The Upcoming
  • Culture
    • Art
    • Cinema
      • Movie reviews
      • Film festivals
    • Food & Drinks
      • News & Features
      • Restaurant & bar reviews
      • Interviews & Recipes
    • Literature
    • Music
      • Live music
    • Theatre
    • Shows & On demand
  • Fashion & Lifestyle
    • Accessories
    • Beauty
    • News & Features
    • Shopping & Trends
    • Tips & How-tos
    • Fashion weeks
  • What’s On
    • Art exhibitions
    • Theatre shows
  • Tickets
  • Join us
    • Editorial unit
    • Our writers
    • Join the team
    • Join the mailing list
    • Support us
    • Contact us
  • Interviews
  • Competitions
  • Special events
    • Film festivals
      • Berlin
      • Tribeca
      • Sundance London
      • Cannes
      • Locarno
      • Venice
      • London
      • Toronto
    • Fashion weeks
      • London Fashion Week
      • New York Fashion Week
      • Milan Fashion Week
      • Paris Fashion Week
      • Haute Couture
      • London Fashion Week Men’s
  • Facebook

  • Twitter

  • Instagram

  • YouTube

  • RSS

CultureMusic

Richard Patrick of Filter lets us in: Learn about the guy who’s screaming

Richard Patrick of Filter lets us in: Learn about the guy who’s screaming
9 June 2013
Francis Davies
Avatar
Francis Davies
9 June 2013

Richard Patrick is the vocalist of Filter and the former touring guitarist for Nine Inch Nails. We talk to him about Filter’s latest record The Sun Comes out Tonight, his creative process, and he tells us about being pelted with sausages and cheese.

The Sun Comes out Tonight released on the 4th. It’s your sixth album – what’s changed from previous albums?

A new addition to the band, Jonny Radtke – he came in and played guitar and co-wrote everything with me. It’s a very nice addition to the writing process. Our record company really pushed us to be heavier and I love that. I was like “Yes!” because you start making music like Take a Picture and Hey Man, Nice Shot, and everybody’s got a say all of a sudden.

What were the biggest influences for The Sun Comes out Tonight?

We listen to our fans: we wanted to make a record that sounds like it was made for Filter fans. This record was great because I’d wanted to make something like Short Bus for a long time. For me, the blending of different sounds is extremely important. All the synthesizer stuff – we just kept pushing it. Hey man, the Vangelis Blade Runner soundtrack still holds up today as an amazing piece of work and they were using synthesizers from the late 70s!

I think that any great movie, any great novel, has a moment where you learn about the guy that’s screaming. I don’t want to portray a character that’s got some kind of mask on.

What’s your process when you’re writing a song? Do you have an idea beforehand or do you just jam and let things fall into place?

Well, there’s always the experimental phase of music, and you’re kind of just putting stuff together. But even when I wrote Hey Man, Nice Shot, my first song that I wrote for the Filter record, I knew that I wanted a huge punch-in-the-face chorus. I wanted impact, but I also like the fact that it was murky in the verses. I kept the subject matter dark. The song Self Inflicted is all about how someone can show up to a theatre in America and just shoot everybody.

Filter has a pretty chaotic lineup with lot of member changes – how does that affect the music?

The band, as a project, changes and grows. I added Jonny Radtke on this record and that’s a relationship I feel is going to be strong for a long time. He’s a very gifted guitar player and he’s also in the same world. In earlier versions of the band I’d have to explain things like the difference between a verse and a chorus and people would look at me like I was crazy. With Jonny it’s already understood.

Where’s your favourite place to play gigs?

London is absolutely one of my favourite places to play. We played the Astoria and it was just insane. There was a lot of love for the band the last time we played – it was awesome! It’s been too long and I’m glad we’re doing Reading and Leeds. It’s always exciting to go back to London and play.

Do you have any gig stories?

When I was in Nine Inch Nails, back in 1990, we opened up for Guns ‘N’ Roses in Germany. For some reason they decided to throw sausages and cheese at us, I never quite understood what that meant. You know, it’s a snack so maybe they liked it.

Do you have a favourite song on The Sun Comes out Tonight?

It changes. You know, I’m at the stage where I’ve put it away. I can tell that We Hate It When You Get What You Want and What Do You Say are amazing live. So right now I guess those two songs are my favourites. At the same time I like Surprise a lot – it has an emotional connection for me because it’s about my wife and my kids. I think some of the best lyrics I’ve ever written are in that song, sometimes I can’t even believe I wrote it.

Francis Davies

The Sun Comes out Tonight is released on 4th June 2013. For further information and future events visit Filter’s website here.

Related Items

More in Culture

Unlimited Festival at the Southbank Centre: Centre stage for diversity

★★★★★
James Humphrey
Read More

RSC Next Generation: Young Bloods proves Shakespeare is timeless

Brooke Snowe
Read More

The White Tiger

★★★★★
Emma-Jane Betts
Read More

Female filmmakers lead nominees for the London Critics’ Circle Film Awards

The editorial unit
Read More

Persian Lessons: Exclusive new clip

The editorial unit
Read More

Jeremiah Fraites: Piano Piano

★★★★★
Catherine Sedgwick
Read More

Baby Done

★★★★★
Emma-Jane Betts
Read More

Quo Vadis, Aida?

★★★★★
Andrew Murray
Read More

The Exception

★★★★★
Guy Lambert
Read More
Scroll for more
Tap
  • Popular

  • Latest

  • TOP PICKS

  • You Me at Six – Suckapunch
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • An interview with Ifrah Ismael: Tales from the Front Line and other stories
    Theatre
  • The Queen’s Gambit: A chess story that’s not about the moves but the motives
    ★★★★★
    Cinema
  • Persian Lessons
    ★★★★★
    Cinema
  • Sleaford Mods – Spare Ribs
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • Unlimited Festival at the Southbank Centre: Centre stage for diversity
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • RSC Next Generation: Young Bloods proves Shakespeare is timeless
    Theatre
  • The White Tiger
    ★★★★★
    Cinema
  • Female filmmakers lead nominees for the London Critics’ Circle Film Awards
    Cinema
  • Persian Lessons: Exclusive new clip
    Cinema
  • WandaVision: Marvel’s charming sitcom proves an astounding success
    ★★★★★
    Cinema
  • The Queen’s Gambit: A chess story that’s not about the moves but the motives
    ★★★★★
    Cinema
  • Undercover at Morpheus Show Online
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • Ten short literary collections to get you back into reading
    Literature
  • Mayor
    ★★★★★
    Cinema
The Upcoming
Pages
  • Contact us
  • Join mailing list
  • Join us
  • Our London food map
  • Our writers
  • Support us
  • What, when, why

Copyright © 2011-2020 FL Media

Original recipe of the week: Butternut and lentil lasagne
Retro Feasts in Mayfair | Restaurant review