Architects' Tom Searle and Adam Christianson: the 10 records that changed our lives

Introduction

“If we’d released All Our Gods Have Abandoned Us in 2004, maybe people would have liked it, but we wouldn’t be playing where we are now,” says Architects guitarist Tom Searle of their impending seventh opus.

“Once, we did the Mean Fiddler with SikTh in front of 1,000 people, and to us that felt like the glass ceiling, the height of the genre, at least for British bands. Now, if you look at Bring Me The Horizon, they’re doing two nights at the O2, smashing glass ceiling after glass ceiling. It finally feels like British metal is getting heard again.”

It’s an exciting time for the Brighton quintet. The new album cycle will see them headlining the biggest venues of their career, and hopefully following a similar world-beating trajectory to their old chums/ex-labelmates in BMTH.

With touring guitarist Adam Christianson now added as a permanent member and making his recording debut with the band, we sat the pair down to find out about the 10 albums that changed their lives…

All Our Gods Have Abandoned Us is out on 27 May via Epitaph. Architects tour the UK in November:

Fri 11 Nov - Birmingham, O2 Institute - TICKETS
Sat 12 Nov - Manchester, Academy - TICKETS
Sun 13 Nov - Glasgow, O2 ABC - TICKETS
Tue 15 Nov - Nottingham, Rock City - TICKETS
Thu 17 Nov - Bristol, O2 Academy - TICKETS
Fri 18 Nov - London, O2 Academy Brixton - TICKETS

1. Blink-182 - Enema Of The State (1999)

Adam Christianson: “This might come as a bit of a surprise! Blink-182 are one of the first bands that got me interested in music. It’s not much of a guitar album, but for me it was more like, ‘Rock music… cool!’

“I was 12 years old at the time. I didn’t really have any rock influences from my parents. They listened to loads of country music, so this was very important for me!”

2. John Mayer - Continuum (2006)

AC: “I’m a huge John Mayer fan, and I’m really into blues guitar players and that kinda stuff. I have a huge amount of respect for him as a songwriter… he’s just awesome.

“He started writing all the poppier stuff and that’s what got him going, but underneath that, he’s a true blues player and just an amazing singer. He’s able to marry that talent with more pop-orientated songwriting.

“And, of course, chicks love him - it’s not just for dudes into guitar, haha!”

3. Deftones - White Pony (2000)

AC: “I definitely feel this record got me into much heavier stuff; it had a huge impact on me. It was the more dissonant sounds they make - Stef Carpenter is not really a trained guitar player. Which is a really cool thing, because anything goes!

“As a trained musician, you might get blinded to possibilities because it’s not the right thing technically. He uses his ears rather than scales, and always plays what sounds cool, which is more interesting to me. I really love his tone, too; it’s such a unique, brash kinda sound for a heavy metal band.”

4. The Dillinger Escape Plan - Calculating Infinity (1999)

AC: “It’s super-, super-nasty, but this album totally opened my ears to the idea that anything can go. Crazy time signatures, wacky patterns and always very different… we all know there are more bands like that now, but when this came out, no-one sounded like that. People have tried to copy it over the years, but it’s never been the same.

“This album was a big one for me - it was also kinda shaped how I met Architects, because my old band was really influenced by both Dillinger and early Architects.”

5. Guthrie Govan - Erotic Cakes (2006)

AC: “He is unreal! Him and John Mayer are probably my two favourite players of all time. And Guthrie can do everything amazingly well. In my opinion, he’s one of the greatest players ever, just because he’s got the most amount of control a guitarist can have over a guitar…

“Listen to how he’s always perfectly in tune with his bends - it’s like his guitar just does what he tells it to do. There’s no better example of complete control!”

6. Nirvana - Nevermind (1991)

Tom Searle: “Nevermind has to go in there! It’s the album that started it all for me. Me and my brother Dan must have been about 11 years old when we got this album, so around 1998. Honestly, we were both totally besotted with it.

“At that point, our taste in music was just Nirvana Nevermind… that’s all we listened to for an entire year! It’s so hard to pick a favourite track - I’d just listen to it front to back every time on my CD player, while playing computer games!”

7. Killswitch Engage - Alive Or Just Breathing (2002)

TS: “This was so instrumental in me getting into heavy metal. I never really liked the metal thing before that; I listened to rock music, but I wasn’t really into screaming.

“I must have seen the video for Numbered Days or My Last Serenade on TV when it came out and thought, ‘What the hell is this?’ Like for a lot of people, it felt new and exciting! And that was the start of it - I thought to myself, ‘You know what, I think I’m going to play in a metal band!’”

8. Sigur Rós - Takk… (2005)

TS: This is one of my favourites of all time that I just keep going back to and back to over time. It’s so life-affirming and wonderful. There’s not much in the way of guitars going on - there’s a little bit - but I just love it. Especially the complex arrangements.

“And all that post-rock music I’ve listened to has had more of an influence on our music recently, in terms of how we experiment with atmospherics within heaviness!”

9. Meshuggah - Koloss (2012)

TS: “I didn’t get it at first! I’ve loved Meshuggah for years… since I was a kid! I loved all of it: Obzen, Nothing, Destroy Erase Improve, the lot. But this one just didn’t seem to click or grab me at first. But when I got it, my God, did I get it! They are the masters.

“In the same way you might go to a temple in Tibet and see some Buddhist monks that have been there their whole life, they are the masters at what they do. You feel a sense of reverence!”

10. Tool - Lateralus (2001)

“This goes hand-in-hand with Meshuggah, in a way. I went to see them when I was about 14 years old - I liked it but I didn’t really get it, but more recently I’ve become besotted with it. I’d listen to it day after day, and even got my mum into it.

“Lateralus is unbelievable - I love everything about it, the artwork, the lyrics, the guitar playing, the peculiar time signatures in the drums, the bass playing is phenomenal… it’s just fantastic, a full 10 out of 10!”