The Drowning members present for interview:
Mike Hitchen (guitar)
Steve Hart (drums)
Matt Small (vocals)
Jason Hodges (guitar)
1. Please tell us about the history of your band and its members.
Mike: The Drowning started in 2003 - I wanted to revive old school doom/death as I grew up with that and loved it and wanted to recapture that dark, doom vibe. As far as members go, initially it was just me and my mate and since then there’s been many member changes, but the current line-up represents what the Drowning is and has always strived to be.
2. What’s the origin of the band’s name?
Mike: The concept of The Drowning was that of a person drowned as an act of ritual murder. Now, it’s what you want to take from it
3. Where is the band based out of and what is your music scene like there? Are there any local bands you could recommend?
Mike: We’re based in Cardiff, Wales (UK).
Steve: The scene here consists of one metal club, so as you can imagine, sparse! There are plenty of bands that come through though and locally we would recommend our friends in Desecration or Agrona who have recently recorded with the same producer we’ve used for the new record.
4. How would you describe your style?
Steve: We’ve always found it difficult to fit into a single category. We’ve been more doom in days gone by, but with member changes, new influences, new ideas, we find strong elements of Death metal creeping in - but without the pace.
Mike: These days we would describe it as Dark Metal.
5. What have you released so far and what can someone expect from your works?
Mike: Since the bands creation, in 2003, we’ve released 5 full lengths, 1 split album and a new record yet to be released.
Our ep “Withered” released in 2004.
Our first full length “When The Light Was Taken From Us” was released in 2006. The second full length was “This Bleak Descent” released 2008 followed by our split album with “My Silent Wake” entitled “Black Lights And Silent Roads” in 2010. We quickly followed that with our 3rd full length “Fall Jerusalem Fall” in 2011, which was the last record that included vocalist James Moore. With the introduction of Matt Small on vocals we released “Senescent Signs” in 2016.
Jason: As far as what can be expected, there is a clear evolution from then to now.
Steve: We’ve dialed in our sound and all gotten better as musicians, so the progression is clear.
6. Do you have any new music in the works?
Mike: There’s always new material in the works.
Matt: We’ve recently finished a new record, the next physical manifestation of effort from The Drowning.
Mike: Being able to keep a steady line up has driven us further to create a unique atmosphere.
Steve: Check out The Radiant Dark, coming soon, at some point.
7. How about playing shows and touring, have anything planned out?
Matt: We have some shows coming, everything has been working towards The Radiant Dark, we can’t wait to get back out there and start playing the album
Steve: We’re playing in Birmingham on 18/8/18 with Godthrymm, My Dying Bride is a big influence of the band so we are looking forward to playing with Hamish again.
Jason: With the release of The Radiant Dark we are planning a UK and Europe tour with a couple of other bands.
8. What plans do you have for the future as a band?
Steve: We want to continue pushing further into Europe
Mike: It would be great to play further a field, globally.
Matt: We’re hoping to play a few upcoming festivals as well, both UK, and abroad.
9. Where can we listen to your band and where can we buy your stuff?
Steve: You can find the band on BandCamp.com, Facebook and Youtube. We have merch and material available through the band camp website too.
Mike: You could always come to a show, share a beer and pick up your merch there!
10. What is it you’d like a listener to remember the most when hearing your music for the first time?
Jason: Melody
Matt: When considering any kind of sub genre of metal, the most important word is metal!
Mike: For them to press PLAY again.
Steve: I hope the listener remembers the name in order to keep an eye out for shows!
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