PlanetMosh Keeping it Metal
Email interview with James Britton, bassist from Anterior. A quick round up of their headlining tour and Sonisphere slot, along with some new album news.
What is your favourite song/album at the moment?
My favourite song at this moment in time would be In Flames – Deliver Us. Absolutely amazing song and the album “Sounds Of A Playground Fading” is just brilliant, actually listening to it now :)
What is your favourite band/artist?
Since you listed band/artist can I get away with 2? Artist would be Danzig and band would be Metallica.
Do you have a favourite gig story/ memorable experience? (it can be from any time not just the recent tour)?
All of our tours usually have some sort of idiocy/mental moments from show to show. The most memorable ones for me was either from our India tour in 08 when Steve (Nixon, Guitar) climbed out of the window of a moving bus, over the roof and then back in the other window drunk of his ass, myself and Luke stealing a small “cherry picker” machine in Norway or this recent weekend when I jumped off the stage at Sonisphere Festival without judging the height, somehow landed on my feet but had to run around for awhile trying to find the stairs to get back on before the end of the set, which was 30 seconds away ha ha.
How would you describe your band in 2011? What has changed since 2003/4?
Suicidal! Ha ha only joking, things are amazing at the moment and there have been some big changes since 03/04 on our “This age Of Silence” album. For one there are 2 new members with Steven Nixon now on second guitar and James Cook on drums, we have become a much more efficient and solid unit and the all around vibe of the band is just amazing.
Besides the old school Death Metal bands are there any newer bands that inspire you?
Well Leon does most of the writing with Steve’s help so writing wise I couldn’t comment totally. As a band as a whole however I think we are greatly influenced by the whole Swedish death metal scene old and new. Bands like At The Gates, In Flames, Arch Enemy have a big inspiration on us along with the “super guitarists” such as Paul Gilbert, Steve Vai and Yngwie Malmsteen, from which we take our more epic and extreme technical edge that we like to mix with the melodic death metal sound.
How did you feel your headlining May tour went?
Amazing really. It was our first headline tour ever as we spent most of our time on our debut album supporting bigger bands so it was a nice experience. The shows were amazing and the crowds that came out for us and gave their support and best dance moves were just unreal!
How was playing Sonisphere for you guys?
We just played Sonisphere UK this Sunday and we will be uploading some photos soon. We also used our set to film a video for our first single coming out in August and the crowd just smashed it. We were actually billed against Limp Bizkit which is always a big worry regardless of the genres but we still had an immense crowd which just made it for us, anyone that was there, thank you so much!!!!
Do you prefer to play open airs festivals or club-tours?
I personally like both. Club shows you can get up close with the crowd which I love to be a part of and get the grittier atmosphere; also the bar is a hell of a lot closer. But with festivals, you get a much bigger crowd, bump into friends in other bands, and generally party more as you can be there for 4 or 5 days and only play once. If the crowd is to far away then to hell with it, I’ll find a way to get in somewhere.
Do you find you get a different response in the UK to Europe and across the world?
Not so much, we have toured the UK, Europe, Scandinavia and India and wherever we play the crowd give it their all and sing our choruses back to us which is an unrivalled feeling! Any crowd can just stand there with a drink and watch you like a movie but as long as you give it your all then they’ll loosen up. Alternatively you can just remind them to have fun.
You’re working on finishing your new album. How close to completion is it? When do you expect it to be released?
The beast is complete! The new album is titled “Echoes Of The Fallen” and will be released via Metal Blade Records in August/September. There is actually a brand new track exclusively online at the Sonisphere facebook at www.facebook.com/sonisphereuk with release dates and pre-order information :).
If you have any influences for the upcoming album, who/what are they and how did they influence you?
Mainly the swedish death metal scene as I mentioned above with the added influence of super guitarists. More modern bands have also had an influence on us too, mainly the ones we have toured with like All That Remains, The Haunted and Children Of Bodom.
Do you have a particular writing process for songs or is it different for each song that you come up with?
Usually Leon will just comes up with some riffs. From there we use our home studios and Leon will keep working on it with Nixon adding along the way until the song is complete. Then Luke will drop the lyrics over it and we polish until finished, much like good furniture.
Is there an overall subject or theme to the new album or is each song about a different matter?
This isn’t a concept album by any means. However, the lyrical content, artwork and the music as an all around package has a much more thought out approach. Each song has its own concept and addresses different issues, they relate to quotes we have used within the artwork from people who have passed away and bestowed their knowledge on the world, hence the album title.
How do you feel the new album is going to compare to your last album ‘This Age Of Silence’?
In one word I would say it is more extreme. We have cut a lot of middle ground and the song lengths are not so intense. The songs are much more driven and we have gone for more “song” based songs with more repetition so people can familiarize easier with the material. Rather than just writing and keep adding sections as we go along and we think sound good. The melodies and epic sections are far bigger and provide a nice sound scape to go along with the much heavier elements we have embraced on the new record.
Last but not least, any final message for all the Planetmosh readers!
We love you all and cannot wait to see you on stage, now go buy the album so we can keep touring and buy you drinks. Thanks guys n dolls, we will see you all soon.
