What are the origins of the band? How did this all come about?


The full story is biblical but here's the long and short of it; I suppose you have to imagine a network of enthusiastic young musicians all aged about 17 spread over 4-5 bands. Over a certain amount of time an average band will lose members to university studies, girlfriends, genital diseases and what is left is the "hardcore" musicians who are determined to make a career of music one way or the other. This could definitely be said for us guys. We were always aware of each other being close friends but only really came together in a musical sense for the first time with the Xerath thing.

Initially the idea was just a home studio project, producing some Meshuggah style grooves and chucking film-score orchestration over the top, simple as, but the idea evolved the more we all put our influences in until it became very obvious this thing needed to go live and leave the confines of the studio.

So here we are, after years of trying other things were all 22-23 year old guys who gave it enough time and patience to happen, it all clicked into place.

Where would you say the band's strength lies?

It's down to a few things really; we're all capable of playing a multitude of instruments and subsequently we all chip in a very even proportion of the writing no matter whether it is orchestral, guitar, drums etc. We also live together which does really help you stay focused on what needs to be done as a band and reveals whether you can actually function in close quarters with the members you have without kicking ten tons of shit out of one another. More than that it's four friends who share a sense of humour, a musicality, an ambition and a circle jerk once in a while.

What are you striving to achieve musically?

As much as possible! Our eventual aim is to make something extremely cinematic, groovy, heavy, original and beautiful. I guess we have visions of people head banging whilst eating popcorn and meanwhile being overwhelmed with emotions and sexual urges towards us... Basically we want to crush people with a thick stone wall of sensory fulfilment.

We are all agreed though that's gonna require a lot of albums of moving forward in order to reach, but we genuinely want to carve the longest and most relentless career possible... We're very, very ambitious

What's the buzz been like about your new tracks so far?

It's been great, for a long time we had very limited exposure and so all we had was some good songs on a myspace page. Never underestimate the power of word-of-mouth! It's very reassuring to see people plugging us to each other and on forums around the internet; we've had 1000's of messages / comments from people who enjoyed our music over the past year... We really appreciate them!

Do we have an album to look forward to soon?

YES! Until now we've only had a handful of tracks on our myspace for people to listen to, our debut album 'Xerath I' is currently being remixed and we are hoping to release it through our new label Candlelight Records in February / March 09'. We also got a shed load of top notch material for a potential second album on the back burner ready to go, we always have fresh ideas!

We have saved the better tracks for the album and would like to assure those who have been waiting that it will be worth the wait

Are there any producers you would love to work with?

Hmmm, this is the bit where most would say Andy Sneap... Probably Andy Sneap, he gets stick for making bands sound the same but I'm sure most bands would sell their cherry's to have him produce their stuff. Maybe also Devin Townsend, as a musician himself, who is always interested in pushing the envelope and as a guy who Xerath could call a huge influence. And maybe just to ask him what the hell inspired that whole Ziltoid thing!

Also Fredrik Nordstrom for Balls and clicky drums

We're currently working with a producer called Brett Caldas-Lima, he's fantastic.

Enlighten our readers about the arrary of musical gear you use to get your sound.

Well, You may notice we're a 4 piece band, with an orchestral ensemble behind us and no erm, orchestra! We use a system of triggering the backing tracks live via a laptop which is tried and tested. As for 'Xerath I' It's probably not worth saying yet which amps will be used for the tone, as we're gonna try a few out with re-amping...

For the orchestral parts we use a few bits of software by East-west and basically what ever samples we can get our filthy little hands on. Out front at the moment we're using Engl amps, Ibanez 7 string guitars... Warwick Basses, Tama Drums.

When someone says Xerath is a technical band, sometimes that comes with a sort of negative connotation that the music is hard to get into. Do you think that because of the style of music you play it is hard for some people to get into?

This statement is true for a lot of technical metal bands and this is something that Xerath as a whole have given a lot of prior thought to and we think we've successfully struck that rare balance between straight ahead, easily accessible metal and the more abstract technical side that you have to have to keep people guessing. Filmscore is something for example which people enjoy and are affected by in movies all the time, they just aren't aware of how much impact the score has over the emotional impact of the movie. Try watching a horror movie / romance etc.. Whilst it's muted!

We have a very strict rule that we won't just put in odd time measures or over decorated polyrhythms just for the sake of it. No one likes going to see a band and not being able to understand a damn thing that's going on, you've got to have that "headbangability" and that connection with the listener that metal was founded on.

You recently won Terrorizer Magazine's Best Unsigned Band Competition – How did that feel?

It felt awesome, at the start bands were commenting on forums "let battle commence" and that's very much how we felt... We were slightly intimidated by some of the more established/ exposed bands who had large fan bases, merch etc so we tried to play catch-up and just did our best to get ourselves known in a relatively short space of time plus we had some pretty proactive listeners of our stuff who took it upon themselves to gain us votes by spreading the word so to speak. Some of the bands on that CD were fantastic and it wasn't an easy victory by any stretch of the imagination but it worked out in the end.

What do you think of the underground metal scene in the UK? Do you feel it's stronger than ever or stagnating in a pool of it's own shit?

Somewhere in the middle! We think there's definitely a great deal more potential, it seems like towns with established metal venues and promoters who know what they're doing always do better! I mean the idea is to go and check out a band you haven't heard before because you trust your local promoters, that's something that just doesn't happen enough now. It would also be cool to see more bands creating a cutting edge and daring to go where no band has before!

On the upside there's no lack of guys out there who are making some serious music out there who are on the underground level, I think that's your next question though right?

Name 3 UK based Metal/Rock Underground bands who currently make you guys sit up and take notice.

One of the first unsigned bands who surprised us was Tesseract, they were very much ahead of the game with awesome grooves and massive production / ambient sections years before we formed Xerath.

We would also reccomend Ancient Ascendant, they're a prog death metal band weve been friends with for a long time. They combine Opeth riffyness with Bloodbath groove really well, just need a bit of a kick up the arse sometimes but they've been getting a good response from thier latest EP! Which was incidently recorded here with us!

I would also urge people to check out "Chimp Spanner", it's more of an individual's project than a gigging band but definitely worth listening to.

How important are communities like UK Metal Underground to bands such as yourself?

Without sounding like we're blowing smoke up your arses here these communities are vital to the underground. Heavy-metal is one of the few genres where almost everyone who listens to it plays in their own band! This means all methods of promoting yourself for free are saturated with tons and tons of groups making it very difficult to be heard.

There's a catch 22 where labels sign a band based on their success and bands struggle to succeed because of limited exposure and the struggle of self promotion... So you need an organisation in the middle to sift through bands and give credit where credit is due to help bands achieve more exposure, it's not an easy job but a very important one!

Any recent band or album obsessions?

Andy - I've been stuck listening to meshuggah, devin townsend and filmscore for a while.... Filmscore is something i listen to more than metal at the moment!

Owain - Textures, Dixie Dregs (not metal), Spiritual Beggars, Gavin Harrison & 05Ric

Rich - Dixie Dregs, Gojira - From mars to Sirius (who hasnt been going on about that for ages) Rush, Deep Purple, even some Prince

Mike - I've been in a very abstract mood with guys like Gavin Harrison & 05Ric, "on the virg" with Virgil Donati and The Bad Plus. As for obsessions, I've recently started stalking that girl from Harry Potter that's now old enough to shag, I'm hoping she'll succumb to my unconventional charms.

If you could support any band living or dead, who would it be?

Not sure if we'd suit it but probably Pantera, purely for the fun-factor! We'd get equally aroused supporting Meshuggah, Opeth, Emperor, Strapping Young Lad, Dimmu Borgir etc..

We'e gonna mention these alot in the hope we get to support ONE of them eventually

Finally, what are you guys asking Santa for this year?

Mike - I shant be asking for anything, I shall be giving this year and spending my time remembering our lord Jesus Christ of Nazereth. HAHA FUCK THAT, I want a scaletrix!!!!

Rich - Rent and petrol money. I hate being poor.

Owain - A dick to go with my huge balls

Andy - errr... some stuff i've missed out on from being a musician.. like... money / girlfriend / security / comfort / social life... any of those'll do!