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Interviews & Features

JOANovARC: ‘It’s a new era for the band’

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JOANovARC have had an up-and-down couple of years, be it through line-up changes or the state of the world that has caused so many issues in the music industry. However, the women came out to make a statement at Rockin’ The Bowl and that is exactly what they did. Heralding a new era for the band with the arrival of new frontwoman Hazel Jade Rogers, they proved they are ready for the big leagues.

We had the chance to speak to them after their set about their new line-up and what their plans are for the future, among other fun things too. Check it out down below!

How was the set?

Hazel: Wicked! It was really good. It was my first gig with JOANovARC and we are exclusively announcing to all of the interviewers today that I am officially the new singer!

How come you’re the new singer?

Hazel: The last singer moved to Greece and the previous singer got pregnant. So it’s one of those things! It really worked out. Originally I was only going to be temping for this gig and a gig we have tomorrow but we all click so well and it ended up working out that I ended up wanting to join and everyone wanted me to join so it just went well!

What about everyone else, have you been playing much lately or is this the first time you’ve played since COVID?

Shelly: Yeah, I guess it’s the first gig with Hazel since COVID but we do have a tour coming up in October.

Ellie: We gonna be joining VEGA on their UK tour alongside Revival Black so our first gig with them will be on the 9th of October at the Camden Underworld. We’re really looking forward to it and we’re with them for the whole tour as well so it’s going to be really fun!

Are you headed all over the UK then?

Hazel: Yep, and we’re driving everywhere!

Who’s the driver?

Hazel: We share it. I don’t drive, would you guys like me to try and drive on this tour and see what happens? I’ll end up crashing!

But no, it’s going to be cool to go on tour and we get to experience a bit of tour life with each other. But we all just click and I think that comes off on stage. A lot of people come to me and are like ‘wait, you’re a new member?’ I’m just the new funny thing in the band!

But yeah it’s going to be great! It’ll be super fun. It’s a star lineup with us and Revival Black and VEGA and it’s going to be feckin’ wicked.

Have you guys got a new album coming out or?

Shelly: Yeah we’ve got a new album but obviously it was the last singer so we’ve got an EP coming out with Hazel with some of the tracks from the new album so we’re really looking forward to that!

Hazel: Obviously everyone got a taster today of what JOANovARC’s new era is but we want them to have something to listen to so we’re going to create a little EP. It will be recorded and it will be released so it’s going to be really nice for the band to start their new journey.

Did you manage to get much done over the last 18 months then, were you working on the songs?

Keira: We did a lot of songwriting during the lockdowns. So I managed to write two songs and Ellie, as well as Shelly, have managed to come up with lyrics as well. So a lot of the material for the new album that we recorded, as well as the EP, has been during the time of the pandemic. I think it reflects the mood of what we were like during COVID and the lockdown and everything and we’ve just given a taste of what we’ve done, playing new songs.

Shelly: They started out as demos. We live in all parts of the country so what I was having to do is write demos on Logic Pro and send them to Keira to put her bass down, send them to Ellie to put her drums down and we had to create these demos and then when we could finally meet in the studio we really brought the songs to life. We had to do it that way; we had no other choice. But it was good, a different way of writing.

We’re not restricted completely. Two of our songs, ‘Isolation’ and ‘Invisible Enemy’ are about the whole COVID thing and being stuck indoors. We were literally writing about our situation at the time.

Hazel: I think one of the lyrics that stuck out to me particularly was ‘the pain of loosing someone from this life’. So many people have suffered from COVID and a lot of people have passed because of it so one thing with writing that’s so important to me is that you write lyrics that connect with others and have meaning. I think that is again something that is already in JOANovARC but is only going to get better with the new lineup!

Will you be putting your part forward for the lyrics, then?

Hazel: Oh yeah! I’ve already shown a couple of songs to the girls and they really like them so we’re gonna pursue that as well. Basically JOANovARC are not going to stop for the next while. We have so much going on with the tour and the photoshoots and the interviews and everything so we’re really thankful for that. This is what we do and this is what we love!

Does the EP have a different sound from an instrumental point of view too, as well as having a new singer?

Ellie: Yeah, it definitely sounds different to what we’ve done previously.

Keira: It’s heavier!

Shelly: I would say more intricate, too. We’ve got a track we played today today called ‘Silver Sun’ that’s very complex on the bass, playing lots of arpeggios and things like that. The fact of the matter is in this group there is an incredible singer now but also an incredible bassplayer and drummer too. They add a completely different dynamic and are very much into all sorts of styles.

Hazel: I was going to say, bands that have musicians who dip out and in of different genres are the best. You know, Queen was such a fantastic band because they did not allow the walls of genre to stop them! Keira’s amazing on the bass, she brings this funk element, and obviously Shelly brings the rock element and then I don’t know what you [Ellie] do but it sounds good! She does a good job on the drums and I think her nickname should be The Animal!

I just think the fact that we have different interests in music, as well as similar interests of course means that we’re all bringing something different. I don’t think you really listen to a rock band that has a funk bassist underneath, it’s cool!

Shelly: Hazel plays piano too, she’s a good pianist so there is another element there that can also come to the band later on. Every rock band has it’s great ballad and I can really see that happening with this band.

Hazel: Yeah, we’ll just roll a grand piano on for every gig… and I want a black sparkly one!

If you guys could collab with anyone, who would it be?

Hazel: I think we’d all be happy working with Halestorm. It’s really nice to see women in rock, especially really powerful musicians.

There are very few female acts on the lineup this weekend, how do you feel being one of the few?

Hazel: It’s… am I allowed to swear?

It’s a dickfest. A complete sausage party. And you know it gives me something to look at but I’d like a bit of everything. I think the fact that Doro is headlining tonight is amazing, that’s fantastic, what a thing! We could work with Doro!

I think it’d be great to work with another female act and the reason being that it pushes forth that we can do it just as well as men honey!

Keira: I also think as well because of the pandemic I think more bands are helping each other. We had an interview earlier where one band were promoting another band and vice versa. It was backwards and forwards, like you scratch my back I’ll scratch your back sort of thing. I think everyone’s released after the last 18 months that we al need to help each other. It’s not a rivalry at all.

Samantha, who was the original singer for JOANovARC, she’s just had a child but she’s now getting back into music. She’s asked me and Shelly to join her little side project so we’re helping her with that!

Shelly: I think where some bands go wrong is not helping others. It’s so important to help each other, you never know when you’re going to need someone’s help. My mum always said treat people how you want to be treated and you respect everyone, because you don’t know who they are.

Ellie: and it’s like if you [Shelly] said, if you come to a festival like this and you don’t know who that person is and you treat them like shit, that person could be a press person or a manager or a publisher, you just don’t have a clue.

Keira: We are very grateful for the support we’ve received these last couple of years, especially with the lineup changes but we’ve had really good reception from the crowd here today and that’s given us a new lease of life I think.

We do live in a generation now where we can give back to fans more than ever before. We’ve done Patreon and everything and we can give them something more exclusive and personal. Compared to previously where a band could come across as untouchable, you can watch them from a distance, with the internet it’s made it much easier for people who support the band to interact with them. I think we Patreon we can do that well, we can give something back. We’ve been recording and people can see that process and we give them goodies as well, it’s really great!

The image of the band: obviously you’re all wearing outlandish clothing, was that something you had done before, or is this something you have started now?

Shelly: We’re all individuals, we are what we are, and we just so happened to merge!

Hazel: We just merged into one ginormous blob! I think the point is that we dress like this every day. It’s not something we just switch on for our gigs, we enjoy dressing this way, we love doing it. I have the typical overblown closet and I’ve seen Keira’s and everything is in plastic wrap and it’s really neat and everything and I’m sitting there like ‘how the hell do you do it?’. But the point is that we all enjoy the style of the band and as Shelly said, we wear what we want to wear and it just so happens to look good!

I think we’re trying to go for more of an alternative look, the whole band has always had that sort of look, they’ve just been moulding it properly, perfecting it. As I said, new era of JOANovARC.

Have you got anything coming up apart from the tour that you’d like to plug?

Keira: Monster Fest in Inverness in November.

Shelly: And the Great British Rock Festival in January. We won a competition last year so we’re on the mains stage!

And there we have it, JOANovARC are ready to take over the UK rock scene, if not the world in general! We cannot wait to hear what they do next, be it the EP and their tour in November, we will be there for all of it!

Did you like our interview? Why don’t you check out our review of the festival as a whole here.

Interviews & Features

CANVAS: ‘We aim to bring a stadium-like sound to every record we make!’

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CANVAS are an experimental rock band from the US. We managed to talk to the band over the weekend to discuss the bands latest single, their sound in general and their hopeful plans for the future!

CANVAS’ Official Facebook

First, congrats on your single! How was it writing and recording it? Has it been received well?

Thanks! It was one of those songs that kind of fell to us in terms of the creative process. From inception to the final product, the song writing and recording components were quite seamless. Our fans haven’t heard this kind of a funk sound from us before, but we’re happy to say it’s being received very well.

Is it going to be part of a full album or rather just a stand-alone single?

Jealousy is a stand-alone single. We realize we live in a singles-driven industry currently; however, we are working on an album slated for a 2022 release.

For our readers who aren’t familiar with your music, how would you describe yourselves?

Experimental is always the word that comes to mind first. We also aim to bring a stadium-like sound to every record we make.

How has it been for you coping over the last year and a half of restrictions? Obviously it’s been a little different where you are!

It has certainly been tough. The silver lining here is that we had more time to create music and build up our library of records. The pandemic is a big reason for the upcoming album as it gave us the extra time to conceptualize a theme and create meaningful records.

What is your favourite thing about the music business?

The Music. Least favorite: The Business.

If there was one song that you wish you could have written, what would that be?

Bohemian Rhapsody.

Plans for the future?

 We will be releasing our first album in 2022, which we are extremely excited about. The project will be a culmination of everything we have aspired to achieve with our sound as a band. Leading up to our album, we will be releasing singles and visuals on a consistent basis. Of course, we are also looking forward to playing live again!

You can check out the band also on their Instagram here to keep up to date with them and see when the album they mentioned gets a solid release date!

Did you enjoy our interview? Keep up to date on all of them from our Instagram here.

Interviews & Features

Bastette: ‘There is No Point in Trying to be What has Already Been’

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Bastette have really gained a lot of momentum this year, but who could blame them after a year and a half of being stuck inside? They returned to Sheffield with a vengeance a couple of weeks ago, playing an incredible set to open up Rockin’ The Bowl festival. We got the chance to speak to Caroline, the frontwoman of the band, after their set to get a better feeling of where the band are heading and chat about their latest EP release.

Bastette’s Official Facebook

How was the set?

It was fab! It was great to be on a big stage in front of a load of people. Rockin’ The Bowl is a great festival and what better way to come back to live music!

We haven’t played the festival before. We were just getting going and then COVID hit. We’re back to it now, we’re back rolling with gigs and this is the first festival we’ve actually done since COVID.

Are you on tour now?

We’re going on tour with Marisa and the Moths in November. Our next gig is with Massive Wagons in Liverpool and then we have gigs through October but I wouldn’t call it a tour, then we go on tour mid-November.

I don’t think we’re in Sheffield again but we are in Leeds next year! We are stopping in the likes of Reading, Nottingham, Bradford (which isn’t too far) and the dates just keep rolling then!

You’ve said you’ve had a couple of gigs back, how have they been? Have you struggled to get going again?

Not really! Straight out of the gate, lets go baby, lets go! I know that other people have been apprehensive and that is a perfectly fine reaction but from my point of view I was climbing the walls like ‘let me at it!’

How would you describe your sound? It sounds a fair bit different from a lot of the bands on the bill!

Well it’s pop-rock or rock-pop depending on the song you listen to. I have never tried to sound like another artist, I like to take influence from lots of different artists and mash them together. [An example would be] Lady Gaga and Halestorm. But also if you listen to the early Bastette stuff there’s a bit of country influence there. I wouldn’t say there is in the newer stuff but the first EP there was definitely some Shinia Twain! There is no point in trying to be what has already been, because what has already been is the best it’s going to be. Can you beat Aerosmith and Guns N’Roses? No, because they are the best. So you have to try and be yourself, which is what I’m trying to do with the music being created.

Unfortunately you are one of the few female artists during the weekend. How has it been?

I mean it is what it is and you’ve got to look at the audience and look at the amount of male bands vs the amount of female bands. If you look at the percentage of male bands in the rock world it’s maybe… let’s say it’s 70% vs the 30% female. But, at the end of the day, females are getting their voice still heard and they are getting out there but you just have to push. You have to be louder than everyone else and that is what I’m trying to do! You’ve gotta have something that people go ‘Damn, I wanna watch/listen to that!’ I think there is a stigma around all the male vs female stuff and there is sexism in the industry, there is, but we’ve fought it before and we’ll fight it now. I don’t see myself, as a woman, as being disadvantaged because I look at it and go ‘well have I not worked for it? Have I not tried just as hard as everyone else?’ So you’ve just got to keep on trying. If there are obstacles you move past them.

How was the recording the EP?

It was strange because half of it was recorded before lockdown and it had different songs and we were just ready to go with it but we couldn’t do the videos. It was like there wasn’t much point; if you can make the videos and you can have a good of it and you can have a plan, it’s better to have it planned out. I got involved with Rock People Management throughout lockdown and Terrie’s great, she’s really helped guide me through properly releasing and getting rolling. So the new videos are hopefully better than the last, the new songs are hopefully better than the last – you’ve just gotta keep progressing and keep rolling.

Is there a particular theme for this EP?

It’s called ‘Bastette: Exposed’, so I’m exposing my life to you, darling! It’s about confronting things that have happened in your life that have dragged your down, made you feel bad, and accepting it and moving on with it. I suppose it’s about being a bit more vulnerable and there are certain songs where you’re taking back the power from feeling crushed.

We really received some awesome, optimistic words from Caroline. You can order their latest EP from their website and check out their tour listing there too. The band are not to be missed, so I would seriously consider checking them out if they are playing nearby!

Did you enjoy our interview? Check out more of them here.

Interviews & Features

The Angel All-Dayer at Nottingham

Last Saturday saw a heavy line up at Nottingham’s infamous little venue, The Angel Microbrewery. On the bill were Cave Killer, Black Mass, Altered, CottonMouth, Those Once Loyal, Bad Llama (a personal favourite band name of the night) and Micreant. By the band names alone, you can see what type of music the crowd were up for.

The venue itself is not what I expected – for a microbrewery there was a lot of people in the main bar, sectioned off side rooms, outside area and upstairs in the live music room. The outdoor area, although small, is brought to life with colourful graffiti – giving it a more modern vibe compared to the rest of the building. Similarly, the venue upstairs – “The Chapel” – gives credit to it’s name with some original features in the building’s structure but it has been revamped for today’s scene. It was a surprising little gem in Nottingham’s city centre, complimented by the friendly bar staff, and would be worth a visit if you fancied a taste of the local music scene.

Altered were only scheduled to perform a day before the event, filling in for a band on the list last minute. To say they had 24 hours to prepare and it was only their second gig back since the pandemic, they did an incredible job of performing as a tight band. Off stage, Altered are a friendly group of guys who seem like they genuinely get on. It would have been nice to see some more of their personality and band interaction whilst on stage, but that was probably limited due to their performance slot – with just half an hour to impress a crowd, it can be difficult to make everything fit. Their set featured mostly heavy vocals with the occasional clean line but unfortunately this was a little difficult to hear with the sound level mix of instruments – a reoccurring theme for the entire night. Overall, they had a great performance with a lot of appreciation from the crowd and, if you’re into a heavy scene then they’re definitely a band to see live.

We spoke to Altered about their set and what they’ve been up to recently.

How was the band during the pandemic?

“In general it was very nightmareish – I imagine for all of us because you can’t exactly get stuck in doing what you enjoy like getting out gigging, making a name for yourself. But it didn’t hinder any of the writing processes. There was still a lot happening in the background. Just because you weren’t able to get onto a stage doesn’t mean you couldn’t do anything at all.”

“The main thing that came out of it was that we had two members leave and two members join straight after and they’re very involved, a very good fit. And it gave them the opportunity to learn all of the material as well really. So the first time we met them was actually doing our first music video. We had seen them on video call but the first time we met as getting this video booked in, meeting each other and then driving off into some field to do a video.”

“So it was kind of a gift and a curse, lockdown.”

“It did make things better in the long run but at first it was a bit like ‘where’s this going?’ Some doors close, others open.

How did you end up on the line-up?

“Last night we got a message from our manager and they asked us to play it and we thought why not because we were coming to see Miscreant anyway.”

Are you guys on tour now?

“We’ve had talks of a short thing happening next year but nothing crazy. It’s just a weekend but we’re touring with a band that we’ve shown a little bit of interest in them and they’ve shown a little bit of interest in us. So we’ll see how that goes. A band called Seventh Sea! I’d say we’re quite similar. It’s a good line up. We are similar but they’ve got their own thing and we’ve got our own thing. We’ve also got a show in Huddersfield on the 26th September and that should be good.

So with your new line up and gigs coming up, does that mean we can expect new music soon?

“Oh absolutely yeah. We don’t have an exact date yet but it should be this year and it should definitely be some time soon. You can expect a lot of energy and a lot of emotion. I try to connect with my audience vocally. Try and reciprocate their feelings with my own. Fairly original but familiar as well. We all have our own inputs into what we write and there’s nobody in this band saying ‘you shouldn’t do this and you shouldn’t do this.’ It’s like ‘here’s what we’ve got, bring something to the table.’ I feed my own emotional experience into the lyrics but I also try and write them in such a vague manner that anybody could interpret it, put it to their own circumstances and it would still make sense. That’s the type of vibe I go for. Everybody brings something to the table. That’s why I think we’re quite unique. A lot of the time maybe it’s own or two people but we really try to include everyone in the writing process.”

CottonMouth’s Official Facebook

Next on the line up were CottonMouth. Initially, they opened with a Black Sabbath style riff with a doom rock kind of vibe. This changed throughout their set and sometimes fell more into the metal genre – I genuinely wouldn’t be able to pin point their sound. They featured more clean vocals than any other band on the set but again this was slightly ruined by the mix of instruments. The vocalist had a nice gritty sound to their tone without ruining their range. All members of the band were excellent and performed tightly. With just five singles out, I would be interested in hearing an album with a few slower tracks – I can picture them performing an awesome a rock/metal ballad.

Miscreant

Miscreant were the headlining band for the Angel’s day of arguably death-core artists. We spoke to the band before their set to find out more about what they’ve been up to and what we can expect.

Are you on tour at the moment?

“We’re playing here and there. Waiting for everything to get back after Covid I think. So it’s been pretty up and down. There’s people booking things and then getting cancelled so we’re just getting rid of a bit of stage rust right now and getting back into the swing of things finally.”

How did you find it during the pandemic?

“We didn’t really practice but we were working on new stuff. I was find being in the house during the pandemic to be honest. A bit of me time for a year and a half, I loved it.”

“We got practicing on our own stuff.”

“We became better individual musicians so when we got back in the rehearsal room and for first practice it was there straight away.”

Does this mean we can expect new music?

“During the pandemic we were in the studio so we’ve got a couple of singles that will be coming out at the start of next year.”

“We also did a music video for one of the singles and some promos recently as well.”

“We’ve been busy. We’ve also got another project. We’ve been working on a lot of new music.”

How did you find the writing process during the pandemic compared to normality?

“I think we were alright individually anyway and then we collaborate with our producer. Our singer does the majority of the lyrics, vocal melodies and stuff. So there’s a lot of back and forth between him and our producer which is normally done sort of online anyway. It’s normally virtual so it’s been pretty much just the same.”

You’ve had a new bass player! How have you found joining the band?

“It’s been good so far. I’ve known the guys for years anyway since the first EP, seven years now, so it felt quite natural. It used to mainly be a guitarist and then it just happened that these guys needed a bass player so I filled in. After one gig I was asked to join. It’s been fun.”

Do you have anything coming up?

“We have a Nottingham show in December with InVisions at Ye Old Salutation. We get on with InVisions, we’re on the same record label.

What do you do and don’t like about the music industry right now?

“I’d say it’s over diluted now I think. Fifteen years ago when I first started, there was a mystery behind local bands and you could get into local newspapers and stuff. And now it’s everywhere over social media, it’s kind of diluted it. Streaming sort of killed the amount of money you can make off it. I think it’s down the toilet to be honest. The music industry needs a serious injection of something but I don’t know what.”

“Although, at the same time, it is bouncing back at the minute because of Covid. Loads more people are going out to restaurants so I think that might be translated to the music industry. People are more up for going out now because they haven’t been for ages. So maybe that could bring it back a little bit.”

“Not going to shows was probably one of the hardest things [during the pandemic.] It’s where everyone gets together and has a good time. Obviously, 18 months without that is rough. And then with all the uncertainty when a gig is planned it’s like ‘will it go ahead or will it get cancelled?’ You just don’t know. So I think that’s the rough part with Covid and the music industry but it is bouncing back and it’s just refreshing.”

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Interviews & Features

Daxx and Roxane: Rockin’ The Bowl, their origins and what’s next!

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Blues/hard rock quartet Daxx and Roxane have been making waves in the UK music scene the last couple of years or so due to their classic sound, awesome hooks and fantastic musicianship. We got the chance to catch them at Rockin’ The Bowl and they were utterly fantastic (full review of the event here). We also had the privilege of chatting to the guys after their set and get a little bit of insight into who they are and what they aim to achieve in the years to come!

Daxx and Roxane’s Official Facebook

How was the set?

The set was amazing. We only played half an hour but it was really really good. It felt longer because it was intense from the start. The crowd was awesome today. We played quite early and when you play early you think are they going to be up for it, but the people were super cool and really into it so it was really nice. I think everyone is just so happy to be at a festival.

So you guys are originally from Switzerland, did you move over here for gigs?

We moved over about eight years ago. In Switzerland we were a band for around five years as a thrash/metal band and we moved over here because the gigging scene was really appealing to us and we always wanted to move to London. And when we got here, we got more into the rock vibe and we’ve been here ever since. We would love to go back to Switzerland to play and we’re talking to some venues to try and do something because it has been way too long. We’ll go back for sure.

What have you been up to post lockdown this year?

In December we are doing a two week tour all around the UK with another Swiss band who are also doing quite a lot of shows in the UK, called the Dirty Sound Magnet. We met them two years ago and just thought lets do a tour together so we really cannot wait to be on the road just for a proper tour. That’ll be the first tour after a year and a half.

Did the pandemic disrupt any of your plans? What have you been up to during lockdowns?

Our tour was cut short. We had a tour planned for our album launch back in 2020 and the tour was right when lockdowns happened so we did our last gig 3 days before the lockdown and then that was it. So we’ve not been gigging very much since the pandemic. We had one gig last year but now since August we’ve been back and it’s been awesome. We’ve been working a lot on our EP that we want to release next year. In the meantime, we’ve been working on some new material because obviously we don’t want to have only two albums.

What can we expect from your new music?

It’s a bit heavier. It’s the same style of music but just a bit heavier with the sound. We’ve been working a lot more on the actual sound of our instruments because we always wanted to find that really heavy sound that we like. We love our first album but we always thought that we sounded a bit heavier live and that’s what we’ve been trying to reproduce over the last year with the second album. And now we want to do it a bit louder!

So the next time you’re playing semi-locally is Nottingham in December!

Yes at Billy Bootleggers! It’s a bit more on the side, a bit more underground. It should be cool.

If you could play any festival next year, where would you play?

Ramblin’ Man would be one we would love to play at. There’s such a cool atmosphere over there. Everyone is super chill. We’ve been looking forward to play Heretic Fest. We were so excited when we first got booked on and then it got pushed back and pushed back. It’s finally happening, next year, but it’s finally happening and it’ll be just awesome. It’s a very good line-up. Three days of awesome bands. We’re very proud to be part of it. Sheffield is a great city for rock. Every time we’ve played in Sheffield, it’s always super cool and we always tend to get more drunk in Sheffield than any other cities.

The awesome Daxx and Roxane are gunning for Ramblin’ Man in 2022! But before then, you can see them in plenty of places up and down the country, be it back in Sheffield for Heretic Fest or on their tour at the end of the year.

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Interviews & Features

Sershen and Zaritskaya: how the band create their killer covers and new music on the way

Sershen and Zaritskaya have blown up on YouTube for their quality productions, taking on some classic rock tracks we all know and love as well as taking the occasional modern song and making it their own.

We spoke to the group’s front woman Daria Zaritskaya to get some insight to the band’s music and future plans.

How did the band come together?

We started as a duo with Sergey. Alex and Dmitriy (bassist and drummer) joined us later. They used to play with Sergey in another band.

How do you decide what songs to cover?

First and foremost we have to like the song. Our choice is never based on what’s on hype right now because we believe that art has to be sincere. If you only choose songs that are hot right now and only worried about how many views you’ll get, it’s a failure. The only thing you have to be worried about is a good result. It’s a win win situation when a song is both popular and we like it. But we’re a bit bored of making covers at this point so we’re shifting to the original material soon. It’s in the works.

Will you be going on tour? Did the pandemic affect your plans?

The pandemic didn’t hit use that much but it pretty much froze the whole touring thing. So we’re kinda on pause until we’re ready with our own material.

Any hints as to what your next few covers will be?

Next two covers are both collabs with other YouTubers. One is an upbeat hard rock song and the other one is a very sensual ballad. I’m so excited for both of these.

How was it working on collabs with Halocene?

Working with Halocene was an amazing experience. They’re all very talented musicians and nice people.

Which cover has been your favourite so far?

My personal favourites are ‘Come Together’ and ‘Stayin’ Alive.’ Pretty much because they sound very unlike the originals and the whole vibe is just different. And probably Ghostbusters – one we did specifically for Halloween. The video is cringy (on purpose) but it was hella fun to make and it sounds very different from the original which once again is a good thing for me. I appreciate a creative twist.

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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.