Loathe (band)

Formation and Prepare Consume Proceed EP (2011-2016)

The band's founding members, including former Rainhill High School pupil Erik Bickerstaffe, knew each other from different musical projects that they were involved with,, such as Our Imbalance,^[1] since before the formation of the band, but started working together as a new band around 2011-2012 when their other projects came to an end, this band would come to be known as Loathe by 2015, of which during that year they performed at Deadbolt Festival on 8 August, and in Autumn that same year they released their first EP titled "Prepare Consume Proceed" independently.^[2][3][4] The band initially kept their names anonymous, using stage names (DRK, DRT, SNK, MWL and NIL) along with not revealing their origin. Kadeem France was the only one whose stage name was revealed (DRK) as he is the lead vocalist, and was identified by a prophetic mask of unknown significance, which was used as the album artwork for their EP.^[5][6][7] on 22 November, the band supported metal band Empires Fade during their show in Manchester.^[8]

Moving onto June 2016, the band would tour as support act for Oceans Ate Alaska during their UK tour.^[9] On 8 July the same year, their EP was re-issued through SharpTone Records as the labels first release since its conception a month prior, and was accompanied with a music video for a new song exclusive to the re-issue, "In Death," which featured France wearing his mask.^[3][4][10] Bickerstaffe explained that the band was discovered by the label shortly after their independent release of their first music video for Shoel/In Death, and after their initial dialogue and exchanging of ideas, the band and label managers "clicked" and they partnered up.^[11] The EP received positive reviews, Kerrang! magazine praised the albums heavy Djent style and "synthy atmosphere" but criticised the bands horror-like image, stage names and France's mask as "some bargain-bin horror flick" and "shittily cliched", giving the album 3 K's out of 5.^[12] As the band's career progressed, the members decided that the use of code-names and the mask was unnecessary, citing that they just wanted to be themselves when performing their music and pointed to the likes of Ghost and Slipknot and their influences for starting that gimmick in the first place.^[13] Also in early July the band performed at Tech-Fest, later on the same month they toured as the support act for metal band Carcer City around the UK, and on 25 September, the band performed at Ozzfest meets Knotfest California on the Nuclear Blast stage.^[14][15][16]

The Cold Sun and This Is As One Split EP (2017-present)

Former member Shayne Smith live at The Key Club, Leeds in 2017

Initially, the band was planned to start off 2017 as a support act for Emmure during their UK tour in January, however due to unforeseen delays in Emmure's album production, the tour was cancelled.^[17][18] In April the band toured as a support act for Blood Youth and in May the band also performed at the London warm-up show for Hellfest. A few months later, they released their debut studio album, titled "The Cold Sun" on 2 June 2017.^[19][20][21] The album was produced by Matt McLennan and was recorded in The Dark Studios in Atlanta, Georgia.^[4][10] From 23 August to 5 September the band headlined a tour in the UK with metal band Harbinger, following up with three more dates from 6 to 8 with metal band Lotus Eater, and later throughout October and November, the band was the support act for Bury Tomorrow during their "Stage Invasion" tour in the UK.^{[22][23][24][25]}

Starting off 2018, the band released a split EP with the metal band known as Holding Absence, another band signed with SharpTone Records, on 8 February.^[26] In March, along with supporting metal band God complex during a show in Leeds, the band were nominated for their first award, that being Metal Hammer Golden Gods Award for best new band of 2018, and in April they were also be nominated for Heavy Metal Awards best UK breakthrough band, the latter of which the band performed at the award's announcements ceremony in Manchester.^{[27][28][29][30]} The band performed at the Slam Dunk and Teddy Rocks festivals in May,^[31][32] and in June the bands bassist Shayne Smith announced that after performing at Download Festival, he will be departing from the band to pursue a career as a tattoo artist,^[33][34] with his role being filled by ex-Holding Absence guitarist Feisal El-Khazragi.^[35] In early July the band performed at the 2018 Tech-Fest, and later that same month the band are set to perform at the 2000 trees festival, and are set to be the supporting band for Sikth during their "Riddles of Humanity" UK tour in September.^[36][37][38]

In regards to releasing future music, Bickerstaffe stated that realistically a new album will be released in 2019 and that they have been writing new songs, stating that at some point they might recluse somewhere to focus solemnly on making music, though has admitted that he isn't sure if the next album would be an EP or a full studio release yet.^[13][39][40]

Lyrical style

The band describes themselves as a conceptual band, as throughout all of their album releases they have been telling stories of fiction.^[11] Their first release, Prepare Consume Proceed, was said to involve a story about a tormented protagonist, who loses a loved one and is later killed by the end of the EP's run.^[50] With the release of studio album "The Cold Sun," it tells a narrative of a violent post-apocalyptic setting, mixing themes of desolation with an overarching sense of positivity and heroism. The record supposedly tells a story of two protagonists who exist during this dystopian setting set up by in the album.^[4][49]

Influences

In an interview with MetalPaths.com, Bickerstaffe cited the bands Slipknot, Deftones and Korn as the big-name influences on the band's sound and stated that the band aspires to be in the same level as them, going on to say that he and the other members are not inspired by the sound of modern bands today, preferring the more timeless sounds from those they do take influence from.^[10] France and Bickerstaffe also cited Deftones and Meshuggah for their use of clean vocals and heavy guitars, but also cited Radiohead as an influence regarding their means of experimenting with their music.^[41] Major influences outside of the metal band scene are the two soundtracks; "Silent Hill 2", composed by Akira Yamaoka, and the "Akira" soundtrack, composed by Geinoh Yamashirogumi. These soundtracks influenced the band's debut album "The Cold Sun" regarding its story-telling and atmosphere, along with Akira being an influence on the album's artwork.^[10]

Regarding their live performances, Bickerstaffe mentioned to Kerrang! that they "...take a lot of inspiration from Marvel, DC and the rest of the comic world - seeing our live shows like performance art." adding that "The mask is definitely a big part of that what we do, but it's not entirely everything."^[51] In terms of their concept-album approach, Bickerstaffe stated that they don't take influence from other major concept records and acts such as Thirty Seconds to Mars and Pink Floyd, making the remark: "Our inspiration to create concept records mostly comes from wanting to create our own worlds within the music, almost like looking at the album as a book with separate chapters."^[11]

Current line-up

• Kadeem France - vocals (2015—present)
• Erik Bickerstaffe - guitar, vocals (2015—present)
• Connor Sweeney - guitar (2015—present)
• Sean Radcliffe - drums (2015—present)
• Feisal El-Khazragi - bass (2018—present)

Past members

• Shayne Smith - bass (2015—2018)^[33]

Studio albums

EPs

Singles

Music videos