The Band of the Day machine ploughs ever onwards. Today we take in a band from Potters country…
Simple things first – where are you guys from?
Sunny Stoke On Trent.
How did you meet?
I Am Pariah was formed from a few local bands from Stoke. We all had one thing in common, we’re all fed up of getting nowhere and nothing was going to progress with time wasters.
How long have you been playing as a band?
5 years, but as the line up only a year.
Before you get sick of being asked… where does the band name come from?
When we formed I Am Pariah, we hadn’t been active on the scene for quite some time. We felt like outcasts, and had no clue what was going on around us in the local music scene. The word Pariah relates to those feelings, an outcast as such. If you look up the word it can also mean gunslinger, which sounds cool.
What are your influences?
Dave: Pantera, and KISS without a doubt.
Steve: Megadeth, Iron Maiden and Avenged Sevenfold.
Ben: Marilyn Manson, Green Day, T-Rex and The Beatles. And not forgetting the world of video game music – Nobuo Uematsu and Masayoshi Soken.
Describe your music. What makes you unique?
Anthemic with lots of groove. We try to incorporate elements from all of our influences, as we don’t want to be tied down to one sub-genre of rock or metal.
Do you have any particular lyrical themes?
We usually talk about rebellion, current events, or something else that genuinely pisses us off. Our writing and performance processes are a perfect way to blow off some steam for us.
What’s your live show like? How many shows have you played?
We try and recreate our live performance as close to the recordings. We don’t spend 25 minutes going ‘balls out’ like many bands do, as we think that can damage the quality of the performance for an audience. We like to incorporate atmospheric interludes while we address the crowd, and hope that our performance hits home for many that attend.
What’s the wildest thing you’ve seen or done at a live show?
Not exactly the wildest thing, but we once attended the show where the drummer was told to ‘turn it down’, and asked to put toilet paper to dampen his cymbals. Safe to say we left (as we couldn’t play), but so did the crowd.
What kit do you use / guitars do you play / etc.?
- Epiphone Guitars
- Kramer Guitars
- Cort Basses
- Ashdown Amps
- Randall Amps
- Boss, Digitech, MXR pedals…
What, if anything, are you plugging/promoting at the moment?
We’re currently in the middle of the release schedule for our EP Procreate//Annihilate due to be released 30/11/18. The feedback we’ve received so far has been brilliant, and we are truly humbled by it.
What are your plans for 2018/2019?
We’re booking shows for next year, and have already started work on writing our next release. So watch this space.
