So how has your latest album/EP gone so far with fans then?
Beyond our expectations really. The Ashen Child is Stevie’s first album with us and we were initially concerned about how well she would be received, but we need not have worried. Her power and delivery won over everyone. People are keen to hear more with Stevie at the helm so that’s why we’re currently busy writing new music. We intentionally kept the change of singers quiet until a week before the release of the first single from the new album to avoid any conjecture and build up of expectations, I think it was the best decision as they could just listen to the new songs without any preconceptions and bias. Our number of streams has increased by 1200% and it’s getting a lot of attention and we’re picking up lots of new fans.
Tell us something about the release no one knows?
The song The Ashen Child: New Home was initially an 11 minute epic with changing time signatures and lots of solos and, after we took a knife to it, now has no solos and is all one tempo. After demoing the original version, we found ourselves drifting off, playing with our phones etc… so we decided to do an edit. Although we liked the individual parts, the whole was not greater than the sum of them. That’s a tip to any song writers out there, don’t be afraid to edit and change things.
If you could work with any band on a new song, who would it be and why?
It’d be easy to pick a legacy band like Megadeth, but I’ll go with Cellar Darling because they write great, dark, progressive songs with class melodies and interesting instrument choices. I think Anna Murphy is a special talent, I’d love to write some tunes with her.
How has your latest release been received?
Wonderfully. The song, ‘Refuse of the Past’ is the fastest, thrashiest and probably heaviest track on our latest album and, although we only did a lyric video for it, it was being shared on social media more than any other song we’ve released. Having Stevie belt out the opening to line also helps grab the attention.
Can you tell us about the meaning behind the track?
Refuse of the Past is based on the 1971 film, The Omega Man, which is another spin on the classic ‘The Last Man on Earth’. Something resonated with me in regards to that film but I’m not sure what. I think it’s the concept which appealed to me, although I do prefer the twist of the Vincent Price version, I enjoy The Omega Man more as a whole. I love the quote, ‘Refuse of the Past’. It’s one of my favourites of all the songs we’ve done, I think it’s because it’s chock full of exciting ideas.
What tours do you have coming up, and what can you tell us about them?
We’re currently busy writing our next album and we want to start recording it in January.
What else can we expect from you in 2023?
There’s not a lot left of 2023 but we’re busy writing. We have the next album planned out and I would say 80% of it is written. There are 12 songs planned but this will get whittled down to 10. After being away for a couple of years due to singer changes and other challenges, it’s just nice to get more material out there. Hopefully, with the new album, we can get some momentum back into the ranks because we’d ideally like to finish writing the new full-length and get it written before the end of the year and recorded before Easter 2024 and get it released in 2024 as well. We’d like to squeeze some live shows in at some point but we’re short on a bass player hence why I’m playing it on the new release, so completing a line up would be next as well.