Saturday, June 23, 2018

FINAL COIL INTERVIEW

Please tell us about the history of your band and its members.


Jola: Final Coil is a combination of characters passionate about music they create and play. It all started when Phil and Rich met together whilst Phil was at Uni and started simply playing guitar together trying to find the way - I supposed the sound - which suits them both and songs which they were writing at that time. Since then our band has changed line up few times, we had a few bassists before I joined, as well as drummers, but it always was, and still is, about the music. Being in an underground band is a lot of fun - over the years we’ve met a lot of interesting personalities, who have either joined final coil temporarily, helped with the artwork, taken part in recordings or joined us on stage. At the beginning it was only the four of us, now we collaborate with a group of people and who are inspired by our music, so we are very lucky in this respect to have such a fantastic team around us, who not only like what we do, but want to be a part of it and understand our vision.
All our inspirations come from life experience, the music which we play has many influences and we all meet somewhere in the middle – but we have our favourites in music. Phil is a big fan of prog metal, black metal and grunge, Rich listens to a lot of Indie, my background is in classical music and jazz – although I played in a few punk bands years ago. We all grew up listening to grunge. Our taste is very eclectic and maybe that helps us to meet together and remain open to some new ideas. Before our debut album ‘Persistence of memory’ came out we recorded a few EP’s and you can clearly hear how the sound progressed over time – and we learnt a lot from that, so when we eventually got an opportunity to go to Italy to record an album we knew exactly what we wanted. 
So, the biggest achievement for our band is the last album and, if you like it, and if you would like to know more, you can find a lot of information on our website and face book, the story is long and twisted!


What’s the origin of the band’s name? 


Jola: The name of band was created way before I have joined, but I’m pretty sure Phil has told the story in a number of interviews. I do know it’s connected to his love of literature though. 
Where is the band based out of and what is your music scene like there? Are there any local bands you could recommend? 
Jola: We all live in Midlands, we have our rehearsal studio in Leicester where we practice twice a week. This same complex is shared by maybe 40 other bands, so, for a small city like Leicester, there is quite a lot to compete with. There is a lot of metal on a local scene, also stoner rock which is very popular at the moment, but the majority of bands are tribute bands, which we do not talk about hehehe… 
We have few favourite local bands with whom we share the stage time to time and we always have a good time as we like hanging around with music geeks. If you have an opportunity to see bands like Beckon Lane, Third Angle Projection, Mage or Monachopsis – those I would recommend. Although stylistically there are very different from each other, it’s very enjoyable music.


How would you describe your style? 


Jola: Our sound is unique for us and the music we play is the music we want to listen to. If you are not 100% happy with what you do, you would not be able to listen your own record about 100 times during the mixing and mastering process – it is important to realize that before you decide to go to the studio and, not only spend a lot of money, but time as well. So, coming out with a smile on your face means you are part of it with your heart and soul, hehehe… 
How I would describe our style… it’s hard to say as it is progressing all the time, our background is in grunge, but you can hear a lot of influences in our music and everyone who has tried to describe our last record comes out with some different description - which we have found quite amusing – we were looking forward to hear what people will make of it, and its look like they’re equally confused as we are, hehehe… “confusers” I suppose – for me there is only one style – either good or bad  - I am not even talking about bad style as it would be a waste of my life. There is a lot of bad happening in the world at the moment, which is more worthy of your attention then some bad style in the music industry… still some spend all their lives doing this! 


What have you released so far and what can someone expect from your works? 


Jola: We released our debut album ‘Persistence of Memory’ last year, and that’s our biggest achievement to date. Before that we had few EP’s, all of which you can find on our website – including free downloads.
What you can expect? Hm… layers of sound floating in between each other, dynamic, vocal harmonies, roaring guitar riffs and, in the live show, a lot of energy coming from stage in your direction which may crush your ears drums and twist your guts, hehehe! We are for sure very raw live and it is totally different experience then listening to our calming music on your CD players.





Do you have any new music in the works?


Jola: Yes, we constantly working on a new material - we never stop really. We are planning something more ambitious in the close future, but we are going to announce some great news soon. It is a lot of work at the moment and we would like to be certain about the material before it goes out. Recently we made a trip to London for the photo session with the amazing photographer Ester Segarra, with whom it was a pleasure to work. Some of the photos you can check on our website.  
If you follow us on social media, you will be kept up to date 😊


How about playing shows and touring, have anything planned out?


Jola: We have lined up few shows in near future, one in Leicester in the 14th of July with Witchtripper, later on in October the 13th in Sheffield and, in December (the 6th) at The Musician in Leicester. We try to play as much as we can but, at at the moment, all our attention is put on working on new material, and everything else which goes along with it. Also remember that we are music fans and in holiday time there is a lot to see around – we are going to the shows around England really, nothing can stop us! We have been this year already on few festivals and there’s more to come – live music can give an inspiration and new ideas for the band and they are a lot of fun. Recording an album is something unforgettable and the record is something you can always come back to, but live music is a moment in time, if you are not there - you are missing out. This same band live can sound three times bigger than on the record. On the other hand, on the record you are able to hear all details, whilst the live show is an experience – I think that both spectrum's of the same music can be rather fascinating.


What plans do you have for the future as a band? 


Jola: We plan ahead of course, it always helps to focus on what we would like to achieve at the end. We have set up already few good gigs and festival slots for 2019, but we are looking for more – maybe a trip to Europe? It is a challenge, being in a band takes a lot of time and we all have other commitments in our lives, so finding that balance which works for everyone in a band is a priority, we enjoy what we do, and we would like to keep it that way. As I said earlier we are working on a new material at the moment and we are trying to put all that together, so not long and we can hopefully share that with everyone. 


Where can we listen to your band and where can we buy your stuff? 


Jola: Our debut album was released worldwide via record label WormHoleDeath/The Orchard on Deezer; iTunes; Amazon and Spotify so it is very easy to find online. You can also have a look on our website www.finalcoil.com where you can find more details. We have our older material for free via Bandcamp – so you can go to www.finalcoilrock.bandcamp.com to check it out. Moreover, we have our own profile on youtube where you can see our videos – the whole band in action, for those who are missing the shows – although that is not the same experience – so if you like what you see online you should definitely attend our show. Our lyric videos which were created by Andy Pilkinton and are very impressive – worth checking out. 


What is it you’d like a listener to remember the most when hearing your music for the first time?


Jola: I would hope they remember our name first of all, hehehe… and think: “That is something I want to listen to again” – that is what is in my head when I hear a new interesting artist. Our music is challenging, a lot of our fans are actually musicians, so I suppose they are finding in our music something which catches their attention, we are not guitar gods and we are not looking for personal attention – it is not a cult of personality that is for sure – but if listener can feel what we while we are playing and are part of it, that is just great!!! Music can be a great journey and there is an open invitation.



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