Loathe

Loathe has been interviewed by HeadbangToday.com, the South African Rock and Metal website. The interview was conducted on Skype by Scream, and it follows below. This interview may be found in its original format here.

We got Mark, the bassist of death metallers, Loathe to spit it all out in a one on one interview with Scream. If heavy is your thing, you should check these monsters of metal from Malta out today!

Interview By Scream

Headbang Today: Welcome to HeadbangToday.com! As always, we honour the bands and its members who are willing to do an interview with us! So let’s cut to the chase! For those that are unfamiliar with Loathe, tell us briefly about the band.

Mark: Hey there, thanks for the offer! Loathe has been around for almost ten years, in various forms. The band is one of the oldest and highest achieving in the country of Malta. What we’ve done of importance in the last 3 years is tour the UK 4 times over, record an EP, record a full length album and headline several great gigs locally.

Headbang Today: Your full length debut album is said to be set for release any time soon… What can you update us with on the progress of your album?

Mark: At present we’re ironing out some minor issues with the label that will carry this album, but after that it’s pretty much the time needed to ship masters out and duplication and the album will be in hand.

Headbang Today: Now you’ve done quite a few gigs in the past couple of months while touring the country. How did that go?

Mark: Correct. That was our fourth tour of the UK in 3 years. So far, our tours get better by time. Crowd response is always stronger, more people show up to the shows, and people seem to like our stuff more every time. Plus, we now have pockets of hardcore fans in the locales we’ve played, so it’s great to have them come back every time and bring their friends!

Headbang Today: You’re doing the “We Have Unfinished Business” show where you “versus” the band Slit this coming weekend. But by the time this interview gets published, you would’ve played that gig already… It also seems to be the final show for your tour… What will you guys be up to after that show?

Mark: Yes, we do have that show, although we considered the tour closed with Friday the 13th’s gig with BNI. However, this ought to be a great show, we have not played with Slit in years, and they are also a vastly experienced band. After this show we’ll get back to the practice room, really hammer out any issues before printing the CD and continue where we left off before the tour when it comes to new material.

Headbang Today: Speaking of new material, I’ve given your tracks a listen and I am very impressed by the solid composition and awesome variety in the vocal work. A perfect blend of thrash, death and hardcore metal! Do you write your songs having these genres in mind or does it come naturally by just jamming together?

Mark: Thanks for the compliments man, we’re very happy with how it sounds ourselves! Well, you mentioned the three basic genres of metal the band is influenced by. Everyone brings some preference of their own to their table. Most of the riffs are written by Kurt, who of course writes what he likes, but then during practising everyone puts their ‘twist’ on to it, if you please.
Loathe Bassist Mark

Headbang Today: And your personal influences would be?

Mark: well, my overarchingly favourite band forever would be Slayer, but in the past few years I’ve gravitated towards bands such as The Black Dahlia Murder, Psycroptic, Necrophagist, Bloodbath and other brutal metal acts. Of course I’m also a big fan of other bands like Lamb of God, Devil Driver, Gojira and so on.

Headbang Today: Aah… the latter of the bands such as Devil Driver and Lamb of God deserve a spot in our up and coming “Top 10 metal albums of 2009″… Any other new releases this year that blew you away?

Mark: definitely TBDM’s Deflorate, Behemoth’s Evangelion, and an odd choice for me personally, Rammstein’s Liebe ist fur Alle Da.

Headbang Today: Rammstein was mentioned to us while compiling the list, but I very much doubt that it would make the list… Unless of course you release your album before we publish the list to take Rammstein’s spot!

Mark: Not that the possibility doesn’t tempt me, but I doubt we can humanly move that fast!

Headbang Today: So tell us about the best and worst gigs (also possibly the most bizarre) gigs that you’ve experienced during your decade of gigging.

Mark: To be fair, I can’t be the judge of all the gigs, because I joined Loathe around 4 years ago. But in these four years, my worst gig has to be some night here in Malta, I was feverish and the sound on stage was crap. Needless to say, my playing was sloppy. I couldn’t choose a best gig, because we’ve had so many, but I rank our appearance with Sabbat in Bradford in 2007, the launch party for our EP and every time we’ve played in Birmingham very very highly.

As for most bizarre, well, that may well be Wales, on this last tour. The Welsh are mad. We know that now. Suffice to say that my travelling tip is: “If offered to crash in the pub where you played for the night, sleep in the van”

Headbang Today: HAHA why would you say that?

Mark: Not that they weren’t great people, mind you, but let’s say the owner and his clan managed to drink 2 metal bands under the table, after which they proceeded to ‘gently’ wake us up with tunes, played over the PA, till 5 in the morning, drinking inhuman amounts of alcohol all throughout.

Headbang Today: Ouch, I’m sure that one caught up with you guys the following day! Well, we’re actually pretty excited and waiting in anticipation for your album release! Should a world tour cross your paths in the very near future, would South Africa be on the map?

Mark: Yes, the drive in the morning was silent indeed.

Well, we do plan to hit Europe in the near future, as so far we’ve concentrated upon the UK. We need fresh blood! And although a world tour is not on the cards for the very near future, we would definitely want to hit as many places as we could! I also understand you guys are completely mental, which not only warms my heart, but makes me want to visit even more!

Headbang Today: Yip, these South African metal heads are whole different breed of headbanger on its own…. But they are sure to fill up the venues and empty the bar fridges!

Studies have shown that despite having tiny brains the size of a pinhead insects possess several impressive mental capabilities from the ability to count and categorize objects to the ability to recognize human faces…. Does that make you feel bad for squashing all the bugs you have during your lifetime?

Mark: Not really, if they do have an ability to recognize human faces, they ought to know the look of an angry metalhead who will crush them! Unless they are Hindu and have been very bad humans in a previous life, in which case, my apologies bro….

Headbang Today: HAHAHA! Last question… Give us your thoughts on the following: Headlining for a Headbang Today festival one day:

Mark: That would be ace! And a great honour for us. You’ve already been so good to us, is it because you want to our pure off-white souls?

Headbang Today: Maybe just a little…. – Illegal downloading of your album:

Mark: You know, I don’t mind that. As long as the music is listened to, I don’t mind if people get it for free. In the digital age, the end user is used to getting stuff for free, so it’s up to the bands to be smart (not sneaky) and create new ways of making money so they can tour and write more.

Headbang Today: That’s true! – - Last one: What the future of Loathe has in store for us headbangers?

Mark: Well, we’d love for the album to be loved, for a start! We’re confident a lot of people will like it. Apart from that, we’ll keep on gigging and writing new stuff, and hopefully become even more road honed and play to a whole big bunch of people. It’s hard work, but if it’s easy it’s not worth doing.

Headbang Today: Well my friend, I would like to say that all the hard work, blood sweat and tears that you dudes have endured is definitely paying off! Your music rocks and the headbangers on this side will love it!! Thanks for the sincere interview!

Mark: Thanks very very much Scream for digging our shit and believing in us! We’d love to visit SA someday, and if you ever chance on this side of the globe, remember you have friends in Malta!

www.loatheonline.com

Loathe has been featured on Toni Sant‘s Muzika Mod Iehor podcast!  The name is in Maltese and could be literally translated to ‘Music: another way’, but would more accurately be ‘Music: Alternative’, as this is what Sant has been doing for 188 episodes, presenting the best in alternative music from acts affiliated to Malta.

The song he featured is This Respect, off Despondent by Design and which is also on the player here on this website. He also had some very encouraging words about Loathe and The Dark Design Tour, so should you want to check the episode out, the link is here! Loathe is the last artist featured on this podcast.

Nothing remains but to thank Toni for his help and support, and to remind you all that the 27th is a date etched in blood.

NB: The Podcast is presented in Maltese. I’m afraid that non-Maltese listeners will have to skim through until they hear a song they like. Sorry!

Yesterday was a good night for Loathe! The gig at Rookies was a first for us, but we shall most definitely return. We had a great turnout, and an amazing audience, some of which was our core fans and some of which were friends. They seemed to enjoy our stuff and shouted for more at the end, which we grudgingly accepted. Not really, we were glad to play more, it felt good. Thanks to Chris from Rookies, BNI, Steve for tweaking the sound for us, and everyone who turned up, had a drink and made some noise for us!

The gig on the 27th is now next on the agenda, but before that, here are some pics from last night, courtesy of Steve Giordano Imbroll.

Update: Pics by John Gauci and Damian Chetcuti are now also in the gallery below!

The rest of the pics may be found here: http://tinyurl.com/yhukv8y, http://tinyurl.com/yk828zj and here http://tinyurl.com/yzy4ywj. It’s a Facebook link, so you may need to log in.

This is a tour diary from the other side of the fences. SLAB’s Jake wrote this with a heavy headache and considerable memory strain, so it’s worth a read. Enjoy! Looking forward to Friday’s set at Rookies.

The Dark Design Tour 2009 feat. SLAB and LOATHE finished a week ago now. Heads are starting to clear, aches and pains are disappearing  and before my brain wipes my short term memory of the tours glory, i’m gonna attempt to do a diary retrospective..

Sat 24th Oct:

First day of tour. Meet up with the other SLAB boys (Kimbo and Jim) and load the Vanowar. She’s pretty much at maximum load, but she’s used to it and steams us up to Leicester without a problem.

Meet up with the LOATHE boys! It’s great to see them, it’s been a good 6 months or so since we left Malta and we spend some time catching up, eating and drinking.

Great gig tonight, LOATHE start and hit the stage running. Straight off the plane they may be, but, as for the rest of the week, they are such a tough act to follow! The Leicester crowd love them, with windmilling hair and even a girls arse being bared to The Beast!
We’re up next and have a good show (i think?!) playing a nice mix of old and new songs.

After Spirytus bring the night to a very drunken (!) end, we head home. The LOATHE lads are knackered so it’s pretty much straight to bed..

Sun 25th Oct:

Everyone is staying round my house in Birmingham where i live with my ever-patient girlfriend Zoe and my ever-insane dog Benji. It’s not ’til everyone gets up that we realise our house is far too small and our dog is far too manic to handle this! Anyway we press on and Zoe starts as she continues for the rest of the week, by making enough food to feed ‘a nation’!

We head off to our favourite pub in the world. The Duke in Neath. Now, we’d warned the LOATHE guys that Wales is crazy, apparently some peolpe in Leicester had warned them too. But nothing prepares you for The Duke!

Tony, the landlord, greets us by opening up the doors and saying ‘Welcome Home!’ It just doesn’t get much better than that does it?

For a Sunday night the turn-out is okay, and LOATHE play a great set to a noisy crowd. we play to our local fans, and then get on with the real business at hand.. Drinking!

Got to say a massive thankyou to Tony, Nightmare and all at The Duke for a fantastic night. Tony even supplied us with 2 bottles of bubbly to finish the tour with! Awesome.

Mon 26th Oct:

Woke up on a stage. Everyone was snoring. My head hurts even thinking about it.

Shaky drive home to brum. Food.

Tonights gig is at Katie Fitzgeralds in Stourbridge. A great venue and one we really wanted to take the LOATHE boys to.  GODSIZE are playing tonight as well and we hadn’t seen them for a while so it was cool to catch up. We open up and the sound as ever is deafening and exceptionally clear. GODSIZE then tear it up in a draw-dropping gut-rumbling fashion. LOATHE headline tonight and do their best to literally shake the place to its foundations.

A great gig with a great turnout.

We head home happy and hungry. Eat. Beer. Sleep.

Tues 27th Oct:

Today is a day off essentially, but we lined up a couple of press things for us and LOATHE. First up is an interview from Chopmusic. He interviews both bands and takes a few photos. Great job. Next, we fly across town to Kerrang! Radio HQ for our interview with Johnny Doom. Really looking forward to this, and it’s fun to see everyone visually excited. Mr Doom interviews myself and Mark, he is very professional, puts you at ease and is also about the nicest guy you’re gonna meet.

Job done, we head home where Zoe has cooked for another nation. We feast and have a good laugh doing fuck all!

Wed 28th Oct:

Get up and fuck off to Wakefield via Sheffield to pick up Kimbo. Jim is meeting us at the gig later. Testament to the hard-working nature of this band, Jim and Kimbo are both working most days this week and still travelling on the nights to the gigs. Now THAT is dedication!

We get to The Snooty Fox in Wakefield and Kimbo realises he’s played here before with (legendary UK punks) Drongos for Europe. There isn’t many places he hasn’t to be honest! Great venue, cool stage, sound and lights, whatsmore the whole show is being streamed live over the internet.

LOATHE have had a nightmare journey from brum via Keighley to pick up their mate Dodo, so they unfortunately miss soundcheck. We go on first and really enjoy ourselves. I think the added pressure of the internet streaming pulled something extra from us! KO Kaine are up next and are great. Really original sound and nice guys to boot!

This is Loathe’s 4th show at The Snooty Fox and they have a great following here. They go down a storm with moshpits and headbanging all the way! The manager and sound engineer Malc, is a great guy with a great vision for his venue. Check out the link at the bottom of the blog.

I’m stopping at Kimbos in Sheffield tonight and after some awesome cottage pie hit the hay!

Thurs 29th Oct:

The drive from Sheffield to Manchester across the Snake Pass is awesome and really made me think that there is nowhere else in the world i’d rather be, and nothing else in the world i’d rather be doing! Sad? True!

All set to be great night tonight, playing with MWP from Manchester who we know through our best friend Lewis Atkinson. It’s all about the family y’know!

The Star and Garter is a great venue right in the centre of Manchester at the heart of the red-light district. Home from home haha! Hassan from MWP made a huge vat of soup for everyone to eat after soundcheck, it’s things like this that really lift your spirits and make nights go well.

It’s MWP’s first gig tonight, but you would not know it as they tear through a hardcore-metal set of extraordinary ferocity and precision. Paddy the bassist nearly broke his hand hitting his bass..Now that’s passion!!

LOATHE are up next and play a blinder to a rabid crowd. There are plenty of people who have turned out to see LOATHE, for they have played Manchester in the past and obviously gone down a storm. We headline tonight and go down well, a great onstage sound meaning we can really enjoy it. The gig was very well attended and there was a real sense of family and community. I stop at Lewis’ that night in the company of the MWP boys our friend Tracey and Mr J Daniels. LOATHE had to head back over the snake pass to drop Dodo home as did Kimbo, while Big Jim made another treacherous late-night trip home!

Fri 30th Oct:

Get woke up at some ungodly hour by a plumber. And thats all i’m going to say about that.

Drive back to brum with Tracey, get to spend a couple of hours at home with Zoe and the hound before heading out to The Giffard Arms in Wolverhampton for the gig. The Giffard is a great rock pub that hosts metal gigs every other Friday in it’s upstairs venue room.

It’s just ourselves and LOATHE tonight so no surprises and everything runs smoothly. The gig is strangely sparsely attended for the friday before Halloween but we make the best of it and have a good night. That is the thing with the LOATHE, they know how to turn even the most desperate of situations into a good laugh! The audience is small but noisy and both bands play out of their skins. ‘Every gig is Wembley’ as the old adage goes..

Pizza and 300 finishes the night off nicely. AWOO AWOO AWOO!!

Sat 31st Oct:

Halloween. Playing at the Unicorn in London. Wake up and hastily organise a Travelodge for the night. The LOATHE guys head off early to take a look around Camden before the gig. We set off around 1 and circle Camden for half an hour much to Big Jim’s amusement before finding the venue.

What can only be described as a ‘Chav pub’ during the day, inexplicably turns into a rock pub on the night, and initial worries about the crowd are soon forgotten as troops of Halloween attired rockers turn up to thrash out..

Nebukadezza kick the night off and are great. A three-piece (always wins with us!) playing Napalm vs Nailbomb-esque metal got the old blood pumping and a lively mosh-pit started. We’re on next, and because of time constraints we only get 20mins, equalling five songs. It’s quite fun just playing a short set, because you can’t fuck about, it’s just ’1,2,3,4 – meet you at the end’ as Kimbo says!

During our last song, Animal Faced God, a bizarre spectacle unfolded. The mosh pit was in full flow, but as the song changed, right on cue, we were treated to the sight of ‘Metal Rowing’!! Yep, as it was Halloween we had a dragon, a vampire, Mr Staypuft and others, sat on the flow in front of us, rowing as if there lives depended on it!! Only in Camden..

LOATHE were on next, their first gig in London. To say they played well is an understatement. Short set again, so they went straight for the throat and it was jaw-dropping. Mosh-pits and metal ball-room dancing erupted, while the rest of the place stood gaping at the fury emanating from the stage.

Great night after the show. Various cousins and old friends showed up, as did lots of LOATHE’s extended london family. Infact at one point more people were speaking Maltese than English! People split up towards the end of the night, Mark with his girlfriend, some back to the hotel for beer and sleep. Myself, Kimbo and Alan, LOATHE’s drum-monster, ended up at a great party in Hackney, attended by ghouls, dancing to drum n bass at extreme volume. Thanks Rachel!!

Sun 1st Nov:

Despite security’s lacklustre efforts we awoke in the hotel and had a horrible, wet drive back to Birmingham. It’s Scruffys tonight, where LOATHE have played several times before, and where we’re hooking up with our mates MORGUE ORGY.

Despite the fact that everyone in the place looks to have a huge Halloween hangover it’s a great last show. MORGUE ORGY kill it, and really impress the LOATHE boys, and why wouldn’t they? AWESOME! LOATHE end the tour on a high with a great set, and i realise i’m gonna miss hearing their songs every night! We finish, and despite hangovers and fatigue setting in we muddle through it, have a great laugh and finish strongly. Kris from GODSIZE made his third appearance of the week and sang his balls off on Yi Zi Er Shi!! Crowd seemed to have a good time so we’re all happy.

After loading our gear back to Hellfire Studios we head back to mine for a few beers, mugs of Tony’s champagne and farewells. LOATHE have to leave at the sickening time of 4.30am and amazingly they get up after literally no sleep and head down to Heathrow. Only Big Jim is alive to say goodbye but i think we’d said all that had to be said (and quite a bit more!) in the hours before. Sad to have them leave. It’s been a great week or so.

Thankyou’s:

One thing became abundantly clear as the week went on: Music, and especially touring, is completely about people. So huge heartfelt thankyou’s go out too:

LOATHE – Mark, Alan, Kurt, Beast, Karl – Our brothers in rock. We salute you!! See ya soon!

The SLAB WAG’s: Zoe, Sarah, Anna. Much love.

Tony, Nightmare and The Duke crew: Fantastic as always! See ya next time round!

GODSIZE: Brilliant to play with you bastards again! Kris: 3 SLAB gigs in a week is too much for any sane person!

MWP: Thanks for a great night in Manchester boys! See you again soon! Hassan: More soup please!!

Lewis, Deb and Richard: Hail the Atkinsons!!

Tracey: On holiday? On tour!!

MORGUE ORGY: Fucking class lads!!

KO KAINE: Great stuff, hope to play with you guys again.

SPIRYTUS: Jager-kings!

Johnny Doom and Chop: Big thanks for the interviews guys!

Promoters, sound engineers: Steph – Redeemer, Eddy – Katie Fitzgeralds, Malc – The Snooty Fox, Dermot – The Star and Garter, Paul – The Giffard Arms, Jamie Elton – The Unicorn, Spud and all at Scruffys.

EVERYONE who came along to the shows to check the bands out and friends who supported us along the way.

Anyone we’ve missed.. SORRY!

Personal thanks from myself to my two big rock brothers Kimbo and Big Jim. What a fucking week!

Next stop: ALBUM.

Jake.

Please check out:
www.loatheonline.com
www.myspace.com/totaloathe
www.myspace.com/godsize
www.myspace.com/morgueorgy
http://www.myspace.com/newmemberlist – MWP
www.myspace.com/kokaine666
http://www.myspace.com/spirytus
www.resiliencerecords.com
www.chopmusic.co.uk
www.myspace.com/000haxan000
www.myspace.com/thedukeneath
www.myspace.com/exileatredeemer

After the London gig, we went our separate ways, or at least, I, your humble narrator did. We regrouped early in the afternoon and set off on the long drive to Birmingham, fully aware that pretty much the same drive must be repeated in the early hours of next morning.

The drive was as uneventful as all others, so as per usual everyone found their own to break the monotony. We got to Jake’s in Birmingham, discussed plans for the drive back and got set for the gig.

Scruffy’s is exactly as we left it. There’s a good vibe about this place, maybe owing to the fact that everyone here is very much into the metal, and so it should be too, given that this is Birmingham, home of all that is heavy metal.

Morgue Orgy, the first band on tonight are great guys and phenomenal musicians. Observed closely during their soundcheck, and looking forward to their set. They’re also a very humorous bunch, constantly ribbing Slab’s Big Jim with their nickname for him, Barbara.

We face a tough night after this gig. Celebratory drinks will of course be imbibed, but we do have to be out of Jake’s in Birmingham by 5 in the AM tomorrow so as to get to London Heathrow in plenty of time to allow for any shit we’ll get at the check in desk, plenty of which I’m sure will be available.

Update:

The gig went very well. Morgue Orgy are such an amazing band, very talented, and an extremely funny set of people. We’re really glad to have met them, and will keep in touch! Slab went down a storm, as expected, and after post gig drinks at Scruffy’s, here I sit now, at Jake’s with a houseful of people drinking and chatting. And we leave for London in 4 hours. No sleep.

Update 2: (written on an Airbus A 320 somewhere over France)

We dosed off from about 2.30 to 4.30 AM. Not enough. In pitch black darkness we left Birmingham for the last time on this tour, having bid our farewells to the Big Jim, the only Slab member of strong enough constitution to actually wake up. Well, we did have to heave our guitars over the top of his head.

Long drive back to London in darkness, stopping only for 20 minutes when we were an hour away. Massive hassle driving through London in Monday morning rush hour traffic to drop Karl off at a friend’s, and after that, yet another hassle with our kind car rental agency.

Loathe’s tip to traveling: DON’T. Airports and airport staff hate us. I am still boggled at how we left Birmingham with  7 hours to go until the flight leaves, and still, we managed to be the last ones on the plane, and the last ones to check in. Maybe it’s because the look we sport is not suited to international travel. Suffice to say that our hand luggages were taken apart by what was (at least) a very pretty girl.

Now we go home, and tonight we hit the Excelsior Hotel for the extraordinary general meeting of UKAM and PRS. We shall have many tour horror stories to regale to whomever cares to listen, but the vibe we carry down to Malta is, overall, very positive. We’ve met up with good friends, old and new, exposed our music to a lot of new people, exposed our bottoms to a huge number of bathroom stalls, and in general survived in the madness that is the band called Loathe.