Recorded with producer Jason Wilson (THE GHOST OF A THOUSAND, YOU ME AT SIX, FIGHTSTAR), the debut EP from London based melodic, southern rockish post-hardcore band MASSACRES squeezes eveything good out of groovy, hard rockin’ post hardcore and captures a bunch of rapturous jams and injects some cross-genre verve into London’s music scene. Even though “Brutus” is gone too quick, a little rowdy and MASSACRES don’t demand much of your attention, this is rock’n’roll’n’hardcore laid bare at your feet. Listen below and check out our interview with the band below.
Hi guys! How’s London? How have you been doing this fine Summer? Already excited for the upcoming gloomy days of autumn?
Hi Karol! We’re enjoying the last bit of summer, but not in a shit Dawson’s Creek way. More of a “let’s get the hell out there and get nice and sunburnt for winter” kinda way. It’s tricky in London because there’s people stacked on people and space is a coveted luxury.
We are however, looking forward to seeing ARCHITECTS in November, so not all doom out there in the gloom.
Haha, cool. Ok, so let’s learn a bit more about you guys. Who are MASSACRES, what led you to forming this band and what experience have you had before this project?
We’ve all been in plenty of bands over the years, from progressive metal to pop rock.
This band started as a bedroom project for Kris (guitars) before Martin (bass) joined, followed swiftly by our first drummer Andy. Dave was the project of a few Gumtree adverts and several sweaty, noisy auditions in North London. After Andy left we recruited our token foreigner Adam for his knack at hitting things.
What artists do you see as your primary inspirations and what would you say ended up really distinctive about your sound? How do you go about ensuring your listeners experience something more? How much do you want to bring in for the people out there and how much is doing it for yourself?
We all listen to a bunch of different bands so it’s tricky to pin it down but there a few bands we all love. EVERY TIME I DIE and CANCER BATS definitely had an impact on us, I think that’s pretty apparent from listening to the EP. But there’s other bands we love such as PISSED JEANS and MESHUGGAH where the influence might not be so obvious.
I think we bring a quirky English touch to hardcore; something like THE BEATLES playing REFUSED covers. We try to bring the stage into the crowd, and get people involved in the band. The best shows I’ve been to are always those where the line between band and crowd blurs a little.
Can you elaborate on how your idea for this band manifests in your writing process? Lyrics wise, do you try to create back stories and certain concepts?
All the songs on Brutus started as Kris’ demos before we recruited Dave to bellow and shout over the top. Since we pulled together a more stable line up with Adam we’ve taken to thrashing some stuff out in practice; we’ve got a beastly new song on the way provisionally titled “The Safety Word Is” which came straight out of the practice room and is likely to be EP-bound.
The lyrics are snapshots of stuff that caught Dave at the right moment. Living in London is both brilliant and a massive pain in the ass so there’s plenty of inspiration. Subjects vary, One of the Boys is about the pressures of living up to the ideal of what a man should be, whereas Everything I want to do is Illegal is about slick-haired, vaccuous city-types and their love of self indulgence. Everything is fair game with lyrics, hardcore bands shouldn’t have any boundaries.
Are there some labels you would like to work with in the future? In these fast moving, visual bombarding, digital times, how do you plan on “marketing” this band?
There’s plenty of labels that we would love to work with, Holy Roar, In At The Deep End, A Wolf At Your Door to name just a few from the UK. Then there’s the godfathers in the US; Epitaph. All of these labels have put out records by some of our favourite bands over the years and it’d be a lifetime goal achieved to have any of them be involved. Although, if somebody believed in our band then I think we would quite happily consider any label. It’s not worth signing to someone just for the sake of it; you have to feel that they believe in what you’re doing otherwise, what’s the point?
Marketing is without a doubt the hardest part of being an unsigned band. For the time being we’re trying to teach ourselves how to use the tools that are available for social media to spread the word, with some success. Aside from that, it’s the old classic of gigging as much as possible! For a hardcore band, you’ve got to be out there getting in people’s faces, getting them down to the shows.
Touring wise, what can we expect from MASSACRES in the coming months?
We’re lining up some shows for the rest of the year, right now we have November 19th in Bristol at The Stag and Hounds confirmed and we’re just finalising some details with a couple of London promoters for some others.
Shout out to Paddy at Mother’s Ruin in Bristol for his endless patience!
Do you see the trajectory of your work going in any specific ways? What are your future plans?
We’re focusing on material for the second EP right now which largely consists of great big fucking hardcore riffs and some shouty bits.
Hopefully looking to get another release out around May or June next year and then it’s back to bouncing off stages around the country.
Great, thanks a lot for your insights! Feel free to drop your last words and take care!
Watch out for our second EP next year, we’ve got big things planned! Thanks for the time on IDIOTEQ.
