Brand new tricks, the Bohemia stage and The Beatles:
Rhiannon Marley chats with Sylosis at The Underworld, Camden
Sylosis are in the Underworld. No Grecian Gods or three-headed dogs, please. It's Camden Town. Evidently, they're here for a reason. And battling past the horde of youths winding around the corner outside, awaiting access, drowned in black and eyeliner-ed up to the nines, I conclude that it must be a good one. When these young ladies and gents realise I'm heading inside already, presumably for something important, their eyes follow me like those of starving children to an Ocado delivery. I almost feel as sorry as I might for those starving children. But let's get a sense of perspective, here...
Indeed, Sylosis are here for a good reason. That reason is the last date of the UK-major-city-spanning 'Metal Hammer Razor Tour 2011', to showcase the pre-order release of merch, music and other morsels centred around their new album, 'Edge of the Earth' – officially unleashed for claws and demon-paws this March. Signed to Nuclear Blast Records, fans will have chronicled their ascent to the public eye since joining the label at the end of 2007. First full-length studio album, "Conclusion of an Age", upon its release a year later, secured them as festival-favourites, and pitched the quartet to metal's media moguls as credible, talented sparks, of potential impact of meteoritic proportions, if cultivated and promoted correctly. And over 10,400 Facebook fans can't all be wrong, can they? For sure, Sylosis have every reason to smile about their new baby. Just don't ask them if they've had a rest in-between.
"We were on tour constantly throughout the whole process, so we didn't really have a break...", vocalist/guitarist, and freshly-appointed frontman since May 2010 Josh Middleton, muses, "So I mean, it was split up, we started [Edge of the Earth] in about 2009, had our tours...then back in the studio...then more tours...so we didn't stop really, no hiatus involved."
I'm a little shocked. Having said that, it's easy to forget that although Sylosis aren't, at present, on the tip of every metaller's tongue in the way that, say, Iron Maiden or Metallica are, they're still signed. And doing splendidly for themselves. When you're surrounded by a network of city-dwelling unsigned bands climbing the ladder, most of whose egos are gargantuan despite lack of warrant, you're pretty blind to what goes on between that primitive stage, and selling out Madison Square Garden. Or at least, doing as well as Sylosis.
I ask if they feel that 'Edge of the Earth' has evolved them as a band – casually dropping in that I've been checking out their early EPs. I didn't realise they were so well-documented on Spotify. Josh, now seemingly the designated speaker, as well as frontman of the band, wishes he could scrap the evidence...
"I'd like to see the EPs removed, to be honest!"
I laugh out loud.
Josh (J): "I'd rather there was nothing there!"
Rhiannon Marley (RM): "Why? Are you very different now?"
J: "Oh, we've definitely changed, I think."
RM: "How so?"
J: "More mature, musically more mature. Like, it's heavier, but just not quite as...kiddie-metal."
And what about the other fellows? After all, I'm not just joined by Josh; there's drummer Rob Callard and bassist Carl Parnell to make up the number, too. I'm sure they can speak up for themselves...
Carl (C): "I'm liking the new stuff a lot more. I did like the old stuff, but, y'know..."
Rob (R): "It's a bit darker, I think."
So, they're dimming the lights musically for 2011's dinosaur. But in terms of their lyrical content, they take no prisoners with their grandiose themes. This has grown into something of a signature since even the days of "The Supreme Oppressor", their 2007 EP. With lines from said record including, and I quote, "We fight for existence,/Preservation and survival", and pessimistic slices from 2008's 'Conclusion of an Age' offering: "Blood is spilt for centuries/Lawlessness, mobocracy", it's no small wonder to see the trend is still going strong throughout the latest creation. Pretty intense. Do Sylosis bring to bear any other interests besides music in their lyric-writing, perhaps? Philosophically? Scientifically? Personally?
J: "Err...A little bit...Like, the whole of the new album's a concept album. It's a story about someone living in isolation, so most of it relates to personal stuff. But it doesn't read like a story; it rides the line between being like a story, and every song having something individual."
RM: "So do you feel that it thematically 'fits' together?"
J: "Yeah, it's just easier when you're writing to know where you're aiming for, and have, like, a story to help tie it all together."
I attempt to coax a response from the other two.
C: "Err...There could be..." (Laughs)
Well, uncertainty is something we all have to battle with from time to time. As musicians, though, I'm interested in delving deeper. I ask if there are certain things which make the hair stand up on the backs of their necks. Y'know...if they get the 'tingles' when they hear a particular sonic sorcery.
They collectively seem to think so.
So what is it that makes them get like that? Do they think they use whatever it is themselves, in their work in Sylosis?
J: "...A bit...Yeah, the last thing that made me feel like that was the soundtrack to 'Inception'..."
RM: "Ahh! Did you watch the film?"
J: "Yeah, yeah. Loved it. Um...Yeah, just stuff like that."
R: "Tons of layers. Can't really think of any other bands or influences at the moment, but..."
RM: "Is it more of a style of music that gives you those 'tingles', or is it a technique?"
J: "Just...power, I guess, like, emotional power, that makes you feel something."
RM: "If it's really intense, or highly-charged?"
Sylosis (All): "Yeah, absolutely."
I always think that's an interesting question to ask anyone. A lot of people whom you press don't really 'get it'. Even if they call themselves musicians. So it's great to see the gents' attachment to their art. On another note, many will be aware that Sylosis supported iron-balled heavyweights Fear Factory, on their European comeback tour in February last year – just before the Factory's appearance at Sonisphere Knebworth 2010. Bearing in mind, of course, this was also just after the release of Fear Factory's seventh studio album, 'Mechanize' – the first to feature original guitarist and founding member, Dino Cazares, since 'Digimortal', and Texan drum-whiz Gene Hoglan, of Devin Townsend, Dethklok and Testament success, to name but a few. How did they find sharing a stage with the big FF?
C: "Err...Overwhelming."
RM: "Really? Are they a big influence of yours?"
C: "Err...Wouldn't say that..."
R: "Well, we were a bit nervous, going out on it, but the first night, it was good fun; we enjoyed it, big crowd..."
C: "They 'dug' us..."
Well, that's got to be alright, if they're fighting alongside the big lions, and the crowd doesn't think Sylosis are too bad, either. But it seems Rob was content enough to be in the presence of legendary blast-beater, Hoglan...
"He's just ridiculous...so it was cool, warming up for him. I was bumming it the whole time."
And what did they think of 'Mechanize'? Be honest...
J: "Haven't heard it...I mean, we heard a few songs on tour..."
As a matter of fact, the album did fairly well in popular magazine polls; it was listed in Metal Hammer's and Classic Rock's 'Top 50 albums of 2010', and was described by Metal Hammer editor Alexander Milas as "an indispensable return by one of metal's defining voices", at a score of 8/10. For any Fear Factory fans glancing on by who haven't already, it's worth checking out.
Of course, 'Edge of the Earth' is ever loyal to the technical standard set by 'Conclusion of an Age': rhythmically tight, and impeccably accurate. Actually, the style itself requires such precision, it's easy for individual groups to slip into robotisation. How do the boys go about injecting passion and feeling into their playing, to avoid it sounding too clinical?
R: "...Having me as a drummer...to fluctuate all the time...to keep the tempo..."
RM: (Laughs) "...And what about the rest of you?"
J: "I think, for the album, the production helped. We deliberately made it sound a bit more raw, and not as technical or robotic. But err...I guess when you're writing, just write what feels natural, instead of trying to be technical. Like, the only reason we are so technical is because we play on our instruments for so long, and it comes out naturally. But we don't really try to be a technical band. I think we're just on the right side of being underneath 'Tech-Metal'. Just about, maybe."
Alongside supporting Fear Factory, Sylosis have been making a name for themselves over the last two years through appearances at some of Europe's finest metal festivals: notably Sonisphere Knebworth, and Download, Donington. When Shakespeare spoke of "such stuff as dreams are made on" in The Tempest, even he would have had to agree that said description just doesn't cover what an experience like that would mean to up-and-coming unsigned bands, hoping to follow suit with Sylosis. Carl describes the escapades as "bloody good"...but does that really do them justice? How would they summarise those times, if they were, say, speaking to themselves a few years ago, before they'd made the headway of the Sylosis of 2011?
C: "Well, overwhelming again, but the first Download and Sonisphere we did, and the second Sonisphere as well, it was all overwhelming, just in terms of the response, because every single time, we haven't expected the response we got..."
J: "We expected it to be like, maybe half full, because the band before us, everyone would be like: (Pulls unimpressed face), maybe half full, and then we'll walk out and get the same, and then we walk out, and it's heaving."
C: "The last Sonisphere we just did, last year, was, um, max capacity; like, they wouldn't let anyone in the tent, like, even our booking agent had to get escorted in by security..."
RM: "Really?"
R: "But then, they read it, and they were like..." (Widens eyes)
But naturally, I suggest, it's about playing the right festival for the genre, isn't it? Who was their favourite at Sonisphere last year? Lots of 'umm-ing' and 'arr-ing' follows.
J: "I don't know if I watched it, actually..."
RM: "What?! You didn't watch [Iron] Maiden?!"
J: "We might have left by then..."
R: "No, we definitely watched some bands, we watched a bit of Razorlight..."
We like a bit of fun-poking...
J: "We watched a bit of Rinoa, a friend's band... But the year before that, Mastodon, I can remember that being good, but I can't think to last year."
R: "What was it, Slipknot last year?"
RM: "I think they're headlining this year, aren't they? Sonisphere again, with...um...Biffy Clyro..."
We share a mildly condescending snigger. Well, didn't we just say something about 'the right festival for the genre...'? Since Sylosis have already caused such a stir atop the likes of the Bohemia and Tuborg stages, we can now, as Carl informs me, thrash our heads, swill some beer, and catch them on the bill of such big 2011 jobs as "Hammerfest in a few weeks, Summer Breeze, Paris Extreme Festival and Brutal Assault, too". Not bad at all. But probing Sylosis professionally is all very well. It's the mandatory requirement for anyone doing my job. I want to find out about them creatively. This has got to be one for Josh, the only guitarist present. If he could choose his top three guitarists, who would they be?
J: "Err... Dimebag Darrell."
RM: "Oh, but that's the easy option, isn't it?! Come on."
J: "(Laughs) Ok, err...at the moment, David Gilmour, and James Hetfield."
Very different choices, and yet both credited highly in their own ways. Well, let's face it, I say: James Hetfield is the only guitarist in Metallica...
Ok. Let's shift the lens. Let's see what the hunted thinks of what the hunter has to say. The hunted? The artist. The hunter? Writers. I wonder what would be the best and the worst thing that a critic could say about Sylosis...
J: "Err... we're not fans of being tagged as 'Metal-Core'."
C: "Or just comparing us to bands that we obviously don't sound anything like. I think it's a kind of laziness."
J: "...And then we get tagged into...I don't know if it's for younger readers, or sometimes young reviewers, but because, like, we're influenced by stuff before our time, like Death and early Sepultura stuff, that we get compared to just all the modern bands that we don't feel anything associated with. Like we get tagged as 'Metal-Core' all the time; we don't do any hard-core or metal-core."
RM: "Well, how would you describe yourselves then? If you don't want to get lumped in with metal-core?"
J: "Thrash, mainly. Like, old-school thrash, but trying to do our own unique thing with it. More aggressive influences."
It's true: with marketable, sophisticated musical bait to throw to 2011's titanium piranhas, and a rapidly-strengthening fan-base as the magic carpet to help them on their way to the stars, Sylosis are doing their own unique thing...in a way. Sure, it's a formula we've heard time and again, but there's a sound explanation for this: it works. And now, it appeals to a fresh generation, of fresh passion and intensity. In other words, their ability to hook a young audience provides the perfect canvas upon which those 'aggressive influences' of Sylosis can be liberally splashed. And yet, their credentials as musicians strike a metaphorical chord with veteran Metalheads and established players, while their sophomore studio effort itself demonstrates structure, texture, practical depth and dexterity, and all the evident by-products of an increasingly-refined and complex writing style.
I offer a couple more brain-pickers for each of them before wrapping up the interview: if they could play with any musician of specifically their own instrument, live or dead, who would it be? Josh is still opting for the late, great Mr. Darrell Lance Abbott, but drummer Rob has less predictable ideas for his choice...
R: "I'd like to have a nerd-session with Benny Greb; he's a German drummer, because he's doing the sort of stuff that I want to try and...start reaching out to. He's just intensely good."
And of course, I can't resist the all-time classic: Desert-Island Disc. I receive a kaleidoscope of answers: everything from Metallica's 'And Justice For All' and Mastodon's 'Crack the Sky', to Gojira's 'Mars to Sirius', and even Pink Floyd's 'Wish You Were Here'..."just because it's diverse", insists Josh. But what about Carl?
C: "The Best of the Beatles...3 disc..."
RM: "Seriously? Or a slither of a joke?"
C: "About 50/50..."
...And if Berkshire's own brutal boys retain a sense of humour and a pinch of irony about the whole thing, the Edge of the musical Earth really could be theirs. Just ask the flood of horn-throwing warriors ready to break the dam of the front door upstairs.
Rhiannon Marley chats with Sylosis at The Underworld, Camden
Sylosis are in the Underworld. No Grecian Gods or three-headed dogs, please. It's Camden Town. Evidently, they're here for a reason. And battling past the horde of youths winding around the corner outside, awaiting access, drowned in black and eyeliner-ed up to the nines, I conclude that it must be a good one. When these young ladies and gents realise I'm heading inside already, presumably for something important, their eyes follow me like those of starving children to an Ocado delivery. I almost feel as sorry as I might for those starving children. But let's get a sense of perspective, here...
Indeed, Sylosis are here for a good reason. That reason is the last date of the UK-major-city-spanning 'Metal Hammer Razor Tour 2011', to showcase the pre-order release of merch, music and other morsels centred around their new album, 'Edge of the Earth' – officially unleashed for claws and demon-paws this March. Signed to Nuclear Blast Records, fans will have chronicled their ascent to the public eye since joining the label at the end of 2007. First full-length studio album, "Conclusion of an Age", upon its release a year later, secured them as festival-favourites, and pitched the quartet to metal's media moguls as credible, talented sparks, of potential impact of meteoritic proportions, if cultivated and promoted correctly. And over 10,400 Facebook fans can't all be wrong, can they? For sure, Sylosis have every reason to smile about their new baby. Just don't ask them if they've had a rest in-between.
"We were on tour constantly throughout the whole process, so we didn't really have a break...", vocalist/guitarist, and freshly-appointed frontman since May 2010 Josh Middleton, muses, "So I mean, it was split up, we started [Edge of the Earth] in about 2009, had our tours...then back in the studio...then more tours...so we didn't stop really, no hiatus involved."
I'm a little shocked. Having said that, it's easy to forget that although Sylosis aren't, at present, on the tip of every metaller's tongue in the way that, say, Iron Maiden or Metallica are, they're still signed. And doing splendidly for themselves. When you're surrounded by a network of city-dwelling unsigned bands climbing the ladder, most of whose egos are gargantuan despite lack of warrant, you're pretty blind to what goes on between that primitive stage, and selling out Madison Square Garden. Or at least, doing as well as Sylosis.
I ask if they feel that 'Edge of the Earth' has evolved them as a band – casually dropping in that I've been checking out their early EPs. I didn't realise they were so well-documented on Spotify. Josh, now seemingly the designated speaker, as well as frontman of the band, wishes he could scrap the evidence...
"I'd like to see the EPs removed, to be honest!"
I laugh out loud.
Josh (J): "I'd rather there was nothing there!"
Rhiannon Marley (RM): "Why? Are you very different now?"
J: "Oh, we've definitely changed, I think."
RM: "How so?"
J: "More mature, musically more mature. Like, it's heavier, but just not quite as...kiddie-metal."
And what about the other fellows? After all, I'm not just joined by Josh; there's drummer Rob Callard and bassist Carl Parnell to make up the number, too. I'm sure they can speak up for themselves...
Carl (C): "I'm liking the new stuff a lot more. I did like the old stuff, but, y'know..."
Rob (R): "It's a bit darker, I think."
So, they're dimming the lights musically for 2011's dinosaur. But in terms of their lyrical content, they take no prisoners with their grandiose themes. This has grown into something of a signature since even the days of "The Supreme Oppressor", their 2007 EP. With lines from said record including, and I quote, "We fight for existence,/Preservation and survival", and pessimistic slices from 2008's 'Conclusion of an Age' offering: "Blood is spilt for centuries/Lawlessness, mobocracy", it's no small wonder to see the trend is still going strong throughout the latest creation. Pretty intense. Do Sylosis bring to bear any other interests besides music in their lyric-writing, perhaps? Philosophically? Scientifically? Personally?
J: "Err...A little bit...Like, the whole of the new album's a concept album. It's a story about someone living in isolation, so most of it relates to personal stuff. But it doesn't read like a story; it rides the line between being like a story, and every song having something individual."
RM: "So do you feel that it thematically 'fits' together?"
J: "Yeah, it's just easier when you're writing to know where you're aiming for, and have, like, a story to help tie it all together."
I attempt to coax a response from the other two.
C: "Err...There could be..." (Laughs)
Well, uncertainty is something we all have to battle with from time to time. As musicians, though, I'm interested in delving deeper. I ask if there are certain things which make the hair stand up on the backs of their necks. Y'know...if they get the 'tingles' when they hear a particular sonic sorcery.
They collectively seem to think so.
So what is it that makes them get like that? Do they think they use whatever it is themselves, in their work in Sylosis?
J: "...A bit...Yeah, the last thing that made me feel like that was the soundtrack to 'Inception'..."
RM: "Ahh! Did you watch the film?"
J: "Yeah, yeah. Loved it. Um...Yeah, just stuff like that."
R: "Tons of layers. Can't really think of any other bands or influences at the moment, but..."
RM: "Is it more of a style of music that gives you those 'tingles', or is it a technique?"
J: "Just...power, I guess, like, emotional power, that makes you feel something."
RM: "If it's really intense, or highly-charged?"
Sylosis (All): "Yeah, absolutely."
I always think that's an interesting question to ask anyone. A lot of people whom you press don't really 'get it'. Even if they call themselves musicians. So it's great to see the gents' attachment to their art. On another note, many will be aware that Sylosis supported iron-balled heavyweights Fear Factory, on their European comeback tour in February last year – just before the Factory's appearance at Sonisphere Knebworth 2010. Bearing in mind, of course, this was also just after the release of Fear Factory's seventh studio album, 'Mechanize' – the first to feature original guitarist and founding member, Dino Cazares, since 'Digimortal', and Texan drum-whiz Gene Hoglan, of Devin Townsend, Dethklok and Testament success, to name but a few. How did they find sharing a stage with the big FF?
C: "Err...Overwhelming."
RM: "Really? Are they a big influence of yours?"
C: "Err...Wouldn't say that..."
R: "Well, we were a bit nervous, going out on it, but the first night, it was good fun; we enjoyed it, big crowd..."
C: "They 'dug' us..."
Well, that's got to be alright, if they're fighting alongside the big lions, and the crowd doesn't think Sylosis are too bad, either. But it seems Rob was content enough to be in the presence of legendary blast-beater, Hoglan...
"He's just ridiculous...so it was cool, warming up for him. I was bumming it the whole time."
And what did they think of 'Mechanize'? Be honest...
J: "Haven't heard it...I mean, we heard a few songs on tour..."
As a matter of fact, the album did fairly well in popular magazine polls; it was listed in Metal Hammer's and Classic Rock's 'Top 50 albums of 2010', and was described by Metal Hammer editor Alexander Milas as "an indispensable return by one of metal's defining voices", at a score of 8/10. For any Fear Factory fans glancing on by who haven't already, it's worth checking out.
Of course, 'Edge of the Earth' is ever loyal to the technical standard set by 'Conclusion of an Age': rhythmically tight, and impeccably accurate. Actually, the style itself requires such precision, it's easy for individual groups to slip into robotisation. How do the boys go about injecting passion and feeling into their playing, to avoid it sounding too clinical?
R: "...Having me as a drummer...to fluctuate all the time...to keep the tempo..."
RM: (Laughs) "...And what about the rest of you?"
J: "I think, for the album, the production helped. We deliberately made it sound a bit more raw, and not as technical or robotic. But err...I guess when you're writing, just write what feels natural, instead of trying to be technical. Like, the only reason we are so technical is because we play on our instruments for so long, and it comes out naturally. But we don't really try to be a technical band. I think we're just on the right side of being underneath 'Tech-Metal'. Just about, maybe."
Alongside supporting Fear Factory, Sylosis have been making a name for themselves over the last two years through appearances at some of Europe's finest metal festivals: notably Sonisphere Knebworth, and Download, Donington. When Shakespeare spoke of "such stuff as dreams are made on" in The Tempest, even he would have had to agree that said description just doesn't cover what an experience like that would mean to up-and-coming unsigned bands, hoping to follow suit with Sylosis. Carl describes the escapades as "bloody good"...but does that really do them justice? How would they summarise those times, if they were, say, speaking to themselves a few years ago, before they'd made the headway of the Sylosis of 2011?
C: "Well, overwhelming again, but the first Download and Sonisphere we did, and the second Sonisphere as well, it was all overwhelming, just in terms of the response, because every single time, we haven't expected the response we got..."
J: "We expected it to be like, maybe half full, because the band before us, everyone would be like: (Pulls unimpressed face), maybe half full, and then we'll walk out and get the same, and then we walk out, and it's heaving."
C: "The last Sonisphere we just did, last year, was, um, max capacity; like, they wouldn't let anyone in the tent, like, even our booking agent had to get escorted in by security..."
RM: "Really?"
R: "But then, they read it, and they were like..." (Widens eyes)
But naturally, I suggest, it's about playing the right festival for the genre, isn't it? Who was their favourite at Sonisphere last year? Lots of 'umm-ing' and 'arr-ing' follows.
J: "I don't know if I watched it, actually..."
RM: "What?! You didn't watch [Iron] Maiden?!"
J: "We might have left by then..."
R: "No, we definitely watched some bands, we watched a bit of Razorlight..."
We like a bit of fun-poking...
J: "We watched a bit of Rinoa, a friend's band... But the year before that, Mastodon, I can remember that being good, but I can't think to last year."
R: "What was it, Slipknot last year?"
RM: "I think they're headlining this year, aren't they? Sonisphere again, with...um...Biffy Clyro..."
We share a mildly condescending snigger. Well, didn't we just say something about 'the right festival for the genre...'? Since Sylosis have already caused such a stir atop the likes of the Bohemia and Tuborg stages, we can now, as Carl informs me, thrash our heads, swill some beer, and catch them on the bill of such big 2011 jobs as "Hammerfest in a few weeks, Summer Breeze, Paris Extreme Festival and Brutal Assault, too". Not bad at all. But probing Sylosis professionally is all very well. It's the mandatory requirement for anyone doing my job. I want to find out about them creatively. This has got to be one for Josh, the only guitarist present. If he could choose his top three guitarists, who would they be?
J: "Err... Dimebag Darrell."
RM: "Oh, but that's the easy option, isn't it?! Come on."
J: "(Laughs) Ok, err...at the moment, David Gilmour, and James Hetfield."
Very different choices, and yet both credited highly in their own ways. Well, let's face it, I say: James Hetfield is the only guitarist in Metallica...
Ok. Let's shift the lens. Let's see what the hunted thinks of what the hunter has to say. The hunted? The artist. The hunter? Writers. I wonder what would be the best and the worst thing that a critic could say about Sylosis...
J: "Err... we're not fans of being tagged as 'Metal-Core'."
C: "Or just comparing us to bands that we obviously don't sound anything like. I think it's a kind of laziness."
J: "...And then we get tagged into...I don't know if it's for younger readers, or sometimes young reviewers, but because, like, we're influenced by stuff before our time, like Death and early Sepultura stuff, that we get compared to just all the modern bands that we don't feel anything associated with. Like we get tagged as 'Metal-Core' all the time; we don't do any hard-core or metal-core."
RM: "Well, how would you describe yourselves then? If you don't want to get lumped in with metal-core?"
J: "Thrash, mainly. Like, old-school thrash, but trying to do our own unique thing with it. More aggressive influences."
It's true: with marketable, sophisticated musical bait to throw to 2011's titanium piranhas, and a rapidly-strengthening fan-base as the magic carpet to help them on their way to the stars, Sylosis are doing their own unique thing...in a way. Sure, it's a formula we've heard time and again, but there's a sound explanation for this: it works. And now, it appeals to a fresh generation, of fresh passion and intensity. In other words, their ability to hook a young audience provides the perfect canvas upon which those 'aggressive influences' of Sylosis can be liberally splashed. And yet, their credentials as musicians strike a metaphorical chord with veteran Metalheads and established players, while their sophomore studio effort itself demonstrates structure, texture, practical depth and dexterity, and all the evident by-products of an increasingly-refined and complex writing style.
I offer a couple more brain-pickers for each of them before wrapping up the interview: if they could play with any musician of specifically their own instrument, live or dead, who would it be? Josh is still opting for the late, great Mr. Darrell Lance Abbott, but drummer Rob has less predictable ideas for his choice...
R: "I'd like to have a nerd-session with Benny Greb; he's a German drummer, because he's doing the sort of stuff that I want to try and...start reaching out to. He's just intensely good."
And of course, I can't resist the all-time classic: Desert-Island Disc. I receive a kaleidoscope of answers: everything from Metallica's 'And Justice For All' and Mastodon's 'Crack the Sky', to Gojira's 'Mars to Sirius', and even Pink Floyd's 'Wish You Were Here'..."just because it's diverse", insists Josh. But what about Carl?
C: "The Best of the Beatles...3 disc..."
RM: "Seriously? Or a slither of a joke?"
C: "About 50/50..."
...And if Berkshire's own brutal boys retain a sense of humour and a pinch of irony about the whole thing, the Edge of the musical Earth really could be theirs. Just ask the flood of horn-throwing warriors ready to break the dam of the front door upstairs.
Interview by Rhiannon Maiden. Copyright © Rhiannon Marley. All rights reserved.
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