Battalions Interview

1.For those that have never heard of you before, can you tell us a little bit about the band?

    Formed in 2010 in the city of Kingston upon Hull, UK. A bunch of friends wanting to make heavy, riff infused metal. A few lineup changes down the line and Battalions are stronger than ever, currently finishing up writing for our 2nd album due for release with Black Bow Records later in 2017.


2.How would you describe the musical sound that is presented on the recordings?

    Heavy sludge, with a nod towards blues, stoner & classic rock.


3.This is the first release since 2012, can you tell us a little bit more about what has been going on during that time frame?

    Since 2012's 'Warnings Have Being Issued', Battalions went through various lineup changes, finally settling on the solid 5 piece we have now. In this time, we wrote a brand new set and got used to playing and performing together. In 2015, we finally had a set of songs we wanted to take the band forward, and booked in with Skyhammer Studios in Cheshire to record the debut album 'Nothing to Lose'. Since self-releasing this in January 2016, Battalions have worked with renewed vigour to write a new album and are heading to Skyhammer Studios once more, to record the follow up slated for release through Black Bow Records later in 2017.


4.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the music?

    Phil's lyrics deal with many different themes, including the state of modern politics, despair at the human condition. Not everything is doom and gloom though, with more than a few songs portraying the tongue in cheek side of the band, showcasing how we still know how to have fun within a heavy band. Notably, songs about Warhammer 40k, drinking and having a good time.


5.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Battalions'?

    When we started the band, we wanted something conveying the big, heavy sound we were going for and someone came up with the thought 'what would a battalion of men marching towards you sound like?'. From there, the name stuck and we've used it ever since.


6.What are some of the best shows that the band has played over the years and also how would you describe your stage performance?

    Over the 7 years of being a band, we have had the honour of playing with some great bands from all over the world. Ones that stand out for us are supporting the likes of The Ocean, Sworn Enemy, Conan, Church of Misery. As well as playing a local festival to us every year since it's inception in Humber Street Sesh, which has consistently been one of the best gigs of the year for us every time we have been lucky enough to be asked back to play. As for stage performance, we just have fun doing what we do, usually big smiles to accompany the big riffs!


7.Do you have any touring or show plans for the future?

    We have just confirmed two tours for the coming months, along with recording the follow up to 'Nothing to Lose', we will be having a very busy year indeed.


8.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of sludge metal?

    The feedback we have received has been extremely positive, we've not had a bad review yet! Overall we have made new fans the world over when we first released 'Nothing to Lose' last year, with even Mr Blasko (Cryptic Slaughter, Ozzy Osbourne,Rob Zombie, Zakk Sabbath) finding out about the album and giving us a mention when he featured on Jamie Jasta's (Hatebreed) podcast.


9.What is going on with some of the other bands or musical projects these days that some of the band members are a part of?

    Current other projects we're involved in are:

    Pete - Face Towards Enemy https://facetowardsenemy .bandcamp.com/

    Mark - Mavet https://mavet.bandcamp.com/

    Dennett - Mastiff https://mastiffhchc.ba ndcamp.com/

    Phil - Sex Injuries https://soundcloud.co m/sex-injuries


10.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?

    Pushing ourselves to create better songs whilst still keeping the ethos of the band in tact. There are more than a few surprises in the songs on the new album, which without giving too much away, show a desire to expand the influence of styles within the band.


11.What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?

    Originally, the big influences were Iron Monkey, St Vitus, Church of Misery, Clutch, Scissorfight, Black Sabbath. Over the years more influences have crept in, with nods to Red Fang, Thin Lizzy, Eyehategod. Outside of this, we all have varied musical tastes, with genres from classic rock, EDM, hip-hop, black metal, thrash metal, punk, hardcore, jazz and blues all in our respective playlists.


12.What are some of your non musical interests?

    We're all very involved in music, so outside of that, it's the usual interests in movies, reading, hitting the gym etc. As a band, our favourite movie is the New Zealand comedy 'What We do in the Shadows', which we watched during the recording of the last album and still quote heavily to each other even now. This, along with quoting 'Carry On' movies is a staple in the Battalions camp!


13.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?

    Thanks for getting in touch and asking us these questions, many thanks to all our fans and to anyone who has ever said a kind word about Battalions, we love you all!


Thanks
Phil
Battalions

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Desert Kingdom Interview

1.For those that have never heard of you before, can you tell us a little bit about the band?

Well it all formed out of a shitty previous band , Brett and I had been jamming for a bit with a drummer mate of mine. Rich, he was floating around doing nothing so we grabbed him on board. Him and I had played in a death metal band years ago. Old mate drummer didn't work out, Brett and Paul have known each other for a long time. So we got together, wrote some tracks and got on with it. We all dig a similar style of music and each of us know what we want within the band and it all just falls on the page so to speak.

2.How would you describe your musical sound?
A rude obnoxious loud rocking energy that could cure any hangover.

3.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the music?

There just some fictional fun, with a bit of loosely personal aspects thrown in for good humour and measure. Tracks like Whisky, Abstainer and Doghouse blues are about the rise and fall of alcohol abuse that the four of us in the band and probably a lot of other people can relate too. Not that we condone the irresponsible consumption of alcohol much.


4.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Desert Kingdom'?

The name is derived from our big bad home land. Our good old Desert Kingdom.

5.What are some of the best shows that the band has played so far and also how would you describe your stage performance?

The best gigs, they've all been really good thus far and for us personally keep getting better, so can't really narrow it down to a single one. Our stage performance could be described as loud, rude and an insult to professionalism hahaha. But mostly loud and fun.

6.Do you have any touring or show plans for the new album?

We never really had any "plans" to begin with other than to record what we had, everything else has kind of caught us by surprise, what with people actually digging our shit, it's really fuckn cool. So I guess all we really want to do now is, just play it loud and hard as often as we can.


7.Currently the band is signed to 'Black Bow Records', are you happy with the support that they have given you so far?

Fuck yeah!! Jon has been great and we are stoked to be part of the Black Bow Records family.

8.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of stoner and doom metal?

Surprising!!! Hahahaha. That's the bit that's caught us off guard a bit it's really fuck'n cool that people on the other side of the pond are really starting to dig our music, it's fuck'n great.

9.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?

Well were just gonna keep rock'n and writing new stuff, tunes that keep us on our toes, if don't excite us it's out the door. Try heaps of different stuff instead of the old run of mill you know.


10.What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?

Fucking heaps we've got a diverse range, we get into a lot of stoner like High on Fire , Orange Goblin, the mighty Black Sabbath , a lot of metal too, like Pantera, Entombed , Mastodon but as we said there is usually headphones on trying to find something new and cool.

11.What are some of your non musical interests?

Well we all have a few things , I beach it snorkelling and stuff in summer , Paul's into Hemi cars , Ritch does rock climbing and Brett well he just drinks VB. But we all love just having a few beers and playing music and few more beers after that too.


12.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?

Yeah I'd just like to say thanks to the people that like our music enough to sign it , buy it , listen to it and just show a general interest in what we are doing it's fucking sweet and ya better get ready cause there's more where that came from !

Vermillion Whiskey Interview

1.Can you give us an update on what has been going on with the band since the recording of the new album?

VW is based out of Lafayette, Louisiana and we suffered a ‘100yr’ flood in August of 2016. That really pulled the plug on a lot of stuff. VW is back and gearing up for the SPIRIT OF TRADITION tour in 2017. Aside from that we are demoing a new kickass record and enjoying writing some new tunes.



2.You have a new album coming out in February, how would you describe the musical sound that is presented on the recording?

SPIRIT OF TRADITION’s sound is based on capturing what we do live. SPIRIT OF TRADITION boils down to Tradition=The Riff. VW isn’t reinventing the rock genre. We take pride in writing songs that groove, writing guitar solos, and push ourselves to be the best we can be at songwriting collectively. Overall the sound of the new record is about energy and groove. That is why we enlisted the help of technicians Kent Stump (WoFat) and Tony Reed (MosGenerator) on the production. We are beyond stoked with the music and artwork done by Mike Calhoun of Sketchy Intuitions (DFW TX)



3.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the newer music?

Vocally we always insert real life experiences and try to tell stories in our lyrics. Our main goal is to get the crowd to feel the tone or mood set in a particular song.



4.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Vermillion Whiskey'?

Whiskey is the easy part to describe. We all like to get twisted on some American bourbon and the clubs we play normally sell a lot of whiskey when we play. It is always a party at shows and most of our fan base drinks. Vermilion is a common word in South Louisiana and there is a river ‘bayou’ that runs straight through our home town of Lafayette, LA. The ‘Bayou Vermilion’ is dark and gritty as is most of our music. 



5.What are some of the best shows that the band has played over the years and also how would you describe your stage performance?

Our stage performance is pretty bare bones when it comes to gimmicks. We put as much energy as we can and have got some great responses from our live shows. We pride ourselves on our collective sound as a band and put a lot of effort into tweaking our amps to get the best live sound we can. We have been lucky enough to play with New Orleans legends Exorder and also opened a show for Kill Devil Hill which was killer to meet Rex Brown (Pantera) and Vinnie Appice (Dio). We live for the stage and is the true reward for the work we put into the band.



6.Do you have any touring or show plans once the new album is released?

We are booking our calendar up with as many shows as we can. We mainly play the US Gulf Coast with plans to break into a few other markets that have some really good scenes right now. We love meeting people that share the same passion that we have for live music.



7.The new album is coming out on '10 South Productions', can you tell us a little bit more about this label?

10 South Productions is our own independent label. We recorded and produced both of our records ourselves. We are interested in finding the right label to pick us up to get our music out there.



8.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of hard rock and metal?

Worldwide our music has been received very well. Europe has been very good to us on the first record and can’t wait to release Spirit of Tradition and get some feedback. We have fans all over the world and is always great to get a message from a new fan. That is what is so cool with digital music these days. There aren’t any borders to who can get a taste of Vermilion Whiskey with the internet.



9.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?

Musically we are growing as a band and have a good grasp of what we want to do with the next record. We are pretty deep in writing right now and have a great start for another album. We are pushing ourselves as songwriters and artists on all the new material. At the end of the day all we want is for our music to groove and make you bob your head.



10.What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?

There are so many bands that influence our music. Some stuff that we grew up on, like Sabbath, Metallica, AC/DC, Down, Pantera, etc…Then there is stuff that is influencing us now, some new and some older stuff that we’re just finding. Thin Lizzy, The Sword, Uriah Heep, WoFat, Mos Generator, Mothership, and many more. We are always discovering bands that keep us inspired to write new music.



11.What are some of your non musical interests?

Whiskey, Beer. Food, Fishing, Motorcycles, and kids nowadays. We all have kids so we spend a lot of time with our families when we aren’t playing dad metal. LOL



12.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?

It is always fun doing interviews. We are super excited to get Spirit of Tradition released and get it out to as many people as we can. We are easy to find online so hit us up and say hello. Long Live the Riff

Carne Interview

1.Can you give us an update on what has been going on with the band since the recording of the new album?

Since the recording session in June 2016 with Amaury Sauvé, we worked hard to gather people to work with for the vinyl and cd release. We are finally going to release the vinyl version with Shove Records (IT), Poutrage Records (FR), Vox Project (FR), Dingleberry Records (DE), No Way Asso (FR), Ker Mess Noar (FR) and the CD version with Drown Within Records (IT).
Thibo, the drummer, is in charge of every artwork for the band so we worked together to finalize the design for the album too. We also drank a lot of beer and played music sometimes.

2.You have a new album coming out in February, how would you describe the musical sound that is presented on the recording and also how does it differ from the stuff you have released in the past?
We usually say we play a kind of sludge / noise music.
Our new album is in the continuity of this approach but we feel we get closer to what we want to express with every new record.

3.This is your first album since 2013, can you tell us a little bit more about what has been going on during that time frame?

Even if we are always composing new music, we release only the stuff we really like and deserves to be recorded.
Since 2013, we toured in some european countries and took the time to share what we wanted to share with “Ville Morgue” our previous album.

We also prepared and played some shows as a backing band for Marion Leclercq’s solo project, Mütterlein.

4.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the newer music?
This new record expresses all our skepticism and unease towards a society where sarcasm and mediocrity became criterias of appreciation if not values to be defended at all cost.

A society that constantly and repeatedly broadcasts its own decay, drowning masses in a sea of ignorance and ready-made reflections.

5.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Carne'?
Carne is a french word, pronounced “karn”, which means bad meat. It can be used to described somebody or a living animal too.
It’s also the name of a short film from Gaspar Noé.

6.Currently there are only 2 members in the band, are you planning on expanding the line up in the future or do you chose to remain a duo?
Both “Ville Morgue” and “Modern Rituals” feature Marion Leclercq as a third member but Carne is and will remain a duo.

7.What are some of the best shows that the band has played over the years and also how would you describe your stage performance?

Our best show might be the one we’ll play tomorrow because it seems people understand what we want to express a little bit more every time. We recently had very good fun playing for an Halloween party with all the audience dressed up. More generally, the more the audience gets wild, the better we play!

8.Do you have any touring or show plans once the new album is released?

We actually planned some shows in France and Italy in February and March for the release.
More will come later in the year.

9.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of sludge and noise?

Not sure if all the people who like sludge or noise understand our music because it’s not really based on the standards of the genres. Style labels are just here to help people find new stuff they like according to their tastes but we prefer trying to develop something more personal than celebrating our idols.

10.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?
We really never planned our music. It’s impossible to say.

11.What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your newer music and also what are you listening to nowadays?

Playing for Marion’s solo project, Mütterlein, maybe helped us to consider adding more silence and space in our music with Carne. Otherwise we listen to a lot of different music and we do not share exactly the same tastes which gives different lectures and influences to our music.

12.What are some of your non musical interests?

There are many things we like doing, and that makes for a large part of the inspiration we use in Carne. We are also a lot into DIY, not only as a music scene but more generally we like doing things ourselves!

13.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?

Thank you, and very glad to read you enjoyed our record!!

Horseneck/Heavy Trip/2017 Full Length Review

 Horseneck  are  a  band  from  California  that  plays  a  mixture  of  post  hardcore  and  sludge  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of t heir  self  released  2017  album  "Heavy  Trip"  which  will  be  released  in  February.

  A  very  hard  and  heavy  sound  starts  off  the  album  along  with  some  synths  that  give  the  music  more  of  a  60's  and  70's  rock  vibe  and  after  awhile  aggressive  sludge  style  vocals  are  added  onto  the  recording  while  melodic  singing  is  also  used  at  times  and  the  solos  and  leads  also  bring  in  a  great  amount  of  melody.

  All  of  the  musical  instruments  on  the  recording  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  and  the  riffing  also  adds  in  elements  of  stoner  rock  and  post  hardcore  and  samples  are  also  used  at  times  and  you  can  also  hear  a  great  amount  of  melody  in  the  guitar  riffing  and  one  track  also  brings  in  clean  playing  and  slide guitars  before  returning  back  to  a  heavier  direction  and  the  music  also  speeds  up  briefly.

  Hoseneck  plays  a  musical  style  that  takes  stoner  rock,  sludge  metal,  and  post  hardcore  and  ixes them  together  to  create  a sound  of  their  own,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  for  being  a  self  released  recording  while  the  lyrics  cover  dark  and  real life  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Horseneck  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture of  post  hardcore  and  sludge  metal  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Michael  Caine"  "Hangman"  "No  Gods"  and  "Plow  The  Roads".  8  out  of  10. 

Mage Interview

Can you give us an update on what has been going on with the band since the recording of the new album?

We recorded back in November and December last year, so once we were done and it was sent off for mastering we pretty much took a break apart from one show mid December. Since the new year we've mostly been working on completing the Pledge Music campaign and getting ready for CD production.

You have a new album coming out in March, how would you describe the musical sound that is presented on the recording and also how does it differ from the stuff you have released in the past?

The biggest difference on the new album is the guest vocals from Raging Speedhorn's John Loughlin. We'd thought about it for the last album but there were tracks for this one we knew would definitely benefit from his more aggressive style, so it was great that it worked out this time. Over all there's been growth musically and there's maybe a more serious tone to this album. All of which is perhaps not so surprising and born out of recent events.

What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the newer music?

The music isn't really written with themes in mind so pretty much all of those come from Tom's lyrics. Most theme's in the past have been fairly whimsical. Exploring fantasy and sci fi narratives as well as just good old stoner lyrics. There are a couple of more personal tracks on this album though. Like Heroic Elegy, dedicated and inspired by all the friends and heroes we've lost in the last couple of years and Vultures Mass which is personal perspective on depression.

What are some of the best shows that the band has played over the years and also how would you describe your stage performance?

Good shows for us are when people turn up and enjoy the music, so we've had lots of highlights of the last seven years. Some that stand out particularly for us though are playing Hammerfest and Bloodstock last year. We'd like to play more festivals this year. Our stage show is pretty laid back. Most of our energy goes into playing the music the best we can, without too much theatrics. We do like to see our crowd enjoying themselves though, so it pays to let them see that energy.

Do you have any touring or show plans once the new album is released?

We have a launch show on March 18th at Firebug in our home city, Leicester. After that we have some good gigs booked most months for the rest of the year. Maybe we will get to do some kind of tour this year. It would be our first. Being self funded and we all have other commitments like families and work, it's not something we've managed to do yet. We are getting to some new towns and cities this year though. We'd like to keep that up.

Currently the band is signed to 'Witch Hunter Records', can you tell us a little bit more about this label?

We're actually independent, not signed to a label. Witch Hunter Records was a distributor for unsigned bands but unfortunately isn't going any more. All our previous releases have been self funded and the new album 'Green' was funded through a Pledge Music Campaign.

On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of stoner, sludge, and doom metal?

We're always very grateful to anyone who supports us, wherever they're from but it's always that extra bit more gratifying to get a new fan overseas or post an album or some merch internationally. We do have fans all over the world now, which is something we never expected and definitely gives us motivation.

Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?

We don't tend to plan things out too much really. Apart from gigging. Writing music is a natural process. We just write when we want to or when someone comes up with a riff. It's a very simple process in the beginning. Either we like a riff and keep it going, play with it, add to it and evolve it or we move on to the next one.

What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?

We've adopted the tag Stoner Metal when we have to because although our roots are definitely well planted in stoner and doom, our individual tastes and influence are so varied they inevitably find their way into Mage somewhere. Everything from thrash and death metal to prog and classic rock.

Wolf Counsel/Ironclad/Czar Of Bullets/2016 CD Review

  Wolf  Counsel  are  a  band  from Switzerland  that  plays  doom  metal  with  elements  of  stoner  and  sludge  and  this  is  a  review  of  their 2016  album  "Ironclad"  which  was  released  by  Czar  Of  Bullets.

  A  very  dark,  heavy  yet  melodic  sound  starts  off  the  album  and  you  can  also  hear  all  of  the  musical  instruments  that  are  present  on  the  recording  while  the  vocals  are  done  in  a  clean  singing  fashion  and  the  power  chords bring  in  more  of  a  doom  metal  style  and  the  solos  and  leads  also  bring  in  a  great  amount  of  melody.

  All  of  the  musical  instruments  on  the  recording  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  and  a  great  portion  of  the  tracks  are  very  long  and  epic  in  length  and  after  awhile  the  music  starts  incorporating  elements  of  sludge  and  stoner  metal  into  a  more  traditional  style  of  doom  metal  and  all  of  the  songs  stick  a  very  slow  musical  direction  and  the  album  also  remains  very  heavy  from  beginning to  ending  of  the  recording.

  Wolf  Counsel  plays  a  style  of  doom  metal  that  is  mostly  rooted  in  the  traditional  side  of t he  genre  while  also  adding  some  of  the  stoner  and  sludge  style  heaviness  to  give  the  music  a  more  modern  feeling,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  spirituality,  mysticism  and  philosophical  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Wolf  Counsel  are  a  very  great  sounding  doom  metal  band  with  touches  of  stoner  and  sludge  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Pure  As  The  Driven  Snow"  "The  Everlasting  Ride"  and  "Wolf  Mountain".  8  out  of 10.