Wednesday 30 July 2008

Interview With Metaholic Band Contest Winners: Subversi0n


Even before setting up Metaholic Music this year, I was always being told to check out peoples mate’s bands to see what I thought. The vast majority of the time I was faced with trying to find the right words to say, without offence, for saying they were absolute crap. Always having to think up some sort of excuse to avoid the embarrassment on both sides of this, I was a little wary when I was told to check out Subversi0n. Not wanting to offend the latest of mates in a long line to offer up a band, I headed over to their Myspace page for a closer look and listen!

To my surprise, and sheer delight, I had finally found a mate’s mate’s band who were not only worthy of a listen, but quickly became a band I listened to regularly on my computer and iPod. And I was not the only one to feel this way, as many of our readers voted Subversi0n as their favourite band in the Metaholic Band Contest for 2008! It's been a couple of months since the winner was announced, so I thought it was time I caught up with the band and grilled them with a few questions!

MI: First of all, congratulations on being the first winners of the Metaholic Band Contest! How does it feel to know you beat all the competition from artists around the world?

Jae: Confidence boosting.

Chloe: Did we even enter?

Kai: Yeah… before you joined us. The big banner on our Myspace???? Haha!

Ant: It’s really cool people took the time out to vote for us!

Kai: But yeah, it was a good feeling… were up against Cipher System in the end init... they are one hell of an awesome band!

MI: So let’s find out a bit more about you. Who are you and what do you do within the band?

Kai: Well, I’m the clean vox and guitarist in Subversi0n......

Ant: I’m the drummer. I hit things, hopefully in the right order!

MI: And hopefully in time too, right?

Ant: That’s the plan!

Jae: I'm the other guitarist. I molest frets and get hyper about it!

Spencer: I do the main vox for the band.

Kai: Spencer is ever in depth!

Stephen: I be basser.

Chloe: I play keys and complete the line-up.

MI: How did you all get together? I know when you won the competition you were still an incomplete unit, but your line up has been secured now?

Jae: Basically, Kai started the whole thing with solo project tracks, then I came across his musical Myspace and nudged, kicked and moaned until he realised that starting a band is the next step!

Ant: I auditioned for the band in May after searching for months.

Chloe: I’ve known Kai for a few years.

Kai: Yeah... we basically auditioned everyone that was interested init.....took us yonks but ‘ere we go.

Stephen: I know Jae from college, so that’s how I got in the mix of things.

Spencer: Yeah, I’ve known Kai for years myself, so like, was a good head start.

MI: You’ve not been going for that long, but you seem to have a very strong fan base already from what I’ve seen on your Myspace (and from all the votes you received). How does that feel? Was it something you expected?

Spencer: It’s cause I’m in it. They all want to see me. I’m amazing!

Jae: Oh dear.

Spencer: Hahaha! Nah nah, we just appeal to loads of different people init.

Kai: Well, we hope we do.

Spencer: Not just one genre. Come on, you only have to look at the band for starters to realise we appeal to different types of genres like, because we are all from different musical backgrounds.

Ant: It’s cool to see that with all the great bands that are about, that people take the time to comment on our music!

Kai: Yeah man, I second that!

Ant: Cause there are so many bands around now which are only a click away so people have a far bigger choice.

Kai: People taking the time to leave us a comment... means a massive load to us… cause we aren’t just another band they just "checked out" and left!

MI: There are a fair few tracks up on your Myspace profile, is their any chance of seeing an EP or album from you in the near future?

Spencer: We intend on re-recording everything for starters.

Kai: Well, me and Jae always said that we would release the current tracks as an EP, we just need to re-record them to the standard we think is worth releasing.

Jae: Yeah once tracks are re done, we release EP, and then start work on album next year!

Kai: There was talk of an album before the full line-up was made too… but we scrapped that idea as we want everyone’s ideas within an album. Expect to hear a couple of the EP tracks on the album too in future maybe.

MI: The recordings you have available on Myspace just now don’t feature Spencer’s vocals; do you think that people will notice a huge difference in your sound when you record new material?

Jae: No because when Spencer kicks in full throttle, he has a very similar sound to Kai.

Stephen: Yeah.

Chloe: Yep.

Ant: Think they will be pleasantly surprised at how similar they are. It’s quite scary!

Kai: Spencer is virtually identical to me!

Spencer: Pretty lucky to be honest!

Kai: Mate, you can say that again! Haha!

Chloe: I think me and Stephen should do screaming in some parts.

Stephen: Holla!

Chloe: No, like "ARGHGHGHGH" you know, girly screams.

Jae: Haha!

Stephen: Oh… I see.

Chloe: Like Mcfly are just outside the room.

Stephen: Arg, I love Mcfly.

MI: What about with all your other new members? I know that you originally recorded with just two of you (which is very impressive I must say), is it going to sound really different to what we’ve heard so far?

Kai: It’s going to sound better, I can promise you that! Haha!

Spencer: Going to be uber!

Kai: The recordings now are just demos. With cheap equipment as well.

Chloe: Because we are all separate individuals doing things our own way to make it even better. Hey! These keys aren’t cheap!

Kai: With all our ideas combined... seriously good stuff to come I think.

Stephen: And the addition to bass in the recordings.

Ant: Hopefully like a beef sandwich.

Kai: With extra beef! Ant’s drumming should be sounding a hell of a lot better to in these recordings.

MI: Have you got any plans of playing any shows in the near future, or is that something we’ll be all desperately waiting for just that little bit longer?

Jae: I think we will be gigging soon enough! Just need to perfect the songs.

Spencer: Soon as we get everything cracked 100% we will be gigging . The only way we can say when we will be gigging is when we have practiced everything and can play it perfectly each go.

Kai: May be a lil bit longer I guess.......we have a set sorted almost… gotta brush up on them... and get a few other things done......

Ant: It should be soon hopefully but we defo want to make sure we are ready to give people a good show!

MI: I’ve heard and read a few people comparing you to Trivium. Do you think this is a fair comparison, or do you feel it’s more down to your age rather than your sound?

Jae: What! Hold up…WHAT?!

Stephen: Haha

Kai: I ain’t heard that one! Haha!

Ant: Can we have their money? Or just their daddy’s credit card?

Spencer: I pulled a fit at that!

Kai: I heard one guy saying that we should be more like them if we want to be big...but I’m not too sure he had a very good basis for comparison to be honest.

Spencer: Some twonk even told me to sound more like Trivium.

Chloe: Well, they are tight live, as we shall be if we work hard.

Kai: Nah... his vocals are a bit weak. Personal opinion though I guess.

Ant: If we have half the fan base they do, I for one would be happy!

Kai: Yer man...that you can’t really disagree with!

MI: If you could compare your sound to another band, who would it be?

Jae: Threat Signal/Bloodjinn

Ant: Think it’s a mix of hardcore and off time signatures but all in a head nodding groove.

Kai: With a mix of melody too! And I’m sure with Chloe's influence too it will have that extra zazz. But yer.... I say we’re a splice of Threat Signal/Bloodjinn.....a lot of influences to be honest…too many to pin point!

Ant: I reckon bits of Meshuggah as well.

Kai: For sure man. You can’t say Bloodjinn or Threat Signal without Meshuggah etc. Chloe...what you reckon actually...What do you hear in our own music?

Chloe: Ha...erm.....good question! Bit of Napalm Death and a bit of Gary Numan. Bit of Spence screaming, Kai singing, Jae strumming, Stephen bassing, Ant bashing them drums and me just doing my thang.

MI: Gary Numan?

Stephen: Hahaha!

Chloe: You don’t know who he is?

MI: Yes, I've got a couple of his albums and seen him live, but Gary Numan?

Chloe: Yep, ledgendary.

MI: Oh yeah, he's awesome alright, but can't personally see that.

Chloe: You will, when I put my full input in.

Ant: I think it sounds like a band for all the family... come one come all, also we are available for kids parties!!

MI: From when I first heard you, which seems like an age ago, to now, your sound has evolved a fair bit. Where do you see yourselves going now? Are you going to build on what appears to be a fantastic new sound, or are you going to shock us and go in a different direction, now there are more of you involved?

Ant: I hope it retains its sound and think there is enough elements to keep it interesting!

Jae: We will probably keep up the styles we have at the moment and build on them slowly.

Stephen: Yeah I reckon the basis of our sound will stay the same but progress over time (inevitably) with each others input.

Kai: Definitely have some fine tuning in there from what I can see, getting ideas in already! Had a really good one for one of our older tracks!

Chloe: Yeah New Method’s new keys track.

Kai: Sounds sick, I must say!

MI: What can we expect to see and hear from you in the next few months?

Jae: Preperation for the stage!

Kai: Well, we shall definitely be trying to get gigging so that might happen within the coming months. Re-recording of tracks will start if all goes to plan.

Ant: Lots of photos.

Kai: Yer....we like have photos every practise haha!

A big thanks to the band for the interview. If you want to check them out for yourselves, then you can either head on over to their Myspace page:

www.myspace.com/subversi0nofficial

Or their new website:

www.subversi0n.cjb.net

1 comment:

Unknown said...

our url is now changed to www.myspace.com/svsnband

:)