New York, they managed to take out 3 building, and then crashed a plane into the Pentagon. The pilot of the later couldn't even handle a single engined plane, but managed to perform an 8000ft, 270degree descending corkscrew in a 757 to line up smack into the pentagon.... no footage was found... and it hit the offices around which they were trying to figure out where $2 trillion dollars has gone "missing"... then there was a passport found in New York of the hijackers... 2 buildings were pretty much vaporized... but a passport was found. It sounds like a fairy tale.

- OK, I get what you're saying and I can somewhat agree that not everything adds up, especially when questions are continuously being raised.  So, back to the music though, can you name an artist/band you would love to work with (either studio or live)?

I'm not really sure to be honest. I tried out for Killswitch Engage  when they were looking for a vocalist. That was definitely something I was interested in, but in hindsight, I think part of music is making it on your own. It makes it a far greater achievement.

- Any words of wisdom to inspiring music lovers who want to look for work in the industry?

If it's your passion then follow your gut. Just be prepared for a lot of hard work at little financial gain. Do what you enjoy in life though. You sell your lifetime for money. You sell an hour of your life for a wage. So sell it for something you want to do.

Last but not least, give us some online sources for people to reach you, check out your work, hear your music, etc.

- www.youtube.com/clancychris
- www.facebook.com/iamchrisclancy
- www.facebook.com/clancyaudioworks

OK everyone, so you got the 411 on Chris and what he's doing.  You all know now that the new Mutiny Within album will be released before the end of the year so be sure to keep up to date with Chris's pages and you'll get all the juicy details for when the album drops.  Make sure to also (*band take notice*) to get in contact with him and get him for mixing/mastering of your own band/song.  As you can see from the material presented above and the music he uploads to his pages, it is well worth the money.  Hell, I might even have to start outsourcing to him for assistance.  Thanks again Chris.

Now for the album teaser for the new Mutiny Within, which is scheduled for a January 12th, 2013 release!  Check out what Chris has recently uploaded for your listening pleasure...




1 – Embers
2 – In My Veins
3 – In A Moment
4 – Falls To Pieces
5 – Machines
6 – Never
7 – Become
8 – Lights
9 – Balance
10 – Life To Dust
11 – Signs
12 – The Unsaid

As for you readers, like always, keep the conversation going! :-)