Interview

A Conversation With Bristol's Progressive Metal Upstarts Endeavour

This day and age is perhaps the most difficult for a young band to "make it," but with a well received EP out for over a year and their reputation and skill earning them a slot at Britain's fastest growing metal festival, Bloodstock Open Air, Bristol based progressive metal band Endeavour appear to be well on their way to becoming one of the bigger names in the British metal scene. I sat down for a chat with the band last night to discuss their Bloodstock appearance, plans for the future and how the hell grunge and prog can be fused so well.

Diamond Oz: I guess the first thing to bring up would be your recent performance at Bloodstock. How were you able to secure a slot at one of Britain's most popular festival?

Iain Davies (Guitar/Vocals): We entered the Metal 2 The Masses competition in Bristol. We had previously tried this in 2013 but we didn't have much of a fan base in Bristol then. 2 years on we've managed to gain a few fans who supported us through the competition.

Chris Hawkins (Vocals): Thanks to our awesome fans, we found ourself in the final. Our buds in Mortishead got the New Blood stage slot but we were very kindly offered the slot at the Jagermeister stage.

Diamond Oz: So was that kind of a runner up prize?

Chris: I don't know if it was an official 'runner up' slot but judge Rob Bannister is obviously a cool dude because he put us forward for the slot.

Diamond Oz: Although I'm sure you were all very excited to be playing, was there some apprehension that playing the third stage might not attract as many as the second?

Chris: I guess Jagermeister stage is technically the forth stage but no we weren't apprehensive, at least I wasn't anyway. Having been at previous Bloodstocks I'd seen that the Jagermeister stage was in a great position in more or less the centre of the arena and you basically pass it on your way to the main stage so I was confident we would turn some heads.

Ben Hands (Bass): I was apprehensive because I was ill and couldn't stop bloody sneezing!

Chris: Yeah Ben had some massive hay fever thing on the day we were playing. Poor dude was practically blind!

Diamond Oz: Nasty. So how do you feel your set itself was received?

Chris: I think we had a great response. First song the audience was pretty much all the fans and friends who made it to Bloodstock, as the mighty Sepultura were still finishing on the main stage but after they were done people started wandering over and by the end it was rammed.

Iain: The set was very well received by old and new fans alike. we had a fair few new faces in the crowd who really enjoyed the music and went off to buy our EP 'From The Darkest Grounds'. We also may have had the only pits and wall of death on that stage!

Diamond Oz: Nice! Do you feel your music is suited to attracting fans of bands like Sepultura or do you think it was a case of you guys offering something no other band was at that time of the day?

Chris: Well, we've definitely got some of that raw aggression that Sepultura channel but also I think those guys are kinda proggy in their own right, so I think the fans coming from there probably are more open to what we do.

Iain: I think it's a bit of both. We're accessible enough to attract the punter but once we get 'the fish on the line' so to speak, I think we do offer something that not many bands at any festival do.

Chris: Yeah, there was nothing else like us at Bloodstock really apart from Opeth, but of course those guys are legends and we're uh...not quite there yet.

Diamond Oz: I see. I suppose that brings us swiftly on to your sound itself. You identify more than any other style as a progressive metal band, but there's definitely some grunge influences in there as well. Was the original idea to create a blend of these rather different takes on rock/metal or was it all quite natural?

Ben: The grunge thing just happened naturally. I think the timbres of both Chris and Iain's vocals together just happened to give off that grunge vibe. We've had quite a few people comment about the similarities on the vocals being close to Alice in Chains.

Diamond Oz: I see, so the band is a progressive outfit first and the other influences that can be heard are kind of a bonus, or rather a part of the DNA?

Chris: Yeah, I don't know if the grunge thing was there from the start, but when I came in and added the vocals I couldn't help but hear stuff in there that just made me want to add vocal harmonies. That's definitely where the AIC things come in. But I think vocally I can't help it really as the nineties grunge/alt rock bands like AIC, Soundgarden, Smashing Pumpkins etc. have had a massive influence on me.

Diamond Oz: So it's your fault, Chris?

Ben: (Laughs) It certainly hasn't been a bad thing! It has become an integral part to the band!

Chris: Well I know Iain has been influenced by these bands too. I think with us what it comes down to is that we have a great variety of influences and once you mash all those together it turns out the biggest ones for us are the progressive artists, the metal artists and apparently the grunge guys too. Iain and Ben, was there any concious effort to make it grungy from the start?

Iain: No there was no conscious effort to add a grunge tinge in the beginning, even though I'm a big AIC fan. now that that vocal style has become a trait of the band I think it's something worth being nurtured.

Diamond Oz: Since we're talking about your sound, I guess the easiest way for anyone to check you out right now would be to listen to the material from your first EP, "From the Darkest Grounds," which came out last year. You mentioned you'd sold some copies at Bloodstock, how has general sales and response been to the record since it's release?

Chris: Yup, FTDG came out early last year. You can find it on our Bandcamp (links on Facebook) and our YouTube and also now you can get it digitally pretty much anywhere - Spotify, iTunes etc. We've sold just over 200 physical copies I think and that's just selling to the local fans, online via big cartel and at gigs. We got so involved with actually recording and mixing the damn thing that we didn't really do much to promote it. So I think we've done pretty good considering. Future releases will definitely be much better promoted. We learned a lot from doing the last one.

Ben: My Mum was pleased when the record was released!

Chris: I think all our mums were very pleased! Although I still can't quite explain to mine why I have to shout so much.

Iain: As Chris said it hasn't sold massively or spread throughout the country but the people who have heard/got it love it. Brutalism.com dubbed it as being "one of the best releases to come out of the British metal scene in years."

Diamond Oz: You mentioned the next release, when can we expect this to come out, or at least to get a taste of what's to come?

Ben: A taste of what's to come? Sure. The songs are really hard to play!

Chris: We don't want to give anything away yet because we want to be sure the next one is an absolute stormer. Music is mostly written it's more about getting the whole project together - recording, mixing, promo etc. So we don't want to speculate a release date yet but rest assured we are working hard on it already and it is going to be even better than FTDG.

Iain: What we can say is that it will feature our new drummer, (who we've yet to announce) and that old and new fans should be very pleased. it's definitely not FTDG part 2.

Diamond Oz: You mentioned a new drummer. Of course your last drummer left shortly before Bloodstock. Who filled in at the show and is there any chance of him becoming the permanent drummer?

Chris: Actually, George came along with us to Bloodstock and played his ass off. It was the perfect send off actually as we got to hang out over the weekend, drink some beer and enjoy some great bands. And of course the performance was an amazing last gig to play with him.

Diamond Oz: I see. Going back to your material, lyrically, you seem to deal with concepts such as philosophy and mental illness. Would you say these are subjects that take precedence for you, or are you hoping to move into more areas on the new release?

Iain: I don't know about philosophy, but there definitely is some exploration of metal states, especially on "Shadow's Refrain" and "All That He Does See." The lyrics on FTDG unintentionally drew out a concept of one man against an oppressive force whether it was his own mind or others.

Without giving too much away, the lyrics I've been writing recently are very introverted and look much deeper into the psyche in a depressive manner, but we'll see if there are any new areas that we explore. Chris and I still have to hash out ideas on some new material.

Chris: I think the introspective stuff and the existential stuff is always going to make its way into the lyrics. This is the kind of stuff that rarely makes its way into the mainstream so I think it's important to sing about but mostly this is just the kind of stuff that we naturally express. These are the thoughts and images that have carved big, important chunks into our minds and the most healthy way to assimilate these kinds of experiences and ideas is to express them in some way.

Diamond Oz: So, what's the plan now? Will you be focusing your efforts on the new album?

Iain: Obviously with a member change we gotta change the batteries, reset the controls and figure out what's what but we'll be pushing to get on new stuff as soon as possible as well as play live as much as we can around the country.

Diamond Oz: Okay. Well, I wish you all the best for the future. Most of our readers won't have heard you guys before, so as a closer, I'll give you each one sentence to tell people why they should check you out....

Chris: Crushing riffs, diverse song writing, high calibre musicianship and songs that will stick with you for the long haul..

Iain: We offer music that the young head banger as well as the curious thinker within you can connect with.

Ben: You should check us out because my cat won't be pleased if you don't and he can be vicious!

Diamond Oz: Cheers lads. All the best for the future!

Chris: Nice one Oz, cheers to yourself and Metal Underground and a big shout out to your readers!