Interviews: URSUS

In this new occasion we have had the opportunity to interview the  Metal band URSUS, from UK. Check out this band and give them a like on their FACEBOOK PAGE.

1. Where did you get the idea for the band name, you planned it or came out just like that? 

James: It was our original second guitarist who came up with the name. It’s a Latin word associated with bear. It doesn’t really have any profound meaning we just thought it sounded good and suited us.

Aaron: It’s quite a neutral name as well. It could be the name for a band in any

genre so people don’t expect us to play a certain type of music when they

hear the name. It doesn’t give us any limitations.

2. Why did you want to play this genre?

James: For me I just love making music and this is the genre that I feel I can best express myself. Plus, it’s the genre where I write the best music. I’ve always been drawn to heavier and darker music for some reason so that’s what I chose to make.

Joe: I love metal because there’s so much emotion behind it. I’m literally screaming at people when we perform so it gives us the opportunity to put on a really insane live show. And also, I’m the same as James, it’s always been the type of music that I like the most so it made sense that this is the type of music I make.

3. Did you know each other before the band was formed?

Aaron: Me and James met over Facebook when we were 15. He messaged me saying he was looking to jam with some other people who play metal so he came over to mine, with my other friend who was a guitarist, and we had a great time so we just ended up doing it every weekend. We spent a long time looking for other members and after about a year and a half we found Ryan online.

Ryan: I saw an advert for a progressive metal band looking for a bass player, so I sent them a video of me playing a Tool song. They liked the video and asked me to come down to a practice and everyone just got on really well and played great together so that turned into the first version of the band.

4. Each band member favourite band?

Joe: Cradle of Filth for me. That is and has always been the band that made me love extreme music.

Ryan: There’s no way I could pick just one it changes every day.

James: I’m the same in that it changes all the time. The most important band to me would be Trivium because that’s the band that got me into metal and I love all their albums. But in terms of my favourite at the moment its definitely Structures. I’m more of a fan of the second album than the first but they’re both amazing. I’m gutted I never got to see them live before they broke up.

Aaron: My favourite band are Deftones. Every single album of theirs is different to the last but the quality of song writing is consistently great. In my opinion White Pony is the greatest album ever made. Abe Cunningham’s grooves are incredibly interesting and sometimes complex, but they always suit the music.

5. Who or what inspires you to write songs?

Joe: My lyrics are inspired by anything I’m reading a lot about at that time. All the lyrics are about something different like our single Hallowed Shakes which is about PTSD, because at the time I was looking into what it’s like for people who suffer from the illness. Usually the music will sort of inspire you to go into a lyrical direction when you hear it as well and you can just follow that.

James: Inspiration comes from everywhere. It can be an album you’re listening to, or something you read about, or something you see that day. You can even just get inspired to write music when you have a good or a bad day.

It would be impossible to say exactly what inspired each part of a song, because there’s so much that can be taken and put into your music from all different places.

6. Where was your last gig? 

Joe: Our last gig was with Dani Filth’s Devilment which was a dream come true for me. I got to meet Dani Filth who is and will continue to be an incredible inspiration to me and that night I had the opportunity to thank him for getting me into extreme metal. They say don´t meet your idols but whoever said that could not be more wrong.

7. Where would you like to act?

James: One of my ultimate goals is to play a gig at the Brixton Academy in London. I don’t care what slot it was but I’ve always wanted to play there since I saw Motorhead perform when I was a kid.

Ryan: I’ve always wanted to get the chance to tour in the America. I think that’s a goal for a lot of British bands because there’s so many different places and people all in one country, it would be an amazing experience. Also, Norway would be great. It would be cool to play in the home of extreme metal.

Joe: I’m with Ryan it would have to be the USA for me. It’s so amazing how every state is like its own country. It would be awesome to do a few nice long tours around there and visit everywhere.

8. Whom would you like to feature with?

Aaron: I’d love to have Post Malone on a track. Whichever band is first to feature him screaming is going to win the internet. The chorus of one of our new songs actually fits perfectly with the chorus for Rockstar.

James: I think it would be cool to work with some great singers on a song for a big chorus or something. Lucas from Holding Absence would be awesome or the singer form Parting Gift. If I’m really going all out I would say Sam Carter but I don’t imagine that will be a possibility any time soon.

9. Whom not?  

James: Definitely no one who was in For Today or just any other band who has hateful views. Those are not people we want to be associated with or interact with.

Joe: Other than that, we’d be down for anyone if it worked for the song. No matter what genre they’re from.

10. Any of you has ever suffered from stage fright? Any tip for beginners on how to beat that?     

Ryan: I get it from time to time, depending on the audience size and who’s there, smaller crowds are worse. Usually I can get rid of it just by concentrating on what I’m doing and paying a bit less attention to the crowd.

James: I’ve never really had a problem playing guitar but I definitely get really bad stage fright when I’m doing public speaking. Unfortunately, the only thing you can do is just to do it and practice it. I don’t get nervous playing our sets because I’ve done it so many times I know exactly what I’m doing.

11. What bands have inspired you the most? 

Joe: Musically Structures and Thy Art is Murder would probably be the influences that people notice when they hear us. We love those bands because they just write such good songs and even though they’re both very technical that’s only because it makes the song better. They never do insanely technical stuff just for the sake of it.

Aaron: Loathe would also be a big one. The way they broke onto the scene and the fact they’re doing something completely original is very inspiring. It’s cool to see a band that isn’t just a copycat of someone else, they’re doing things before other bands have even thought about whether it was possible.

12. What's the weirdest thing a fan has ever asked you for?

Joe: It sounds dumb but it was probably when we had fans asking for photo’s in Cardiff. It doesn’t sound like a strange thing at all, but you don’t really expect it at our level so it caught us completely off guard. That was an awesome show and it was great to meet all those people afterwards.

James: There’s a been a few odd interactions as well but nothing I think we can really mention safely.

13. What do you think of your fans?  

Aaron: We love our fans because the support is so positive from them. We don’t really get that many negative comments or anything and whenever we do we have a lot of our fans and friends jump in to defend us, which is really nice to see.

James: With metal bands struggling so much everyone should be supporting each other, not trying to tear each other down to jump up a rung on the ladder. That’s why having such a supportive fan base, a lot of which are fellow musicians, is so incredible to us.

14. What do you think of our site?

Joe: It’s awesome to see a site that does so much. It’s really in depth with so many different segments and also there’s bands of all different sizes on the site which is really cool. It’s nice to see a site supporting smaller bands as well as the larger ones.