We had the chance to sit down with the awesome Shadow Smile at Call of the Wild a little while back. Join us as we chat about their upcoming album and their plans for the future!

How was the set?

Yeah, we had a really good time. Play all the essential songs I think! Good energy for saying it was early. Second day in as well. It woke people up! Nobody was still in bed after us.

And what’s it like to be one of the heavier bands of the weekend?

I don’t even know how we ended up here. We just kinda got thrown in. But we get on with a lot of the fanbase and they quite like us. I think it’s because we have guitars all over, a lot of clean vocals and a lot of classic rock bits in them. The other elements are a lot more metal; the drumming, the bass, a lot of the riffs. We just sort of scoot around the edge of hard rock.

I think it’s kinda cool to be different as well. I think it works in our favour really. People hear us and question why we’re there maybe, and come and watch. I can’t complain!

Do you have a way of describing your sound?

I don’t think so, no. Just metal really, the collective metal is there. We’ve been saying to everyone we’re such an amalgamation of what we like, it can range from metalcore to really early like 60s rock and then electronica and hip hop. And then you put it all together and you get something that sounds a bit like us really. Then we’re always trying to develop and do something new as well so it’s really hard to put a genre on it. I think other people call us alternative metal, theatrical metal, gothy metal.

So you have the album coming out soon, right?

Yeah! We have one more single that comes out the week after Download, and then the album comes in August, the 18th. Then we’ve got an album launch show at Corporation [Sheffield] and that’s 16th of September.

And what’s the writing process like for you guys?

It varies. Somebody’ll find an idea and send it to the band and somebody’ll put something else in. It just kinda builds up from there. That’s like the main way. It’s very modular. A little element and then build it up. Then we’ll go and see our producer Dan and he’ll give some feedback. ‘Get rid of that, that’s crap, keep that, that’s great’.

The hardest part is the starting of a song. There’s been a few where Connor’s started them and we’ve all built our own parts around it. And then there’s things that were written in the past that we’ve brought forward. But yeah, it’s just getting that initial idea and spark and then see if everyone backs it.

There is a bit of a democracy feel to it. We’re quite brutal with each other, and ourselves as well. You’ve got to be.

The album’s based around the concept of the Seven Deadly Sins, each song relates to an individual sin. It sort of gave us an initial starting point of what each song should sound like, it gave us a bit more to go off. But it was also our worst enemy at times; we’d be writing a song, it’d sound amazing with a great chorus and rhythm, but it doesn’t work with that sin. Some of the best riffs didn’t get on. They could go in a bank and store them for later. But it all depends where we go forward. But it has really pushed us creatively. There’s a lot of songs on the album that we wouldn’t tend to have written if it was just for a single. The theme pushed us in that direction. I feel like creatively we’ve developed.

Would you want to stick to another concept for the next album in the future?

We’ve talked about it. I guess it’s sort of what comes out. I think this next time we’ll try and get a few songs down and see where it’s going. If we can link it to a theme, great. If not then we’ll still have 10 great singles.

I think the main focus, depending on how this album goes and which songs are more successful, that could be the area that we go further in. So I think it’s hard to say until all the songs are actually out and we can see a reaction from fans.

Once the pandemic had finished we did loads of singles, every two months or so, just to get as much out as possible to try and bring people in. The way the album is written in theory; we call it an album but it’s eight different singles, without writing like three show pieces and then five or so filler. Killer not filler.

Have you guys got much planned after the album launch?

It’s early doors. I think we are hoping to get quite a lot of gigs promoted around places where we haven’t played much before. We’ve booked in four dates so far: our album launch show, a couple of others around, and then Blackpool as well. Then Bradford before the album. So we’ll just work around those dates and see what cities we need to play.

And do you guys have a say five year plan?

Connor’s gonna say headline Download. That’s always his favourite one.

It’s not even like I’ve got any passion for Download, it’s just that that is one that’s like the heart of rock’n’roll. You wanna play there. Within five years we’d at least wanted to have played Download. I don’t see that you could headline Download within five years, but if you could, we want that!

But there’s tonnes. Like I want to put out as much good quality music as we can. Keep nurturing our fanbase, they’re the main point of it all. They’ve been super supportive, they crowdfunded our album, and I’d like to keep going with that. The big thing I’ve been saying today is we really don’t want to short change them. They’ve invested their hard earned money at a time where people haven’t got much. That means the world to us so we need to make sure that they’ve invested this, what’s next for them as well. We need to keep an eye on that and make sure we’re delivering the goods!