Mark: You have a great vocal style, and to me a lot of the Metalcore vocalists sound the same, and there is something about yours that sets it apart. Do you have any secrets to looking after the voice?
Daniel: I think just generally be strict with it, you know and I have been for years. On our first album, “Portraits” I really took time out to relearn a different style of screaming that could open up possibilities. I discovered Melissa Cross and I watched a lot of her videos, and had a phone consultation with her and it really helped. I found it made a difference, you have to be strict with yourself, especially when you’re doing dates, and an hour from set, you need to be sensible. I treat myself like an athlete, I won’t do anything that I think will be bad for my body, I won’t drink anything that I think will dry me out, like alcohol, so it is about being strict. It sounds rubbish and boring, and especially when the other guys go out drinking, but it is what it is. I can have a party when I come off tour, that’s my reward.
Mark: Sounds sensible! Earlier in the month you got nominated for best British newcomer in Kerrang. Those sorts of awards always puzzle me a bit, because you guys have been around for a while now! How does it feel to be labelled a newcomer??!
Daniel: To be honest we do that kind of thing a lot, and I think it’s just a “tip of the cap” to the fact that we’re breaking out in to the mainstream. That magazine do not feature a lot of really heavy bands, but the fact that we are on the front cover this week, is a huge step for English metal, and I think it’s only positive. We are down as a newcomer, but technically this is the first album where we have been featured heavily on radio and massively printed in a lot of the magazines. At the end of the day, I’m not going to say I don’t want the award, I do want it, I want to win it!!
Mark: It is great that people are sitting up and taking notice, it’s also a great endorsement of all the hard work that you guys are putting in. Taking it all the way back, to your earliest memories of music, what was it that made you want to be in a band?
Daniel: I listened to Goth Punk, I listened to The Misfits, I listened to AFI when I was younger, I really got into that side of things. It really hit home in year 10/11, when I was about 14/15, I started listening to new metal when that came out, and that really changed me, that was where I wanted to be as a front man, I watched Papa Roach videos, and that changed my perception of what I wanted to do in a band. I started to become a front man, I started to test the water, I watched a band called The Bled, and they blew my mind, and that’s what I wanted to do for the rest of my life, and it got heavier from there. The Bled were the band that really influenced me, screaming wise, and then I got in to Bleeding Crew and then I got in to Bury Your Dead, so I got in to Heavy/Hardcore bands that really pushed it for me vocally.
Mark: As a band, you’ve already had a turbulent history, especially with your first label, where it sounds like it almost ended for you in 2011. What’s it like now, to have great management, and a fantastic label behind you, do you feel like you’re ready to take on the world?
Daniel: Yeah, you’re always in that weird mindset that we focus on the release of the record, and the tours and you just hope your team is doing a good job. Things with the old label, at the end of the day, we had different mindset then, they thought we could do better if we did certain things, and we could do better doing other things, so it was never going to work. We’re ok with that label now; it was just a difference of opinion. You have to be mature about it, and I think there’s a lot of industry people today that aren’t mature, and are unrealistic, and you have to appreciate the fact that if you manage a band, and the band don’t believe that you’re managing them correctly, then you’re not doing a good job, regardless of whether you think you are right or not. In answer to your question, I feel in a very positive place, I think this record will do wonders for us, I hope, especially in the UK and Europe, and the past few interviews that I’ve been doing show we’re doing ok in Australia and New Zealand as well, so I can’t wait to get out there and get people on our side.
Mark: There is a great scene down here at the moment, with bands like Parkway Drive, The Amity Affliction, and stuff like that, as well as a great underground scene as well. We have a couple of generic questions to finish with. If you could have been a fly on the wall for the making of any great album, at any point in time, what would it have been for you and why?
Daniel: “End of Heartache” by Killswitch, definitely! That record is perfect back to front! I’d love to see how it all came together, and I’d love to see the reactions to certain melodies that were on that record.
Mark: Finally, a really easy one. What is the meaning of life?
Daniel: Having fun! Don’t take life too seriously, and take a moment every day to appreciate what you’ve got, there are many people worse off than you.
Mark: A great sentiment to end with! Well, we can’t wait to see you here in Australia, good luck with the UK tour, and festivals, and thanks for taking the time to speak to us.
Daniel: Thank you, bye now.
Daniel spoke to Mark Diggins May 2014 |