PlanetMosh Keeping it Metal
South wales rockers CANCEL THE TRANSMISSION have unleashed their captivating new single, Rise Again. Watch the lyric video to the track, here – https://youtu.be/NMicLfLBUOY . We grilled the guys about their background and more….
Q. What is the full band line-up, who sings and who plays which instrument?
A. Our full line up is Justin Crowe – lead vocals and rhythm guitar, Josh Thomas – lead guitar and backing vocals, Carl Oag – bass and backing vocals and Ash Preece – drums.
Q. How and when did the band form?
A. Our lead guitarist Josh first formed the band back in January 2015. Josh and Justin vaguely knew each other already, both being from Caerphilly. Shortly after, Justin got in touch and expressed his interest in trying his hand at singing, despite being a guitarist in his previous band and having never sang properly before. Since then, we’ve made some changes to the rhythm section but now have the strongest version of the band we’ve ever had.
Q. When and how did the band really start gelling and solidifying?
A. Although we first formed back in 2015, it wasn’t until around 2018 that we really started taking things to another level and started playing shows on a national level around the UK.
Releasing our debut album ‘Live It Up’ in December 2019 took things to a new level for us as we gained a lot of exposure nationally. This was mainly through the New Wave of Classic Rock community who were very receptive of the album. New Wave of Classic Rock ranked ‘Live It Up’ at number 4 in their ‘Admin’s Picks for Album of The Year’, and it was also featured in several Top 10 and Top 20 albums of the year lists from various online music publications worldwide.
Q. Who are your musical influences?
A. We would be lying if we said that we were not massively influenced by a lot of the hard rock bands from the 70’s and 80’s such as Guns N’ Roses, AC/DC, Aerosmith, Motley Crue, Whitesnake, Deep Purple etc. However, we also each have pretty eclectic individual music tastes across the rock genre, which helps bring different influences together to form an amalgamation of styles and writing qualities to our music.
Josh has always been heavily into the guitar-driven, hard rock bands of the 80’s and you can definitely hear that in our music. Strong riffs and solos are always at the forefront of what we do.
Justin, as well as also being into the same styles as Josh, also developed a love of pop punk bands such as All Time Low from a young age. This led him to naturally approach song writing and specifically lyric writing, with a strong focus on creating catchy and “poppy” melodies that are hard to get out of your head after you’ve heard them. This combination makes for a unique blend of outrageously catchy vocal hooks mixed with solid and in your face hard rock riffs and solos. The end result? A unique crossover style with the potential to captivate audiences not only interested in the rock genre, but also able to capture fans of more commercial styles of music.
Q. Where did the name of the band come from?
A. The band name came from a band that Josh was in several years prior to the formation of the band we now know as Cancel The Transmission. The band never materialised and didn’t last very long, only playing one show and subsequently disbanding. Several years later when Josh was looking to start a new band, he decided that rather than letting the name go to waste, he would use it for this band and with that, Cancel The Transmission 2.0 was born.
Q. How far back does your history with each other (the band members) extend?
Are you friends from school or any family relations?
A. Josh and Justin first met around 2013 through the local music scene in Caerphilly. Justin was in another band at the time who were known on a local level and Josh was still in school but the two became acquaintances through their shared love of rock music. A couple years later when Justin’s previous band had split up, he answered Josh’s Facebook advert for a “lead singer for classic rock band”.
Carl joined the band back in early 2019 and Ash just recently in 2021. Carl, much like Justin ended up joining the band after his previous band had broken up. Ironically, Cancel The Transmission and Carl’s previous band Holoson had actually performed together at several shows before Carl joined the band.
Q. In your opinion, how is your band different from all the other bands out there?
A. We feel that our unique blend of catchy, pop inspired vocal melodies and killer hard rock riffs makes us different to every other band out there. There are bands with great riffs, catchy melodies and a great sound but we feel that we’re the only band out there right now who combine all of these into one killer package.
We’re also able to write songs in a multitude of different styles and sub genres, with the tracks on our upcoming album ranging from ballsy all out hard rock tracks to slow passionate ballads and commercial / mainstream rock songs.
We don’t believe in being tied down and only being able to write one style of music. We want our songs to cover all aspects of the rock genre in the hopes of capturing a mix of different audiences who all like and can relate to certain elements of our music. Our goal from the beginning has always been to bring rock music back to the mainstream and we strongly believe that we have the potential to be the next big crossover band and achieve this. These are the elements we believe truly set us apart.
Q. If a deaf person were to ask you to describe the sound of your music, how would you describe it?
A. Hard-hitting, outrageously catchy, good time rock and roll.
Q. Where can we find your social media sites?
A. Facebook: www.facebook.com/CancelTheTransmissionUK
Instagram: @cancelthetransmissionuk
YouTube: https://youtube.com/channel/UCQuXntVS0kxBIVfCnkedUYw
TikTok: @cancelthetransmissionuk
Spotify artist page: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5VxLIqbr57KkUmd19lMxsv?si=0VY4udK0Qz629oB46w28UQ
