{"id":8875,"date":"2015-07-01T09:00:37","date_gmt":"2015-07-01T09:00:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/download-festival-interview-sylosis\/"},"modified":"2018-03-21T22:19:51","modified_gmt":"2018-03-21T22:19:51","slug":"download-festival-interview-sylosis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/download-festival-interview-sylosis\/","title":{"rendered":"Download Festival Interview: Sylosis"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/figure>\n

Following January\u2019s incandescent \u2018Dormant Heart\u2019<\/i>, Sylosis<\/b> had a lot to offer the Download Festival<\/b> audience this year. Years of line-up changes and catastrophes may have taken their emotional toll, but their musical output has gone from strength to strength. Doing the European festival rounds, the Reading quartet never seem to tire of the carnage left in the wake of their festival set.<\/p>\n

Ahead of their Maverick stage performance, drummer Ali Richardson stopped to chat with Already Heard<\/b> about how he\u2019s settling in, what\u2019s next for Sylosis<\/b> and what brought him onto the stage in the first place.<\/p>\n

Already Heard: How\u2019re you doing today, Ali? Excited to be at the home of rock and metal?<\/b>
Ali Richardson: I\u2019m fucking jamming, I\u2019m ready for a weekend of chaos! It\u2019s where it all started for me, I mostly grew up listening to Pantera and stuff, but I came here in 2006 and coming back here playing this late on a Friday is cool as fuck.<\/i><\/p>\n

AH: So \u2018Dormant Heart\u2019<\/i> hit the scene like a sledgehammer, how\u2019s it feel seeing that fan response and how well people took it? <\/b>
Ali: It\u2019s quite overwhelming, I\u2019m obviously the new guy in the mix here so I wasn\u2019t part of the writing process, but I was a big fan of the album, so it\u2019s amazing to see the support. I\u2019m pretty sure it entered the charts at number 38! It\u2019s pretty fucking crazy so that was amazing to see! It got me really excited about festival season and just doing gigs and coming back to the UK especially, so Download\u2019s always been a big one, I\u2019ve been looking forward to this for months!<\/i><\/p>\n

AH: Being the new guy must come with a lot of complications, walking in on everyone else\u2019s work. How\u2019s it all gone down with you? <\/b>
Ali: I\u2019ve been friends with the guys for about 10 years, I\u2019ve always been a fan of their music, they sent me a copy of the new album before I joined the band and I was like, \u201cthis is great, this is what I want to be playing\u201d. I totally agree with what\u2019s there for me to play, it\u2019s good fun, it\u2019s quite challenging but I always like to push myself, I look for that challenge in drumming so just grab it with both hands. I look forward to moving onwards as well and putting my own stamp on the sound. <\/i><\/p>\n

<\/figure>\n

AH: So bearing in mind we know your live shows blow the roof off venues, sadly enough for the organisers, there\u2019s a roof on the Maverick stage! <\/b>
Ali: Yeah, we\u2019ll take the roof off that one as well! <\/i><\/p>\n

AH: So after the band\u2019s first set here in 2009 and then in 2012, how much do you think the band\u2019s performances have changed over the years? <\/b>
Ali: I think their music\u2019s changed significantly, definitely in Dormant Heart was more progressive, darker sound and that\u2019s what really appealed to me about the album and about joining them. These songs in a live scenario, they\u2019re very much suited to a live environment and this is the first time they\u2019ll be played at Download, so just looking forward to see how the Download crowd responds! <\/i><\/p>\n

AH: Any surprises in store? <\/b>
Ali: We\u2019ve got a medley coming up actually! A song from Monolith and a song from Edge Of The Earth, cut them in half and stuck them together. <\/i><\/p>\n

AH: That\u2019ll go down well with the hardcore fans then! <\/b>
Ali: I hope so! We\u2019ll see how it goes. <\/i><\/p>\n

AH: So looking ahead, what\u2019s next for you guys? <\/b>
Ali: Well we\u2019ve got Hellfest and Graspop next weekend, so pretty amazing line-ups, looking forward to going back to Europe, it feels more like a holiday when you\u2019re over there. <\/i><\/p>\n

AH: Have you got tired of the touristy side of things yet? <\/b>
Ali: Tired of it? Never! It\u2019s a new experience every time and you\u2019re always somewhere different, you might be in the same country but it\u2019s always a different venue. After that, we\u2019ve got With Full Force in Germany. I love playing in Germany, that\u2019s like playing home from home, massive metal fans, I\u2019m really looking forward to that one, that\u2019s a big festival as well! After that, it\u2019s quiet for a few months then hopefully a UK headline tour or something in the UK towards the end of the year, but nothing\u2019s set in stone. <\/i><\/p>\n

AH: So we know a setlist is never going to please everyone, what\u2019s one song you know will never make a setlist but you wish it would? <\/b>
Ali: My favourite song to play with the guys is \u2018Altered States Of Consciousness\u2019 and that\u2019s like a 6 minute song so most of the time we have to cut it out which is quite annoying, but I\u2019d always have that in there if I had the choice. It\u2019s a good song for me, I don\u2019t care about anyone else! <\/i><\/p>\n

\"\"
Photo by Carrie-Anne Pollard<\/a>. View more photos here<\/a>. <\/small><\/p>\n

AH: If you could bring back one artist to perform with, who would you bring back?<\/b>
Ali: Dimebag Darrell. Straight away! Well actually, I\u2019ve been listening to a lot of Jeff Buckley recently as well, but yeah, Dimebag. I need to see Pantera live so get Dimebag back, or just go back in time and make sure it never even happened, maybe get Pantera back together. <\/i><\/p>\n

AH: It\u2019s not right without him, is it? <\/b>
Ali: Definitely not, there\u2019s a void in my life. <\/i><\/p>\n

AH: So if there\u2019s one venue you haven\u2019t played yet, where would you most want to play? <\/b>
Ali: Madison Square Gardens, just because that\u2019s at the top of the bucket list! Nah, I\u2019ll go with Wembley because it\u2019s closer to home, but Madison Square Gardens has got that ring to it. <\/i><\/p>\n

AH: Who was your most crucial musical influence growing up? <\/b>
Ali: As a drummer, for me it was Vinnie Paul and Chris Adler of Lamb Of God, there\u2019s a few other guys, but ever since I started picking up my sticks. There\u2019s a few more recent additions like Mario Duplantier from Gojira, there\u2019s a lot of drummers with a lot of groove and a lot of feel to them, that\u2019s what\u2019s important to me. We\u2019re all playing heavy music but it still needs to be groovy at the end of the day, you still want people to be shaking their hips to the music! If I see people standing still, I don\u2019t think I\u2019m groovy enough and I need to change it up. <\/i><\/p>\n

AH: Especially Vinnie Paul, he has personality pouring out of his ears! <\/b>
Ali: He has! He has the groove! <\/i><\/p>\n

AH: What was the first album you ever bought? <\/b>
Ali: I think it was Sum 41\u2019s \u2018All Killer, No Filler\u2019. That\u2019s when I was fucking young though, I was 12 or something then. First metal album was Pantera\u2019s \u2018Vulgar Display Of Power\u2019, so I made up for myself! We\u2019ve all been there, Sum 41 was fine back in the day, I enjoyed that, it was a good album. I was young, it\u2019s alright. <\/i><\/p>\n

AH: If you could take one band on tour with you, supporting you not headlining over you, who would it be? <\/b>
Ali: The moment you started that question, I was going to shout Pantera again! I wouldn\u2019t feel right playing above Pantera, but if we\u2019re on tour together, get them on tour with us. <\/i><\/p>\n

AH: Imagine that backstage, too! <\/b>
Ali: Yeah, I\u2019m pretty sure they could teach me a thing or two about drinking, that\u2019s something I pride myself in! <\/i><\/p>\n

AH: What\u2019s your view on the Gene Simmons debate that rock, and by extension metal, is dead? <\/b>
Ali: Bullshit! It\u2019s definitely not dead, look at this festival every year. It\u2019s bigger than all the festivals we go to over the year, in Europe and the States and around the world for metalheads. I think the industry\u2019s hard, it\u2019s hard for bands to make a living, but the music scene in itself is not dead. There\u2019s more heavy bands out there now than there ever has been before. It\u2019s definitely alive and well and it\u2019s growing. <\/i><\/p>\n

AH: Where do you see yourself musically in 5-10 years\u2019 time? <\/b>
Ali: I have no idea, and I like to keep it that way. Make small, achievable goals, get them and then just throw one thing onto the next, keep going and keep doing work. I\u2019m not in this to be famous or to make money or anything, I\u2019m just in this to enjoy it. If you end up making a living out of that, then that\u2019s a bonus. It\u2019s not right if you\u2019re not enjoying it. <\/i><\/p>\n

\u2018Dormant Heart\u2019<\/i> by Sylosis<\/b> is out now on Nuclear Blast Records<\/b>.<\/p>\n

Sylosis<\/strong> links: Website<\/a>|Facebook<\/a>|Twitter<\/a><\/p>\n

View more of Already Heard<\/b>’s coverage of Download Festival<\/b> 2015 here<\/a>.<\/i><\/p>\n

Words by Ali Cooper (@AliZombie_<\/a>)<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Following January\u2019s incandescent \u2018Dormant Heart\u2019, Sylosis had a lot to offer the Download Festival audience this year. Years of line-up changes and catastrophes may have taken their emotional toll, but their musical output has gone from strength to strength. Doing the European festival rounds, the Reading quartet never seem to tire of the carnage left […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":14425,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[141,5369,3325,209,5368],"class_list":["post-8875","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interviews","tag-carrie-anne-pollard","tag-dormant-heart","tag-download-festival","tag-nuclear-blast-records","tag-sylosis"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nDownload Festival Interview: Sylosis - Already Heard Staging<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Following January\u2019s incandescent \u2018Dormant Heart\u2019, Sylosis had a lot to offer the Download Festival audience this year. 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