SOLACE IN SOLITUDE
With the world at a standstill, Australian band Teramaze had nothing left to do but write new music. Together and from afar, this is the story of the making of their most emotionally focused album to date.
Words: Phil Weller Images: Karina Wells
Creativity has been pouring out of Teramaze during the pandemic.
I
n June 2019, Teramaze were celebrating the release of their seventh studio album, Are We Soldiers. Little could the progressive metal quartet have anticipated that, as they raised a toast to the record, just 16 months later they’d be repeating the process in slightly more surreal circumstances. But if 2020 taught us anything, it’s that nothing could be predicted.
“This album [I Wonder] poured out of us,” recalls the Melbourne band’s guitar-slinging founder member, Dean Wells, with an air of disbelief. “We only started writing it in March or April, but we can’t leave our homes here so what else were we going to do? I live for writing music and when the inspiration is there you’ve just got to ride that wave. It’s been really nice to keep focused on something positive.”
As autumn turned to winter on Australia’s south-east coast and the city’s golden beaches lay unblemished by footsteps, the band found themselves in a frenzy of creativity. Hunkered down in their respective homes, the band’s Dropbox folders filled up with myriad ideas as they sought release through their songwriting.