The fifth edition of Power Metal Quest Fest had a stellar line-up and the first band to brace the magical stage was Heavy Metal Enigma’s THE BLACK HOUNDS. Based in the mighty black country, otherwise known as the birthplace of heavy metal, THE BLACK HOUNDS are a unique mix of NWOHM, groove and progressive metal that lends itself well to the live environment.
Megan got to sit down and speak to the band shortly after their set about what it’s like being a band in Birmingham today, their musical influences, what it was like recording their first album Colossus, and what’s next for their promising career.
First of all, really good set earlier today. I heard a lot of good feedback from the crowd so really good way to start the festival. The first question I have for you guys is that obviously, you’re from a black country which is the home of heavy metal music. How has growing up and starting a band in an area with that kind of heritage had an impact on your style and sound as a whole?
Ant: That’s a really good question, I think, I know I’ve always been surrounded by tales of bands like Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin, and I know some of the guys from Deep Purple are from this neck of the woods. I was influenced by my dad and some of his school friends and older siblings and all that so it’s always been a part of my life. I don’t know if it’s consciously influenced our sound because we’ve got such a wide variety of influences. Everything from straight-up rock and roll to death metal and everything in between. But as you said a lot of that originated kind of in this area. You’ve always got that kind of Black Sabbath influence with Birmingham, so there are a lot of grass route venues here, a lot of new and upcoming venues for bands to shine. So I wouldn’t say it’s easier to be a band around here. There’s a lot of competition. But the competition’s good because everyone has to raise their game, so yeah, helpful competition
What would you say are some of the most important venues in Birmingham from people who know the city quite well and have probably played quite a lot of those venues?
Ant: Well, this is our first time visiting The Asylum, so the Asylum’s pretty good. I think The Flapper. The Flapper has been there for years and years and years. Scruffy’s [Scruffy Murphy’s] too and Subside A lot of bands that we’ve played with we’ve played with there as well so. There’s also that new one The Devil’s Dog. That seems to be pushing a lot of metal shows at the moment. It’s a new venue so it’s got a lot of teething problems to work on but it’s a good venue.
There’s such a call for life music in Birmingham that, you know, obviously through Covid a lot of venues did close so it’s good that there’s a call for live music. I’m going give a shout-out as well too, not necessarily in Birmingham but in Wolverhampton KK’s Steel Mill. They’re giving a lot of opportunities to local bands to get on a bigger stage to bands who are more established and have played to audiences worldwide. We played there with Corrosion Of Conformity and the organisation and the setup there, a lot of the promoters and stuff are from other previous, large venues so they know what they’re doing. It’s a very well-oiled machine so.
The main venues in Wolverhampton where we’re from all closed before Covid for a refurb but they were meant to be back open, so the Steel Mill took over from those over and really established itself as the go-to venue, especially for the rock, metal, even for the blues artists who play there.
Yeah, I’ve been recommended that venue a lot by people I know in this area. I don’t come here nearly as often as I should but I’ll definitely have to check it out.
Ant: Yeah, it’s a really kind of old-school warehouse. The stage is absolutely massive. It’s one of those venues where it doesn’t look like much when you go in but it’s got everything you want when you get there so, yeah, great venue.
Awesome. I was wondering if there’s anyone you really like that has impacted your sound and your musical direction. Is there anyone who you think has had an impact on your most recent music?
Ant: I don’t think there’s anyone local I think we’re trying to influence everyone else at the moment.
Connor: I would like to say that there are some incredible local bands. People like Nameless. They’re fantastic bands. They’re not really the same sort of style as we are. Personally, I’m a big fan of the more progressive style. I tend to tone it back when we’re all together.
Ant: Yeah all the complicated stuff starts to get on your nerves after a while. [Laughs].
Connor: Opeth, Dream Theatre, those types of bands have a big influence on me. But then there’s also the groovy stuff like Pantera and Metallica. Obviously, we love a big trash breakdown. We could sit here all day and talk about influences honestly.
Ant: It’s Cliff & The Shadows for me….Yeah I mean I come from playing in a previous band I’ve probably got more old-school influences. I was kind of brought up on a diet of Maiden and old Metallica and stuff like that. Joe has got quite an eclectic influence. He keeps on pulling out bands that I didn’t think he’d like and, Joe likes to hit things. But yeah I like to think that it’s not easy for people to pigeonhole us. You know people always try and say that yeah we kind of sound like this band but you also kind of sound like this band. It’s kind of hard for reviewers to label us.
Moving on from musical influences, one thing I like to pay attention to when I’m looking at new bands is their album artwork, I noticed that there’s a particular theme throughout the recent singles that you’ve released. Obviously, album art has played a huge role in defining heavy metal so, what would you say your creative process is as a band that probably has a lot of creative control? How would you sit down and think about creating art and creative themes in general?
Connor: Generally when we go into rehearsal we sit down and talk to each other and everyone kind of bounces ideas off each other. With singles like you were saying, the process isn’t complete yet, but there is a theme and everything will tie together when we finally release the next album which is on the way.
So there is a theme there and the thing is with those singles is that the original one, the first one Foundations was a premade artwork from a guy who we’d been recommended to have a look at and we’d had a look at his pre-made stuff and Joe sent a few things few and we went that one there is cool. And we sort of contacted the guy and can we have this and can you this for us and that for us and we fell upon that really and then we tied it into the theme of the album itself afterwards. So, yeah we got lucky. So yeah we do always have discussions about what the artwork is. Obviously, as a band these things are expensive and take a lot of time so sometimes you’ve just got to work with what you have. So we’ve done that and picked it up and run with it really.
Ant: I think it’s been a much more in-depth process with everything we’ve done in regards to everything like the recording. We’ve done a previous album which we all like and we still think it stands up. But it gives you the opportunity to sit back and think okay what did we like and what didn’t we like and, yeah we need to pay more attention to that next time. So, with this album, and from the art point of view, I really think we’ve nailed it. I’m going say that because I think it’s really good.
Tom: When we did Colossus, we were a bit more regimented in that we had decided that this was going be the artwork and this is was going be the sound and we didn’t want to stray from it too far. Whereas with this one it’s been a bit more relaxed and we’ve just focused on getting the songs good and bouncing ideas as Connor mentioned and we found that artwork and it’s developed and snowballed a little bit without saying, ‘That’s the end goal.’
Ant: Yeah, we’ve let it develop as a piece of art. The music, the artwork side of things like I said when we started doing the recording we asked the producer ‘What’s the deadline for getting this done?’ And he said, ‘When you’ve finished.’ We wanna put something out that when it comes out we know that that’s what we wanted to capture. We hope that people look at it and go, ‘ah yeah, I get it.’
Yeah, one thing that really struck me when looking through the back catalogue was how Colossus, the first album, is very different artistically and musically from the rest of your body of work. It’s much more as, I guess from that perspective it strikes me as a power metal album cover with the whole kind of mysticism and stuff like that, and then you look at the latest singles and it kind of reminds me of Megadeth a little bit.
Ant: Yeah it’s a bit darker you know we’ve gone a bit more, metal.
Connor: It reflects the music as well. You know. Colossus had heavier points in it but the new music is much heavier.
And is that a conscious decision?
Connor: I think what I would say about the new stuff is that of course, Colossus was the first time I worked with these guys. I wasn’t in the band for the EPs and stuff so I think Colossus was us finding our feet as a new sort of entity, and this is just the next step of that it’s just taking it one step further.
The last question I wanted to ask in terms of music and things like that is obviously you guys have Colossus and there’s a lot of progressive moments but there’s also a lot of heavier moments in there so, with this in mind I’d like to ask what tracks are your favourite personally especially as it was all of you finding your feet together and trying to work together for the first time?
Connor: It’s easy for me to tell you which is my favourite track off of Colossus and that would be the last one that was written which was Judgement. The final track on the album. I love the sort of mixture of thrash elements, and the breakdown, all of it has so much, it’s kind of the rest of the album wrapped into one song. So for me, yeah that’s the track.
Ant: I think for me I think there are two. Define Messiah, because we started jamming that one quite early in the process we thought you know this is called this is something a bit different. It’s got that signature sound and those more groove elements to it. And when that one started coming together I thought, yeah this has got something going for it. The title track, Colossus, I remember when we first started recording we’d kind of listened to a demo track and we’re going go in and have a go at this and I was doing the verses and Connor was like, hang on, you sing this bit and I’m gonna sing that bit. And this was the first time we’d really heard the true extent of Connor’s vocals and I was like, oh, I quite like that. I thought because of the bands that I’d been in previously I wasn’t opposed to putting the growling vocals in but I’d never really worked with them so he played that and then Connor did that second verse and I thought oh yeah this could work. And I think that was the first moment that the style that we’ve got now on All Kingdoms Fall really started to bloom and come together. So yeah I always listen to that track and think this is where it all started to mould and started coming together.
I think we’ve taken that formula into the new album. That kind of split of the vocals really does make it interesting and it keeps the listener guessing throughout the new tracks speaking of the new tracks there was someone singing along today to Breaking The Cycle. She knew the words better than me.
Connor: I know the words better than you….
Ant: But she was singing a long and I was like, how do you know that? I was. Yeah. Maybe I need to go onto Spotify and listen to it. But yeah, so there was someone singing along to the chorus with their fist in the air so I was like, nice, sweet.
Is that the first time that something like that has happened?
Ant: It was the first time we played that song live so that’s why I was so shocked because no one has ever heard it live before.
So that’s a good tick for today then?
Ant: Absolutely, and the whole audience has been really responsive. You know the whole split of the crowd thing and touchwood hasn’t failed yet. We’ve been doing it for a while and it hasn’t failed yet. But it’s good to see a crowd that isn’t a typical audience be so responsive to it.
One last question, at Rock Out Stand Out a big part of our message is being comfortable in your own skin. Obviously, as a band that is looking to make a name for itself one thing that you have to do is a lot of social media which can be really taxing on your mental health. So in terms of managing that and managing other responsibilities that you have as a band, how would you say that you manage that and find balance in your life?
Ant: I think about not caring about what people think is a start. I think it’s difficult you know…
Tom: We’re not the best at it let’s be honest.
Ant: [Laughs] No.
Tom: It’s usually a balance between me and Connor. I’ll pick it up for a bit, and then get fed up with it. Then Connor picks it up for a bit and gets fed up with it, so that tends to be how it goes, and then we split everything else, so I manage merch and things like that.
Connor: Yeah in terms of mental health at least the three of us and probably you [Joe] as well, at least on the process of this next album, we’ve all been through some pretty taxing times, and it is difficult sometimes to balance everything. You know we all work full time as well as doing music and stuff. I would say, you’ve always got to find time to look after yourself.
I think having something like music that you always find time for and enjoy is a big help. I know if I’m having a bad day or something’s going wrong I can pick my guitar up and that’s always something that helps me through. But a lot of it is just trial and error. You never really know how you’re feeling.
Ant: And I think the recording process and when we’re going through the recording process there’s been some quite significant events in everybody’s life that have been quite taxing and I think we’ve managed to kind of channel that into the music and the lyrics. I mean there’s nothing in there that you’d listen to and think oh that’s about that person. We try to make the lyrics as ambiguous as possible so the listener can interpret whatever they want from it. But we know what was going on with the writing process at the time, where people’s mindset was and I know there’s been a couple of times where we’ve said, but it down write it down see what comes down see what happens. And we’ve channelled that into the writing and the recording process. And, I think it’s made the new album more personal to us, and I think it’s given us that motivation to get stuck in and make it from our point of view as perfect as we can.
But music, just getting organised and doing something like this can be quite taxing. Just us and turning up and playing the set there’s still a lot of moving parts that need to happen to make it all come together but having that ability to have something to channel it through. I know for myself if I’ve had a bad day, as Connor said, just picking up the guitar and playing something like Lamb Of God, Redneck, or something like that helps. Some people meditate, some people go for walks but we make a noise, and every now and then just making that noise helps.
Alright well, those are the only questions I have other than if you guys are sticking around who are you looking forward to seeing today?
Ant: I was looking forward to watching Dakesis as they invited us to do it so, that will be nice.
Connor: I think I’m looking forward to all of it, to be honest. There are a lot of bands who are very different to us and I was quite surprised when we got invited to do the show so yeah. I’m a big fan of all the soundscape stuff so, I’m looking forward to it.
You’ll probably like Dragonland then.
Connor: Yes it’s got DRAGON in it.
Ant: Yeah you know the band that was on previously they were very operatic and I was like, okay that works. And sticking a Queen cover is always good in my books.
Thank you so much for speaking to Rock Out Stand Out today and enjoy the rest of the festival.
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