The Band Explains: India Mill - 'In Motion'. (VIDEO PREMIERE)

Who:  India Mill are a forward-thinking four-piece hailing from Darwen, Lancashire, who happily remain loosely genre undefined, with the artistic aim to create a new take on alternative-rock  throughout their music. Made up of Al Smith - (Vocals & Bass), Si Nicholson - (Guitar), Chris Coates - (Guitar & Backing Vocals) and Dean Ingham - (Drums & Percussion) India Mill are gaining a reputation as one of the North West's most exciting emerging live acts with a recent headline show for BBC Introducing in Lancashire, sell-out shows at The Borderline (London), Club Academy (Manchester), The Castle (Manchester),  and The Deaf Institute (Manchester).

About The Track: 'In Motion' is the third single from the debut album 'Under Every Sky', which was well received by magazines such as Artrocker, The Vinyl District, Buzzin Music, Hold Up Now, and Louder Than War, with two of the album tracks also having been selected for the BBC Introducing Mixtape on 6Music.  'In Motion' is accompanied by a b side single 'My Fury' and due for release 6th July 2015.

The Band Explains: "In Motion was a rarity in India Mill in the sense that it was a song that, for the most part, was written outside of our usual rehearsal space at my home. We then played it all together later on and fleshed out the individual parts from there. We still have a copy somewhere where Si’s distinctive lead melodies are very different from what they are now and it alters the mood of the song greatly in my view. The song had been part of our live-set a long time before we came to record it for our album 'Under Every Sky', so we had quite a clear idea of how we wanted it to sound. We spoke with Mark Jones, our producer, about making it like a Travelling Wilburys song. Whenever I sang it I had Roy Orbison’s voice in my head and we all love the sound of those songs they did so we layered up a ridiculous amount of acoustics to get the desired effect. I think we did about 6 takes on a Martin D-28 for a big sound and then added a more trebly age on another concert-size Martin, again, which we did about 6 takes of.

In terms of the lead guitar, Johnny Marr certainly isn’t one of the first guitarists that come to mind when I think of our Si but on this song, particularly in the verses, he seems to cast a shadow. That said, Si’s playing is as individual as ever, and I’m sure he had something different in his head when we were recording it.

For the most part, the bass and drums are pretty straightforward although we changed them in a way that really affected the shape of the song. When we first played the song, Dean used to go to his toms and ride for the pre-chorus yet we realised that the song retained more drive were it to stay on the hi-hats. The first guide started with the bass and drums coming in together but after conversations we decided that it would be better trilling the high E to come back into the. The sound of the drums was shaped through a conversation that Mark Jones had with his close friend Ged Lynch who has played with some very successful artists. He mentioned Jim Keltner to Mark. Mark wasn’t as aware of Jim Keltner playing as we were but when he relayed the message we knew it made sense and we jumped at it.

Lyrically the song is about coming out of something and moving forward. I can’t think of any other way to describe it that that really. I enjoy lyrics but I don’t think they are as important as a strong melody, bass-line and beat. ‘Good’ lyrics are a bonus but sentiment is everything. Clumsy lyrics can still express a beautiful sentiment but the song has to be great before that comes across. There’s a quote somewhere that there are lots of great songs with bad lyrics but no great songs with bad music. Or something like that."  - Al Smith.

Feature by Karla Harris.

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