PlanetMosh Keeping it Metal
“Dead Hearts” are a recently formed band from South East London. The band consists of:
Rico Rice – Vocals
Olly Meager – Guitars
James Stockman – Guitars
Rory Bevis – Bass & Backing Vocals
Cameron Blower – Drums & Vocals & Backing screams
I caught up with the guys via email to find out a bit more about them, influences and so on :)
Why did you pick the name ‘Dead Hearts’ and what does it stand for?
It’s always hard to choose a band name when you are starting out, but personally (Olly) I don’t think that they are particularly important, I think the music should speak for its self, if you get that right then I don’t think people are bothered about the name. The name “Dead Hearts” was inspired from the album title of a band called Blackhole, they have split up now, but I suggest you go give them a listen! I agreed with a lot of what the album stood for and felt it was very relevant to me and the band, so it stuck.
How did you come up with the idea for ‘Dead Hearts’
After the split of Cam and Olly’s previous band, they carried on working together writing music that they enjoyed playing. Eventually found other members to make up the rest of the band and haven’t stopped writing and playing music that is current for us and music that we love. I guess it was a natural transition in terms of the style of music that we’ve been writing, if it was something that we liked, then we’d keep it.
How would you describe the band?
Stylistically, we are a mix between Metalcore, Hardcore and Post-hardcore with many different influences and elements. It’s always hard to try and actually describe our music, so we’d say the best way to find out what we’d describe ourselves is to just listen to us and decide for yourself.
What has changed since you first started out ?
The main thing that has changed would be the line up; we have changed our bass player due to our previous bassist main commitments. I would say the other thing that has changed is the musical style.
We have learnt a lot in the past year, from writing to performing. Our new songs have greatly increased in technicality and overall quality.
What are your musical influences?
We are greatly influenced by bands such as Confide, Woe Is Me, Architects, The Devil Wears Prada, Of Mice & Men, Legend, For The Fallen Dreams, The Ghost Inside and many other bands such as these
What equipment do you use? Any endorsements?
We don’t have any endorsements at the moment, though we have been looking into possible opportunities with companies such as TRX and various other companies we have been in contact with. For drums, we use Sabian Xs20’s, Vic Firth 5b sticks and Big Dog double bass. Guitarists will all be using Peavey heads as of 2012 and most likely ESP guitars.
What kind of response did you get from your fans?
We have had a really good response from all our fans with every song we’ve released so far, and also from our unreleased songs that we have played live. Even people that wouldn’t usually listen to our style of music still seem to enjoy tracks such as ‘Save me’ and ‘Commitment’ and have given us great feedback. Live shows have only been getting better, with an amazing response from the crowd.
Any particular gig story or memorable experience you would like to share?
One experience that really sticks out in my mind is from one of our first few gigs, where we were supposed to be playing either an opening slot, or a second slot. We’d arrived at the station to get the tube up to the venue, but just before we went underground, we found out that 2 of the 4 bands playing had pulled out last minute, as they couldn’t get to the venue. This left just us and the headline band to play 4 bands worth of sets, still had a great night.
Can you give us a quick description of your EP coming out next year?
Different is the best way to describe it, but we aren’t saying too much about it just yet, as it is still being written.
What are the plans for the rest of this year and 2012?
Since gaining the bountiful knowledge and help of ‘The Arctic Agency’ we now have three tours booked, the nearest being at the very beginning of February. We also will be getting as many shows as we can every month all around the country, venturing into places such as Leeds and Southampton. We are also looking into getting a video shoot done for one of our songs; however it won’t be released until at least February.
Are there any messages that you would like to pass on to the readers?
Check us out on Facebook and check the page as much as you can to keep updated with everything going on with us. We have all our shows on the ‘Bandpage’ so make sure to check that every now and then for all our new show dates and prices. Mostly thanks for all of the support from all of our fans!
Band Links
http://www.facebook.com/DeadHeartsUK
http://www.deadheartsuk.tumblr.com
