Solitary INTERVIEW / FEATURE

 It’s more than twenty years now since Solitary planted their standard and pledged their allegiance to the thrash metal cause. Over the decades their commitment has been unflinching, their integrity unquestionable and with 2008s Requiem album they delivered an album to challenge the genre’s best. Requiem received great reviews from the major metal press, like Kerrang and Rock Sound and tracks were featured on the cover mount CDs of Legacy, Zero Tolerance and Terrorizer.

The next few years were spent playing live at every opportunity, alongside the likes of Lawnmower Deth and Xentrix – taking the thrash to the masses. Solitary also took part in the Headbangers Balls tour, raising money for the Teenage Cancer Trust. Having played so many great shows the band decided to celebrate their twentieth anniversary, in 2014, with the release of a live album. The album was called I Promise To Thrash Forever, once more confirming Solitary’s total dedication to pure thrash metal. The album was mastered by Darkane vocalist Lawrence Mackrory and its raw assault was the perfect way to close the first chapter of the Solitary story.

2017 proved to be one of the most exciting years to date for Solitary – kicking off with the release of a brand new album, The Diseased Heart Of Society. With the help of world renowned producer Simon Efemey, Solitary had created the heaviest and most intense album of their career. Praise poured in from the world’s metal press and prestigious shows followed, with the band appearing at Hammerfest/HRH United with Hammerfall, Destruction and many more. They also played at Thrashersaurus, with Onslaught, supported Acid Reign in London and played their own headline shows across the UK and in the Netherlands. Ever present band front man, Rich Sherrington, also put pen to paper and wrote the band’s biography, I Promise To Thrash Forever: The Solitary Story, praised by Zero Tolerance Magazine for its “sheer bloody honesty”.

“...a new, finely honed weapon of thrash destruction.” 

Zero Tolerance Magazine

Genre: Thrash Metal

For fans of: Slayer | Xentrix | Testament | Forbidden

Line-up:

Richard Sherrington – Vocals/Guitar

Andy Mellor – Lead Guitars

Pete Hewitt – Bass

Roy Miller - Drums  1. Please tell us of the history of the band and its members

I (Rich) formed the band twenty four years ago, in June 1994. Obviously, as it’s so long ago, it’s difficult to remember how it all came about . I know we aspired to be successful and hoped to make a living within the music industry. We’ve never been in a position where not working  has been  an option though as it’s an expensive business, but the band does fund a lot of its own activities so in terms of self-sufficiency we are  in a better positon than we were ten years ago, which is good considering how challenging the industry has become.

History wise we released our first album Nothing Changes in 1998.That album was reissued with bonus tracks in 2004 by Copro Records. Four years later in 2008 we released another album called Requiem and in 2014, to celebrate our twentieth anniversary, we put out a live album - I Promise to Thrash Forever. Our latest album The Diseased Heart of Society came out last year.

We’ve had a few members over the years as you’d expect but the current line up is 

Rich Sherrington Vocals/Guitar (1994 to Present)

Roy Miller Drums (1999 to Present )

Andy Mellor Lead Guitar (2003 to Present)

Pete Hewitt Bass (2016 to Present)

2. What’s the origin of the band’s name

You had to have a band name to rent a rehearsal unit and I’d taken the name Soulitude off the 1991 Overkill album Horoscope. However  we thought that Solitude sounded like a better name, which in all honesty it was, but unfortunately for us  there was already an American  Doom band with that name. So, in the end, we went for Solitary instead. 

3. Where is the band based and what is the music scene like there are there any local bands you would recommend 

We are based in Preston in the UK but we are lucky enough to be able to play shows all over the UK. That said, it’s becoming more and more of a challenge playing live. When we started you could play a gig every night of the week and expect a decent showing, with Thursday, Friday and Saturday being the pinnacles of the week. Now even Fridays can be hit and miss. I think it’s because the cost of living is so expensive, people just can’t afford to go out all the time and they save their money for the big events. Promotors try to combat that by creating bills of five bands or more, to make them appealing, but that tends to have a negative impact on the main acts as they either go on very late or people have lost interest due to the fact of so many bands are on the bill. The only way that works is to kick off mid-afternoon which is the approach most take thankfully.

4. How would you describe your style

We are definitely a Thrash band. I would say that our roots are in the 80’s Bay Area sounds but we’ve also incorporated some of the Gothenburg styles when it comes to song structures.

5. What can we expect from you

We are in the processes of reissuing a 20th anniversary edition of Nothing Changes though our new label, DOC Records, who are based in the Netherlands. We also are looking to put out a DVD which contains live footage and interviews with band members - past and present - as well as some entertaining bits of us fooling around. That should be out in time for Christmas.

6. Do  you have new  music in the works 

We have some ideas but we haven’t any full songs as yet. We really need to get things together as we’d like an album out next year to mark our 25th Anniversary.

7. How about playing shows and touring anything planned 

Yes we have a number of UK shows booked before the end of the year with the highlight being a Christmas show with Lawnmower Deth, Xentrix and Re –Animator at the Underworld in London on 15th December.  We are also off to The Netherlands for a short headline stint which we are really looking forward to - that’s happening in October.

8. What plans for the future of the band 

As I mentioned earlier, writing a new album is high on the list of priorities. We are also shooting a video for the title track of our latest album ‘The Diseased Heart of Society’.  There’s discussion about releasing that album on vinyl as well, but nothing is set in stone on that front, we’ll just have to see how that pans out.

9. Where can we listen to the band and buy your stuff

Well the best place to pick up our merchandise and releases is our Webstore  and you can hear all our material on Apple Music and Spotify  or Bandcamp

10. What is it that you’d like the listener to remember when they hear your music for the first time?

I’d like them to remember us and come back for another listen! As long as we manage that I think we have done all we can. We write songs that we enjoy and make sure they contain parts that really get the adrenaline pumping. We have a set of rules that we adhere to - a) will the song work well live b) make sure none of the parts last too long and c) if something stands out don’t be scared to repeat it.