Steve O'G Rock Podcast TESSERACT - They blew their album budget on ONE video?
Feb 26, 2025
James Monteith, guitarist for progressive metal band TESSERACT and member of Casewreck, talks touring, songwriting, and life on the road. He explains how 11-minute songs form, using clicks and cues to pull off complex parts live. He recalls filming a high-stakes live video and confessing they spent nearly their album advance on one cinematic clip. He also discusses juggling PR work and two bands while touring.
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Use Tour Downtime For Productive Work
- Do use downtime on tour to get work done by scheduling tasks before soundcheck and switching to gig mode afterward.
- James balances PR work and bands by working during the day on the bus or venue and saving evenings for shows.
Touring To Reach New Towns And Evolve The Set
- The purpose of the second UK tour was to reach regional venues they’d missed and evolve the set, not simply repeat previous runs.
- Over 18 months the setlist changed to include more War Of Being songs and the band feels their strongest performance yet.
Click Tracks Turn Complexity Into Feel
- Complex progressive material becomes second nature with repetition, aided by click-track cues that mark irregular patterns.
- James notes some cues were essential when learning the songs but now performances are more about feel than rote counting.