Interviews: Old Selves

On this new occasion, we have had the opportunity to interview the Metal band, Old Selves from the UK. Check out the interview and follow the band on their FACEBOOK PAGE.

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

After years of work an university, we met at the pub to discuss forming the band. We drank a few beers and starting getting excited about the prospect of being in a band again and playing shows, doing all that band stuff. Talking about all these things and getting excited about music again for the first time in quite a few years, somebody said ‘I feel like my old self again!’. At that point, ‘Old Selves’ just worked.

2.Why did you want to play this genre?

Metal has such a diverse scene. You can play music in so many different sub -genres of metal and expand on your current sound and have a lot of fun doing so. Not the mention, playing live is just pure energy. And the mental community is the kindest, most sincere out there, in our opinion. Plus, we like to bang our f*cking heads.

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

No. None of us knew each other. We met via checking out each other’s old bands and via mutual friends.

4. Each band member favourite band?

Felix: Parkway Drive

Marcus: Trivium

Ray: Coheed and Cambria

Tom: My Chemical Romance.

5. Who or what inspires you to write songs?

Ray: I don’t have a punching bag so smashing tunes out like this helps.

Felix: I write a lot of my lyrics about the state of the world, but also the human mind (hence the EP title). My observations as a registered mental health nurse of the human brain, personal battles that I know myself and the other guys in the band have had and other rough things that can go on in the world make me tick (in a non-evil way). How we interact with our thoughts fascinates me. Also, how everybody has a personal agenda whether they admit it or not and how many people there are out there that will damage somebody else in a big way, in order to create small gain for themselves also fascinates but infuriates me. I see a lot of trauma in the world and in people’s lives that I work with and that can be hard to tolerate at times because we’re only human. Writing lyrics about these things, accompanied by evil guitar riffs and all round heavy tunes is massively therapeutic. What also inspired me is the prospect of our music having a similar effect on other people and them being able to get a sense of release when listening to Old Selves.

6. Where was your last gig?

Leeds – The Fox & Newt, just before the first lockdown hit – great venue, we’re heading back there in 2021!

7. Where would you like to play?

We don’t think there is a heavy band out there that doesn’t want to up Slam Dunk Festival, Download Festival, Bloodstock, Ressurection Fest and the likes. We also just love a tiny sweaty grassroots venue full of beer, passion and heavy tunes.

8. Who would you like to support?

Jinjer are a sweet band. We would love to share a stage with those guys sometime. But give us a Michael Buble gig, we’ll play anywhere if there’s an opportunity to play our tunes heavy and loud.

9. Who not?

There isn’t anybody we wouldn’t want to work with. We don’t have any enemies and hope to maintain that in an industry that is known to at times become slightly hostile and cruel. We’re here for good music and good times and reckon we could do that opening for Metallica, Michael Buble, Jinjer or the BBC Symphonic Orchestra. At least we would have a laugh doing it, anyway!

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

Before our first show, Ray had only been on stage once before and he fainted the first time. This was also the only time he had fainted! But for the second time, when he started gigging with Old Selves, he says he knew he was surrounded by family and friends and felt very lucky. You’ll now catch him flicking his wonderfully luscious locks around a stage near you soon like the most confident fella you ever saw. Marcus found his first gig terrifying. The thought of messing up really consumed him and his amp footswitch also broke right before the show. The best thing we have all found is to get in your own space, put on a good show and get the audience involved. You can stand on a stage and play your set whenever really. Doing it with fans in front of you, it is for them. They are the most critical part to putting on a good show, second to not playing shit! 

11. What bands have inspired you the most? 

Felix: Parkway Drive,

Marcus: Trivium

Ray: Coheed and Cambria

Tom: My Chemical Romance. See below some of our favourite songs, also: 

Avenged Sevenfold – Beast and The Harlot - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bDg7n-chhU : 

The song has a tight and hard hitting intro that has stuck with Marcus since he was a teenager. Syns riffs and solos have influenced Marcus as a guitar player massively and we all grew up on this band. 

Trivium – Rain – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DyyVKapxAfk 

Rain opened our eyes to more thrash style riffs and gave us loads of ideas about how to incorporate that into our sound. The tone of this band and this track also really spark our interest in developing a solid guitar tone as a band and influenced Marcus and Felix to start playing through EVH 5150s, the same as the legendary Van Halen and a strong and solid amp in the world of metal nowadays. 

Architects – Phantom Fear – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMiIw078zGE

 

One of the UKs best metal bands. Tom from Architects used some incredible ideas to create a unique sound that no other band at the time was on par with, in our opinion. Everything from the tuning on his baritone to the interesting time signatures and off beat playing inspired us to write outside the box and use sometimes unconventional writing methods. Their vocal sound has hugely influenced us, too. When developing our screams, we spent a lot of time listening to Architects. Such stamina in that band it is outrageous. 

Breaking Benjamin – Breakdown – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5A_BXELVvc 

Breaking Benjamin are the first metal band Marcus was ever heavily interested in and this song holds a place in his heart thanks to the soothing piano in the intro that turns into a massive punch in the face with that initial riff. The pacing is brilliant and it really brought to light to Marcus how clean sections can be used effectively in metal and alternative metal. This band rocks. 

Fightstar – Sink With The Snakes – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWJ4etIAY8w 

When the latest Fightstar album, ‘Sink With The Snakes’ came out a few years ago, Felix sat and listened to the title track in awe. The perfect blend of synth and orchestration, alongside FILTHY vocals, luscious clean vocals and heavy as hell guitars, he sat and thought ‘I wanna do that’. The synth sounds and interludes throughout the EP are massively influenced by bands such as Fightstar as well as other alternative bands such as ‘The Elijah’, ‘Being as an Ocean’ and utter synth/heavy music legends ‘Enter Shikari’, with a tasty but grim sense of sadness due to the topics being written about on the ‘Two Minds’ EP. 

Lamb of God – Poison Dream – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxDHYeHwZKM 

It’s no secret that we are Lamb of God fans. Will and Mark in that band write guitar riffs on another level. It’s used as a warm up song in the band which incorporates very fast down picking with mixed in triplets and an interesting song structure. This song has massively influenced Marcus’ recent riff writing, too.

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

Once after a show, someone asked Tom for his sweaty as hell t-shirt. That was weird. But we haven’t been asked for much by fans really but we bet we can give them even weirded answers to their requests.

13. What do you think of your fans?

Absolute legends. Taking an interest in a band of our level is so important. Merch orderers and gig goers (pre covid!) have been amazing. It makes such an impact! Anybody that checks us out and especially anybody that supports us even further than that, we cannot thank them enough for their support. Ray calls them ‘The Young Selves’, not really to anyone, or even out loud, but to him they will always be the ‘young selves’. We’re not sure how PC that is haha! But that’s Ray.

14. What do you think of our site?

It rocks. We didn’t know much about your site before this interview but think it’s great. More people should know about your work and the awesome bands you interview and feature.

15. Something to add?

Yeah! Check us out on streaming platforms and social media, won’t you! New EP is on its way and we’re hitting the road for a short UK tour (8 days) in July. We’ll see you there. www.youtube.com/channel/UCHGWUoVcjz7iq-XVr3uw8mA www.instagram.com/oldselves | www.facebook.com/oldselvesofficial