PlanetMosh Keeping it Metal
Expressing unbridled energy that takes from the depths of Tesseract and Periphery through to the likes of Scar Symmetry and Protest The Hero, Stoke-on-Trent’s Construct have a sound that is as colossal as it is captivating. The Northern metallers reveal their blistering debut album, The Deity, on Saturday 4th February via all digital outlets and we sat down with the band to get their background….
What is the full band lineup, who plays what?
Callum Howle – Vocals, Richard Howle – Guitars, Michael Foxall – Guitars, Backing Vocals, Christian Lovatt – Bass, and Samuel Hunt – Drums.
How and when did the band form?
In early 2013, we started out as a handful of music enthusiasts. Rich, Cal and Sam would practice performing in Sam’s living room to pre-composed material from Richard’s solo project (dubbed “Xenogenocide”). In late 2014, we joined forces with exceptional bassist and guitarist, Chris. In early 2015, our outstanding guitarist and backing vocalist, Mike joined us to create the five-piece everybody knows today as “Construct”.
Stoke-on-Trent is a city made up of six towns. Being the original hometown of Slash, Lemmy and the members of Discharge, the city is booming with talent.
When and how did the band really start gelling and solidifying?
Once we had our full lineup, that’s when everything started coming together. We mapped out a plan for the coming months, everybody recorded their parts in the album and we got really tight through persistent practice. Throughout the whole process, we built a solid relationship with each other and we now all have great chemistry.
What are your musical influences?
The obvious mutual main influences are all there with bands such as Tesseract, Periphery, Monuments, etc having a big influence on our sound. We are also heavily influenced by Scar Symmetry in terms of melodic choruses and bridges. Individually, we all take influence from a wide variety of artists such as the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Pearl Jam, Dream Theater, Protest the Hero, Don Broco, Breaking Benjamin, Mastodon, even ranging as far as Michael Jackson. We try to keep an open mind and not get caught in the trap of only being influenced by a certain genre or a select few artists as we feel that this would be limiting the potential of our overall sound.
How far back does your history with each other (the band members) extend? are you friends from school or any family relations?
Rich and Cal are actually brothers. Cal has known Chris since they started high school in 2004, as they were in the same year group. Cal also met Sam just after high school in 2010 through a mutual friend. Rich and Mike have known each other since the start of primary school in 1994. They were both in the same year group.
In your opinion, how is your band different from all the other bands out there?
We feel that we bring a fresh, melodic sound to a generally gritty genre. We aim to put groove into heavy breakdowns to get heads moving but also add sweeter sounding riffs and strong vocal melodies to keep the listener in a state of elation. This combined with the technicality of our songs gives us a unique edge.
Constantly striving to improve our live performance, we put in the hard work required to perfect our craft. We understand that communication between all of us is vital to reaching our full potential and we consider every show, practice session and relative interaction to be a valuable learning opportunity.
If a deaf person were to ask you to describe the sound of your music, how would you describe it?
Energetic, powerful and precise. The mountain from Game of Thrones would shed a tear.
Where can we find your social media sites?
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OfficialConstruct/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/constructband/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/constructband/
