Greetings Friends! Today we’re stepping into the world of The Sun Door, and having a chat with Michael, the solo artist behind this mathcore project from Salem, New Hampshire.
Hi Michael! To start off, can you please let our readers know a little about your project and any collaborators? How long have you been in Salem, New Hampshire? What got you all into Mathcore, and music in general? We’d love to know more about the origins of The Sun Door!
The Sun Door is actually a solo project that I’ve been working on over the past 9 months. So, vocals, guitars, bass, drums (programmed), keyboard, is all actually just myself. My daughter, Summer (10 years old) actually helped me out with the ambient intro by providing cello, violin, and finger harp which we added a bunch of effects too for the creepy vibe.
We just recently moved to Salem, NH about 4 years ago, but we are originally from a neighboring city Lowell, MA.
Mathcore has been my music of choice ever since hearing The Dillinger Escape Plan, The Number 12 Looks Like You, Botch, and The Tony Danza Tap Dance Extravaganza in high school around 2005. Before all that, I was very much a NÜ METAL/alternative metal kid, System of a Down, Rage Against the Machine, Korn, etc.
The Sun Door began at the start of another band of mine’s hiatus, George Orwell the Musical, where I played bass. I decided that as a major contributor to the song writing process, I just had more to say and accomplish before hanging it up.
Before recording The Nature of Death and Dreams, it looked like you already had the whole concept for the release mapped out. Is this correct? Or was it more of an organic process from beginning to end? Generally speaking, what does your creative process look like? Where do you start with recording a new piece, how do you develop it, and how do you know once you’re satisfied that it is complete?
The creative process generally follows a couple a different routes. Sometimes I will program a drum track from scratch, with songs like View or Dweller on the Threshold, and write the guitar and bass parts to the drums. Others, like Northstar or Slight Escape, I write the guitar part first on a tablature program, and write the drums to the midi file. But then there are outliers, like Lavendar Dreams, where I have a guitar song written on a tablature program, but when I put drums to it, I’m inspired in a completely different direction, so the guitar parts will be nothing like the original was intended. This seems to actually make for a much more erratic song, which is a staple for the genre. Vocally I wanted something gritty and filthy. I wanted the vocal work to reflect the emotion that is delivered lyrically. Pain, hopelessness, the struggle to find truth in what ultimately seems meaningless.
When I first began recording I was aiming for a very raw sound, but I was never actually satisfied with it. Plus, it was my first time ever recording myself, so the base of the album is just a microphone, an amp, and my audio interface. I found that that feeling of completion came from adding various plug-ins, and the mixing and mastering process. Once the song started to sound like an actual song, it began to feel ready.
I have had experience in releasing albums in the past with various artists and groups that I’ve been a part of. So despite this project being a solo effort, I wanted to make it as “real” as possible. I set up all the proper channels ahead of time, and I had a true release. Now the real task of getting it out there begins.
With the album complete, you talk about “getting it out there”. How do you find the process of marketing or exposing music these days? Being a soloist much of the time myself, I know how much work it is completing an album, but that’s not the end of the process at all. What is the metal scene, or independent music community like in Salem?
This album is marking a reentry back into the music scene for me. It’s opening up opportunities for potential new bands to join, it’s even in part jumpstarting my acoustic music career. I found that with this new release I’ve nearly hit the ground running. The first month was kind of slow, but now it’s certainly ramping up.
Having been in the scene for so long, I know it can be challenging to get back into it. But to be welcomed back has been such a blessing. The support that I’ve been getting has made me decide to put together a small run of T-Shirts, that I will likely put up on my Bandcamp, Big Cartel, and just word of mouth/delivery.
As far as “getting out there” goes, that’s the trick right? With platforms like Instagram, Bandcamp, and then distribution companies like DistroKid, it makes for plenty of opportunities to be seen. But ultimately it just comes down to having a consumable product.
I created The Sun Door as a continuation of my creative flow. I was really just making music for myself. The decision to go live with it reinvigorated me to get back out there. Playing live will be a challenge with no backing musicians, so you have to find more inventive ways to expose your material to new people. I will likely do some performance videos, maybe a music video, and just spread the word through reviews and the like.
Aside from all this work marketing, connecting with people and putting together some merch, I have to ask what’s next for The Sun Door! Live performance sounds like it will be a really enjoyable next step. Do you already have plans for a follow-up release too? What are your aims for the second half of 2024 and beyond? Can you tell us more about your acoustic music too?
I have a few acoustic originals, one of which closes the album. However, I have been playing live as an acoustic guitar/singing cover artist. Just recently I was asked to perform a 2-hour set on July 12 2024 as part of a Summer Music Series event that occurs in a nearby city. I play mostly melancholic alternative rock/folk covers, and plan to release an album of them.
The next steps for The Sun Door could follow a few paths. I could spend the next part of 2024 recruiting a backing band to play a full live set. I could just create backing tracks and perform alone (not ideal of course), but it could pave the way to making a full band through connections easier.
The next release has a skeleton, but will certainly need a lot of work. Depending on how much time I can give to focusing on writing, I can expect to have a new album before the end of 2025. I very excited for what comes next, and how far I can push this release.
The Sun Door on Bandcamp
The Sun Door on Spotify