MERCILESS TERROR INTERVIEW

MERCILESS TERROR
DEATH / THRASH METAL
NOTTINGHAM

I spoke to Dale Linsdell (vocalist) and Dan Oldcorn (bassist) of the Death / Thrash Metal quartet Merciless Terror from Nottingham to see what the mob are deviously planning,having just released their latest EP the Notts County lot have had this to say:

1. When, where and how did Merciless Terror form?

Dale:

Original Drummer Dan Mulligan, Guitarist David Siddons, Original Bassist Aiden Hornbuckle and I formed as a “Melodic Death Metal” band called ‘Autonomy’ back in May 2009. We had a practice or two then realized it really wasn’t working so we decided to play a style of music we all liked, something that had energy and raw passion… Death metal! We then wrote our first song ‘Exiled To Suffer’ in April 2009 and decided to call ourselves MERCILESS TERROR!

2. What does the band name mean to you and who came up with it?

Dale:

Merciless Terror means to me the style of music we play, i.e. merciless and pure terror! David was actually the one who came up with the name while him and me were in the kitchen trying to decide on what to call ourselves. The other potential name was ‘Fear The Aftermath’… glad we didn’t pick that one!

3. What inspired you to play Death / Thrash metal to the tone of post-apocalyptic lyrical themes?

Dale:

The Post-apocalyptic vision of dystopia has always somewhat been some sort of fascination with me.

Dan:

It may be clichéd to write about this subject *laughs* but it can definitely conjure up more imagery for actually writing lyrics as well as the music itself. Plus I think Dale and I have both dabbled in the Satanic themed bands before…but there’s only so much Satan bashing you can do before it gets old *laughs*

4. Who is the biggest band you have gigged alongside and has the band played any major festivals?

Dale:

I’d say the biggest band we have shared the stage with is death metal legends BOLT THROWER. We also had the honor of having a few beers with them in their tour bus; they were down to earth and gave us a hell of a lot of helpful advice. We have not played any major festivals as of yet, but who knows what the future will hold…

Dan:

For me personally I’d say Malevolent Creation, just because I wasn’t in the band for the Bolt Thrower gig!

5. You released your debut EP this year, how long did that take to record and was there any problems?

Dale:

The E.P only took 2 weekends to record. There was some minor problems which I wont go into, all I can say is we are glad it is done with and look forward to getting our debut album out! Which we will be writing later this year.

Dan:

We went in, I think around the beginning of September and recorded the CD as Dale said in 2 weekends. We laid the drums down in one weekend and everything else on the second weekend. Baz mixed the CD at Doghouse Studios before sending the E.P over to James Murphy (ex-Obituary, ex-Death, ex-Testament) where it was then mastered. As for problems, I won’t go into detail but we did hit a lot of snags along the way.

6. Explain how you managed to get signed to local Nottingham record label Bad News records?

Dale:

Bad News Records owner Baz Barrett approached us after hearing us during a band rehearsal at his studio in Nottingham, ‘The Doghouse’.

Dan:

Yer, I think we were a little skeptical at first, but after a lengthy band discussion we decided to accept Baz’s offer, which has definitely been one of our better decisions!

7. Does Merciless Terror have any immediate plans for a debut album and/or UK/European tour?

Dale:

We are currently in the process of writing our Debut album, which we will be aiming to release it next year! There is a possibility of a tour later in the year with an old-school death metal band, which I can’t name at this moment in time. However a tour of Finland is also confirmed for December with Bob Malmstrom, which we are extremely looking forward to. As for a UK tour, we are always somewhere in the UK at some point so if you can class that as some sort of long-term tour then yeah…

Dan:

As Dale has mentioned we’ve started to gather some ideas down for the debut album. We’ve only had a short while to start preparing for the writing, as we’ve had a pretty busy year thus far with gigging and touring and obviously finally releasing the E.P. We also just finished a short UK tour promoting the E.P where we also crossed to mainland Europe to play a few shows over in Belgium! However we’ve always got gigs around the UK, we’re definitely not a quiet band in that respect *laughs*

8. For prospective musicians going into bands, what advice would you give them?

Dale:

Play what you love, and give it your 110% every show you play!

Dan:

Practice, Practice, Practice *laughs* definitely sticking to your guns would be a huge piece of advice! Don’t follow the trends so you can get laid haha. Play something you’re passionate about and stick at it…don’t give in after the first hurdle you come up against! The last thing I can think of is…work hard! Don’t expect things to fall onto your lap! Get out there and get it done for yourself!

9. Finally what is your opinion on fans downloading music for free when they cannot access metal cds in their country i.e. Iran.

Dale:

I’m not really bothered. Not many people buy CD’s these days anyway, even in our country! Bands make pittance on CD sales these days. I personally think if it gains the band exposure then why the hell not? Also I think those countries have strict rules on freedom of speech etc so I think its great for those people to be wanting to listen to something different. Those people deserve to have it for free!

Dan:

Agreed! I used to be bothered about the issue of illegal downloading, but times change and you accept things as they are. I think we’re all up for downloading music to a certain extent and we’d like to think people would then go out and buy a physical copy *laughs* However if people can’t physically buy a copy of our CD I have no problem for them to download it…I don’t think I’d lose any sleep over it!

Seems like the Merciless Terror boys got it all going for them, what will they dish up next, hopefully a brain-blaster debut album, watch this space.

RHYS STEVENSON