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Interview Interrogation: Minka Miles and Aaron Miles from Ironvolt (England)

13/6/2020

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"The closest thing to sexism I’ve experienced in music has been having venues put Ironvolt on bills with exclusively other female-fronted bands"


England has a sensational metal scene as a whole and yet if you microscopically looked at each city or region, there are even more metal bands than you can see at first. One such band is Bristolian quintet Ironvolt whose own brand of Groove Metal has caught some considerable attention in the underground, with a band name sounding much like the metallic, groovier version of AC/DC, they are sure to go full throttle after the COVID-19 pandemic is over.

Vocalist Minka Miles and lead guitarist / backing vocalist Aaron Miles faced our interrogation, we wer kind with them... the electricity was spared in this instance, but they had the burden of being weighed down by ten tonne lead.

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For those who have not heard of Ironvolt, could you give us a brief history of the band? What does the band name mean?

Minka:-

     "Ironvolt is literally just iron and volt put together. If I remember right, Aaron and I just made it up because it would have been funny to have two super macho metal-esque words smashed together to name a band that is really not at all super macho or particularly metal. As for a brief history, the band started with just me and Aaron, then Lewis joined, then we went through a succession of drummers and bass players right up until we got the magic blend we have today."


Aaron:-

     "Well, the actual concept for the band goes back to about 2015, where Minka and I formed the idea and name in the far corner of a Wetherspoons pub. Honestly, the name means very little... if anything it just aimed for a feel of the genre we first went for. Electrifying, exciting and solid in rhythm - we first had major influence from bands like Motley Crue, AC/DC, Black Stone Cherry etc. Of course the genre has since grown, quite substantially, but the name stuck somehow!"


You recently released your album 'Grimm', what was the reception like? Have you had anyone listen to your music from outside of the UK?

Minka:-

     "The reception was really good. I think everyone who has given us feedback has been really positive and have a few favourite songs. If anything, only our parents have said anything negative, which is arguably the most metal thing which has ever happened in this band. According to Spotify and all that we have quite a lot of international fans! Places including America, Germany, Spain, Italy, and a fair few others have listeners, which is amazing!"


Aaron:-

     "People loved it and I love that people loved it! It's awesome to hear that the fan favourites are songs where we collaborated the most. The singles are getting a lot of attention outside of the UK which is always a pleasure to think about - which far corners of the world is our music baby reaching?"


What has Ironvolt been doing during the lockdown; any hobbies or interests? What plans do you have towards late 2020 / early 2021?

Minka:-

     "I’ve been writing a novel and sculpting, and also working on other music projects. I think we’re all really keen to get back to playing shows as soon as we’re able to. We might even have new songs to add to our set by then."


Aaron:-

     "I've been playing more games than I know what to do with and practising almost every day! I'm a key worker so I still find myself up at 4:30 am... and just thinking about that makes me tired. I get home just after lunch time and get a good chunk of practice in before I relax like everyone else in lockdown!"


How would you describe your sound without the use of genre tagging, given you play Groove Metal; such a broad genre?

Minka:-

     "I would just describe us as having heavy instrumentation with soul / pop vocals. I don’t think there’s any one genre we can ever honestly say we are. I feel like we just sound like rock / metal covers of pop songs which people can dance and occasionally headbang to, and honestly I’m happy with that."


Aaron:-

     "I guess it's kind-of unusual that the words Groove and Metal are how we would describe our sound, seeing as the genre tag of Groove Metal doesn't really apply to us when you consider bands like Pantera as your kind-of flagship of the genre - but our sound is groovy and, fundamentally, Metal as f**k."

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Bristol, England / Source: Tim Out

Minka, do you feel that sexism and misogyny still exists in metal? Have you yourself received any remarks? If so how did / would you respond?

Minka:-

     "I think it exists everywhere, although thankfully I haven’t actually experienced it within music myself. I would say the closest thing to sexism I’ve experienced in music has been having venues put Ironvolt on bills with exclusively other female-fronted bands, despite having no similarity besides that. We’ve played with completely different genres because of this and it’s very jarring. Thankfully, it hasn’t happened in a while and we usually get booked to play with similar-sounding bands now, but it used to really annoy me and the rest of the band."


Tell us more about the Bristolian Metal scene, is it stronger than it has been? What challenges do bands face?


Minka:-

     "It seems to be extremely tight-knit, everyone knows each other. It’s pretty nice and I think there’s more support within that scene than there is with a lot of others. The Bristol metal scene also welcomed us really openly, despite our sound not being conventionally metal."


Aaron:-

     "Honestly there are so many good bands coming out of Bristol. There's a lot of unsung talent, sadly with either no means to get places or just haven't been noticed by the right people yet. That's why there's so much love for Metal 2 The Masses in Bristol. The community gets together and welcomes all these faces, some older 'veterans' of the Bristol scene who you just know you're going to enjoy, and some brand new faces with just as much kick-ass as the vets."


For metalheads visiting Bristol what sights / attractions and bars / venues could you recommend?

Minka:-

     "For pubs there’s The Gryphon, The Mother’s Ruin and The Crown, I’ve spent a lot of time in all of those. As for venues it’s gotta be The Fleece, The Louisiana, and The Exchange."



Aaron:-

     "The Crown in St. Nick's market is a great place for all kinds of Metalheads, plus its club venue The Trap, as there's a great range of faces that regularly visit. The Gryphon is a landmark and it regularly tops the local pubs chart. The Hatchet is a super popular venue which hosts all sorts, and there's countless local venues that do regular "fresh talent" shows. The Fleece on St Thomas Street, The Thunderbolt on Bath Road and The Louisiana on Wapping Road are some that we've frequented and always had a great reception. If you just want a great night, though, check out the Fleece's monthly Metal club nights."


Do you have any thanks or greetings you wish to send to friends, family or fans?

Minka:-

     "Anyone who is listening to our music at the moment, thank you so much – and to everyone who has come to a show before. And of course, to everyone who is going to come to our shows in the future. Thank you, you’re lush."


Aaron:-

     "Keep it real homeslices"



https://www.facebook.com/ironvoltmusic/
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Interview Interrogation: Morgan Weeds from Malicious Inc. (England)

26/5/2020

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Malicious Inc. are set to set the British Metal scene ablaze with their finely balanced sound of Groovy Nu Metal as shown on their debut EP 'Red Flag';  which was released through the Italian label Sliptrick Records. Morgan Weeds the band's lead guitarist filled in GMA with the details of their new release, what the Bristolian Metal scene is like and what metalheads can do down their, how they got in touch with Sliptrick Records and why in the space of 1 year 5 months they've managed to unleash a debut single and follow-up EP.

During the interrogation Morgan referred to Korn, Disturbed, Nu Metal, Bristol, Korn, and some more Nu Metal, Groove Metal and somehow... Bristol. Suffice to say he finished happy as Larry.

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For those who have not heard of Malicious Inc. could you give us a brief history of the band? What does the band name mean?

     "The band was formed in January 2019 by vocalist Kyle Mortiss and myself. I heard him release some solo stuff under the name ‘Of The Wolf’ and has got a very Randy Blythe (Lamb Of God) feel to it and was looking to start a band of that sort of style. We put auditions out, which brought drummer Luke Hill on board. Kyle brought in former band mate Christian Elvins on rhythm guitars and friend Chris Watkins on bass and we began writing. Since then, Chris and Christian have left the band and Luke brought friends Kyle Zehtabi and Matthew Hulin into the band and we’ve been working away ever since. The band name comes from the legacy of vocalist Kyle Mortiss’ previous band “Malicious Intent” combined with the fact that we are a new incarnation with new music, new members, new feel etc and we mean business."


You recently released your latest EP 'Red Flag' via Sliptrick Records, what was the reception like and did you have anyone outside of the UK buy it?

     "The reception seemed really positive to be fair. We weren’t sure what to expect from people as it was our first release but people are digging it, the industry seems to love it for the most part from the reviews and interaction we’ve had. We’ve had people all over the world listening via streaming services, downloading and / or buying physical copies which is an incredible feeling for us. To see our music hit everywhere from home turf in the UK, to America, Europe, South Africa and many more is an amazing feeling."


Talk us through the process of creating the EP - how long did it take to curate? Master? Mix? etc.

     "The EP didn’t actually take that long to create. We hit the ground running as soon as the band was fully formed. We went from forming in January 19, to writing a stand alone single and the 5 tracks for ‘Red Flag’ and then recording it and producing it by the end of April the same year."


What was it like signing with Italian label Sliptrick Records? How did you approach them or did they approach you? Talk us through the partnership?


     "We approached them. We were sent some contact details for Carlo who runs the label. After vocalist Kyle Mortiss made the initial contact, he handed proceedings over to me (Morgan Weeds - Lead Guitarist / Manager) to begin negotiations. They offered us a deal based off the final mixes as at the time we approached them it hadn’t been mastered by Martin Nichols yet. We finalised everything, signed in July, announced it in August and had the stand alone single and music video for ‘Bone & Mortar’ out by the end of September."


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Bristol, England / Source: Kayak

Given the UK is in lockdown, what plans did you have cancelled / postponed? What plans will you have late 2020 / early 2021?


     "We were supposed to hit the studio this April just passed to begin the recording process for the songs we’d selected to be the singles out of the tracks we’ve created for our debut album, but due to the situation that has been put on hold until we know what’s happening regarding the pandemic and lockdown. The guys at Sliptrick Records are working on and have nearly completed a lyric video for our track ‘Wintered Trees’ so we’ll be putting that out as and when, dates to be confirmed, but basically we’re gonna be hitting the studio and planning on hitting the road around a release schedule for these singles. Sadly as everything is so up in the air we have no idea about when and how these things will come to pass yet though. Watch this space I guess."


How would you describe your sound without the use of genre tagging?

     "It’s just brutal, honest, hard hitting heavy music. Deep lyrical content and emotive emotive execution."


For metalheads visiting Bristol, what sights / attractions and bars / venues could you recommend?

     "A lot of venues are close to shutting down right now which is a sad and scary thought, but The Fleece, The Exchange and The Louisiana are great venues that have wicked bands on all the time. The Crown is a kind of Metal / Biker pub with a venue underneath called The Trap. There are club nights of varying genres over at the Fleece and The Lanes. Rough Trade is a record shop opposite The Lanes that also has a stage. We played there back in February and it was a wicked show. We’ve got an O2 Academy.

     There’s a fair bit to do if you’re fresh to the area, but with the current economical climate a lot of venues are struggling and a lot of the competing club nights all claiming to be “Bristols Best” can become much of a muchness, same as anything really. People dig it though which is the main thing. There’s always a crowd at these places which keeps the local scene alive which is important now more than ever, especially when things start to normalise. The independent venues will need that ongoing support."



Do you have any thanks or greetings you wish to send to friends, family or fans?

     "Thanks to everyone who is continually supporting us and everyone that has helped us get to where we are. We appreciate all the support from our friends, families and fans and we hope everyone is staying well and safe during this time.

     Thanks for taking the time to speak to us."


https://www.facebook.com/OfficialMaliciousInc/
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Interview Interrogation: Jeff Baddley from Troyen (England)

11/5/2020

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"2021 is our 40th year anniversary we are booked for UK festivals and to return Europe to play in Belgium, Spain, France, Germany and The Netherlands."


Too often are bands of yesteryear forgotten about or fall by the wayside, but in counteracting that there are times where bands are effectively pulled out of hibernation, such is the case for NWOBHM quartet Troyen who received the harking call to reform and drum out material to quench the thirst of their fans. Now armed with newfound rigour, the Cheshire natives are due to release a new album, hopefully play some UK and European shows next year to mark 40 years of the band and prove that it doesn't matter about your age, as long as your heart is in the music, endless things are possible as drummer Jeff Baddley told GMA during his interrogation.

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Troyen has humble beginnings in that you started back in the 1980's, but the band was untenable, so surely it must have been a godsend to reunite?

     "Unbeknown to us there was quite a cult Troyen fan base, especially in Scandinavia and the USA, and the guys who run the Brofest festivals in Newcastle had been approached by fans asking if they could get us back together to appear at Brofest#3 in February 2015. It was a bizarre feeling for me to get a message via Facebook messenger asking firstly if I was the Jeff Baddley who used to be in Troyen, and, if so, could I get the band back together again? Initially we reformed just for one gig but once it entered the public domain other gigs and festivals approached us so there was no going back. Following the response we decided to release an album consisting of our four original demo tracks and four new tracks."


Given you've seen the British Metal scene grow up as it were, what advice can you offer to the next wave of bands?


     "The only advice I can give is work hard. The music scene is a different animal now in this digital age and all the platforms available need to be embraced, back in the 80's the only way fans could get to see you was by playing live. In many ways you have to work smarter now to keep your profile in the public domain."


In some respect you're role models in that age doesn't mean a think when it comes to playing music, would you agree?

     "There is always a place for role models and having people to aspire to but ultimately there is no substitute for being your own person, after all we are all unique."


Given the current global pandemic grappling the world, do you feel that music has become ever more important and that a world without it, is a boring place?

     "Absolutely, music means many things to many people. We all turn to music when we are happy, sad or all the places in between. The global pandemic would be much harder to endure without music to immerse yourselves in."


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Walton Hall, Warrington / Source: Visit Cheshire
Outside of music what hobbies and interests do you have? How have you all been coping during the lockdown?

     "Music is our main focus and it’s been difficult during lockdown especially for me as I don’t have the space at home to set up my drum kit and unleash my frustrations. We have all spent time doing all the jobs we had been putting off around the house and some that didn’t. We’ve been in constant contact with each other as we are collaboratively writing new material for our new album., whilst also spending time keeping our social media pages updated."


What do your families think of your music, are any of them musicians also?

     "None of our family members are musicians although they are very supportive of what we do even though NWOBHM may not be their thing."           


What next for Troyen? Are you drafting up late-2020, early 2021 plans?

     "We have pretty much written off 2020 for live music, but we’ll have to see how that unfolds. We are writing a new album initially for release in November 2020 but that may be pushed back to early 2021 pandemic and social distancing allowing. 2021 is our 40th year anniversary we are booked for UK festivals and to return Europe to play in Belgium, Spain, France, Germany and The Netherlands."


Do you have any thanks or greetings you wish to send out to friends, family, fans etc?

     "We’d like to thank all our fans, friends and families for their continued support. Without you we’d be nothing. We will just continue to ride the wave and play for as long as people want to hear us after all you don’t stop playing music because you get old, you get old because you stop playing music.  Stay safe."

https://www.facebook.com/Troyen14
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Interview Interrogation: Joe Crudgington from Drownd (England)

29/4/2020

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"The best part is when the sun drops and it turns to night - down-town L.A. completely changes and so do the people haha... "


Swapping the back streets of London / Essex for the sun-soaked pavements of Los Angeles should be an easy task surely? Well for Joe Crudgington it's worked out alright, although for the time being he's back in London. Being the frontman of Industrial Rock / Metal outfit Drownd brings it's own challenges as he goes on to explain during our interview with him, but things on the other hand are sweet too - a label signing, an album release later this year and a full live show to come... Joe talks to us about this rollercoaster ride and why metal is close to his heart.

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Hi guys so firstly how does it feel signing to Armalyte Records?

     "Hi Rhys! Yeah man, it was a great thing to sign up to Armalyte at the start of last year. It's nice just for a bit of recognition that people are into your stuff and it's not just yourself grinding away thinking that you're writing good stuff. The guys that run it are great too - massive music fans that have been in the scene for ages so they know what they're talking about, plus their roster includes some pretty impressive artists (PIG, Cubanate, Chemlab, plus loads of others), so it's quite an honour to have my name, DROWND on there with them. They're just a really nice label to deal with and genuinely care about the quality and content of the finished product - the way to be as far as I'm concerned."


Given the nature of the band in terms of the line-up, you must be excited to finally showcase your music live at the end of the year?

     "Ah for sure - DROWND did it's debut show on the 10th December 2019 at The Black Heart in Camden with Riotmiloo supporting. It managed to pull a decent crowd for a first show, as really, no one had any idea what to expect - people had basically just put a load of faith in me and hope haha... It could in theory have been a total s**t show, but alas, as a debut, I think it went really well - sounded great thanks to all the hard work programming the live set, rehearsing it up and visually I think it came across pretty well. Definitely plenty of room for improvement, but a good first show to get under the DROWND belt. There will be big changes to visuals, stage attire and line up changes in the future too, so plenty of exciting stuff for the DROWND live shows if this pandemic bulls**t ever leaves us to crack on and pick up the pieces."


Given you're into Marilyn Manson, NIN and Gary Numan, etc were they artists/bands you grew up listening to, or was your music landscape totally different?

     "I've always been into heavy music since I was a kid - I mean I think I speak for a lot of people my age when I say that I was massively into the music that was on the soundtracks of games like Tony Hawks Pro Skater, Matt Hoffman's BMX, Dave Mirra's BMX etc... These tracks were like a gateway into Manson and NIN - I mean when I first listened to NIN and what Reznor was doing, it blew my f**king mind man - I'd never heard anything like it - the songwriting, the sound design, the production and engineering of the records, etc - just something else entirely.

     I still listen to these artists literally everyday, alongside a lot of soundtrack / score work (the American Beauty score has been being played heavily recently) and also since I found out about him a while back, I've been well into an artist called Ghostemane - I love his heavy, evolving, genre spanning music and he's got the images and visuals as well as a savage live show to back it all up. Skynd are another one - again, great sounding original, well produced music but with concepts, visuals and a live show to back it all up - the full package."



Last year you moved to California, what was the transition like from living in the grey streets of London to the sun-soaked boulevards of Los Angeles?

     "Whoa L.A. is a crazy ass place - that's for sure. It's worlds apart from other cities like London I think - people seem somewhat more inclined to help and collaborate out there. I mean I've been fortunate to meet some great and talented people in my time there and would consider to be good friends too. The weather out there helps massively, I mean, where I was, you'd get up in the morning, virtually guaranteed sunshine and crazy high temperatures, have a swim, have some breakfast and then crack on with writing music.

     The alternative music scene seems a lot bigger out there too with plenty of different gigs going on all over. It's quite an inspiring place to be too - I mean, I love down-town L.A. - a lot of people hate it, but it's so f**king weird and scary in certain areas that you can't help but be inspired. The best part is when the sun drops and it turns to night - down-town L.A. completely changes and so do the people haha... At the moment I'm back here in London which seems like an absolute world away from L.A. what with the current pandemic sticking its teeth in nicely, but fingers crossed this s**t will be over soon and I'll be back out there asap."


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Los Angeles, California / Source: Marriott Hotels
Do you feel that in recent years the Industrial - Goth blend has had a resurgence of sorts? Or has it been chugging along nicely?

     "Hmm I'm not really sure - I think it's always been there and always will to a degree. I think every now and then an artist or two will make it big from kinda within that scene, but as far as my experience goes, the goth / industrial stuff has always seemed pretty insular - just my opinion. That said, the fans and people involved in the goth scene are HUGE supporters which is great and they are genuinely interested and care about the music that you put out."


Joe, you undertook red carpet duties at both The Heavy Music Awards and Metal Hammer Golden God awards - talk us through your emotions that night.

     "Haha yeah that was great for sure - it was bizarre. I mean, we would be knocking about backstage and then Ozzy Osbourne would just casually walk past... It was also the first time I met Skynd too who were there and involved with the event which was great."


Given the state of the world as it is with COVID-19, do you feel it's more important than ever for musicians and fans to engage together in any way they can?

     "It's a weird time to be in at the moment, isn't it? So much uncertainty. That's what is doing me in, the fact that I can't plan anything - we've already had one DROWND show pulled thanks to COVID-19 which was supposed to be at the Lounge in Camden which will be rescheduled at some point. The other band I play in, Sulpher, has had loads of dates cancelled and re-arranged which sucks - we literally played 2 shows in Toronto JUST before everything got shut down - we only just managed to get flights back to London haha! If I'm honest, I'm highly doubtful we're gonna be doing any live shows for the rest of 2020, I mean, I've basically resigned myself to it all kicking off again in 2021, but fingers crossed I'm totally wrong and we can get back to live shows and some sort of normality. But in the midst of this lockdown I have been writing like nothing on earth and it's the best sounding stuff I've written to date in my opinion, plus I've got tonnes of ideas for videos, images etc which we are currently filming and putting together as part of a real special release. Watch this space.


What are your plans for the forthcoming year? Do you have any greetings you wish to send out to friends, fans, etc?

     "I think I kinda rattled on a bit with the last question and semi-answered this one. But yeah, my plans are basically finish what I'm working on (which I'm very excited about) and see what people think of it. Then I'd like to see where we stand with live shows and get some worthwhile gigs booked up. There's also some exciting Sulpher dates lined up too with a few festival slots and a couple O2 shows and maybe some small tours later in the year, but it's all a bit hush hush for now and just waiting to see where we stand with this current pandemic. Time will tell.

Thanks for your time mate, Joe."


https://www.facebook.com/drownd
https://www.instagram.com/drownd_music/
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Interview Interrogation: V.I.T.R.I.O.L.: from Anaal Nathrakh (England)

20/4/2020

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"In the end though, nepotism will always be the most effective tool. So be good friends with someone influential, butter up or pay the appropriate people to get into the frame for the big tours"


Arguably you can place Anaal Nathrakh in the same bracket as Australia's The Berzerker and Canada's sorely-missed Strapping Young Lad, for being pure fucking extreme metal. For a duo who have been serving up nihilistic and downright filthy albums since 1999, Anaal Nathrakh have shown no signs of slowing down and with the forged relationship between V.I.T.R.I.O.L.: and Irrumator, they are unbreakable; no matter how many pieces of equipment they go through by harnessing their beautifully dark minds in synchronicity.

Album no.11 will see daylight sometime this year but due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, there is no clear cut release date, but what is clear cut is that it's destined to leave you needing fresh underwear. It was then only fair for GMA to interrogate V.I.T.R.I.O.L. about the unmovable partnership the band has, what he has been doing since the UK went into lockdown and how music distribution has changed in context with what challenges the band faced years ago to what newer bands could face these days... oh and having a question about the new wave of British Extreme Metal being answered in a unique way; the interviewee asking the interview; much love Dave :).

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Album #11 is coming out this year, is there a definitive title yet or are some ideas being bounced around; what stage is the album at?


     "Hello. Yes, everything is completely finished, we handed the whole album over to Metal Blade Records a while back. But then immediately after we’d done so, the COVID-19 pandemic kicked off.  So we’re in limbo to some extent now, and we don’t know what’s going to happen next. Presumably MB want to continue to release music, because people out there in the world in lockdown can still seek out and listen to new music – in fact music might be a particularly important thing for many people at the moment. I’ve been listening more myself, certainly. But at the same time, presumably the people at the label, the pressing plants, the distributors and so on are mostly working from home or furloughed. So yeah, the album is complete, but we’ve no idea what will happen with it next."


What can you tell us about the new album that has no relation to the previous album? e.g. themes, differences between this and "A New Kind of Horror"?

      "Well the last album had a lot to do with the First World War because of the time we were writing it, which obviously isn’t the case with this one. So in terms of subject matter it’s very different in many respects. There’s a lot in it, but I suppose you could say that a lot of it focuses on the position of the person or individual – basically, you or I, or a person we could very easily have been – in the world. That’s especially the case with the cover art, too, which is particularly striking this time. I’ve been thinking a lot more about art over the last year or so, and in working with Mick [Kenney] on the artwork for this album, we’ve really outdone ourselves. 

     But art aside, in general, I think we humans are increasingly subject to manipulation, for example even to the extent that the Government’s responses to the coronavirus crisis here in the UK were initially dictated not by experts on viruses, but by behavioural scientists. And it’s turned out that in many respects, even though the album was written before the virus came along, it’s just as applicable in the new updated global context. Musically it’s more direct, I think. For the kind of music it is, I think it’s probably more accessible – obviously I don’t mean it’s pop music, and something filled with blast beats and screaming can only be accessible in a relative sense. But even by our standards as a band you can latch on to despite the viciousness of the music, I think it’s even more immediate than before. But we won’t know whether that’s borne out in other people’s experiences until the things is finally fucking released!"



As a band you've been going 21 years now, (how time flies) would you agree the British Extreme Metal is experiencing a new wave of bands?

     "Haha, I’m not sure how the two halves of that question go together! When you’ve been doing something for ages, it usually means you have less of an idea what’s going on with people who have just started doing it, not more! I think perhaps your question would be better answered by a journalist like you rather than by me."
[Rhys: Touche Dave, got me there; the UK Extreme Metal scene is amidst a new wave for sure]


As the UK is in lock down, what have you been doing at home both musically and in other hobbies?

      "It’s a weird mixture of intentions and inertia. I think a lot of people have found themselves expecting and fully intending to get on with all the little projects they’d not got around to, but then in reality sitting in their pants eating shit in front of the TV. My mental escape has always been games, so I’ve been playing quite a lot. I’ve also been thinking about some philosophical stuff – I recently finished a really big piece of work, and it’s possible that I could polish some parts of it and seek to publish them, so I’ve been thinking about some problems that I’d have to solve to get them to publishable quality. 

     It won’t make sense to many people, but if you’re into that sort of thing, basically it’s about the roles of cognitive vs. conative elements of a hybrid metaethical position. But mostly I’ve been sitting on my arse and festering into an ever greater loathing of my fellow humans and the twats on the telly and the radio who act like they know what they’re doing, but who are actually incompetent, self-serving, arse-covering fuckwits. Just like everyone else."


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Birmingham skyline, England / Source: MeetBirmingham

Arguably you're one of the strongest metal duo's to be still active and so what is it that makes you both tick along nicely?

     "Tick along nicely? This is Anaal Nathrakh, not a long-running car boot sale or someone’s happily married grandparents. We do what we do together because when we get together and work on this stuff, the results excite us. We specifically don’t have a trick or formula that makes things smooth and easy. That would be boring, and alienate us from any creative satisfaction. There’s never any thought of ‘ok, back to the old job, and this time around…’, because every new thing we do is ad hoc and vital and expressive, not mechanistic. We have a significantly optimised approach to recording, for example, because we know what we’re doing, but despite that we haven’t recorded in the same place twice in a row in nearly a decade, we usually use different equipment, and the cares and concerns we have at any given time are fresh and immediate. 

     A band like Bolt Thrower could perhaps approach an album and say to themselves ‘OK, how do we talk in a slightly different way about war this time?’. And it worked brilliantly for them. But that’s just not how our minds work. Yes, when we work together on Anaal Nathrakh there’s a similarity or continuity with our previous stuff, because it’s us and it’s Anaal Nathrakh. But beyond that there’s no trick or method – we do what we do because we know who we are, we know we get on well, and we know if we focus and work as hard as we possibly can, we will think the results are fucking brilliant.  Even if nobody else did, haha!"



What (in your opinion) are the biggest challenges facing the new crop of metal bands coming up the ranks in the UK?

     "I have little idea, to be honest – you’d have to ask someone who’s in that position. If anything I’m sick of the solipsism that makes people feel entitled to comment on the predicaments of others without actually understanding the peculiar difficulties of others’ situations. It’s like an MP saying they could live on universal credit when they haven’t got a fucking clue about life outside their privilege.  Having said that, one of the big things must be how to adapt to the fact that the world has moved on in terms of distribution and performance channels. Nowadays a lot of music culture revolves around Instagram and so on in a way I find distasteful, but which is simply the norm to most people. That’s an issue for all bands, but it must be especially acute for those trying to build some initial recognition and rise among the plethora of others on Bandcamp or wherever. 

     It still applies if you have significant recognition among potential fans, of course, but if hardly anyone has ever heard your band name yet, it’s got to be harder. We had early success on mp3.com back in the day – it was more like an early YouTube kind of thing back then, not the corporate pop shit thing is it now – but nowadays you have to navigate a much more complex network of genre tagging, big-data-style keyword heuristics, game search results, all that kind of shit. In the end though, nepotism will always be the most effective tool. So be good friends with someone influential, butter up or pay the appropriate people to get into the frame for the big tours, and in the UK, be from London. Then you’ll soon be doing better than us and be more able to answer that question than we are."



What plans for the year ahead do you have (COVID-19 depending); did you have before this pandemic?

      "Well, it’s basically impossible to answer that question. As it happens, we were planning on keeping a somewhat lower profile in terms of shows, just playing key events. But now we don’t even know when the album is likely to come out, everything’s cancelled, and no one can book shows and tours at all. For example, just as the virus blew up in the West, we were in talks about a really big festival show in South America, possibly along with some tour dates on that side of the world. But that’s completely out the window now. Depending on how the prognosis for society develops, perhaps we’ll have to think of something innovative and unconventional to do. But for the time being, it’s a waiting game to see what will happen."


Do you have any greetings or thanks you wish to send out? Any final words?

"Thanks. Remain indoors."

https://www.facebook.com/Anaalnathrakhofficial
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England's Winter Storm discuss film soundtracks that could have featured metal music

5/10/2019

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In a series of posts, GMA will be speaking to bands worldwide about film soundtracks they feel that could have been written using metal music. Up first is Gothic Metallers Winter Storm who hail from the West Midlands, England.

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1. Silence of the Lambs - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6Mm8Sbe__o

     "I don't think this soundtrack gets the credit it deserves. It's some of Howard Shore's best work by far; it's not all about Lord Of The Rings. I would love to have his insight when putting together a piece of music to set the tone for a scene / movie."
 

2. A Clockwork Orange - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vN-1Mup0UI0

     "I adore this soundtrack and the approach Walter (now Wendy) Carlos brought to it. I'm a huge fan of neo-classical music, so to have a soundtrack that so heavily relies on reworked Purcell and Beethoven pieces is fine by me! To bookend a film of that nature with Queen Mary's funeral march and then Singing in the Rain is a touch of genius."
 

3. The Lion King - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hY7xBISLBIA

     "I'll be 34 in February, but listening to this soundtrack takes me back to being a fascinated 8-year old kid watching the film at a local cinema for the first time. It is, in my opinion, quite possibly the best soundtrack ever written."
 

4. The Never-ending Story - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UeFni9dOv7c

     "Who doesn't love a classic cheesy, 80s film? This is another film that fascinated me when I was a kid and that was largely down to the soundtrack. It's the first time I remembered paying specific attention to character themes/leitmotifs, and how certain instruments used in certain ways can evoke particular emotions: the joy of riding Valkor, the sadness of losing Artax, the fear being stalked by Gmork..."
 

5. Saturday Night Fever - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyJDYTG5leQ


     "The Bee Gees are literally some of the best songwriters of all time. Sadly, they're mostly lost on my generation, but some of the material they wrote - especially before their disco phase - is incredible. It's not surprising to me that they went on to write, what was then, the most successful soundtrack of all time."


Winter Storm have also released the first single 'Astral World' today, here is a link to the video.

https://youtu.be/Jc0PIm4VAA4

One of the UK's finest melodic metal bands, Winter Storm, are back after a short break with their third full length album. Their latest offering, 'Relapse in Time', follows on from the story that began with their second album, a concept album, 'Within The Frozen Design'. The story begins with the protagonist believing he is designing his own universe, but, as events unfold, it turns out it was all a coincidence and he spirals into madness. The story continues in "Relapse in Time', where the protagonist awakens with no idea of where he is, in a strange land of deserted plains, and a Mars-like terrain.

After forming in 2008 Winter Storm have moulded and changed their sound to make their own unique form of Melodic Metal, which is displayed in the new album. They wished to fuse metal (including 7 string guitars) with melodic keyboards and vocals. Winter Storm have been seen supporting the likes of Delain and Leaves' Eyes as well as performing at Bloodstock Open Air, Hammerfest, HRH Metal and Wizzfest Belgium.

Quote from Hannah, the vocalist of Winter Storm:

     “I am very pleased to announce Winter Storm will be bringing out our long anticipated third album Relapse In Time on the 11th October. First of all I would like to thank all of our friends and fans for waiting so long to hear this album. With this record we are planning to bring a new sound forward; fusing our melodic metal sound with a symphonic and more technical edge.”

‘Relapse In Time’ will be released at The Slade Rooms in Wolverhampton on Friday 11th October and will be available on all digital platforms.

Winter Storm on the run up to the release of ‘Relapse In Time’ will be releasing a teaser trailer every Friday until the release date, you can check out the first teaser here: https://youtu.be/XbM4f3iGhSM

https://www.facebook.com/winterstormuk
Twitter: @winterstormuk1

https://www.facebook.com/fatangelpr/
Twitter: @fatangel_family
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Interview Interrogation: Obzidian (England)

27/12/2018

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Obzidian are a Progressive Death / Thrash outfit situated in Staffordshire and ultimately slammed Bloodstrock with their infectious music, they spoke to GMA about the struggles in their local scene, their music backgrounds and why being social media savvy pays off.

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Who came up with the band name Obzidian and what does it mean?

     "I was doing A-level geography in college and basically it's a volcanic glassy rock that forms so quickly that it's like a sheet of glass but is black, so it's like a sort of reflective black glass so we thought that's a pretty metal thing, so we'll name out band after it, we just changed the 's' to a 'z' because there is already another band with that name using an 's'."


What was the emotions like in the Obzidian camp when being confirmed to play Bloodstock? Was there any hush-hush?

     "Excitement and a little bit of terror because I was at work at the time, obviously our manager Dan just put messages on our group thread saying 'call me, call me', I'm like what's going on? I'm at work. I called him in the toilet and he was like 'mate we're playing Bloodstock', so I kind of had a little dance to myself in the toilet at work. We've been wanting this for ages and it finally happened, it's all a bit of a blur to be honest.

     Yeah my dad was our sound-man for a very long time so he's fully engrained into our band, helped us and bought all of the gear we've got at the moment, drove us round the country week-in week-out. My mum's always supportive, she's not a musician herself but has grown up with my dad being a musician and obviously supported music and stuff - they've all supported us 100% and when I told them they were absolutely made up. They've back us through everything.

     I'm from a big music background, my father toured the US in the 70's with his band, my brother is a semi-professional drummer, so they're really proud because I found my own way as I don't have the musical attributes they had, I don't have the musical talent they had."



How did you all get into Metal Music?

     "I started off with more classic rock stuff like AC/DC when I was around 12, started playing guitar because of them and then just got heavier and heavier, started listening to Megadeth, Metallica and Pantera, then onto Meshuggah.

     All of our parents have grown up with rock, classic rock, that kind of thing. My dad was a big Deep Purple and Motorhead fan, then Judas Priest, he got me into all of that and then by growing up with that, I was about 8 or 9 when I listened to the 'Black Album' and then that took me onto a different path and then I found Megadeth, then onto Metallica, then onto Sepultura, it all got heavier from there really.

     Same with me the whole classic rock background with my dad, I think it was my brother really who started to dip his fingers into the heavier side of things, to be fair I think Sepultura was the first heavy band I listened to. It was an honour to play with them, so that's one thing ticked off the bucket list a few years back.



Was there any challenges that Obzidian had to overcome in the years past?

     "I don't know if there's been any real challenges as such like some bands go through, money is always a challenge, trying to find how to travel, buying gear and merch, making sure we put our finances in the right areas, make some back and make a profit, being able to carry on doing it. It's always a bit of a risk when you want to carry on doing that kind of thing, when you have all those upfront costs. Apart from that not really, the only change we ever made to our line-up was in 2005 when Matty Jenks came in on vocals and we parted ways with our old vocalist / guitarist; more like a James Hetfield kind of character, we wanted to go heavier and he didn't, we kind of changed up a little bit.

     For the past 13-14 years it's been this line-up and we really haven't faced anything apart from time and money. If someone has a problem they put it out there, when we need to argue we argue and when we need to complement each other we do. There's no stones or turbulence.

     We've known each other for so long, me (Paul Hayward), Baz Foster and Matt Jeffs grew up together and went through high school, we've known each other since the age of 11 and it just formed a solid friendship that you can base music on. "

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Stafford Castle / Source; Visit Stafford

Could you tell us about what the Staffordshire Metal scene is like?

     "Stafford is a semi-rural town, but it's starting to get better, there's not a lot of bands there, not a lot of live music there. There's a venue called The Red Rum where a guy called Nick is really trying to bring Hed P.E. and bigger bands in to the area to try and encourage people to come out and listen to more live music and we can't thank him enough for that as he's put us on 3-4 times already in various venues

     I'm from the Staffordshire side of Wolverhampton, right by Birmingham which is the home of heavy metal as everyone says but for so many years there was just nothing there... but the way the underground scene has been rising in the past 2-3 years in Birmingham, it's beginning to feel like a real place again metal-wise. We did a lot of stuff up in Manchester for a while.

     There's been times where we've had to drive hours and hours away from home to find a decent show, but now it's all coming back to the Midlands which is a really good thing. There's a lot of good promoters out there just sticking at it and getting the right bands on the shows.

     FatAngel who we're with now, the label and promotions who are based in Coventry have really done wonders for the Midlands scene e.g. Mosh Against Cancer Festival, they've just been wonderful for us. Dan Carter who is our manager (also the bassist in Left For Red), he's the man who looks after us now and just waggled his hand just like 'oh you guys' (all laugh).


    
When growing up when did you realize you wanted to become a musician, what was your first instrument?

     "I don't remember the exact point but I used to play guitar originally and used to jam with my dad who also is a guitarist and vocalist from back in the 70's. After about 4-5 years of that, getting my own gear and being in a couple of bands as a guitarist, my cousin who is a drummer let me have a go on his kit and the rest is just history, so I've been on drums ever since. My cousin probably influenced me the most on drums, but for guitar it was probably my dad and I think I was probably 7/8 when I properly started playing guitar and then changed to drums when I was around 12/13 and now I'm 34. For the last 10-15 I went into music production learning how to record etc.

    AC/DC, from my dad's old vinyl collection, once I pulled out 'Power Age' it was f*****g awesome, stuck that on and went out to buy some AC/DC albums and that was it, I wanted to be like Angus Young.

     I've played drums, I've played guitar, but I was s**t so I went to vocals and started screaming (all laugh).

    

Summarise Bloodstock in two words, what would you say?

     "Bloody raining / awesome metal / absolutely incredible / metal family"


Have you had any fans from abroad contact you via social media?

     "Yeah we've had a few guys from Norway, Sweden, those kinds of places, firstly they message us and then buy the album. They say they really love it and will play it to all of their friends. We've had radio play in Canada and the USA, so yeah we've had a lot of international contact - we just need to turn that into shows now and see what happens."


Are there any greetings or thank you's that you wish to send out?

     "Hello to anyone whose bought stuff or who will buy stuff, check us out on obzidian.co.uk and on Facebook. A big shout out to those who visited the New Blood Stage at 10:30, cheers to the crew, everyone who knows us and has checked us out."

https://www.facebook.com/ObzidianBand
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Interview Interrogation: Shayan from Trivax (England)

27/12/2018

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Although Trivax originated in Iran, the frontman Shayan S. moved to the UK in 2010 to pursue becoming a metal musician. The rest of the band members are from Birmingham with the exception of bassist 'S' who originates from Syria. So where East meets West and liberalist and conservative cultures clash, Trivax stands strong as a force of nature. Shayan spoke to GMA about growing up as an Iranian metalhead, challenges faced and what it's like being immersed in the British Metal scene.

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"If you're religiously or politically against what the Government (Iranian) do or believes in then you can almost be executed"


Trivax didn't form in the UK, so could you tell us it's origins? What is the Iranian scene like?

     "Eh no I originally formed the band on my own in Iran in 2009. I can't really say there's much of a scene because it's illegal over there to be doing this kind of thing. There are obviously some musicians who are trying to be active but obviously the quality of what comes out isn't quite as good because people don't really get to exercise the rights for music. So obviously because there's rarely any gigs or anything like that. As bands, they don't really have a great deal to offer but of course there's a lot of good musicians who have come out of there. From The Vastland is an Iranian Black Metal band formed by a friend of mine called Sina who is now based in Norway, and they're doing quite well at the moment.

     The name Trivax translates to 'storm'
, it's a transcription of a war, of a name that's in Farsi and yes it came about nine years ago as I mentioned in April 2009. I just decided that this was what I needed to be doing, I didn't really have the circumstances to be doing it at the time, it's just the hunger to create and play extreme music and to light up the fire that's in you."


So would most Iranian metalheads leave the country to pursue metal music careers, etc?

     "I wouldn't say most, no, they would like to but I don't think anyone can do it"


What can happen if someone in Iran was found to be supporting metal music?

     "Well it can usually just start off with getting arrested by the culture police which means they'll cut your hair, eventually they'll let you go on bail, or if you're playing live music without permission from the Government, then that can go very badly... they can break your instruments and things, finally if you're religiously or politically against what the Government do or believes in then you can almost be executed."


What do your parents think of you playing metal music?

     "I think they might have been slightly sceptical at first, but I have to say that they have been greatly, greatly supportive - it might not be something that they'd listen to themselves, but they really enjoy it, they support that it is something I believe in because they see that it's not just a hobby or just something for me to try to and impress my friends with. This is my life. They're open-minded about it."

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The Bull, Birmingham / Source: Birmingham Mail

Did you face any challenges when you wanted to learn to play metal music?


     "None really, it'd a different environment to what it is like here, I was that desperate to actually play and I learned that whatever difficulties that were in the way, I would push through them."


How does it feel to be at Bloodstock?

     "Feels pretty amazing, yeah so far everyone has been kind to us and we're very much looking forward to the show."


Do you get nervous when going on stage?

     "erm... I don't, I... it's a very strange state of mind, I'm not sure if I can really talk about it and have it make any sense, all I can say is that it gets very intense and excitement."


Do you feel metal music in general and not just Bloodstock, brings the world together irrespective of socio-cultural and political differences?

     "Absolutely, that's why we are here, we share this metal music together with people I've never met before, but we're all brothers and sisters in metal."


Are there any greetings or thank you's that you wish to send out?

     "Many thanks to those who have supported us over the years and devoted the time to come, we're only really getting started with Trivax and we're going to do our best to get out there as much as possible, and conquer each one of you".

https://www.facebook.com/trivaxband
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Interview Interrogation: Aonia (England)

27/12/2018

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Having previously been located around the Worksop / Birmingham area, Symphonic Metallers Aonia are now more or less based in Sheffield. The 'Experimental Symphonic' crew won their Metal 2 The Masses regional heats and laid waste on the fields of Derbyshire. Aonia spoke to GMA about their rise, playing Bloodstock and how sexism is STILL an issue to-date.

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(on sexism) "big balls is what makes us... we have balls we wear them on our chest that are held in by our corsets."


How did Aonia form and what does the band name mean?

     "A long time ago in a galaxy far away, James's band and my band split up, so his remnants and my remnants got together and made Aonia. There were a whole load of line-up changes and in 2016 we finally stabilized with the addition of drummer David Byrne and bassist Matt Black, but the biggest change happened in 2013 with the addition of Joanne Kay Robinson on vocalist, because it brought us into a whole sort of new genre and with Tim Hall coming on Keyboards as well gave the music a much wider dimension.

     As for the name of the band it refers to the place near Helicon mountain where the muses dwell. Which is pretentious but kind of sweet, like us.

     When we were trying to find interesting words in the dictionary, we didn't get past 'A', we just gave up and went 'Aaaa.... Aonia' that'll do. To be honest I'm surprised we got to 'ao', we could have been called 'Abyssinia'."



Is it easy or difficult to create music, especially when there are effectively seven different elements to contend with?

     "You have no idea (all laugh), it's just time consuming more than anything else, but the nice part about having seven elements to a band, and we don't have one songwriter, someone will come up with an idea but it's the whole band that puts it together. Which means we have an original sound, we have a sound that really we don't get compared to, but there's no one element that really separates us and makes the other bands sound the same as us, we have an original sound because of that and it works. It takes time, there's a lot of arguing (all laugh).

I think it's a really creative conversation we have over a couple of chords or lines, eventually over seven minutes... forty minutes arguing over a chord. When I say seven, we don't actually listen to him (Przemek).


I suppose that makes it more interesting, considering how overloaded and over-saturated the Symphonic Metal genre has become?

     "Well that's why we say we're not symphonic, we're symphonic to a certain extent and the keyboards are an important element in the band, but we have a very progressive rock basis to the band as well - do you know some of our sound links more to Iron Maiden than it does to Dream Theater, than Dream Theater to Nightwish; we have Dream Theater elements in it as well, we have a lot of elements in it, we have good musicians in the band and we like to show that as well, we have two fantastic female-fronted vocalists, we try and get all of the elements into the songs".


Speaking of having two female-fronted vocalists in Joanne and Melissa, do you feel sexism in metal still exists or has it lessened over the years?

     "Well it's about 3-4 years ago, we were playing a local pub and somebody tried to pull my corset down whilst I was on stage, I would say sexism is still very rampant. I've seen comments like 'oh female-fronted metal is pop with heavier guitars', I've heard people say 'oh I won't go see a band if they're female fronted', 'I won't go to see a band if there's a girl in' and then you do also get sexism the other way round. I've got a friend called Kris who's a bassist in FireSky and her band is excluded from a lot of female-fronted stuff ,because she only does backing vocals and that's wrong as well, so Joanne do you want to wade in with your experiences?

     Yeah I mean we get a lot of 'pull your corset down', I've not had as severe as that but I would like to say we've probably got bigger balls than most of the boys in the band so yeah (all laugh), big balls is what makes us... (just say testicles - you do have something bigger than us but it's not balls), we have balls we wear them on our chest that are held in by our corsets.

     In which case, they are a lot bigger! We've had a lot people say 'you're not really my type of thing' but after the gig have said 'f*****g hell, that was absolutely amazing I didn't think I was going to like you', when they say it's female then Operatic Metal comes to the fore and judgements are made, but as soon as they've seen us live then their opinions have changed.

     Can I just say when she says 'f**k she's spelt it 'phuq'... apologies for my language, another problem with the sexism is that people don't think about what they're listening to, they're just watching or looking at a picture - seeing the picture and seeing as girl in it makes them think they won't want to go see that band, this is stupid because we're not actors playing in movies, we're musicians playing music; listen to the band first and then see what they look like, what they sound like is more important than what they look like."


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The Diamond Engineering Building, University of Sheffield / Source: New Steel Construction

It's cliche but don't judge a book by it's cover; what are your thoughts on the term female-fronted metal?

     "Absolutely! Although we have a good cover (all laugh).  Female-fronted is not a genre, it's a gender. It's a description, the band is female-fronted, they don't say the band is male-fronted. I think a lot people use it as an excuse for a deterrent, like I say it's a label... wow.... you said that? I did. Got 'an excuse for a deterrent', yeah it's good I like that. Well it is. Like you say a lot people in metal are very male-orientated and soon as they hear the word 'female', they kind of switch off... I've been guilty of that myself but through experience, through being in a band it's opened my mind to a lot of new things. Hopefully we can change other people's perceptions too."


Surely playing Bloodstock is the biggest thing to happen to the band?

     "So far absolutely, we know we're good enough to get to this stage because we believe in ourselves, but it's still an unbelievable experience - when they call our name out it was still that kind of speechless feeling... I wouldn't believe it until we had done it. I've been in the music business since I was about 15, so that's what 10 years? I've been playing for 35 years and it's by the far the biggest and best gig I've ever done and that's before I've played."


Are there any greetings / thank you's that you wish to send out to people?

     "All the fans that have been loyally to us, all the new fans... they're our Aonia family. Mary Berry, my inspiration. Thanks for all the baking! Simon Hall, Simon Cliffe and Rob Bannister from Bloodstock. Our amazing PR lady called Angel."

http://www.facebook.com/aoniauk
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Interview Interrogation: Count Marcel La Vey from The Heretic Order (England)

29/11/2018

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The Heretic Order are a horror-inspired Heavy Metal band dwelling in the mass graveyards of London, this year they performed at the revered and internationally-attended Metal festival, Bloodstock Open Air. They also released their second album this year, 'Evil Rising', guitarist Count Marcel La Vey stopped all cremation proceedings for the day and spoke to GMA about the band's haunting history, ghoulish gear and paranormal performances... OK enough with the horror-style puns.

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"In the UK there's plenty of bands that are amazing, they just don't get the chances that they should"


What does the band name The Heretic Order mean? Tell us the band's history.

     "Well it's the order... (you've put me on the spot there aha), it's basically the order where the four of us connect, we're the heretics.

     We've been around for about four years, the kind of music we do has a kinda classic metal feel to it but it's modernised, it's got an old-school feel to it but we keep it modern. We like the occult, history and so all the lyrics are about that kind of stuff, it's all dark subject-orientated.

     Funny enough our influences include the headliners tonight (Judas Priest) as well as Mercyful Fate, King Diamond, etc, so it's dual guitars playing off each other, we get heavy and doomy but we also have our small songs as well, there's a lot of variation in the music."



How was it to play at Bloodstock this year, what are the emotions in the camp like?

     "We're excited to play, it's not for a few hours yet and have only just got here, settling in and are looking forward to the show" (any nerves?) "Not yet, simply because of the rush we had to get here, just getting over that; it was a nightmare to get here... so hopefully the rain doesn't spoil the rest of the day for us."


Who is the go-to band member if anyone has any issues or problems?

     "We're all pretty good with each other to be honest, we don't really have the one person to go to you know what I mean? We all have the same feelings towards each other and are comfortable with one another, so there's no one particular person."


With the vast amount of international bands playing at Bloodstock, are you surprised at metal's global spread?

     "Nah, not surprised at all as music comes from all over the place and like any market it's usually dominated by one or two countries, one of them being America but you go anywhere in Europe; even in the UK there's plenty of bands that are amazing, they just don't get the chances that they should. Metal is all over the world, you just got to have the people to put it out there for everyone else or if you're very keen you can go find them yourself - there's plenty of bands I want to see that can't make it to the UK, so whenever we travel to their countries we try and see them, and they do the same (for us)."


What (if any) challenges does the London Metal scene face right now?

     "London has a lot of bands who want to play and get noticed, so there's a lot of competition in London, the trends are the same for us as probably across the country - you see it often in every festival (rock or metal), that every year the styles of metal are different. A few years back Megadeth played and now this year we have Judas Priest, it changes... but yeah London is quite tough, it's always the way it has been down there."


Do you feel Brexit will have an impact (good or bad) on British Metal bands?

     "It's going to make travelling across Europe a lot harder, we're just going to have to play it by ear and see how it all ends up, it's not going to be easy getting to Europe or to come in to the UK. We're not looking forward to it, but we'll find a way; it's the way it always goes, you want to go do something or get something done, you want to play or get your music heard, you have to find a way to do it and it's always been like that".

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City of London Cemetery and Crematorium, London

You supported Soulfly, what was it like playing alongside the legend that is Max Cavelera?

     "The guy's a legend, what can you say? He's got his family travelling with him, playing with him, the guy just has to open his mouth and the crowd reacts to anything he says. So it was great, we said a quick hello and all of that, great guys in a great band - it was a great night to play but also to watch the band."


Do you feel Social Media is still as relevant for bands, or is it overused?

     "Unfortunately it still has to be there, I say unfortunately because I'm not great on it but it's got to be done, it's part of the business so you have to do what other bands are doing, and get noticed doing it in a different way. Social Media is here to stay for a while longer.

     There's bands who of course will use it differently, different people equals different tastes, but for myself I think there are bands who do too much of it - I might like certain bands but I find myself just swiping through their stuff because I know they're going to have something else up in the next couple of hours again, or whatever, you can always go back and look.

      But it can also turn people off, so you got to be careful and play it right and hope you're doing it right."



After Bloodstock what plans do you have for the rest of the year leading into 2019?

     "We have a tour that we're trying to line-up, we got a few dates sorted out so we're trying to finish that for September / October. We're organizing a European tour for the beginning of next year and working on new songs. We've just released our second album "Evil Rising" back in June, but we're already working on our next album so whenever we get the chance, we're basically working on new music and tour dates."


Summarise Bloodstock in two words, and explain why. Any greetings you wish to send out?

     "'Real festival' - why I say real is because I like going to metal festivals and this one is the only one I really do feel is a metal festival; other festivals I have been to, they have some metal bands... I don't know maybe it's just my taste is changing - the atmosphere here is a different thing and whoever I speak to who has been to Bloodstock has said the same thing; Bloodstock is unique and hopefully they keep it that way.

     Just to the usual people they know who they are, I won't mention any names but I just want to thank the people in advance who will come to see us - make some noise for us when we see you tonight."

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