We sat down and chatted to the amazing Fury a couple of months back at Call of the Wild. Check out as we chat about their set, their plans for the year, and everyone’s favourite song!

How was the set?

Yeah, it felt good, we had a good time, the crowd was good. Over too soon I guess! As soon as we went on it kinda felt like we were at the last song. But yeah, really enjoyed it!

What’s it like to be playing festivals like this? Especially with how big the underground scene is in the UK these days!

It’s been really good. It’s great that the NWOCR fans have embraced us onto some of their festivals. It is great to play with these kind of bands that are doing those shows. It’s kinda made a different element of Fury. Before we were a lot heavier while now we’re a little more accessible so we’re able to play these sort of festivals. So yeah, it’s great to be involved in these kind of things. It’s a different fanbase that we can now appeal to. We still have the heavy songs in some of the sets and on the new album but we’re able to reach further now!

You obviously played a big ballad today [Upon the Lonesome Tide], how did that come about?

Oh yeah, folk songs, he loves them!

I mean our sound… we’ve released four albums now and our sound has evolved with each album. The the album it’s from, The Grand Prize, was a lot more shorter songs compared to the album before.

I have got a lot of the sea and boats and pirates and all that. We’d done kinda similar themes on that before but this was the first one that we a proper full on ballad. Even on the previous two albums we’d done folk but a bit more rock and metal whereas this one is a full-on power ballad. It’s basically just me fulfilling all my fantasies! There’s a bit of a Dubliners influences and some sea shanty influence.

It seemed to go down well live too!

Always does! Like before we played it live I was dead against putting it in the set and then the crowd loved it every time so fair enough! Every heavy metal fan loves a ballad.

I mean, the set that we did tonight… it’s a Sunday… we only had 35 minutes so we were a bit unsure of what to play. The temptation to just give them fast, rocky stuff, and for the best part it was. But it’s one of those things that if we bring that energy down just a little bit and let people enjoy it. And after the set, that’s the one people talk about the most. There aren’t many bands like us doing ballads so it’s something different.

It’s been a year since the last album, are we working on new music?

Yep! Yeah we are. So this year was supposed to be a quiet year. But we’ve got a new guitarist so it’s kinda bedding Tom in and then a new album. But then we’ve had lost of gig offers. And yeah, we’ll gig, we’ll play live, that’s why we’re in a band. But yeah, that’s still the focus, writing an album. Between gigs we are getting together, rehearsing and writing. The aim is to get it recorded through the summer so we’ll figure out a release date after that!

Have you guys got much booked for the end of the year then?

Yes, loads! In October we’re going on tour in Europe again. Germany, Belgium, Switzerland and the Netherlands. The last few years we’ve played a festival in Switzerland called URRock Festival. Last year we were main support of Skid Row there which is incredible. The guys there always really seem to like us. They said last year there’s no URRock festival without Fury! This year they’re having a year off from the festival but instead they’ve booked us a few shows out there. It’s gonna be great!

So given that you guys have done a fair amount in Europe, how would you compare the scene there to here?

Comparing here to say Germany and Belgium, I think the fans are a lot more enthusiastic over there. And it feels like not as many people start bands as there doesn’t seem to be as many there. When they are really good they do well, but when they have bands coming in from the UK they’re like ‘oh my god, this is amazing!’. They think it’s so cool you’re from England as they know so many great bands that have come from here.

The Europeans are great with merch, too. Over here a person will buy one CD. In Europe they’ll buy three CDs, and when you ask why they’re like ‘one for home, one for car, one for my friends’.

You tend to get fed better in Europe. Oh, the catering! Shoutout to Ragnarök in Belgium. Everywhere we go in Europe it’s homecooked meals brought straight into the green room. Then again, the British government is terrible for funding music, so I don’t put the blame on the venues themselves here. They’re trying their absolute best but just not getting any support.

Do you have say a five year plan at all?

America! Oh, and Brixton. So the ballad you mentioned, we filmed the music video for that back in 2020, the restrictions had been eased a little bit but you still weren’t be able to get in. We were able to film music videos, and we filmed it down in Brixton. Because of that I think we’ve gotten quite in with the Brixton crowd. We’ve done their pirate festival for the last couple of years. This year they had a galleon out in the harbour and they had a band play on that. So in the very near future, that’d be great!

Obviously we’d like to venture out further into Europe. We played Download last year, we were on one of the village stages, it’d be great to be a part of the main thing! And to just support some really cool bands! A good support slot for a big tour is something we’ve not really done so we’d like that very much!