In the dungeon like depths of The Underworld’s backstage rooms, Already Heard finds ourselves surrounded by graffittied black walls, an array of furniture, bags, clothing, and band gear, as we find a corner to sit in and talk with vocalist Alex Erian and drummer Stevie Morotti of Obey The Brave.
As we talk predominantly about touring life and the wise words imparted by their Tour Manager Mike, we find ourselves joined by the remaining band members bassist Cory Wilson, new guitarist Terry McAuley and John Campbell, who also plays guitar. Here’s what unfolded.
Already Heard: The live concert experience at a metalcore gig is an incredibly intense one when it comes to fan interaction. Can you put into words what it is like to be on stage with a sea of people in front of you moshing, windmilling, crowd surfing, stage diving, singing your lyrics back at you?
Alex: To me personally, the show is the interaction with the crowd. It’s not just us being on stage. It’s the kids participating, y’know, jumping screaming, moshing, doing whatever they want. So I don’t think I would enjoy myself if they weren’t around to enjoy it. Our shows are quite hectic, lots of energy, so we definitely feed off the crowd.
Stevie: For me being the drummer in the backgraound, I pretty much get to base the reaction off of the front row and the asses of my band mates, so that’s about it! All it takes for me is to see one smile or one kid screaming our lyrics, or loosing their mind. That’s why we’re doing this and the more smiles we see, the more smiles we throw back.
AH: What is the craziest thing you have ever witnessed at an OTB show?
Alex: It’s hard to tell, there’s some cool stuff and some bad stuff, I guess. Some kid really got knocked out during our set in Sheffield, so I felt quite bad. I think I actually jumped off stage and made sure he was alright, (and) gave him a bottle of water.
Stevie: Same thing happened in Quebec City earlier.
Alex: Yeah paramedics showed up, they administered. It was crazy, I hate seeing kids injured. I love to see people moving around and we encourage it, but sometimes it gets a little out of hand.
Stevie: That’s the nature of the beast right?
Alex: What’s the saying? If you can’t handle the heat get out of the kitchen, but it’s true. By the way this is Terry and this is Cory, our bass player and our new guitar player, they’re gonna pitch in as well.
AH: What is the biggest pro and biggest con that you face whilst on tour?Alex: For me personally the biggest con would be homesickness, I miss my girlfriend, I miss my dog, I miss my family and friends, but luckily they are all very supportive and loving and that is the fuel I need to keep on doing this, y’know. The biggest pro would be playing music for a living wth my best friends.
Stevie: We get to travel and see the world. Playing our instruments, or being the singer or whatever. As musicians on the road, we get to see so much and go to so many cool places with friends, meet new people everywhere and make new friends along the way, it’s great.
Terry: My old housemate had this picture of Camden Lock by some big shot photographer framed in our old apartment and today we actually got to see it with our own eyes, so that’s one of the many examples of how awesome it is.
Cory: We try and get out and explore as much as we can and sometimes you are limited to as far as what is around the venue or if it costs a lot to catch a train somewhere. We may have time restrictions too. We try and do as much as we can and see the hot spots, that’s the main thing.
AH: Who was, or is the band that emotes in you the reaction OTB fans have to you?
Cory: I heard that there was this study that the music you hear when you are aged 13-14 years old has the biggest mental or psycological impact on you, so the music you hear later in life you still might love it, but you don’t have the same sort of reaction, so for me that would have been bands like Hatebreed and Throwdown, seeing them live in much smaller venues. I can still remember the sets exactly, so vivdly and that’s what really got me into aggressive music and hardcore. More recently, I dunno, maybe three years ago I got to see Refused and I had never seen them before; and up until that point I was in mosh retirement, for 5, 6, 7 years, so I just went completely off, lost my shit.
Terry: There’s only two bands that will get me out of mosh retirement and that’s New Found Glory and Poison The Well. In Atlanta six months ago, they were playing upstairs at Heaven at the Masquerade and we did a show downstairs and I just went upstairs and the second they were playing I lost it, stage dove, lost my earrings, but I was like I don’t care, I have to do it, it was worth it!
AH: What is the song you most enjoy playing live and why?
Stevie: For me I think ‘Short Fuse’. It’s a short one but it’s bouncy, Maybe because of where it is in the set, I dunno but there’s always a huge reaction from the crowd as soon as it starts. They start going off and running around, it’s a really good one for me.
Cory: ‘Full Circle’ for me. The kids just go off. What’s your favourite song Al?
Alex: I back ‘Full Circle’, it’s a good one. I like ‘Short Fuse’ too. That raw energy, that release that we get, but if not, another track off the new record I like is ‘Up In Smoke’. It’s fast. We all grew up listening to a lot of punk rock and stuff; fast beats. I like the overall vibe of that one.
AH: Congratulations on your first headline tour in Europe. Whilst you are all seasoned tourers over here from past endeavours, did you find that you faced added pressure or that as the headline act, there was a more relaxed approach to the tour?
Alex: For me personally the key is just to have low expectations and to try and find as much satisfaction as possible just playing the songs, travelling and being with my friends, and if people show up and dig it, then that’s and added bonus. Truthfully, there is some pressure that comes with being the headliner. You want people to show up, not just for you but for the other bands that are cool enough to join us on this run, but you’ve just got to take it one day at a time and so far so good. People that do show up are die hards, so we definitely try and make a point of meeting as many fans as possible. Some of them are genuinely happy to meet us and watch us live and all that and that’s just…
Stevie: …the name of the game. That’s why we’re doing it.
Alex: I’m pretty sure for all of us looking back when we were like 12, 13 years old starting to play music, I don’t think any of us would even have dared to dream that we’d be in London one day playing music, underground music and doing it for a living.
AH: You are very supportive as a band of others in the industry, be it other bands or photographers. Why is that very important to you?
Cory: Art, it’s art.
Stevie: Supporting the earth, making new friends, networking and working within the friends that you make. Supporting the people that support you, it all comes full circle right?
Alex: Essentially this is our job and I like to work with friends. I feel I love that connection, I feel like it’s more personal. Just looking back I started working with Avocado Booking in early 2007 and I started working with Impericon, who used to be called Imperial back in the day, when they first started out and y’know we built this business relationship that actually goes beyond business. Now when I come to Germany and hang out with those guys, we talk about stuff that’s mostly non-music related, so I dig it. That for me that just makes it cooler.
AH: If you were to put together a four or five track compilation EP of the music of other bands or artists, what would you include?
Cory: Drake ‘Energy’
Alex: Cory was saying how stuff we listen to when we’re 13 or 14 has y’know this psychological neurological connection or whatever, so in my case a track by Pantera. They’re probably the first metal band I started listening to. So let’s say ‘I’m Broken’ by Pantera.
Stevie: Everyone’s gonna make fun of me, but I’m a huge Whitesnake fan, pretty much any song by Whitesnake, but I’ll say ‘Sailing Ships’ just for fun.
Alex: This is John our other guitarist, who’s just joined us so he’s gonna name a track.
John: ‘Moonlight Desires’ by Down.
Terry: ‘Bridges and Gaps’ by With Honour.
AH: You have trod many footsteps in the music industry, so its influence on you is inevitable, but do you have any influences from outside this field, either in terms of songwriting or on a personal level?
All: Liquor!
Alex: It’s weird, when we get into songwriting mode I tend not to listen to music at all. I’m just very much in my own head. Every winter or so I just isolate myself and just write. I don’t know what to answer to that. You guys go ahead.
Stevie: The liquor, like we said it as a joke, but it’s influenced a lot of riffs I would imagine.
Cory: Life I guess, personal relationships, being with family and friends and others. You write about the shit you go through right?
Terry: That’s my answer right there, well put.
AH: What is the most important lesson you have learnt, or the best piece of advice you have been given, during your time in the music industry?
Stevie: Pack two water bottles for your bunk for the hangover in the morning!
Alex: Just never stop working. Knock on a bunch of doors until shit actually pans out. Don’t expect anyone to do the work for you, just always do it yourself until it actually starts to work out. For me that’s my personal work ethic, so I try to apply that to music and non-music related stuff.
Stevie: Basically just give. You go out and you work hard and you just give.
Terry: Being one of the new guys this is the first big tour I’ve done, so ahead of time I was talking to our tour manager Mike who’s got a lot of experience and I was like “what’s some of the best advice you can give me?” And he said “just make sure you do three things every day, eat, sleep and play your show.”
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Words by Heather Fitsell
