Exclusive Interview with RENDERED

Rendered, the gritty rock band from Blackpool, has released a new song titled “Keep the Dream Alive (Shoot This!).” It is another example of their signature “northern grunge.” They push harder down a rock and roll path, leaning away from the melodic, and it’s a thoughtful, intricate beast that ticks and kicks. The guitars have a strong sense of urgency, leading the listener into a deft pre-chorus before the song soars to an even greater crescendo. Check out the exclusive interview below:

1. Can you tell us a bit about where you come from and how it all got started?

RENDERED:

Dale: We are from Blackpool, North England. Me and Chris were at college back in 2005 and I joined a band he was in. The band parted ways in 2008 after Chris went to visit family in Australia for a while, we carried on for a little bit, but it didn’t work out and the band split. Me and Chris had seen each other a handful of times over the years and around the time the 2^nd ‘lockdown’ had come to an end, we got talking about music and our passion for writing again… so we started sending ideas over WhatsApp and decided we were going to start a band!

2. Did you have any formal training or are you self-taught?

RENDERED:

Chris: We are self-taught musicians and play a bit of everything between us

3. Who were your first and strongest musical influences and why the name ‘RENDERED?

RENDERED:

Dale: As a kid my dad played a lot of Roy Orbison and as far as songwriting and melodies go, he is one of the best songwriters of all time. I loved Nirvana and their sound with Kurt Cobain’s voice and big chorus’s!

Chris: I like Pink Floyd, AC/DC and many older bands, I loved some of the nu-metal bands from the early 2000’s, which I think you can hear on some of our tracks like ‘Must Be the Enemy!’ and ‘You & I, the story of…’

Dale: Why the name? well, I was going through a real spiritual stage in my life at the time… I wanted something to go with that energy and we just couldn’t think of a good one. One day ‘Rendered’ popped into my head, it has many meanings, there were a few names we had in mind but this one stuck.

4. What do you feel are the key elements in your music that should resonate with listeners, and how would you personally describe your sound?

RENDERED:

Dale: As we’ve matured as songwriters, we believe we’ve developed the knack of writing music to a decent standard. Taking our time to craft the songs. I really think about the melody and use lyrics with meaning, we want to take the listener on a journey.

Chris: We aren’t too fancy either, we just write and record simple tunes with parts that people can remember, and we enjoy it… if other people like the songs, then it’s a bonus.

Dale: Sometimes our best songs can come from being in a dark place.

5. For most artists, originality is first preceded by a phase of learning and, often, emulating others. What was this like for you? How would you describe your own development as an artist and music maker, and the transition towards your own style, which is known as ROCK/INDIE/POP?

RENDERED:

Chris: We sound how we sound; we’ll sometimes get people saying ‘ahh, it reminds me of this band…’ then the next person will listen to the same piece of music and say a completely different artist? We have no intention of sounding a certain way, it just comes out how it does.

Dale: I started writing songs at a young age, so my early songs were basically Britpop rip offs, like most kids in the 90s. We’ve done some recordings before and been totally shocked when someone has pointed out how we sound a bit like another artist who we’ve never even listened to!

6. Do you think is it important for fans of your music to understand the real story and message driving each of your songs, or do you think everyone should be free to interpret your songs in their own personal way?

RENDERED:

Dale: I think the beauty of art is the mystery, like when a magician tells you his tricks, it takes away the ‘magic’. Just know that every lyric is personal to us and has true meaning and the words are written from the heart, I don’t like to tell people the exact meaning behind the lyrics.

7. Do you feel that your music is giving you back just as much fulfillment as the amount of work you are putting into it or are you expecting something more, or different in the future?

RENDERED:

Dale: Whilst creating, we are in the moment and are truly happy. When in the financial position to be able to be creating full time, that is our heaven on earth.

8. Could you describe your creative processes? How do usually start, and go about shaping ideas into a completed song? Do you usually start with a tune, a beat, or a narrative in your head? And do you collaborate with others in this process?

RENDERED:

Chris: I’ll sometimes send a guitar riff or piece of music to Dale on WhatsApp; he’ll reply if a melody pops into his head or not. Then he’ll put his spin on it, then we go from there and it gets added to a folder of our massive list of songs! Sometimes, Dale will send over a full song and ask me to write parts to it, but we always finish them together.

9. What has been the most difficult thing you’ve had to endure in your life so far?

RENDERED:

Dale: Losing my mother suddenly when I was 20, around the same time I lost a young relative, a friend and my first long term relationship came to an end. This was a difficult period in my life. I don’t dwell on things, it’s all part of the story.

10. With social media having a heavy impact on our lives and the music business in general, how do you handle criticism, haters, and/or naysayers in general? Is it something you pay attention to, or simply ignore?

RENDERED:

Dale: Thankfully, we’ve had very positive feedback up to now, if someone has a negative opinion or leaves a bad comment then that’s their choice. An opinion is like an arsehole, we all have one, who cares?