00:00 (crowd cheering)
00:02 - Hey, I'm Liberty.
00:06 I'm here with NME at Leeds and Reading 2023.
00:09 I'm here with Brian from Not Loose.
00:12 How are you doing?
00:13 - Good, good, yeah.
00:13 - Welcome to Reading.
00:14 How are you feeling?
00:15 - I'm feeling good, yeah.
00:16 I'm excited.
00:17 I'm very happy to be here.
00:18 - I feel like you've had so many shows already
00:21 throughout 2023.
00:22 How are you doing?
00:23 How are you holding up?
00:24 - I don't know.
00:27 I feel like we thrive in this,
00:29 like just staying busy, you know?
00:31 So it feels good to be here.
00:33 We're towards the end of,
00:34 we've been here for probably almost a month now.
00:38 We have today and tomorrow,
00:39 and then we go home for a couple of days,
00:41 but it feels good.
00:43 Excited.
00:44 - Okay, you have to be honest with me.
00:46 What's it like, the crowd in the UK,
00:48 compared to the crowds across the pond?
00:51 How do we bring it differently?
00:52 - Oh, that's an interesting question.
00:56 I think something that I'm starting to notice
00:59 a huge difference is
01:01 like the sing-alongs here feel louder.
01:07 So maybe America's gotta step it up.
01:11 - So of course we can't talk about the reception
01:13 that you get here without of course acknowledging
01:16 the way that the crowd received you at Coachella.
01:18 What was that like for you,
01:19 to have that huge viral moment,
01:21 especially from a crowd that maybe
01:23 isn't your traditional fan base?
01:25 - Yeah, it was awesome.
01:27 It was very exciting.
01:28 We didn't know what to expect going into that.
01:32 We were very excited for it,
01:33 but definitely had the feeling that
01:35 it could have not gone well,
01:39 but we were just excited to be there
01:40 and excited to say that we did it.
01:42 But then on top of that, it went so well.
01:45 And it's kind of been an exciting thing for us.
01:49 We're still riding off that excitement
01:51 for the rest of the year.
01:52 So we're very, very fortunate
01:54 that we were able to be a part of that.
01:57 - What was it like for you being off at Coachella
01:59 and then Bon Irio and Lollapalooza,
02:01 all these huge mainstream gigs,
02:03 especially being the type of band that you are?
02:05 What's it like to now finally
02:07 be sort of talking to that audience?
02:09 'Cause I feel like for a long time,
02:10 metal was a little bit pushed to one side in those regards.
02:13 What's it like for you to have an opportunity
02:16 to play to those crowds?
02:17 - It's awesome.
02:18 It's like, I feel like for us,
02:21 the goal has always been to kind of like
02:23 step outside of our comfort zone
02:25 and put ourselves in an atmosphere
02:27 where we might not fit in the most.
02:30 I feel like you have a lot to gain from that
02:32 and a lot to benefit from that.
02:33 And just like bringing people over to your side
02:37 and being able to play those festivals
02:41 has been a learning experience
02:42 because there's a whole new set of nerves that come with it.
02:46 Because we've been lucky enough to play a lot of festivals.
02:50 And when we do the Metal Fest,
02:53 it's not that you know what to expect,
02:55 but you know what isn't gonna happen.
02:59 You know what I mean?
03:00 So playing festivals like that
03:02 where you truly have no idea it could go either way,
03:05 it comes with a whole new set of nerves.
03:07 - And with you now appealing
03:10 to this more like mainstream audience,
03:12 that by no means means that your music
03:15 is becoming more mainstream or more tamed down.
03:18 If anything, it seems like we're amping it up.
03:20 So with these last two singles that you put out,
03:22 they seem to be some of your most intense work to date.
03:26 Why is it important to you to keep that going now,
03:28 even 10 years down the line?
03:30 - It is very important for us to remain
03:33 an extreme band and a heavy band.
03:35 And I feel like that's the only thing
03:37 that us as individuals have always agreed on.
03:40 It's just that we can't sacrifice the aggression
03:44 and just heaviness because that's what we all love.
03:48 And when it comes to getting these
03:51 mainstream opportunities, it was never a conversation
03:55 of oh, we have to combat that with heaviness
03:59 or we have to combat that with darkness or whatever.
04:04 It's just we kept doing what is natural to us.
04:07 And it's interesting to see our heaviest stuff
04:11 be put in a mainstream light.
04:13 - So what's it been like for you these past few years
04:17 being on tour with such massive names?
04:19 Of course, a lot of people discover you
04:21 through your tour with Gojira, for instance.
04:23 And of course, appearing on stage
04:25 with Jared Leto in 30 Seconds to Mars.
04:28 What's it like for you to interact with these audiences
04:30 and learn from them or take anything from them, if you do?
04:34 - It's been very exciting.
04:36 We've gotten the opportunity to do a lot
04:38 of different touring since touring has kinda came back.
04:42 We got to do Gojira and Bring Me the Horizon
04:45 and we even did Suicide Boys,
04:47 where we were the only band on the entire bill.
04:49 So it's been cool to learn how to communicate
04:54 to those different crowds
04:56 and to navigate those different rooms
04:59 and try to give them their best version of an occlusive.
05:03 They go home talking about us
05:05 and go home thinking about us.
05:06 And I think that in a lot of ways,
05:08 it's really worked and really helped us.
05:10 - It feels like since you formed in 2013,
05:14 it seems like there's been a bit of a resurgence
05:17 in metalcore and a lot more hardcore music.
05:20 What new artists have you noticed at the minute
05:22 who have helped revive the scene
05:23 and helped revive the genre?
05:25 Maybe up and coming artists.
05:27 - I was just talking to a friend about this,
05:31 so they're fresh in my memory,
05:32 but I have to go with Loathe from the UK.
05:36 Big fan of that band.
05:37 Everybody in my band loves that band
05:39 and we've been hoping to cross paths with them
05:43 for a long time.
05:44 So that's in heavy rotation for me lately.
05:47 - And then in terms of just the band generally,
05:50 what kind of influence did you draw upon in recent years?
05:54 Is there any new bands, any new albums particularly
05:57 that you've been digging recently?
05:58 - I think it's, we try to draw inspiration
06:03 from any and everything.
06:04 We try not to keep it under the umbrella of heavy music.
06:08 I feel like within the last couple years,
06:11 I specifically have gotten a lot of influence
06:13 from country music and where I'm from geographically
06:18 and things that I've never really noticed play a part
06:22 in who I am until recently.
06:26 And I think that that's been really interesting to explore.
06:29 - Yeah, how would you say the area that you're from,
06:32 you're from Kentucky, right?
06:33 - Yeah.
06:34 - How would you say that plays a role?
06:35 So did you grow up around that kind of music or?
06:38 - I did, I grew up around a lot of country music,
06:40 but I also was lucky enough to grow up
06:42 around any and all kinds of music.
06:44 I was just surrounded by it with my family.
06:47 I come from a very musical family.
06:49 So I always had that influence.
06:52 I always had that like freedom to explore
06:55 my own kinds of music.
06:57 And I think that looking up to people
07:02 doing it professionally made me want
07:05 to just get out of Kentucky so bad.
07:07 So in a lot of ways, I think that it gave,
07:11 being from Kentucky gave me and the rest of my band
07:14 a very specific drive and attitude to get out there
07:19 and do it and do it as much as we can,
07:20 which is kind of why we're such a busy band.
07:24 - Absolutely, so playing to Reading and Leeds now,
07:27 I feel like it's such a diverse festival.
07:29 There's so many different genres,
07:30 I'm sure that you've come across now.
07:32 Maybe for people who aren't into metal
07:34 or haven't come across many metal genres before,
07:37 why should they go and watch you?
07:38 What is it about your sound that gets
07:40 these massive responses everywhere you go?
07:43 - I think it's an exciting thing to witness
07:46 whether you like it or not.
07:47 I think that it's, the adrenaline in the room
07:51 is very contagious.
07:53 I think that worst case scenario,
07:56 you could just people watch and you still walk away
07:58 with a good story.
07:59 So I think it's just like the energy
08:01 and the adrenaline and the atmosphere
08:03 is very freeing and rewarding.
08:06 And I think that that's why these people
08:08 just walk in by the tent, wanna pop in
08:11 and see what it's about, but then they end up
08:13 finding themselves having fun.
08:14 - Okay, last question I've got for you.
08:16 I feel like this is a little bit selfish on my end to ask.
08:20 So we've only just seen these two new singles, of course.
08:24 Is there any more plans for new music?
08:25 - I can't give too much away, but we are working,
08:29 we are working very hard.
08:31 That's all I can say.
08:32 - Nothing more?
08:35 - Nothing more, yeah.
08:36 - No new genres, no new directions?
08:37 - I can say that whatever comes next will be heavy.
08:42 - Okay, lovely.
08:44 Thank you so much.
08:45 - Thank you.
08:45 [BLANK_AUDIO]
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