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Interviews & Features

Slow Mojo: bringing back the blues

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The UKs own Slow Mojo are aiming to ‘bring back the blues’. Having released numerous singles so far and gigged extensively in the London underground scene, it is hard to argue that they are doing a damn good job at working towards their goal so far. We had the chance to have a brief interview with the band to discuss various topics from their music to the industry as a whole!

Slow Mojo’s Official Facebook

The band wear their influences very much on their sleeves, as evidenced by their response when asked about their influences:

Brighty (lead vox): ‘For me personally as a frontman I used to watch people like Freddie Mercury and just think the world of them, how they held the crowd in the palm of their hands, everyone’s eyes just focused on them. I’m a bit of an attention seeker and ended up becoming an MC and rapper, performing on festival stages with a DJ. I’d always been a pretty good singer. After getting bored with doing endless karaoke, I found the other guys on Gumtree and the band just came together naturally. Rest is history, as they say’.

Tim (lead guitar): ‘As a kid there would always be music being played in my house – Led Zep, AC/DC, The Doors, you name it; If it had a good guitar riff it was being played on the stereo. I remember watching DVDs of AC/DC and Angus Young shredding on the guitar and doing the chicken walk, it was nothing I had ever seen before, it was magic! First time I heard the blues was on Back To The Future where Marty McFly plays at the school dance. I got my mum to write out the lyrics for me so I could sing along and re-enact all his moves. I was hooked from then on’.

While diving deeper into their own sound, Brighty tried his best to describe it:

‘We’re a modern blues band, basically. We’ve retained that blues-influenced sound and twisted it up with harder rock, punk, funk and hip hop. It’s good fun music, it slaps you hard and we all have a hell of an energy on stage. Some of our stuff sounds a bit Red Hot Chili Peppers, some a bit Black Keys, some veers into Rage Against the Machine, and we do more blues rock stuff not dissimilar to Alex Harvey’. 

This last 18 months has been some of the toughest the music scene as a whole has ever had to deal with. When asked about how they had coped during the stream of lockdowns, they had this to say:

‘We had a gig booked literally on the week of the first lockdown. So we were left wanting with that annoying feeling of having no closure on our live music hiatus. Worse still our new drummer, Giorgio, had only joined the band a month or so prior so he was denied his first gig with us. But like all acts everywhere we just knuckled down and turned the whole experience into something more positive. We started recording more music from home – we actually recorded a fair chunk of our current output doing everything a bit DIY. Luckily we had the gear and the skills to create something pretty professional sounding. We recorded some home videos to keep up the social media conversations and then started live streaming, raising money and awareness for charities, which certainly filled some sort of void. Though the minute the lockdowns eased a little, we were all back into the studio in a heartbeat, desperate to get some semblance of what live playing felt like again’.

We wanted to make sure the boys were still enjoying themselves though, so wanted to know what their positives were of being in a band:

‘Honestly, it’s just knowing that we’re bringing people some joy. I think that’s been an especially poignant feeling in the shadow of the pandemic. Music is everything. The energy it brings us is the energy we give back to the crowd’. 

Tim: ‘I love watching the crowd react to how we perform in front of them and see them reciprocate as they start to dance and headbang. We get such a buzz from playing live and on stage that it’s like a drug and the high lasts for a good few days after a show’.

‘However, we couldn’t address the positives without also discussing the negatives, of which there were unfortunately more:

‘About the current music industry, for obvious reasons, I think I’d like to see more of a return to more big bands playing live. Don’t get me wrong I love electronic dance music in pretty much all its forms, but the appetite for proper live band music feels like it’s been waning for some time now. There’s always a balance to be struck of course, but I feel like if we’re looking towards a future of purely electronic music at the elite level, then we’re all going to miss out on so much that is special and wonderful about live music’.

Ciba (bass):  ‘We are witnessing a turning point on the music-making thing. See what Brighty just mentioned about the lack of live music and bands kind of fading away.

‘That’s related to how music is being made nowadays. When we started playing music 25 years ago we had to learn how to play an instrument, then endless practice and rehearsal, get some mates together, then more rehearsal, write songs, play together again, then get a gig and so on… Recording?! Forget about that! No computers or £50 audio interfaces. You had to sell your kidney to afford a recording studio (on a reel to reel tape recorder)! 

‘Then here we are in 2021: Young people just don’t get excited enough to go through all this hassle again. Why bother ‘putting a band together’ if all it takes to make music is an app and a laptop? You write a song, upload, get viral and voilá! 

‘This may wind down the bands IMO. There’s still some awesome musicians producing things on this new style no doubt about it, but I do miss the spontaneity of rock bands being born and raw talents popping out of the blue like before’. 

Tim: ‘More often than not today’s popular/chart music feels too ungenuine. The beat sounds the same, the lyrics are pretty uninspiring and there’s a feeling of soulless, manufacturing of music that is there to appeal to the masses that blindly listen to it because it’s in the charts and it’s annoyingly catchy. It’s a money-spinner for companies. The very fabric of music is being torn and frayed for the reasons of profit all the while people with real talent, real understanding and feeling of music and song-writing are left in the gutter because they don’t have the right amount of followers, they don’t look the part or they’re not as marketable as someone who’s willing to get their clobber off and eye-fuck the camera’. 

Giorgio (drums):

‘I think the music industry has followed the same globalization trend that we have seen in many other industries, prioritising high and safe returns over free thinking and innovation. This has made much more difficult for new emerging artists to achieve visibility and has overall impoverished the musical offer.

‘However, this process is not irreversible. I believe change can happen, starting with small steps, both from the top and from the bottom. From the top, with Record Labels and distributors (like Spotify) allowing for specific programmes to fairly promote emerging artists. This already happens in many other industries and can be highly rewarding for both parties. And from the bottom, with us musicians and listeners getting back in our old habits of looking for new bands, listening to new tunes and going to a local live concert, finding some time to step away from the mainstream distribution. If we think about it, it is much easier now than it was in the past, with everything just one click away. In a couple of years, we may find ourselves interested in a much bigger variety of music styles and with a music industry much more receptive of our interests’.

The band are thankfully already back to gigging, with them not long having played their return gig at Fiddler’s Elbow in Camden. We had to ask them about it, of course!

‘[it was] The best. I mean, we anticipated it would feel pretty amazing and it ended up being ten times better. We had our first gig in about 16 months in Camden Town and the atmosphere was just electric. You could sense that the crowd was up for it, that something had been missing and we were all in there ready to rock as one. We just went hell for leather. We sweated the sweat of a year and a half’s worth of missed gigs. Unbelievably, that was also Giorgio our drummer’s first live gig with us since joining in February 2020’!

As usual here at Overtone we like to ask the bands what song they wish they could have written, and I have to say that Slow Mojo did not disappoint in their response:

Brighty( lead vox): ‘So many to pick from! All things considered and given that we play this as our favourite cover song, I’d have to say Folsom Prison Blues by Johnny Cash’.

‘For me personally, I think it would be Money for Nothing by Dire Straits. That song is just everything to me: one of the finest guitar riffs ever written; wonderfully wry social commentary in the lyrics; and road trips with my dad’.


Tim: ‘Lenny by Stevie Ray Vaughan. The man wrote the song for his wife and you can actually hear the love and emotion he has in the way he plays and attacks certain notes, it’s absolutely awe-inspiring’. 

Giorgio: ‘oh, difficult one… Money by Pink Floyd maybe…’

We also ask the band what was next for them:

‘We are in fact right in the middle of recording our last few tunes for what is planned as an EP release this year. We do have a few more gigs lined up, to be confirmed, so we’ll keep everyone posted about that on our social media and we’re going full-on with festival season next year’.

Did you enjoy our interview? Check out our video-format ones on our YouTube here.

Interviews & Features

Last Hyena + FES + Blight Town @ The Chameleon, Nottingham

What a fantastic lineup for Overtone’s first live gig review – three of Britain’s best and brightest rising math rock-esque bands all under one roof. Local boys Blight Town are a great blend of math rock and post hardcore, FES are on the more pop/punk side (and have frequently been referred to as the Paramore of math rock thanks to lead singer Polly’s stunning tone) while the headliners are an instrumental powerhouse of the genre. Hosted by IKE Promotions at Nottingham’s fantastic little venue, The Chameleon, it promised a great (if sweaty) night of live music. 

Blight Town

Blight Town come on to a packed crowd and immediately blasted into half an hour of fast paced, heavy post hardcore music. Every member of the band is incredibly talented but I couldn’t help but gravitate towards the singer; his clean vocals and screams were both incredible and he managed to switch between the two with little effort. The local boys brought a good few fans of their own so it was great to see the crowd reacting and singing along, giving the band a little more energy and passion. A great opening band and the perfect one for the night.

FES

After a short break, FES came on to absolutely blow the roof off the place. Blight Town were a tough act to follow, but FES managed it. Their unique blend of math rock and catchy guitar-pop hooks and choruses was captivating from start to finish. The vocals were amazing, eerily reminiscent of the likes of Hayley Williams, and being able to sing like that while also playing crazy math rock riffs is an extraordinary talent. Not to discedit the rest of the band, though, who were both equally talented and fit the music and style perfectly. They blasted through a forty-five minute set that felt like it had run for no time at all, leaving the crowd easily wanting more but being ‘forced’ to head over to the merch booth instead.

FES FACTS:

  • FES originally, and ironically, stood for Flat Earth Society until the public began to take the name too seriously – their name has been shortened to FES ever since to skip the confusion
  • For such a popular and enthusiastic band on stage, they are all admittedly introverts.
  • With a booking manager based in Truro, FES frequently find themselves travelling across the country for tours and festivals.

What venues do you like to play at? Have you been to The Chameleon before?

Tom: We played at Brewdog once at Tramlines which was really weird because there were loads of middle aged people trying to get a pint or eating and we were in the corner doing our weird shit.

Matt: We played in this DIY place called the Audacious Art Experiment and it was like 30 people crammed into basically a cupboard.

Polly: I think we just really like the DIY style.

Tom: This is our first time at The Chameleon. I’ve been aware of The Chameleon for a long time – I was supposed to come to a gig here like 10 years ago but I had to go to parents evening instead.

Matt: Did you get a good report?

Tom: No! But it’s a really cool venue with obviously a lovely audience so it’s really good to play.

So up until now you’ve released EPs but you have a debut album out soon. Is there a different writing or recording process you go through?

Polly: The biggest difference when recording this album was the pandemic because we couldn’t see each other.

Tom: We couldn’t see each other for months and that’s hard when you’re wanting to write. We hired out an Air BnB, it was like a cabin in Wales on the coast and we wrote like six or seven songs in that time.

Matt: That was just before the pandemic hit – it was January 2020. So we were like ‘it’s all going well’ and then… March. But we did a lot of online stuff and it started to ease up again so we tried to make it work.

Polly: Because an album is more songs we felt more stress anyway and with the timing of it, because we had the studio booked before we had the songs, we had this deadline coming up. There was a lot of anxiety but it all worked out.

Tom: We recorded it two months ago. There’s going to be 11 songs and we’ve only got 10 songs out in the world anyway so we’re going to double the amount of songs available to people. It’s all mixed and we’ve got the artwork, we just need to get it mastered.

Matt: And to get a record label to be nice to us.

Tom: Hopefully we’ve got a tour next May which was meant to happen last year that’s been rebooked so if we can get it out before May that’s ideal.

How does it feel being called the Paramore of math rock?

Polly: We get it often. I was brought up on her and I love all of their whole discography and how it’s developed. I think they’re a genius band and I love Hayley’s solo stuff too.

Matt: I think a lot of bands with female vocalists get compared to Haley Williams.

Tom: We’re friends with a band with a female vocalist and they get it a lot.

Matt: It’s like one reference point for women or something. But we like them so we’ll take it.

Are there any other bands you take inspiration from?

Tom: I think we all have different influences and I guess it’s like a mix. Polly is the main writer, don’t get me wrong.

Polly: Yeah bands like Tube Law, Delta Sleep, Fish Tank. I have personal ones for writing style like Regina Spectre.

Matt: We have influences from when we started which have changed.

Polly: Biffy Clyro are probably a big one because they were really mathy when they first started off. I really liked early Orchids, they were a big influence too.

Matt: Well me and Tom grew up as metal heads. I was obsessed with Iron Maiden. I could tell you anything.

Tom: His old email was like “mattlikesironmaiden@something”

How would you sum up the theme of your upcoming album?

Polly: So there’s lots of themes of mortality and childhood. I wrote a lot of the songs once my grandad died so it’s almost nostalgic.

Tom: All of your lyrics are really personal to you really about what’s going on in that time.

Polly: They probably don’t make sense to anyone else but me. I wrote a song about Matt because I wrote a song about Tom in 2017 and Matt always been like “when are you going to do one about me?”

Matt: So she wrote a song about me having a breakdown.

Tom: So was mine! If we keep having breakdowns, we’re going to get some more tunes. They were songs of support though and I think that happens a lot with songwriting. When you have things going on quite drastic or emotional it can serve as a catalyst for writing. Some people I think go for different narratives but our music is quite personal.

Matt: We do like the idea of doing a concept album though.

Polly: I kind of want to write a musical because I think our music is quite theatrical anyway so if we write a concept album and then turn it, adapt it into an actual theatre production that’s like the goal with FES.

Last Hyena

Last Hyena took the stage last and once again blew the crowd away. Step aside Rush. Step aside Muse. There is a new up-and-coming three man collection of the most talented musicians out there. I can’t remember ever seeing a band play as tightly live as they did, and all three showed off their incredible affinity for their instruments. For a wholly instrumental band too, they held the attention of every single crowd member there for their entire set with their infectious grooves, melodies and obvious love for their craft. They were having fun, which meant the audience were having more fun as a result – their personalities shone through which is always amazing to see. Again, the 45 minute set went by in a flash – calling to an end a fantastic night of live music. 

We managed to sit down with the headliners before the gig to talk about their recent tour.

How do you feel playing to a live crowd again after a year of restrictions?

Max: It’s amazing, it’s like having a piece of ourselves back really.

Rory: We played our first show back in Bristol where we’re based and it was honestly the weirdest feeling. We’ve been practicing for the whole 18 months every week in our studio space so we’ve just been writing and practicing. The first gig back and setting up before we played we all felt giddy. It was so nice to get back into it.

Max: It’s been full on really with the tour and we’ve realised how unfit we are.

Have you played in Nottingham before?

Rory: We have but it’s our first time here which is wicked because it’s a nice space.

Josh: Nottingham’s one of our favourite places, we always try and get on the bill. Whatever the turn out is, the people are there to see it and absolutely love it. There are always hardcore music fans in Nottingham, so it always goes down well.

Max: I always love the really small, intimate venues. You can play to any sort of crowd as long as there are people that want to be there for the music.

How does being a purely instrumental band make you stand out from the bands on tonight’s line up or any other venue that you play at?

Rory: It gives you a lot more freedom which we love. We never set out to be a math rock, kind of post-rocky band. We just started writing music we enjoy and it fell into the math rock genre with ‘and then we do this’ and ‘then we do this segment’ and ‘no one will see it coming.’ It literally is just music to try and keep people on their feet.

Josh: We had an idea when we first started out. Rory and I were in a band before without a vocalist so we decided to play instrumentally as we had gigs booked anyway and thought maybe a vocalist will find us. And then the more gigs we played we thought maybe we don’t need one. We were having far too much fun.

Max: Plus it always gets us on the good side of sound people.

Rory: They’re like “how many vocals?” And we say “none” and they’re like “oh cool!”

Max: Yeah, “any midi?” “No!”

Rory: It’s a different one because take FES with Polly, they have an amazing singer with really catchy choruses whereas we literally don’t have any repetitive parts. Every song has a different phrasing or section, so we have a lot of hooks I’d say but it is an amalgamation of chaos.

Max: Yesterday, people actually sang back to ‘Doctorpus’ on the vocal line.

Rory: A lot of people really into their music will see the musicianship of it and how much idiocity is behind it and be like ‘that was crazy’, it’s so tight etcetera. A lot of people, more like my parents’ age, will say “you don’t have a singer?” And we say no it’s just instrumental!

Josh: And then you say people come to our shows and they’re like “do they?!”

Max: Because it’s such a small genre in terms of how many fans there are really, it’s a very dedicated pool of people. They’re not necessarily massively dedicated to individual bands, they are just there for the scene which is nice. You get people who listen to bands like FES, which is why it’s so nice to play with FES, because while they’re very different to us they also bring in the same sort of people so you get people into what they do but not us and vice versa.

Josh: There’s something for everyone to enjoy.

If you’re a fan of rock sub-genres, or have a respect for the instrumental skill it takes to be part of a math rock band, check out any of the bands from this line up via Overtone’s Insta.

Interviews & Features

We Three Kings – Rock And Blues, the positives of the business and their new single!

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Manchester’s own hard rock band, We Three Kings, had the wonderful opportunity to be on stage for one of England’s first festivals of the (hopefully) post-Covid era, Rock & Blues. The band were playing in support of their latest single, ‘Walk’, the eighth release by the band across their 5+ years of existence. 

‘Walk’ comes at a pivotal time not just for the band, but for the music industry in general. As the UK slowly comes out of its latest lockdown and festivals and venues are all open for business once more, the band are primed and ready to seize the rest of the year and make it their own.

So firstly, how was Rock & Blues? 

‘Yeah it was great! First gig back in 18 months for us so that was a big event in itself. And then obviously any time you do a festival it’s a pretty cool experience, just to be surrounded by people that are up for seeing live music. Particularly that crowd, they were very much into the sort of music that we do so it went down really well. The weather was absolutely terrible so that was the only downside really! But then it wouldn’t be a British festival without it raining, would it? 

‘But no it was good. A great experience, really good people, saw some other good bands, had a good time… just pleased to be back at it, really, doing gigs again more than anything.’ 

I imagine the crowd were pretty high energy too with it being most people’s first gig back?

‘Yeah absolutely, everyone seemed really up for it. It was a bit surreal being in a crowded place with lots of other people after all this time but you had to provide all your COVID information and everything when you got there so they’d done all the right things. Everybody was as safe as they could be in that respect.

‘We got some really good feedback on the day and a lot of good messages and stuff since the gig as well. It’s good, those sorts of opportunities are really good for getting yourself in front of the right audience and on a good platform. We enjoyed it and it’s given us a taste of getting back to gigging now so we want to get back at it!’

We Three Kings’ Official Facebook

Do you have a plan from here? Do you have a goal in mind for the next 12 months?

‘Just getting up to speed really. We’re based in Manchester and we’ve got a few local promoters that we tend to work with quite regularly so we’re just starting to put some more dates in the diary over the next few months. 

‘But, as a general trajectory, we want to try and get more of those sorts of opportunities. Often promoters can struggle to place us on the right bills with like-minded bands; they sometimes put us on with more indie crowds and sometimes with really heavy rock bands while we’re probably somewhere in between. So we want to work hard to get the right sorts of opportunities and get back to gigging.’

It did feel for a while that that sort of middle ground rock sound was beginning to fade, with bands either being indie or massively heavy, but it does feel like it is starting to see a resurgence. 

‘Yeah, I don’t think the audience for it ever went away, it’s just like everything in that it comes in waves. For whatever reason guitar bands generally were out of fashion for a while [but] there seems to be a resurgence coming back now. People are starting to land in either that indie, Liam Gallagher kind of scene or they’re opting to go for the more classic rock revival or the more heavy stuff as well. The audiences are there, it’s just finding the right opportunities and the right channels to reach them.’ 

For people who aren’t so familiar with your music, what sort of genre would you describe yourself as? 

‘I would say heavy blues or blues rock. Black Keys, White Stripes, Wolfmother, Royal Blood, that kind of thing. A very riff laden, buzzed up, beefy guitar sound, high energy, big vocals; that’s generally the sort of bands that tend to get referenced to us. Rival Sons is another big one that we get. Even Led Zeppelin, people tell us that they can pick up a bit of Zeppelin in what we do. Lots of good, positive references! You get those sort of names passed to you think ‘yep, that’s good, we’re obviously doing something right because they’re all great bands!’’

Outside of the bands you are compared to, are there any others that you would say are an influence to you guys? 

‘There’s a couple of bands coming out of the States that we’ve seen that aren’t a million miles away from what we do. There’s a duo from Canada called The Blue Stones that are quite similar. There’s another band called Cleopatric that might again be from Canada actually. So there are smaller bands doing a similar sort of thing which gives us some encouragement that this is an audience for it and people out there want to hear it. Typically they tend to be in the States so maybe in the UK we’re a bit behind in terms of catching up to that sound but hopefully we’re heading in the right direction!’

So we unfortunately have to address the pandemic in the room. How’s it been for you guys over the last 18 months? 

‘It’s been tough because obviously live music just ground to a halt so you don’t have those anchor points in the diary that you’re working towards. So all of a sudden you’re rudderless as a band because you’ve not got anything to work towards. That’s been a weird thing to get your head around. And just generally it’s been very stop start with the restrictions that have been in place in terms of getting together and rehearsing. In lockdown One (March-July) we shut down completely for two or three months like pretty much everybody did, didn’t even rehearse at all. We got back into writing through the summer and got a couple of tracks written, including ‘walk’ (find it here) so we did have a period of productivity there. Then we reached the winter months and we went back into another shutdown for a number of months. It’s only been since maybe April that we’ve been back at it and gradually things are opening up and getting back to some sort of normality. It’s been a really tough up and down 18 months. 

‘We did manage to get into the studio in April and do a couple of recordings. We’ve just released one and we’ve got another in the can that we’re going to bring out towards the end of the year, most likely. It feels like we’ve got something to aim for now, we’re feeling good, but it was definitely hard. We’ve particularly felt for the small independent venues, a few of them that we’ve lost but a lot of them seem to have scraped through as well. Hopefully people will have more of an appetite for live music, having been away from them for so long.’ 

How was it trying to keep the ball rolling in terms of social media through it all?

‘To be honest with you that’s the biggest drag of being in a band, really, is having to keep your content flowing constantly. Sometimes you do feel like you’re just scratching around for things to talk about. We did a couple of little acoustic videos from home where we recorded all of our parts individually and patched them together, which was good fun. Just keeping up with a few photos and updates about what is going on too, really. When you’re in shutdown there’s only so much you can talk about, so it has been tricky. But back to normal now, and we have no shortage of things to pester people about now!’ 

Trying to up the positivity a little, what is your favourite part of the music industry?

There are two things really; playing live is what every band exists to do really so that’s the biggest buzz and payoff you get is when you’re on stage and you’re getting a really good reception. But also the creative process of starting with nothing and ending up with an original piece of music, a video and everything that surrounds that. And then to release that to the world and get a positive reception and you just think ‘we’re doing something right’. And when you’re old and grey you can look back at it and be proud that you made it. Even just getting together with your mates and making noise is enjoyable, as much hard work as it is!’ 

If there is one thing you could change about the music industry, what would it be? 

‘The key one is that it can sometimes feel like a very closed shop for smaller bands and ones trying to break through; that no matter how hard you try, there is always this sense of no matter how hard you try it’s more a case of who you know or how much you can pay to get on the show or how many mates can you bring to a gig. Your music could be crap but if you can bring 100 mates it’s listed as successful. There’s a lot of disparity in terms of the music not being the key ingredient to being successful. It’s frustrating for us, there are so many outside factors working for or against a band instead of just their music being the core component of the product.’

You’ve said you’ve got a single just released, any plans for a full album?

‘We’re just going from single to single at the moment. We find for a band in our position is the best way to keep regular momentum up. We do have a decent enough back catalogue which we could put together as an album but for now we’re just focusing on singles. Three a year would be our typical cadence of releases. We’ve just put out ‘Walk’ and it’s been received really well so we’re riding that out at the moment. We have another to release by the end of the year and will hopefully get back to writing and recording soon so that by 2022 we’ll be back all guns blazing.’

Do you prefer the more staggered releases of singles over dropping an album every few years or so, then? 

‘It all comes down to resources at the end of the day. How much time and money have you got to be in a band and what is going to give you the best return on the investment you are making. For us, we find that the single to single approach is best for us right now. If we put an album together, whilst it would be a great thing to have and to have achieved, I don’t think we’d get the same return as our singles. Maybe one day it is something we’d like to do, but it isn’t right for us at the moment.’ 

Time for the million dollar question: If you could have written one song from history, what would it be? 

‘It’s not necessarily our sound, but ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ is a completely unique, one-off track. How someone even sits down and writes that is beyond me, so I’d say that. 

‘If it’s something closer to what we do then you could probably pick one of a dozen Led Zepplin songs that are absolutely epic and we could relate to in terms of playing. But there are a LOT of good songs out there, so I’d say ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ if I had to put my name on one!’

With the new single, is it much different to your previous work in terms of direction and sound?

‘With this release we’ve worked with a new producer, Joe Sage of Nevis Audio, and it’s the first time we’ve worked with him so if you compare the track back to our previous stuff there is a bit of a difference in terms of production style. We’ve also just gone all guns blazing with this track, since it’s been so long away with COVID, we wanted something that would hit you straight between the eyes and be upfront and in your face. Our other recording is a little less in your face but we’re still excited about that as well. Typically our songs fit into quite a clear genre so it’s not a massive departure from the stuff we’ve done previously but you’re always trying to evolve as a songwriter and make it better than the last one, and we think we’ve done that here.’

Have you got any gigs in the pipeline? 

We’ve not got anything until October now but that’ll be a local gig in Manchester on the 22nd. We keep our socials up to date in terms of new dates in the diary though so anyone who’s interested keep an eye on those! 

Follow the band through all the usual channels under We Three Kings, and keep up to date on our other interviews here.

Interviews & Features

TikTok sensation Adam and The Metal Hawks: Jack Black, new music and next steps for the band

Perhaps better known by some as the “dudes with bowls on their heads doing rock stuff”, Adam and the Metal Hawks have found the gap between classic 60s, 70s and 80s rock and today’s younger generation. Gaining nearly 3 million followers in roughly six months, the American rock band became a viral TikTok sensation for creating quirky music videos which show off their down-to-heart personalities and have even gained the attention of lovable legend Jack Black.

From covering classic rock tracks like ‘Crazy Train’ ‘Black Dog’ and ‘Back In Black’, to trending TikTok songs like ‘Beggin’ and both iconic and nostalgic songs like the Pokemon theme song, Adam and The Metal Hawks know how to capture their audience whilst staying true to their roots.

Full interview here:

The band features vocalist Adam Ezegelian, bassist Ryan Daversa, guitarist Johnny Barry and drummer Alex Hertler. A few years on after only becoming a foursome in 2019, the tight-knit group were clearly meant to be.

Adam featured on American Idol in Season 14 in 2015 before meeting the group of three named The Metal Hawks. He has clearly mastered the ability to bring personality to performance without taking away from his distinctive vocals – somehow reminiscent of both Jack Black and the likes of Steven Tyler and Dio in one sound.

Ryan, Johnny and Alex met through middle school and a music store where Johnny and Alex took music lessons. After a few years together as a trio, their management introduced them to Adam who was working on his solo career at the time. 

Adam and the Metal Hawks released their debut self-titled album in 2020, featuring their quarantine track ‘Wastin’ Time’.

Adam and the Metal Hawks only joined TikTok in January 2021 and in less than a year they have blown up with viral video after viral video. They initially joined the social media platform after a festival in Switzerland was cancelled due to the pandemic and their Europe tour had been delayed.

How did you start off on TikTok?

Adam: “We actually just joined the platform this year in January and before the pandemic and lockdowns, we were doing shows. We actually had a festival on the calendar for Switzerland and we were going to come over to Europe for a whole tour, it would have been awesome and of course it got pushed back and delayed. And so we decided alright we can’t do shows so we got to jump on TikTok – everybody’s doing it. And we knew we couldn’t just do our original music and pray. We found the platform has a lot of trends and a lot of memes, so we threw our hat in the ring with a little bowl video and put some bowls on our heads and hit them with water bottles and it just kind of blew up. We got over 100,000 followers in our first week of doing it and after that we did our Jack Black duet thing trying to get Jack Black to notice us and that worked out great.”

How does it feel to almost be an overnight sensation? You formed in 2019 and released your first album in 2020 so in the grand scheme of things you haven’t been together that long but you’re now producing viral videos.

Ryan: “I think it’s honestly just a lot of creativity like Adam said, it’s kind of a necessary evil to blow up on TikTok to have some sort of gimmick or a meme. That’s how it was with the bowls, that’s how it was for the Jack Black videos and stuff like that but now with all of the new music we will be releasing at the end of the summer (we’re going to have a single and hopefully an EP or an album next year) we’re hoping that resonates with people. You have a certain percentage of those followers that came for the meme who will also stay for the music.”

Are there any plans for Adam and the Metal Hawks and Jack Black?

Adam: “We’d love to play a show with him, maybe open up for his band Tenacious D that would be sick. Maybe make a School Of Rock 2!”

Alex: “We could do some songs for the new Jumanji movie, that would be cool.”

How hard is it to get into the mind frame of writing originals when the covers do so well on social media?

Ryan: “When we have rehearsals lately it will be like ‘oh let’s make some TikToks’ but now we’re starting to have some gigs again, we’re learning how to be a real band again. But I think if you go into the meeting knowing what the practice is going to be like, like ‘okay this practice we’re going to focus on TikTok’ or ‘this next practice we’re going to focus on our live stuff.’ If you come in with the mind set, I think we can just stick with it. “

Adam: “It’s been kind of weird. Before TikTok, we would just come to a practice with ‘hey i have this idea why don;t we work on it’ or ‘I have an idea for this riff, lets try and build it out into a song’ and it’s pretty similar now but we don’t really have those practises where we can just play. We have a lot more structure to it where it’s ‘okay we need at least three TikToks today so we’re good for the rest of the week’ and going live on TikTok is also important for us – they’re like our only shows, our livestreams. We still come to practice with ideas but it’s more spaced out.

Alex: “Everything is just way more scheduled. Now we have to figure out our interviews, now we’re dedicating our day for this interview. It’s a lot of scheduling … we should all have a calendar?”

What’s next for Adam and the Metal Hawks?

Adam: “We’re planning on releasing at least a single and music video by the end of this summer that will be an original and it’ll be the first song that we’ve released since all the TikTok fame and stardom and all these new fans that may not even know that we’re a real band. A lot of people see us on TikTok and they get a nice chuckle or they just get some good vibes for the day but if they do a little bit of digging, which a bunch of people have already done, you can see on our YouTube we have some music videos up there that are starting to climb and we’re just trying to build up the hype for when do release our new music.

“So the song is called ‘Backwards’ and the music video’s going to feature a lot of cool shots that are played in reverse and it kind of has a party vibe to it. We’re really excited and it’s also something that’s more ‘pop-y’ on the side of pop-rock which is something that we don’t have really have in our previous albums so it’s going to be cool. We’re really excited to see people’s reaction to it.”

With new music in the works and the success of Jack Black’s reaction video, maybe a tour supporting Tenacious D could be on the cards.

Check out the full thing on our YouTube channel and follow @overtoneofficial on TikTok.

Interviews & Features

Unknown Refuge: The bridge between NWOCR and metal?

Unknown Refuge are a hard rock/metal band from Bolton, England. Having been on the scene for a few years now, the guys have gained growing support and notoriety across the UK and played notable shows such as Manchester’s Band on the Wall and even the inaugural Stonedeaf festival. The band do not try to pigeonhole themselves into one particular sound and take inspiration from a range of influencers from ‘Iron maiden and Metallica to Volbeat, Alter bridge and Slash.’ We got the chance to sit down with the frontman of the band, Alex, and ask him a few questions about where the band is headed, the music world in general, and their newest album, ‘Into the Light.’

Unknown Refuge’s Official Facebook

Alex shows a lot of love for the latter band of their influences, stating that it is Slash’s solo project with Myles Kennedy that got him into wanting to perform in the first place:

“I went to my first gig to see Slash, Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators with my mum and I remember just thinking wow that would be amazing. Ever since then I had been interested in being in bands and writing and performing my music. They’ve both been my influences ever since.”

‘Into the Light’ was released back in March last year to massive acclaim. Heck, I reviewed it very positively at my old place and it still remains up there with some of my favourite albums of the year so far. They even managed to work on the majority of it over the last year or so of lockdowns.

“Well luckily for us we had the album to promote and get in order so we were all still busy with it. Along with writing some new material and getting ourselves ready to release a new album, we’ve had plenty to do so I do feel for the bands though that haven’t quite had our luck and just been left for over a year.”

When speaking about the success of their debut and the potential follow-up, Alex said: 

“Well we’re already writing new material, whether or not that gets properly recorded soon or if we’ll wait to release a new album we are not quite so sure. The support we’ve had with the first album has been incredible and hopefully our second album will be even stronger.”

Having been a part of the music scene for a few years now, they have a pretty good understanding of how it all works. We asked them what their favourite and least favourite parts of it were: 

“I’d say personally I love performing songs which we have written ourselves, songs we have put our thoughts, emotions, feelings and skills into creating. But what makes this possible is the people at shows and fans and to see people enjoying it is what makes me love continuing to do so. 

“I’d say places like Spotify where people listen to music, however the artist receives a ridiculously small amount of money from this. I hope this changes because for small bands having that bit extra cash to help the band grow can mean the world.

“I miss being able to interact with people of the same mind and all the fans that we would usually go and have a pint with, that’s the part I’ve missed the most. Probably just because it means I’ve got to spend time with the other band members instead.”

It wouldn’t be an Overtone interview either if we didn’t ask about what song he would have wanted to have written, right?

“It would probably have to be something like Master Of Puppets or The Trooper – just 2 of the best metal anthems ever written in my opinion.”

Finally, we tried to get an inside scoop into anything they have coming up in the immediate future: 

“Well when venues open it will just be to do as many gigs as possible. We’ve missed being on the stage and amongst writing some new material I would love to just get out and gig again. Hopefully we’ll see gigs come back and with the lack of them over the last year they’ll come back better than before.”

Check out the up and coming hard rock band on their Instagram too from here.

Like this review? Follow us on Twitter for more!

Interviews & Features

“I want to melt the faces at home”: Brand new TV show ‘Amped’ is set to bring rock music to the masses

The pilot of the brand-new music show ‘Amped’ is set to be filmed in November this year at the Waterloo Music Bar in Blackpool, hosted by journalist Anne Estella and frontman Brad Marr.

Completely unscripted, the programme is designed to capture the energy and the atmosphere of a live rock show as well as put emerging young talent on centre stage. Amped is all about supporting and broadcasting up-and-coming UK rock, covering different branches of the genre.

“It’s all about the new talent”

The programme will feature three new wave rock bands in every episode. Filmed as a live gig with behind-the-scenes interviews, the show’s loose structure will allow viewers to get a down-to-earth perspective of bands and artists before, during and after their performance.

Anne Estella said: “Rock TV shows have been going since back in the day. We all grew up with one, anyone from my generation and older, but the current generation doesn’t have one. I want to see new rock bands on TV and so I made it my mission – that’s what I was going to do.”

“I’m hoping for a couple of surprises and something a little bit different than your average gig.”

With an extensive history in the music scene, Anne Estella described Brad Marr as the ideal partner to host with due to his interest and knowledge of the UK rock community.

Brad Marr has some background in radio and TV when he lived in Australia, but Amped is set to bring on a new and exciting dynamic for the singer.

Talking about the inspiration and the driving force behind Amped, Brad Marr said: “There’s social media, there’s YouTube. But what’s better than just having to search for it? Having a central location where you can click on and watch a TV show and find something new without having to search for it. We bring it to the people so that’s the reason.”

When asked why is now the right time for a rock show like Amped, Anne Estella said: “I feel there’s been a real evolution, especially in the UK, with a new wave of classic rock. It started in 2017 and it’s become a genre in itself which is incredible, and so many people are really backing it up. We’re seeing it now but it’s still a very small community compared to other genres, for example. Writing is something I’ve done for a long time and I’ve got my YouTube channel and Brad’s got his podcast. 

“I always felt there must be something more and now is the time to do it. We’ve got the most amazing talented bands over here. If not now, when are we going to do it? Now’s the time.”

“Every time you go there it feels like home”

The first episode of Amped will be filmed at the Waterloo Music Bar in Blackpool which is promoted as “a venue for musicians ran by musicians.”

Brad Marr said: “I think the Waterloo is perfect for what we’re doing because it’s a musicians bar run by musicians for musicians. Their entire set up is for musicians. They could make a lot more money if they spent more money on food or whatever they wanted to, but they want to be a band venue and that’s exactly what this TV show is about – supporting the bands. It’s a match made in heaven.

“I’ve made a lot of drunken bad decisions in the Waterloo many times and even though it’s a long way from home for me, every time you go there it feels like home because it’s a musician’s place. It’s exactly what musicians need when they’re on the road. It’s this cool home-like pub that you know supports musicians so it’s perfect for us.”

Want to get involved with Amped? You can.

In the future, there might even be an application process in place for bands, artists and their biggest fans worldwide to put new talent forward to be included in the programme.

Anne Estella said: “I don’t have any specific bands in mind. If they’re good they’re good, right? It can be a tiny band that nobody’s heard of or it can be bigger bands. I don’t want anyone too big because that’s not the point of the show. We want to be supportive of the up and coming talent. Each time for each episode I want it to be a nice selection of different styles within the rock genre which we definitely have for the pilot.”

Interviews & Features

Baby Strange: Loud and Direct indie rock music from Glasgow!

Baby Strange are a Scottish indie rock band from the wonderful city of Glasgow. The band have been going strong for nearly ten years and have gained quite the following in the UK due to their mashup of influences – be it rock, punk or even hip-hop. Frontman Johnny Madden describes their sound as ‘high energy, loud and direct.’ The three band members met at a community centre when they were kids, partaking in a seminar that encouraged children to get into music. It later inspired them to form the band Baby Strange. We got the chance to speak to them a little about their music, the industry today for a grassroots band and their plans for the future. 

May be an image of 2 people, people sitting and outdoors
Baby Strange’s Official Facebook

So, firstly, we had to ask the same question as we ask everyone we interview here at Overtone: What is the one song that Johnny Madden wished he had written?

“Teenage Kicks by The Undertones! Surely that’s everyone’s answer?”

Obviously the last year or so has been very hard on the music industry  with the seemingly endless stream of lockdowns. Baby Strange used the unusual time to produce their latest release.

“It was really weird at first. We’re used to making music together week in and week out so not being able to do that for a while was a strange feeling. We did write the majority of our new EP over lockdown though and we’re really happy with the way it’s turned out.

“There’s a lot of things [we miss] but one that comes to mind is walking out to a packed room and diving into the first song of the set and seeing the place go nuts. It’s a feeling I’ll never get tired of.”

Speaking more widely about the music industry, Johnny listed his most liked and disliked parts:

“We’ve never really seen ourselves as part of the industry to be honest. We just do our own thing, but the best thing about being in a band is getting to play in front of people every night on tour. We love being in the studio recording too, it gives us a real buzz.

“I wish bands and artists were given more time to grow and develop. It’s mostly a major label thing; you get signed, put out a few singles and if it’s not clicking straight away, you’re dropped. I’ve seen it happen too many times and I wish it was different.”

The band released their much-anticipated new EP, ‘Land of Nothing’, back in March of this year. Speaking about the experience, Johnny told us:

“It was recorded at Castle Of Doom studios in Glasgow with Chris Marshall. The major difference this time round was the location, we’d never recorded in Castle Of Doom before, it’s amazing.

‘’There’s Something There’ from our new EP is one of my favourites. Lyrically I pushed myself to talk about things I’d always hid from, such as my struggles with mental health in the past. It was quite freeing, putting pen to paper and doing that. Lyrics aside, the music is next level.”

They have an upcoming UK tour towards the end of the year which are the first shows they have been able to play in months. They also revealed to us that they are planning a European tour for the beginning of next year, although they were unable to divulge any specifics. Follow them on Facebook or Instagram to keep up to date with them and be the first to hear about their tour when they announce it!

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