Cry Freedom!
When Amplifier released Hologram in 2023, it was a taste of things to come, and now the long-awaited main course, Gargantuan, is finally here. Mainman Sel Balamir reveals the story behind an album that released him from the constraints of a standard band format and nearly ended up as a four-hour banquet.
Words: Dave Everley
…And then there were two: Amplifier embrace their new-found freedom.
Portrait: Kemal L Freaktide
Sel Balamir doesn’t really do ‘inspirations’, but a while ago Amplifier’s frontman came across an interview with Volodymyr Zelenskyy that struck a chord with him. The Ukrainian President was being interviewed by US historian Timothy Snyder, author of the book Freedom.
“He asked the president how to describe freedom,” says Balamir. “This is a guy who has had to deal with so much shit over the last couple of years, who came from a background where he was not equipped to deal with that shit, but stepped up to what he felt his responsibilities were. And his answer was, ‘If you want to know what freedom is, join a band.’ Because if you’re a musician, you fundamentally understand what the values of freedom are. He meant the freedom of just being able to be yourself and putting whatever constraints on yourself that you want to. I’d never considered that before about myself, and what it’s like to be in a band. It was so insightful.”
“We started doing these big, long jam sessions. Space rock versions of Amplifier songs, which we called The Old Forge Sessions. And that became Gargantuan. And it was gargantuan. It didn’t have any boundaries.”
The idea of freedom has always been important to Balamir, but it’s become especially significant in recent years. We’re sitting on the outdoor patio of a beachfront restaurant in his adopted hometown of Worthing. The beach is just a few feet away from us, and beyond that the wide open sea. The latter exerts a huge pull on Balamir –he spends hours on the waves, windsurfing or paddleboarding, enjoying the freedom of being alone and focusing on not drowning.