PlanetMosh Keeping it Metal
UK heavy hitters APOLLO STANDS have finally released their eagerly anticipated new album, Interstellar, out now. With the band on the up, we asked the guys to introduce themselves:
What is the full band line-up, who sings and who plays which instrument?
Apollo Stands are:
Alexei Swatman – Guitar/Vocals/Keys
Olly Smith – Lead Guitar
Matt Hayward – Bass
Edgar Taljaard – Drums
How and when did the band form?
Alexei formed the band back in 2017 in the city of Norwich UK. He wrote the album JOIN US after leaving his first proper metal band Redeem The Dead and going in search of other members to help the band grow and begin performing in 2018 in local metal venues such as The Brickmakers B2, The Kind Eddy which has now sadly closed as well as the more popularly known venue The Marquee which has played host to many big metal bands today like A Day To Remember, After The Burial, Whitechapel and even ZZ Top among many others.
When and how did the band really start gelling and solidifying?
In 2019, we settled with the lineup we have today, brought out “MINDS”, and everything has just fallen into place ever since through years of trial and error. We are grateful for everyone we have worked with in this band and how talented they all are but sometimes the shoe just doesn’t fit and sometimes it does.
Who are your musical influences?
Our musical influences range very aggressively from classic metal such as Black Sabbath to modern Trap music like Apashe and right back to huge classical scores such as Martin O’Donnell. There is a little bit of everything in there, but it leaves us with an endless supply of music to inspire us with and we will never bottleneck ourselves into one specific genre for that exact reason.
Where did the name of the band come from?
The name for the band was based off of Greek mythological god Apollo because whilst he is the god of many things like the Sun, Truth and Prophecy. He is also recognised as the God of Music. Without sounding too big headed it was intended to imply that our music is that of the gods and we STAND by that statement. Be proud of your work and always progress and learn.
How far back does your history with each other (the band members) extend?
In all honesty, not that long. Alexei and Matthew have known each other for the longest since near the beginning of the band’s formation but it has been luck and many different lineup changes that have brought us together but we are all great friends now because of the band which is one of the many bonuses of doing what we do.
In your opinion, how is your band different from all the other bands out there?
We have such a vast range of genres spread across us which admittedly isn’t something new but it’s how we work together in piecing it all together that brings our releases like INTERSTELLAR together. The sound we have is both retro and modern with the synths sounding very prodigy bare bones basic classic sounding and accompanying huge film like scores that really widen the sound and chucking in some straight up Metal riffs and face melting solos that just make you think “What the hell is going”. which is great because we love finding sounds and combinations that almost sound unnatural and just shouldn’t be put together or even be there at all. We will always be changing what we do and helping to grow the underground scene more.
If a deaf person were to ask you to describe the sound of your music, how would you describe it?
I would describe our music as a high energy, cosmic journey with a titanic level of depth. An epic but also melancholy sea full of emotion constantly portrayed across the record with enough chugging to feel every bit of frustration and aggression that our characters endure throughout our musical based story.
Where can we find your social media sites?
Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/apollostands
Spotify
Youtube Music
https://music.youtube.com/channel/UCtd98xqZ2qWhmH1bea4j0Vw
Deezer
https://www.deezer.com/en/artist/49284052?autoplay=true
Apple Music
https://music.apple.com/gb/artist/apollo-stands/1214948760
YouTube
https://music.apple.com/gb/artist/apollo-stands/1214948760
https://twitter.com/apollo_stands?lang=en
https://www.instagram.com/apollostands
Amazon Music
