Nailed

interview by - Wouter Roemers

The UK extreme metal scene is apparently experiencing somewhat of a revival with stunning records from promising young bands as Mithras, Sarpanitum and Spearhead, while the old guard with institutions as Benediction, Desecration and Napalm Death are keeping the fire burning with solid releases that live up to their legacy. Wakefield, West Yorkshire-based death metal combo Nailed recently released their second album "Hatred, Failure & The Extinction Of Mankind" through UK label AntiCulture Records. Masterful Magazine recently had a chat with Dan Cocker (vocals/bass) about their new record, their plans for the future and how their environment has helped shape their musical output.
Since this is your first interview for Masterful Magazine, could you provide us with a brief history of the band up till now?

The band originally formed in mid to late 2000, but got a solid line-up around the start of 2001. Garth [Wray] formed the band when his old band, In Dying Grace, split up, and he took the guitarist and singer with him. They found [Matthew] Mass [Firth] on the other guitar and a bassist, then the singer left and they got Andy "Scum" Whittaker in the band - this line-up then did all the stuff up until 2003, including recording two demos and appearing at the Terrorizer Battle of Britain gig as headliners. They changed a guitarist in 2003 to Paul Cuthbert, and I joined the band on bass in 2005. We went and recorded "A Pure World Is A Dead World", then we played London Death Fest 2005, did the UK tour with Visceral Bleeding and did all the touring with Obituary, Nile etc. Then 2006 we did Obscene Extreme and lost Scum - switching to the 4 piece line-up with me on vocals - then did a load of other gigs. 2007 we recorded "Hatred, Failure..." the first time round, played Neurotic Death Fest and started shopping to labels, then Paul left the band and we drafted Jim [Knights] in, bringing us to the current line-up. We got signed and that's pretty much the lot to this point, not so brief I know!

You have been touring Europe and the UK relentlessly in the past in support of your debut "A Pure World Is A Dead World". Including appearances at the Neurotic Death Fest in Holland and Obscene Extreme in the Czech Republic, to name but a few. What else is planned as far as road work is concerned in support of "Hatred, Failure & The Extinction Of Mankind" at this point?

We've just finished a UK headline tour and are writing the next album, as it's been over a year since we recorded and we want to get more stuff out ASAP as "Hatred Failure..." is old to us and probably anyone who has seen us live. We're hoping to do as many festivals as possible in the summer to bridge the gap between albums but that all depends on what we can get. Most festivals are starting to book about now, so hopefully we should have some announcements there soon. But other than that, we're focused on writing and recording to next album - we've got seven songs finished already for it.

Never having seen you guys live, I can imagine the crowd getting worked up something similar to a Vader, Lost Soul or Decapitated show. How far am I off base?

I wouldn't say very far actually, as those bands all have their weird bits of timing just like us which confuses people who are headbanging!

This album was recorded at MCC Studios by Andy Giblin (Napalm Death), who also handled mixing and mastering. Truth be told, I never heard of either this studio or producer/engineer Andy Giblin. Is he well-known in the British scene?

He's on his way up. He was a live engineer mainly in the late 90's and early 2000's and did freelance mixing, but moved into a real studio in 2006. He's done a fair few bands, but only a few metal bands which is a shame as that is where he really shines. He's worked with Kill II This, i-def-i, Incassum and us so far, plus other smaller bands, so he's just building a portfolio of acts. He isn't well known, but he should be in my opinion. Too many producers can overcharge bands because of their name and not because of the results they can achieve!

The lyrics don't deal with the average metal themes, implied by titles as 'Requiem For A Dying Sun', 'Structures For the Despised' and 'Ritual Abuse'. What was of particular inspiration when these lyrics were written?

Each song has a different meaning or story, but all adhering to a common theme. For the specifics you mentioned, 'Requiem...' deals with the hidden history of humanity, our origins in ancient Babylon and the spread of humanity throughout Persia and how due to solar activity at the time, the early humans in their fear dreamed up religion and began sacrificing children to dreamed-up gods - hence the Dying Sun part of the title. 'Structures...' is a focused story of how deep a person can revel in their own despair, exploring the building blocks of their misery and other people's hatred of them. 'Ritual Abuse' has a grindcore slant, dealing with the economic prison that we are born into that forces us to get up, go to work, and throw 33% of our lives away on buying whatever society deems necessary for us. Every song contributes to the concepts of Hatred, Failure and the Extinction of Mankind.

You hail from Wakefield, West Yorkshire. An industrial centre known for cloth dealing, glass works and coal mining in the 18th and 19th century and its prisons. Like Birmingham, the city also suffered years of decline once the glass – and textile industries faded out. The city long remained a depressed area, but fortunes have risen recently and unemployment is now around the national average. Has this shaped Nailed or its members in any way or form, you think?

Most definitely, the outlook and general views of the band were originally and still are moulded by the locale. The climate is grim, but economically it is a depressed area that most struggle to earn any money in and hence leads to the more dissatisfactory social ills that plague us. The people of Yorkshire have a reputation for being miserable and while most of the time this is expressed musically as boring velvet-trousered doom bands, Nailed is more an expression of undiluted rage at the futility of existence - nurtured by the unique outlook that only living in Yorkshire can bestow!

Generally speaking, how is the metal scene in Wakefield, West Yorkshire and how has calling Wakefield home helped or hindered the band's development to this point in your career?

Generally, the metal scene is laughable. Bands that do start up invariably end up splitting up when they realise they actual have to a) rehearse and b) write good music to do anything worthwhile. This combined with a natural tendency to backbite and sit in a pub slagging off any semi-successful band does not foster a healthy metal scene - although there are a few bastions dotted about.

Wakefield has hindered the band just as every other place hinders a band - it's not London. All the press and live activity is centred around the capital, and while a few bands venture north most such as Morbid Angel and Immolation just play one London date as part of European tours. This obviously hampers bands as they cannot support bands and get live reviews - this means less exposure and so on. Although coming from Wakefield certainly sets you apart from most UK bands if you actually start getting anywhere, which we haven't - yet.

In terms of the line-up changes that you mentioned, how did that affect the outcome of the new record?

Well, the album was written mainly by the 2005-2007 line-up, but in the middle of writing Scum left and we switched to a four piece - this changed the album as the vocal patterns and styles that we usually employed were changed completely. However, when Paul left the band and we got Jim in, and had to re-record the bass, vocals and solos due to studio fuckups, it meant that we had played the songs extensively for over 9 months live and were 100% comfortable with the process.

Which bands had a strong impact on your music and writing? Personally speaking, what comes to mind first is Morbid Angel or Zyklon...

Those are definitely two major influences, although Zyklon is more of my personal influence. Others include Deicide, Immolation and Divine Empire in a big way. However writing wise we tend to try and write good songs, we're not interested in writing the fastest, most brutal, most guttural or technical songs. Instead we apply whatever we feel will make the song memorable.

With members coming from bands like Ebony Lake, In Dying Grace and Dominion, which are either black –, doom - or symphonic metal, was it difficult formulating what genre Nailed would play, or was the band specifically formed to play brutal death metal, exclusively?

It was formed as an opposite to those bands, and so was incredibly focused at the beginning toward death metal. However the experiences from those bands has left its mark, as we still use a lot of black metal style riffs and the strange, twisted Ebony-Lake style riffs.

The material featured on the record is of an incredible highly technical level, how many times do you need to rehearse this stuff to keep it fresh and tight?

We usually rehearse 3 or 4 times a week, and also rehearse with just Garth and one other member to increase tightness. We drill the songs so much to make sure we can go and churn the songs out in recording and also deliver a live performance that we aim to be nearly as good as the CD.

You are currently in pre-production mode for your third album. How is the material shaping up compared to this album and the preceding one?

The difference between this album and "Hatred Failure..." is not as stark as the difference between the first two albums, but it is significantly better. We've taken the best parts of "Hatred, Failure..." and built on them, and added the things we felt were missing while cutting the parts that ex-members were always into that we weren't Generally, the material is faster, more twisted, more catchy and delves into polyrhythms to a greater extent than ever before.

Was there every any interest from Cacophonous - or Peaceville Records, given Matthew Firth's association with them through Ebony Lake and Dominion, respectively?

Not a bit. Mass contacted Peaceville about the album but their official line is they won't sign any band that isn't guaranteed to sell a minimum of 10,000 copies - they must be spoiled by My Dying Bride and Cradle of Filth's yearly sales figures! Cacophonous were contacted but never replied.

AntiCulture Records is a relatively new company and it would be nice to have a few words from you about its profile and your co-operation. How satisfied are you with their promotion, distribution and marketing of "Hatred, Failure & The Extinction Of Mankind"?

To be honest, this album was always going to be a rush release as it took so long to get signed and so the marketing has been relatively sparse. Distribution is Plastic Head, so that's great. It is a young label but its got some great bands, and you won't get lost in the corporate shuffle like some bigger labels!

So what are Nailed's plans for the next twelve to eighteen months, besides finishing the writing for your third album?

We'll see where stuff takes us. We want to tour Europe badly, that is the kicker and most of our efforts will be directed towards that, alongside festivals obviously and generally raising the profile of Nailed to be a more common name in death metal circles. We're open to most offers, so if you want us to play somewhere get in touch.

Info/booking: www.anticulture.co.uk

Nailed

interview by - Wouter Roemers

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