#lt world tour: berlin

[louiswearbook]

Louis Tomlinson performing in Berlin, Germany for show #69 of the Faith in the Future World Tour | 20 October 2023

—

Kith Pointelle Mesh Spencer Tank Top in Black

€90 | £85 | $83 (soldout)

📸 Fabian Starosta

[bakeinthesun]

Wot

[opera-ghosts]

Dramatic Soprano Elisabeth Ohms was born on 17 May 1888 in Arnheim in The Netherlands. Her interest in music was evident at an early age, when she began studying violin and piano playing. She did not turn to singing until she was 28, getting her training at the conservatory in Amsterdam and in Frankfurt am Main. Her first engagement was at the Stadttheater in Mainz, but after just two years she joined the company of the Munich State Opera, where she remained for two decades. With Munich as a base, she went on extensive guest tours all over the world. One of her admirers was Arturo Toscanini, under whom she sang Kundry and Isolde in 1927 and 1929 at La Scala in Milan; another was Richard Strauss, who was especially enthusiastic about her Isolde. lt goes without saying that this fine Wagner soprano was heard in Bayreuth, too; Toscanini asked for her as Kundry when he conducted "Parsifal" for the first time there in 1931. Her appearances at the Metropolitan Opera in 1930 and 1931 were outstandingly successful. As an exception, she began with "Fidelio"; then came the Brünnhildes in the Ring, Ortrud and Venus, and finally, to crown her work there, Isolde. After these years of international successes, Elisabeth Ohm limited her sphere of activities to Munich, where she performed only rarely and ended her stage career in 1942. She then resided in Marquartstein, where she died on 16 October 1974. Gertrud Bindernagel was born on 11 January 1894 in Magdeburg. She studied at the conservatory in her home town and was only 17 when she was engaged by the local Stadttheater as a practical trainee. From 1913 to 1917 she continued her studies at the College of Music in Berlin. After finishing them she went to the opera house in Breslau, where she stayed until 1919. In 1919-20 she was with the Regensburg Stadttheater. From 1921 to 1927 she was a member of the company of the Berlin State Opera, where she scored enormous successes in a repertoire ranging from Nedda in "I pagliacci" to Isolde. From 1927 on, Gertrud Bindemagel was heard mainly at the Städtische Oper in Berlin; guest tours took her to Barcelona, Hamburg, Munich, Vienna and Mannheim. Following a performance of "Siegfried" at Berlin's Städtische Oper she was shot by her husband under the arcades of the opera hause. Domestic quarrels had led to the attack, from which she did not recover. She died of complications on 3 November 1932. Marta Fuchs, the celebrated high dramatic soprano of the 1930s and 40s, began her career as an alto in concerts. Born on 1 January 1898 in Stuttgart, she made her opera debut, after five years of concert work, at the Stadttheater in Aachen, still as an alto. Only in the course of her next engagement - with the Dresden State Opera beginning in 1930 - was her voice transformed into a high dramatic soprano. After 1935 she was also a member of the Berlin State Opera company and went on to become one of the most famous Wagner sopranos of the time. In 1933 she was already singing at the Bayreuth Festival, and until 1942 she was hailed by audiences there as Isolde, Kundry and especially Brünnhilde. In 1933 and 1935-37 she took part in Wagner performances in Amsterdam. In 1938 she sang Isolde at the Theatre des Champs-Elysees in Paris. In 1936 she was heard with the Dresden State Opera ensemble in London's Covent Garden as Donna Anna, the Marschallin in "Rosenkavalier", and Ariadne. In 1942 she was acclaimed at the Vienna State Opera. After 1945 Marta Fuchs lived in Stuttgart, giving only occasional guest performances and concerts. She died in Stuttgart on 22 September 1974. Anny Konetzni, bom on 12 February 1902 in Ungarisch-Weisskirchen, got her vocal training at the Vienna Conservatory, where her teacher was the renowned heroic tenor Erik Schmedes. Later she studied with Jacques Stückgold in Berlin. She began her singing career at the Vienna Volksoper (1925) with alto and mezzo roles, but the change to the big dramatic soprano parts was not long in coming.

[hldailyupdate]

Louis Tomlinson World Tour: Berlin. (30 March 2022)

x

[thequeerlibrarian]

I FORGOT TO ASK YOU: HOW WAS THE SHOW FOR YOU???

It was so so beautiful!! 😭😭 Easily the best evening of my life. His voice was amazing and he was so happy and smiled so much. I still can't get over it and it's all dream like in my head... Two of us was so emotional I nearly cried and Only the brave was just pure goosebumps. And the crowd was amazing too! I went alone so I was a bit nervous but I talked to so many people and the fan projects were so cool 😍

[lazytaledragon]

As a 25 years old woman and a fan of Louis T for about 10 years, I finally saw him in Berlin on 30.03.22 and couldn’t be happier.

He literally was a smolbean, so soft and gentile with the audience, very humble and professional. Everything what they say about him is true, Ive been to a lot of concerts and this was my favourite. I couldn’t find Tickets for a long time and when I did, I drove from Frankfurt to Berlin all by myself for the night to see him even though I had obligatory lectures the other day at the university.

It was so worth it. I won’t forget it and I am excited to see him again!

[tanktop-lou]

ʟᴏᴜɪꜱ ᴛᴏᴍʟɪɴꜱᴏɴ ᴡᴏʀʟᴅ ᴛᴏᴜʀ: ʙᴇʀʟɪɴ.

[oscarhauntsmysoul]

i just saw louis tomlinson live.

i just saw louis tomlinson live.

i just saw louis tomlinson live.

[so-idialed-9]

Louis bluegreening in Berlin

[backmygirlhood]

if anyone wants to trade their louis tomlinson köln/cologne tickets for berlin ones let me know ✨

[louiswearbook]

Louis Tomlinson performing in Berlin, Germany for show #69 of the Faith in the Future World Tour | 20 October 2023

—

Axel Arigato Marathon R-Trail Sneakers in Black/Dark Gray

€310 | £290 | $395

📸 Fabian Starosta

[nuclearblastuk]

Fleshgod Apocalypse Announce 'Veleno Across Europe Tour 2020' w/ EX DEO

Last year, Italian orchestral-death metal giants FLESHGOD APOCALYPSE unleashed their highly-praised 5th album, »Veleno«, unto the world through Nuclear Blast. After storming European stages as part of the »MTV Headbanger's Ball Tour« alongside label mates KATAKLYSM as well as WHITECHAPEL and DYSCARNATE in November/December 2019, the time has come for the band to once again return to our clubs as headliners in autumn 2020. This time, the sextet will be supported by metal legionnaires EX DEO. Further details can be found below!

Frontman Francesco Paoli says, "Dear European friends, this is going to be massive. We will finally bring our new music and live production to Europe, coming back as headliners to many familiar places that we deeply love, and hitting some others for the first time. We'll be covering the whole Old Continent, rocking every city with a new, ambitious live show, featuring an extended setlist and some cool surprises that will turn every night into a night to remember! Moreover, we're stoked to announce symphonic death metal band EX DEO, featuring members of legendary Canadian band KATAKLYSM, as our guest for the entire »Veleno Across Europe Tour 2020«! You don't want to miss this…"

»Veleno Across Europe Tour 2020« w/ EX DEO 01.10. D Übach-Palenberg - Rockfabrik 02.10. NL Nijmegen - Doornroosje 03.10. F Paris - Petit Bain 04.10. UK London - The Underworld Camden 06.10. F Nantes - Le Ferrailleur 07.10. E Bilbao - Stage Live 08.10. P Porto - Hard Club 09.10. P Lisbon - RCA Club 10.10. E Madrid - Sala Caracol 11.10. E Barcelona - Sala Bóveda 12.10. F Toulouse - Le Metronum 15.10. I Retorbido (PV) - Dagda Live Club 16.10. CH Sion - Le Port Franc 17.10. CH Schaffhausen - Kammgarn 18.10. D Leipzig - Hellraiser 20.10. D Munich - Backstage 21.10. SK Košice - Collosseum Club 22.10. H Budapest - A38 23.10. BG Sofia - Mixtape 5 24.10. RO Bucharest - Quantic Club 25.10. RO Cluj-Napoca - Flying Circus 27.10. CZ Prague - Futurum Music Bar 28.10. PL Poznan - u Bazyla 29.10. PL Warsaw - Klub Proxima 30.10. LT Vilnius - Vakaris 31.10. LV Riga - Melnā Piektdiena 01.11. FIN Helsinki - Ääniwalli 04.11. N Oslo - Røverstaden 08.11. B Roeselare - Trax 11.11. D Weinheim - Café Central 12.11. D Berlin - Musik & Frieden 13.11. D Essen - Turock 14.11. F Pagney-derrière-Barine - Chez Paulette 15.11. NL Leiden - Gebr. de Nobel

More FLESHGOD APOCALYPSE dates:

»Veleno« - UK/IRL Tour w/ BLOODSHOT DAWN 12.02. UK Bristol - The Fleece 13.02. UK Leeds - The Key Club 14.02. IRL Dublin - Voodoo Lounge 15.02. UK Glasgow - Slay 16.02. UK Manchester - Rebellion 17.02. UK Milton Keynes - The Craufurd Arms

14./15.03. MEX Mexico City - Hell And Heaven Fest

»An Exclusive Evening Feat. The »Veleno« Classical Quartet« w/ THE AGONIST 16.03. USA Dallas, TX - House of Blues 17.03. USA Austin, TX - Emo's 19.03. USA Atlanta, GA - Buckhead Theatre 20.03. USA Baltimore, MD - Soundstage 21.03. USA Philadelphia, PA - Theatre of Living Arts 22.03. USA Brooklyn, NY - Warsaw 23.03. CDN Québec City, QC - Le D'Auteuil 24.03. CDN Montréal, QC - Théâtre Corona 25.03. CDN Toronto, ON - The Phoenix Concert Theatre 26.03. USA Cleveland, OH - House of Blues 27.03. USA Chicago, IL - House of Blues 28.03. USA Lincoln, NE - The Royal Grove 29.03. USA Denver, CO - Summit 31.03. CDN Vancouver, BC - Rickshaw Theatre 01.04. USA Seattle, WA - El Corazón 02.04. USA Portland, OR - Crystal Ballroom 04.04. USA San Diego, CA - The Observatory North Park 05.04. USA Mesa, AZ - Club Red 06.04. USA Los Angeles, CA - The Regent Theater

10.07. S Gävle - Gefle Metal Festival 14./15.08. A Graz - Metal on the Hill

-----

Order »Veleno« now: www.nuclearblast.com/fleshgodapocalypse-veleno

More on »Veleno«: 'Sugar' OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xmq3iyW02b8 'Carnivorous Lamb' OFFICIAL LYRIC VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RMEoOl80SM 'Worship And Forget' OFFICIAL TRACK VISUALIZER: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rx67BcnDk9c 'Healing Through War' OFFICIAL LIVE VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mviUmbrvAP0 'The Fool' OFFICIAL LIVE VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYJ4UmxGrIk

Italian for 'venom', »Veleno« marks FLESHGOD APOCALYPSE’s first record in 3 years, since the release of their critically acclaimed record »King« (2016). The 'metal part' of »Veleno« was recorded in Rome, Italy at Bloom Recording Studio and Kick Studio with long-standing collaborator Marco Mastrobuono, while the 'orchestral part' - the ensembles - were tracked at Musica Teclas Studio in Perugia. Fleshgod Apocalypse then took the effort over to Grammy-nominated Jacob Hansen (VOLBEAT, THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER, EPICA) at Hansen Studios in Denmark for mixing and mastering. The entire production of »Veleno« took, according to Paoli, about three months. Artwork for the album was created by Travis Smith (AVENGED SEVENFOLD, OPETH, KATATONIA).

»Veleno« - Track Listing:

CD 01. Fury 02. Carnivorous Lamb 03. Sugar 04. The Praying Mantis' Strategy 05. Monnalisa 06. Worship And Forget 07. Absinthe 08. Pissing On The Score 09. The Day We'll Be Gone 10. Embrace The Oblivion 11. Veleno Bonus Tracks (DIGI, DIGITAL & DIGITAL DELUXE) 12. Reise, Reise (RAMMSTEIN Cover) 13. The Forsaking (Nocturnal Version)

»An Evening in Perugia« (Bonus Blu-ray) - Track Listing:

01. Marche Royale 02. In Aeternum 03. Healing Through War 04. Cold As Perfection 05. Minotaur (The Wrath Of Poseidon) 06. Gravity 07. The Violation 08. Prologue 09. Epilogue 10. The Fool 11. The Egoism 12. Syphilis 13. The Forsaking

--- More info: www.fleshgodapocalypse.com www.facebook.com/fleshgodapocalypse www.twitter.com/fapocalypse www.instagram.com/fleshgodofficial www.youtube.com/fleshgodapocalypse www.nuclearblast.de/fleshgodapocalypse

[santmarc]

AIM Plovdiv 2019 – Local Connections 1–10 June, SKLAD, Plovdiv

AIM Plovdiv 2019 – Local Connections brings together a range of European artist-run initiatives to connect independent Bulgarian art scene with the surrounding regions and internationally. The project builds on AIM Network’s long-term goals to facilitate connections, build new collaborations, strengthen the artist-run scene and make it accessible to the public. It develops the concept of working on a large-scale local basis across different but interconnected neighbouring regions. Despite the state borders, artists and curators often share similar social and cultural questions, common traditions and discourse in contemporary art, yet often they do not have the opportunity to meet in person and share their experience. The project will offer a range of events including public workshops, panel discussion, guided tour and exhibition. AIM Plovdiv 2019 is organised by AIM Network and Water Tower Art Fest with the support of Plovdiv 2019 European Capital of Culture.

Participants: AEther (Sofia, BG), Candyland (Stockholm, SE), the fridge (Sofia, BG), International Performance Art Festival and Meeting (Tokyo, JP), KRÆ syndikatet (Copenhagen, DK), Lateral Art Space (Cluj-Napoca, RO), LTMKS (Vilnius, LT), MUU Artists’ Association (Helsinki, FI), Ormston House (Limerick, IE), Pasaj (Istanbul, TR), Press to Exit (Skopje, MK), Sant Marc (Sineu, Mallorca, ES), Small Projects (Tromsø, NO), Snehta Residency (Athens, GR), >top (Berlin, DE), U10 (Belgrade, RS), Water Tower Art Fest (Sofia, BG).

Art today (Plovdiv, BG), CU29 (Plovdiv, BG), Kapana Plovediv (Plovdiv, BG), Art Studios”Maritsa” (Plovdiv, BG), Studio 2 (Plovdiv, BG), Gallery Geshev Arsenal of arts (Plovdiv, BG), Doma Art foundation (Sofia, BG)

AIM Network (Artists’ Initiatives’ Meetings Network) is a European network of artist-run initiatives. It serves as a platform for exchange of experience, sharing of knowledge, increasing of mobility and cooperation between artist-run initiatives, and to raise awareness of the artist-run sector among both professional art world and the broader public. The network has currently eleven artist-run member spaces from across Europe.

Water tower Art Fest is an annual international art event with performances, installations, presentations and workshops that takes place in Sofia, Bulgaria. Since 2006 the festival has grown from a local grassroots initiative into the most important international contemporary art festival in Bulgaria. The project directs public attention to our immediate urban environment including abandoned and unused spaces, and it tackles the questions of democracy, tolerance and environment through socially engaged art.

More about the event at: AIM Network Design by Denitsa Toneva

[hldailyupdate]

Louis and the crowd during Only The Brave 🏳️‍🌈

Louis Tomlinson World Tour: Berlin. (30 March 2022)

x

[doomedandstoned]

Conan Share Earth-Shaking Set at The Live Room in Belfast (plus Interview!)

~Doomed & Stoned Debuts~

Doomed & Stoned is proud to partner with CONAN and The Live Room Belfast to share this striking live studio performance of the band playing three of their standards: "Total Conquest," "Satsumo," and "Gravity Chasm." This comes just weeks ahead of Conan's new album, 'Existential Void Guardian' (2018), releasing September 14th on Napalm Records.

Start Together Studio recently launched The Live Room Belfast to invite touring bands in for special recordings, usually between 3-5 songs, as a way to capture the intimacy of a live studio performance. This set was recorded, mixed, and edited by Niall Doran, with help from Assistant Audio Engineer Paddy McEldowney, and filmed by Ciara McMullan. The team did a fantastic job of capturing the massive weight of the Liverpool trio's legendary riffs and especially the fearsome caveman vocals of frontman Jon Davis.

This all took place on May 16th, the morning before Conan took the stage with Monolord and Elder Druid at Voodoo Belfast for an unforgettable show. Jon also sat down with Elder Druid guitarist Jake Wallace (who organized our recent Doomed & Stoned in Ireland compilation) for an in-depth interview.

And now, it's time for Jon Davis (guitar/vox), Chris Fielding (bass), and Johnny King (drums) do their thing! Enjoy...

Conan On Tour

10.08.18 PT - Moledo / Sonic Blast Moledo Fest 11.08.18 UK - Winchester / Boomtown Fair 16.08.18 IR - Galway / The Loft 17.08.18 IR - Cork / Cyprus Avenue 18.08.18 IR - Limerick / Dolans Warehouse 30.09.18 UK - Sheffield / O2 Academy 02.10.18 NL - Eindhoven / Effenaar 03.10.18 DE - Bochum / Rockpalast 04.10.18 DE - Hamburg / Logo 05.10.18 DE - Berlin / Musik & Frieden 06.10.18 PL - Wroclaw / Firlej 07.10.18 PL - Warsaw / Poglos 09.10.18 LT - Vilnius / Rock River Club 10.10.18 LV - Jelgava / Melno Cepuriso Balerija 11.10.18 EE - Tallinn / Sveta 13.10.18 FI - Helsinki / Blow Up 4 Festival 15.10.18 SE - Stockholm / Kraken 17.10.18 SE - Malmo / Plan B 19.10.18 DK - Copenhagen / Stengade 20.10.18 NL - Leeuwarden / Into The Void Festival 07.11.18 AU - Canberra / The Basement 08.11.18 AU - Melbourne / Max Watts 09.11.18 AU - Sydney / Manning Bar 10.11.18 AU - Brisbane / Crowbar 12.11.18 NZ - Wellington / Valhalla 13.11.18 NZ - Auckland / Whammy Bar 16.11.18 RU - Moscow / Aglomerat 17.11.18 RU - St. Petersburg / Zoccolo 23.11.18 UK - Nottingham / The Loft 24.11.18 UK - Leeds / Temple Of Boom 25.11.18 UK - Newcastle / Byker Grave Festival 26.11.18 UK - Glasgow / Audio 27.11.18 UK - Manchester / Rebellion 28.11.18 UK - Coventry / The Arches 29.11.18 UK - Cardiff / Clwb Ifor Bach 30.11.18 UK - Milton Keynes / The Craufurd Arms 01.12.18 UK - London / Boston Music Rooms 02.12.18 UK - Oxford / Buried In Smoke X-Mas Weekender

Interview with Jon Davis of Conan

~By Jake Wallace (Elder Druid)~

Recorded May 16, 2018 in The Live Room Belfast

Do you enjoy being on the road so much?

Yeah, we do. We have always tried to tour as much as possible, ever since the very beginning. I remember the first time we played outside of Liverpool with Charger in late 2010, and that was a really big thing, something we were pushing for to try and breakout of Liverpool gigs. We almost immediately started getting opportunities to tour and play, and for a year or so it was just weekends here and there, I really loved that. Then we got the opportunity to go touring around Europe. Of course, that brought its own problem then, because we had to get a van, so we invested a bit of money in an old Ford Transit. And I remember spending nearly £600 on installing a cool sound system in there, so that we could listen to Iron Maiden on the road full blast. Like with speakers right by our heads in the bulkhead.

There's something about being on the road, and everyday just looking forward to playing the music that you've written, and the law of seeing the reaction of people who are listening to your music, that you've written sometimes easily, sometimes songs have come together when they've been difficult to write. I've always found it really rewarding to play music, whether I'm on my own, or whether in the practice room with the lads, or whether onstage. And I remember when I was 16, promising myself I would do this, telling myself that I'm gonna play music cause I saw playing music as a long term thing that I would be in charge of. I never really wanted to work for anyone else, I always wanted to do music, and I remember as a shy and less than confident teenager, thinking this is a path that I can grow, and I really enjoy, something I could do for the rest of my life, hopefully.

When I get too old to lug cabs then I'll just pick up an acoustic, and do something with that. So getting on the road has been something we've loved from day one, and now were touring all over the world. This year already, we've had a US of 5 weeks, we've been to Japan for a week, and we've got more far-flung shows lined up for the end of the year, not announced yet, plus European tours, another UK Tour, and we've got an album out soon. I mean it's just -- we love it. I couldn't do anything else now, if I had to have an office job, I'd probably commit suicide, seriously. (laughs)

What make Monolord the perfect match for this tour, and will you be back in Ireland anytime soon?

I mean, we wanted a band as physically attractive as us, and we've finally done it with Monolord. Seriously though, they are a really cool band, they are really good people to tour with, they're professional, friendly, really interesting people, and they come from a different culture to ours, and we enjoy being on the road with them. We're not sharing a van with them, although we have done, we shared a night liner with them in October last year. And we didn't know what to expect then, as we didn't know them very well on that tour, but we got along really well. They're from a different culture but very similar people, at the same time, at the core of what we all are in a love for music, and they put their money where their mouth is, in terms of that. They also like to tour a lot, they release really great music, and they're a really good live act. So when you are choosing a band to tour with, our booking agent puts forward bands and it was really natural, that us and Monolord tour together. It's cool that we get to this joint headliner, switch headliners every night. Yeah, they're just great. I mean, I don't think we've ever toured with a band that we didn't really like, some more than others, obviously, but they are cool as fuck.

I suppose it's an interesting parallel, between both bands having three members, you get to see how another band performs as a three piece as well every night. Tell us about the origin of the band name, and how you guys have created a genre known as 'Caveman Battle Doom.'

Well, Conan could have been called anything, really, from '70s and '80s science fiction movies. You know, Krull was one idea that I had for a band name, very briefly I thought about that. We were called Elf-Beater for a time in our practice room -- that's obviously an awful name so we were never going to use that one long term. Conan just came to me one day, you know, I was going through some personal stuff and I'd had to move into my parent's for a little while, and I started this band up with an old friend of mine who was a bass player, but he played drums a little bit. So we started and we actually wrote and recorded "Satsuma." We had these songs, and we didn't really have a settled name. We were going to call ourselves Pazuzu for a little while or Demon-Demaro, as like a Bebo page in that name. There's some really old demos if you can search for that.

Initially, I wanted it to be a little bit occult-ish type of stuff, and then quickly I realised the lyrics weren't really going in that direction, and we were more about Sword & Sorcery, Science Fiction, and Mythology. Then I remember sitting there one day just kind of thinking, "What do I for a band name?" and then it just came to me. And it stuck, there wasn't really any other bands, well there was an Argentina metal band called Conan, but I think they had expired in the '80s, so there was nothing, no current bands within our scene, with that name, or anything close to it, so we grabbed it with both hands.

How did the name 'Caveman Battle Doom' come about?

The very first show that Conan did in Liverpool was with friends of ours, John McNulty and Gemma McNulty. They weren't married then but they are now, and they're really close of mine, and the band, they recorded at our studio. But they put us on our first ever show, when it was just me and Paul O'Neil, a two piece, and on the poster for that show, I think it said "primitive battle doom," "caveman battle doom," or "caveman doom." The label we were on, fast forward a couple of months, we recorded Horseback Battle Hammer and we released stuff on CD with Aurora-Borealis Records. They used that phrase as part of their sales pitch, on the website, taking it from that first ever poster, and then we thought we’d put that on a t-shirt because it looks cool and it sounds cool and those t-shirts just sold like hot cakes. So we thought, that's a cool name to make a joke about. Obviously, we haven't created our own genre; it would be awesome if we did cause we'd obviously make loads of money then, but it's just a bit of fun.

I know yourself are involved in Black Bow Records and Chris is involved in Skyhammer. How did both of those projects come around? Was it through the band that this became something you were interested in, or what was the path towards a label and a studio?

When I moved into a large house in a rural location, not far from Liverpool/Chester, there was a couple of extra buildings. One of them was a large coach-house and I actually wanted to turn that into a rehearsal studio initially. But it needed a lot of building work, which would have cost a lot of money, so I thought, "I wonder if I could somehow turn this into something that would repay some of that investment? So I'll do a practice room and then I may be able to rent the practice room out to bands." And I thought, "Nah, I don't think that will make generate enough money to make it worthwhile, unless we have people in there all the time." And if we did that, it could just be people in there 2-3 hours at a time and it would be a bit of a nightmare to manage, with it being a home. I then thought of, "Well I could turn it into a recording studio." So I got a couple of quotations for layout and stuff like that. It became obvious that it was going to be really expensive to do. So I thought, "I'll do that and see if I can maybe learn the ropes, I might work in there myself as a recording engineer."

For an extremely short-lived time I recorded bands in their practice rooms. I had one band ask for a refund, so then I thought, "Maybe I need to practice a little bit more." So I was going to set up the studio and decided not to, in the end, when Chris got in touch. Me and Chris had been friends and I'd been asking him what microphones to get and what stuff do I need really to set up a studio. We got chatting then one day out of the blue, and he wrote to me saying he had a really crazy idea and could he ring me. So I said okay. He gave me a call and Chris' idea was that he would come and work in the studio and take over and run it, and I waited a little bit and spoke to my wife. Then in the morning, we chatted again and it became obvious that yeah, it was going to be a great idea. Chris and I started working in the studio from August 2013, the build started in May the same year. We had a company called Studio People do it and they were brilliant.

The first band in there were called Bast and they came into the studio. They didn't have a label, I think they had been in talks with Candlelight Records, but nothing had been agreed at that point. So they recorded this album called Spectres and I said, "Why don't I just release it for you?" It was cool to release the first thing we ever recorded at the studio and that album did quite well. I had to repress it and then another band came in and I released theirs, as well. Then I spoke to Fister and Norska from America, I did a 7-inch split. Before you know it, I'm releasing music from bands all over and it's just snowballed. I didn't expect it to and I didn't really try very hard, to be honest.

I'm still learning all the time about running the label, make mistakes all the time, but I love it and it fits in nicely with the band, fits in nicely with the studio. I'm able to really diversify within music now, because obviously everyone has to earn a living somehow and unless you're very lucky, you can't earn a living from just the band. Some people can, but I can't, so I have to add other things on to make it possible to have a career in music. So that's all I do now, thankfully.

You guys feature heavily in the upcoming documentary 'The Doom Doc' which is due out this summer. How important is a documentary like that in promoting the underground?

I think it's cool, because it engages with people who may not have necessarily have checked out the bands that are being talked about on it. It gives a good overview of what the scene is like and it's something that you can take all round the world. We're friends with Joe Allen, one of the lads who made the documentary, and we played in Japan with him recently and his band Kurokuma. We played a sell-out show in Tokyo in a venue called Earthdom, which hadn't sold out for ten years or so. And part of the reason why it sold out so well was because the documentary was really popular over there. It's really cool, because it's shone a light on the very grassroots level of heavy music in the UK and beyond, and I don't think a documentary has done that really for UK heavy music, the very grassroots level, or I've never seen one that does it. Obviously, in America you have Such Hawks, Such Hounds. It's good that something like that has been made in England.

Finally, you've got the next album 'Existential Void Guardian' coming out in August. What can you tell us about that?

Well, it's all recorded and mastered now. We're just waiting on a video getting done for one of the songs and I'm not going to give any of the songs away, but it's cool, it's heavy as fuck, and we're really proud of it. It's the first album that we've done with Jonny on drums and it was quite a challenging album to make, because if we'd had anyone else on drums I don't think we'd have been able to manage it. But fortunately, Jonny being as professional as he is, he came in after touring with us for one month, just practicing a riff or two here or there in sound checks, and we sat down in the studio and we kind of wrote the drum parts of the album within a week -- or a weekend event, maybe 3-4 days -- so it came together. It wasn't easy, but the fact that it came together at all was a miracle, because we didn't allow ourselves the usual amount of time to write an album. So we pushed ourselves to the limit to get it written and get it to a level that were really happy with, because we wouldn't have released it otherwise. We wrote the drums and the guide guitar in the first few sessions, and then we went back and recorded guitar and bass, and when we got back from Japan we recorded vocals.

It came together in a different way to all the other albums. Maybe Revengeance was a bit like that, but everything up until then was the product of weekly practices, an hour or two every week. So we're kind of getting into this vein now, where we're writing music almost like as soon as we sit down. We get together and we can all play and write music together. It's really cool. I think a lot of that is to do with Jonny, because he's got a particular style that really blend in with what me and Chris are doing. It comes out mid-Sept. Tony Roberts is doing the artwork, as many people would expect, the artwork's cool. And we've got a really good video coming out, it's been done by the same people who shot the "Foehammer" video, and I gave them this idea of what I'd like them to do with this next video, and it's insane. It's everything I would ever want from a Conan video -- it's so sick, it's amazing.

Follow The Band

Get Their Music

[so-idialed-9]

Rainbow 🌈 Louis in Berlin