Dead Label! Interview with Claire Percival – 22/06/16

Firstly congrats on the release of ‘Throne of Bones’ I was lucky enough to get it for review and I love it! I am seeing a lot of positivity and support for the release and for you guys, how are you guys feeling now the album is out there and to be getting such great feedback?

Thank you Kris for the awesome review! You were the first to review Throne of Bones and we were so glad! You were very nice to us as you were that day in The Forum! Good chats! We are so happy the album is out. It has been a long time coming and we wanted everyone to hear it for so long. We have been playing the songs live now for a while so it was important to us that people would have a chance to hear it! The feedback has been insane, really did not expect the kind reaction we have gotten at all. We were expecting people to not fully get The Cleansing or Gates of Hell and they are getting the most attention! Over the moon!

The first time I saw you guys was opening up for the mighty Fear Factory, I was blown away; as was everyone I spoke to after the show with your performance! How was that tour, did you feel it gave you guys more reach into the metal community?

That was one of the best experiences of our lives so far. It was amazing to wake up everyday, travel to a different country and play with two amazing bands for five weeks. It was too short if you ask me! We just could not believe that we got such an amazing opportunity! The people we spent our days with were amazing. We had the coolest crew ever and both bands were just sweet hearts! The stories you get to hear in that crowd are amazing. Can not wait for the next tour!

What was the inspiration behind Throne of Bones?

Throne of Bones the song is about tyrannical governments abusing their people, killing them all that shite and basically ruling a country from a throne built of the bones of it’s people. The album inspiration was developed over time. We took a different approach than we did with our first album. We took our time. We scraped a lot of songs, we edited a lot of songs, demoed them then took them apart and write them again. Our inspiration was to write an album we would be happy to play for many years!

It’s hard for me to pick a favourite but my top 2 are ‘Ominous’ and ‘The Gates Of Hell’; can you tell us a little bit about these tracks?

Ominous is my favourite to play. It’s a really fun song on drums, and the intro always confuses people live which is fun to watch. They starts headbang, then sort of freeze, then start again. Ominous is just a groovy song, it’s a real live song. It’s enjoyable to play, particularly for Dan as he gets a chance to move away from the microphone for the solo!

Gates is actually the first song we wrote for Throne of Bones. It took us a lot of changes to get it to were it is now, but it’s been in the Dead Label catalogue for a while now! We haven’t played it live yet though, we will!

Can you tell us how Dead Label! Came to be, how did you guys all meet?

Well we were all in a previous band together called VX. Dan was bass and backing vocals. So it was clear to us when that band ended, as teenage bands do, that we wanted to keep going and take it seriously. We decided that it would be easier as three because it is a huge commitment being in a band and we needed to be sure we were going to do it!

Metal Days Festival is looking incredible, are you guys looking forward to being part of such a killer line-up?

Yes we are so excited! We are playing the Main Stage which is a first for us at a festival with more than one stage! We are planning on bringing our heaviest and grooviest set! We have a good slot too, it’s he last day of the festival so we will send people home with a bangover!!!

Future plans for Dead Label! now, any tours on the horizon?

We are always working towards something but nothing set in stone yet that I can give any details of! Our plan is to tour for the next hundred years but where exactly the next one will be is yet to be seen! :)

Links –

https://www.facebook.com/DeadLabel/

About Kris White

Music Journalist @ www.planetmosh.com, Bassist at FyreSky, EK13 Photography, Creator at Poisoned Cogs