Today we feature a very noisy twosome. Seriously, I thought you needed four or five people to make this kind of racket…
Simple things first – where are you guys from?
Adam: Myself and Matt are both from the suburbs of Bexley, in Kent. It’s quite near London, so we just tell most people we’re from London.
How did you meet?
Adam: Oddly enough, Matt turned up for an audition for an old band of mine about 12 or so years ago, but I wasn’t expecting him! The guy who wanted to audition decided he no longer liked metal as a genre and recommended Matt without my knowing! It was a bit of a blind date basically, but we hit it off straight away!
How long have you been playing as a band?
Adam: Essentially we’ve been in bands together since that moment! Our first record together was the album One Horse Town in 2008, so my guess is on and off since 2006/2007.
Before you get sick of being asked… where does the band name come from?
Adam: Ok, so there are a few reasons behind this, but the shortest one is that myself and Matt played in bands called Colt44 and 48Hours, and our sound was a halfway point between those bands to begin with, so we just merged the names together! We also had to keep the numbers theme as we both have a 48 tattooed onto our bodies!
What are your influences?
Matt: I don’t necessarily have bands or musicians who influence me, I often feel that I am influenced positively by my family and friends and that their love and support drives me forward creatively. In terms of a moment or artist who made me want to drum, the film The Commitments got me into wanting to be in a band, and the album Scars by SOiL made a big impact on my early days as a rock drummer.
Adam: The bands that made me pick up a guitar were Bon Jovi, Iron Maiden and Metallica, and of late I have been influenced by artists such as In Flames, Killswitch Engage, SOiL, Korn, Chevelle, all sorts amongst the metal / rock community.
Describe your music. What makes you unique?
Adam: I’d like to think we tune low enough to compete with a lot of the modern metal bands, and put on the relentless live energy of a heavy band, but we like to keep the melodies more on the rock and pop side of things! We also do all of this as just two people, which I believe is quite a rarity, there are a lot of rock two pieces, but not in the alt metal / heavy rock / nu metal style that we are playing (that I know of).
Do you have any particular lyrical themes?
Matt: This new EP, Negatives, deals with the feelings and hardships that most human beings go through every day. The songs cover themes of isolation, boredom, societal demands, depression and abuse. However, the songs offer the simple truth that with hard work, we can all overcome these issues.
What’s your live show like? How many shows have you played?
Adam: I think myself and Matt have played something silly like 400 shows together as a band, but as Colt48 we have played around 20 together. Live, we just try to bring it. Lots of headbanging, moving about, getting the audience engaged, giving it everything we’ve got so everyone leaves happy! What’s the point of a live show if you don’t leave satisfied?
What’s the wildest thing you’ve seen or done at a live show?
Adam: I think I have smashed up a few guitars?
Matt: I smashed up my kit a few times too.
Adam: We played a show with our old band ages ago and one of the support acts played the keyboard with their penis. That was awkward. And another time, the support act was really annoyed that there were only a few people there, so he started flashing his bum to the audience, then the front, then he tripped over his pants and was dragged offstage.
Matt: It was, to date, the only time we have played in Southampton.
What kit do you use / guitars do you play / etc.?
Adam: I currently use a PRS Baritone, set up to Drop A tuning, it’s been my favourite purchase ever in terms of guitars! I did put EMG active pickups into it, but only because I swear by those! I currently run it through a Sansamp bass DI and I use a couple of pedals; nothing too fancy.
Matt: I use Zildjian cymbals, Mapex Hardware and pedals, and my own custom wrapped drum shells.
What, if anything, are you plugging/promoting at the moment?
Adam: Well, where do we start! We are releasing our new EP Negatives on March 29th worldwide via all the usual streaming platforms! We have a show at Islington Academy on the 4th of April opening for Glamour Of The Kill, we’ll be touring the UK from 7th April – 14th April, and we’ll be at Camden Rocks Festival this June! I think there’s more to come too, but for now, that’s everything!
What are your plans for 2019?
Matt: All of the above, plus more shows, more tours, more new music, we have no intention of letting up this year, it’s had such a good start, let’s capitalise on that and get out there!
If you were second on a three-band bill, which band would you love to be supporting and which band would you choose to open for you? A chance to plug someone you’ve toured with, or a mate’s band we’ve not heard of before!
Adam: I think even though there are many acts we’d love to open for, Ideally, me and Matt would both love to support someone like SOiL; they’re a big part of our teenage years and how we developed as musicians, and I have a few bands I would have open the show, all deserving, but for now I would like to recommend our buddies in ‘I Within’, they’re an alternative rock 3 piece from Kent with some huge choruses!
If possible, notable mentions are Hear Lies from Brighton, Sober from Bexley, and our buddies from Leeds, Stand Alone. All amazing new bands worth checking out!
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