by Jason Michel
Eight Great Fears are a new Prog Metal band outta the U.K. & if you like such luminaires as Tool, or Baroness you’ll find that these will float your schnitzel!
They have just released a new E.P, which is available to download on iTunes, Amazon and Spotify & are also working on a remix album For We Are Many. . They will be playing Basementfest at the Road House in Birmingham on Sat 20th August 2011.
Here’s a taster for you:
So, go check them out. That’s an order, dammit!
Here’s what they say about themselves:
We are a progressive 5 piece band from the U.K. developing our own unique sound and style, while still showing our influences such as NIN, Tool, QOTSA and A Perfect Circle etc. We have had numerous air plays and promotion on Basement Sound Radio shows Metal Time, Metal Mission, 20 Minutes Of Arc, and Brutal Existence Radio (u.s). We have received four glowing reviews, two of which are from Ryan’s Gig Guide, one from the editor of Basement Sounds Radio and the other from the presenter of Brutal Existence Radio. We have also had our debut EP The Beginning released on iTunes, Amazon and Spotify.
I was lucky enough to wag my chin with them:
Q1: Hullo gents! Tell those musical fiends out there a little bit of the history of EGF.
We were all in bands together at some point over the last 10 years, but decided to get together and do something original. We formed in 2008 and played our first gig in early 2009, releasing our first E.P ‘The Beginning’ in 2010.
Q2: Eight Great Fears. What about that name? Where the Freud did that come from?
We got it from the Tibetan Book of the Dead and loved the idea that it was like the seven deadly sins but one louder. It also interlinks well with our subject matter, as a lot of our material is about craving freedom, feeling like a lost generation conned into working jobs we hate to pay off all the shit we don’t need, fear of Greed, fear of attachments, you get the gist.
Q3: Okay, fellas. Why? Why create this kind of music? It’s not the bleedin’ X-Factor, is it?
Fuck X Factor, fuck it hard in the ear with satans fat scaly pecker until it dies. We make the kind of music we want to listen to. It’s who we are and it comes from the heart, we’re not some bullshit fad band that changes styles to fit the current trend. We stick by our guns and are genuinely excited to see where we progress to musically and where this journey will take us. So in a nutshell, why the fuck not.
Q4: Metal has always been primarily about power. Creating the perfect riff to slap your head against the wall. That feeling of being fucking untouchable.
How does it feel when you’re widdling & bashing away on stage?
Fucking awesome, we live to play. Part of our ethos is to play each gig like its our last and to play from the gut. Playing live is our Fight Club, and to seriously rip it out and bare your soul on stage is to truly be free…. and if people get it, then even better.
Q5: Metal has notoriously been a genre that is seen (wrongly) as somewhat neanderthal-like or nihilistic. What do you guys write about? How much meaning do you put into the words to go with such a powerful form of music?
This could open up a good debate as some types of metal can definitely be seen as primitive (which is funny, as this is part of metals charm. That raw fuck you power), where as underneath the heavy exterior is a lot of well thought out lyrics and musically intelligent structure. Sometimes people can miss this cause they can’t connect or understand what is being said, whereas some people can connect straight away. Sometimes the power of the music (in all genres) can outweigh the lyrics but we try hard to obtain a balance. We aim to create something that satisfies both our musical and lyrical needs.
Again, one of the reasons we took our band name was that the subject matter behind the name could always have an underlying root in anything we do lyrically. We write about things that mean something to us, this makes it real and true, not cool for the sake of sounding cool with no substance. Most of us have lost our family structure through death or divorce so themes of being lost but rebuilding or even rebirth can be found all over our material if you really listen.
Q6: What literary influences do you fellows have? Who do you read?
We have a lot of influences in general and some of us read more than others (one of us being a big Terry Pratchett head) but a personal favourite as you’ve probably already guessed would be Chuck Palahniuk. Without meaning to contradict an earlier answer as he has a lot of nihilistic themes, but his take on the world, the imagery he creates, the way his work is structured and his dark humour fit in well to what we try to construct musically, artistically and poetically. A lot of graphic novels such as Watchmen, Batman Year One/Frank Miller etc play a big part as well.
Q7: How do see the current UK metal scene? Is it fragmented or is there a renaissance on the way?
Please excuse us playing Devil’s Advocate here, but is there a UK metal scene? We have played in some places that give us hope and have been fortunate enough to play with some outstanding bands that are really trying to push the boundaries. We have bonded with bands that are stylistically very different, and the bond has always grown around the love of what we do i.e.. the music. But from our experience a fundamental flaw in the underdevelopment of the UK music scene in general would be a lack of venues to play and promotors supporting bands.
There was a time when rock/metal was the music of the street, but that was a long time ago and with the exception of Slipknot (which was over ten years ago now), or System or Lamb of God and maybe a few other phenomenal bands nothing new has really come along and blown things wide open on the metal scene, not to that extent, and not in Britain anyway. Hip hop has evolved a lot more in the last 20 years, especially British Hip Hop and whilst streets were once overrun by buskers and guitars, it’s now kids mc-ing on top of beats on mobile phones. However, nothing is new and history has a tendency to repeat itself so it would not be surprising for a metal revival to take place at some point, as it has done with punk over the years or even as we have seen recently with a lot of bands coming out sounding like they’re from the 80’s or evolve into something nu, like nu nu nu metal……
Q8: What does the future hold for EGF?
Sell out to the man, and cash in the soul for a guitar shaped swimming pool. Either that or 80’s synth rock, maybe an emo direction, no wait thats not in vogue anymore. Forget everything we’ve just said. Whatever the in thing is we’ll probably do, fuck being individual the future holds being a sheep so baaa. The future holds being king of these fucking sheep!
Good Luck, Gents!
PULP METAL MAGAZINE 