Blending their hardcore roots with a vibrant sense of rock ‘n roll, State of You showcases a ferocious sound on their latest EP – ‘On A Knife’s Edge’. The follow-up to 2022’s eponymous EP is a thrilling six-track outing that is relentless in its execution. Tracks such as ‘To The Core’ and ‘Under The Wire’ are ignited by a furious passion as vocalist Steve Sitkowski aims egotistical, and reckless wannabe rockstars on the former. The latter sees him be more personal, reflecting on his late ADHD diagnosis and the negative thoughts from it. Elsewhere, ‘Double-Barrelled’ rages on the society’s pressure for perfection with an admirable, harmonious chorus thrown in amongst the chaos. ‘Two Of A Kind’ captures the tornado of emotions that a relationship break-up can bring. Along with Which Way The Water Flows’ and firey EP opener, ‘Cut The Rope’, ‘On A Knife’s Edge’ ruthlessly sees State of You fight their demons, whether that be internal or from modern-day living.
Completed by guitarists Ollie Jeffs and Max O’Neil, bassist Rick Keenan, and drummer Nick Jones, State of You initially came together in 2019 but the pandemic slowed their progress. Nevertheless, they made their arrival in 2022 with the release of their self-titled EP. Aided by the production work of Oz Craggs (Feed The Rhino), the quintet exchanged song ideas remotely with over 40 songs being narrowed down to six.
While State of You have collectively been influenced by the likes of Every Time I Die, The Bronx, and Beartooth, we wanted to hear about the bands and albums that initially ignited their interest in heavy music. Their choices range from all-time grunge classics to influential post-hardcore, metalcore, and punk greats, this is State of You‘s influences.
Incubus
Rick (Keenan – bass): ‘Science’ completely blew the lid off the Nu-metal scene at the time and totally swerved me away from it, to be honest.
The album was so diverse and it opened my eyes to a lot of totally different artists at the time. Strangely down the path of Ninja Tune records artists because this album had so many elements of the sound later on in the album. It’s that one album that still blows your head off now and it still sounds so interesting to the day it was released. This album opened them up as a band to do whatever they wanted and not just be stuck in that Nu-metal scene where they never really belonged.
Nirvana
Rick: I remember watching the ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ video on MTV at my cousins’ house when I was about 8/9 years old and thinking WHAT IS THIS!?
‘Nevermind’ still sounds like it was recorded recently and it paved the way for countless underground bands of all genres across the world to make successful careers from music. An absolute classic!
Nick (Jones – drums): This album (‘Nevermind’) was shown to me as a teen at school, and I couldn’t put it down, so much power and emotion that I’d never heard before in any other type of music, which led me to the first heavy show I ever went to, Slipknot.
They played the Portsmouth Pyramids, and it was still probably the heaviest show I’ve ever been to, I’d never seen a crowd like that in my life, it went absolutely INSANE in there, people LITERALLY tearing the walls down! It was nuts. And with support from One Minute Silence & Kittie, that’s one to remember.
Poison The Well
Ollie (Jeffs – guitar): Poison The Well are a band that I absolutely fell in love with. The unique sound of heavy mixed with major/minor chord sequences and melody is what I naturally steer toward, and they deliver that in every record. I’m stoked to see them play later this year and get all nostalgic. Hopefully, they play my favourite track ‘Apathy Is a Cold Body’.
Thrice
Max (O’Neil – guitar): I remember the first time I heard ‘Artist In The Ambulance’ when I was a teenager. Something just spoke to me about the perfect blend of almost emo/post-hardcore and an introduction to the heavier side of music. Its crushing heavy riffs and melodic choruses kept me listening even 20 years later.
Eighteen Visions
Ollie: I remember back years ago first stumbling across ‘Tower Of Snakes’ whilst out at a rock club. I stood still with a pint in hand to take it all in as it caught me. The style and heaviness absolutely blew me away so I went back and rinsed through their back catalogue. I love the rock/hardcore combination that they bring and just how “cool” as a unit they were. In addition to Orange County hardcore, I pretty much love any genre, the darker the better for me!
Green Day
Max: Probably my first introduction to punk and completely by accident was seeing the video for ‘Basket Case’ on MTV. I remember being completely mesmerised by the song and video at the age of 6 years old. The sound of thrashing guitars and angst-ridden lyrics filled the air. Something about the almost strange punk look that I was too young to understand and huge songs that they played drew me in.
‘Dookie’ was released shortly after and became my absolute favourite album and something that I couldn’t put down. I’ll hands down say there isn’t a single filler track on that album and it still holds up to this day!
‘On A Knife’s Edge’ EP by State of You is out now on Silent Cult.
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