Voyager's Daring Move

“It is V – it’s V for Voyager, it’s five, and it’s our fifth album. Some people might think it’s a bit cheesy to have a fifth album called V, but I think it works well.”

Estrin is clearly buzzed about his band. Fifteen years since their formation, the founding vocalist and keyboardist is the band’s sole original member, yet his excitement feels genuine. After all, the band’s latest album is making waves for them like never before the world over with its bold, fresh take on their already rich sound.

“It’s a lot more rhythmic, it’s a lot more groovy,” he says of their progression. “I think if you compare it to our first album that was very much the power metal direction, now we’re very much moving towards progressive metal – that new, modern sound – we are playing around with a few more grooves and things, but still maintaining those catchy choruses, and those trademark melodies we’re known for.”

Dare I say the word ‘djent’? “Oh, you’ve used that word! A lot of people, especially on our YouTube channel have been arguing about whether to use the word ‘djent’ or not. I think djent’s a strange term, but I think there’s definitely some djenty elements. One of the reviews, I think it was a UK magazine, said that we were ‘flirting with djent’, and I’m happy to keep it at that.”

The response from both fans and the media has quite visibly been “overwhelmingly positive”. Yet are there any old-school fans out there that might be a bit sour about the band ‘flirting with djent’? “I don’t know, maybe? There’s maybe been one or two that said ‘I don’t know, it’s not the same Voyager I’m used to.’ I think the main thing about the band has always been melody, has always been catchiness, and those are two things we haven’t compromised on, so I don’t think anyone has the right to complain that we’ve changed too much.”

The band’s previous album, The Meaning of I, lyrically “was pretty introspective, dealing with a lot of self-exploratory wankery”. While the band still deals with issues of anxiety and depression on some tracks, there’s now a generally more positive and wonderful spin on things.

"It was one of those things that could go either way."

“I think a lot of Voyager’s lyrics, especially now, are a little bit more positive; maybe that’s the frame of mind that I’m certainly in. A lot of it is about looking at the world with a sense of wonder, trying to understand what it’s all about, and why we do things, why we get together with friends in the middle of the night and get up to watch a game of people hitting a ball from one side to the other in Brazil. Why do we do that?”

With a target set at $10,000, the band decided to step away from a typical record deal and self-release the album. In the end they raised $18,874 through Kickstarter through album pre-orders, limited merch and special gimmicks. Their I Am Voyager campaign was a success in every sense.

“It was a pretty daring move to do it. It was one of those things that could go either way. If you’ve got the fan base to do it, it’s definitely a way to move forward. It just shows that especially for bands that have a proven track record, with maybe a couple of albums of delivering high-quality music, that risk is removed and people are quite happy to give money for it. I see a lot more bands doing it. It’s definitely a very welcome shift in the music industry I think.”

Regardless, Bird’s Robe Records came to the table to provide retail distribution. “There is definitely a place for record labels somewhere in the industry – I just don’t know the extent that they should be getting involved in independent bands. I think we’ve found a pretty good model in doing a lot of it ourselves, and outsourcing a lot of the promo and a lot of the distro stuff as well. But it is a lot of hard work, let me tell you. I now actually understand what record labels do. I understand for record labels that putting a lot of money into a new album is a big risk. It’s a risk that they don’t necessarily want to take, because they don’t know if they can make that back. If we invest it directly, the sky’s the limit as to how far we want to push it. Any money we do get, we’ll invest it back in the band, which will lead us to a place where we can make music sustainably, which I think is every musician’s dream these days.”