Quella – Interview

British progressive punk metallers QUELLA put down a marker in the sand with their stunning new EP, Donor Fatigue, out now. The band have also just unleashed a spanking new video, Crown Of Flies – https://youtu.be/Li3iNAtjScc . With all of this in mind, we had a chat with the guys to find out more:

Why did you name the ep Donor Fatigue?

Donor Fatigue pretty much summed up how we felt after committing our songs to the care of Mr Lewis Johns. His almost surgical approach to sound recording and song structure made the whole process exhilarating and numbing at the same time. He helped us spawn our unique sound and taught us a lot along the way. We can’t wait to go back.

What is the full band line-up, who sings and who plays which instrument?

Adam Parker – all things drums

Bean – Guitar and GRRRRRs

Lee Davidson – Bass and OOOOOHS and AHHHHHS

Stefano Sebastianelli – Giant Gob.

How and when did the band form?

How? Was fate and frustration in perfect harmony around three years ago.

When? We’ve been honing our art for some time but with Donor Fatigue it finally found focus when we met Lewis Johns and he extracted from us the sound we had all been imagining.

When and how did the band really start gelling and solidifying?

We were thrown the gauntlet three years ago by a dear friend. She rightly accused us of being a “pussy band” – Lilly livered loafers – as we didn’t have a name or could be arsed to play any gigs. We had the songs but not the resolve.

Who are your musical influences?

Anyone considered rubbish or controversial either now or in their day. Except for artists who really weren’t that great of course, but hey, even they got off their butt’s so that’s kind of an influence in itself.

Folk who enjoy Quella tend to be fans of things like Queens of the Stoneage, Wire, Therapy?, Black Peaks, Nirvana and Frank Turner among others.

Where did the name of the band come from?

Lee went and organised a gig against all form and we had to have a tag for the poster. Stef had been looking at a list of the most unpopular girls names in the world for a character he was generating and Quella appeared on it. When we looked at the origin of the word it transpires it’s an Old English word for to crush, to repress to indeed Quell. So she chose us really. It also has a darker connotation but that’s for another song.

How far back does your history with each other (the band members) extend? Are you friends from school or any family relations?

We are Quella, our History is just beginning, our past is for our songs… We may well find out in a future twist that we go back in time and father one another’s grandparents, and we hate spoilers.

In your opinion, how is your band different from all the other bands out there?

Every band is as unique and different as the grown up children who play in them. They all deserve praise just for having the bottle to get up there – xfactor wannabes included. We are different in that we aren’t needy. The validation always happens amongst the four of us. What makes us different is that we don’t see any difference in the genres that make up our influences. They all carry equal weight. Metal and Punk have become like the civil service set to music where you have to be seen to be in the camp of a particular style. Exactly what both genres set out to destroy. We don’t fit and we like it that way.

If a deaf person were to ask you to describe the sound of your music, how would you describe it?

Like taking wave after wave of espresso hits of hooks and riffage whilst riding the wall of death with Guy Martin.

Where can we find your social media sites?

FACEBOOK:         https://www.facebook.com/quellaband/

TWITTER:            https://twitter.com/quellaofficial

PIKNOW:             https://piknow.net/hashtags/QuellaBand