Willie (vocals), Bryan (guitars) and Jamie (drums) of Ingraves all took up the challenge of our Band of the Day questions…
Simple things first – where are you guys from?
Willie: We are from all over the Central belt of Scotland. Glasgow through to Stirling all the way across to Glenrothes.
How did you meet?
Bryan: I knew Willie through a previous band we were in. I hadn’t long left a band I was in for a few years and he hit my up for a jam session. I turned up and wrote some songs with Willie, Jamie and Matt and after one or two session in the rehearsal studio we really enjoyed what we were writing and started looking for a bassist and that’s when Richie came in. He responded to an ad we had up and from there the band’s gone from strength to strength.
How long have you been playing as a band?
Willie: This band formed in August last year. Since then we have finalised our line up, recorded our debut EP, shot a music video for our single and have finalised our setlist for our live performances.
Before you get sick of being asked… where does the band name come from?
Bryan: That’s something that’s not really my department. I’m useless at coming up with names for demo songs, RPG game characters and the such nevermind a band name! We came up with a few ideas and Ingraves just seemed to stick with everyone.
Willie: The name came from a brainstorming session. Every member was pitching in ideas and we settled on Ingraves. It’s short and sweet, easy to remember and has a deep meaning behind it.
What are your influences?
Jamie: We have very varied influences I think. I personally take influence from bands such as Metallica, Slayer, Pantera… The heavy hitters who got me into heavy music right through to a lot of the newer bands such as Whitechapel, Killswitch, As I Lay Dying. I also grew up threw the nu metal era so I’m a sucker for an old school anthem but I literally draw inspiration from everywhere from deathcore to Bruce Springsteen! The list is endless.
Willie: Our influences are very varied. Ranging from metalcore, post hardcore, nü metal with little touch of death metal and djent.
Describe your music. What makes you unique?
Bryan: I would probably say that it’s difficult to tie us to a genre of metal. You’ve got a bit of metal core, bit of djenty themes, emotional driven lyrics that you can relate to and get stuck in your head after a few listens. We go really heavy to almost melodic at times. We’re all involved in the writing process, we can all write a decent song or two so ideas are never to hard to come by.
Willie: I feel our music is unique due to its personal connections to everyday life. Taking what people experience and creating it in song form so that everyone can listen and connect and release.
Do you have any particular lyrical themes?
Willie: Lyrically our band’s themes are centred around everyday life, it’s struggles and hardships. How society today and its negativity affects people’s mental health.
What’s your live show like? How many shows have you played?
Willie: We have a lively performance filled with high energy and passion. This can be seen in our music video and at our EP launch.
Jamie: Come see us and find out!
What’s the wildest thing you’ve seen or done at a live show?
Willie: I wish I could remember… but the alcohol has covered up those memories.
Bryan: I nearly got kicked out mid-set of gig. Before I mainly played guitar, I was a vocalist in most of my bands. I saw a nice ring of lights hanging above my head and decided to swing off it while I wasn’t singing. The owner came up to me after that song and told me that was a no-no and if I did anything like that again we’d be kicked out, not paid and never be allowed to play again.
Jamie: I went to see Gallows, I think in 2006, at Glasgow Barfly. I had fairly big plugs in my ears at the time and some absolute chimp saw fit to try and bite one of them out… blessing in disguise really I got them sewn up shortly after.
What kit do you use / guitars do you play / etc.?
Bryan: If you ask anyone in the band I’m probably the resident gear nut. I’m always chasing that tone! But mainly at the moment I switched to a Helix rack and a Matrix gt800fx power amp. My current guitar of choice is a limited edition Prs SVN Stealth 7 string on which I’ve changed the pickups to some Alpha Omega Seymour Duncan pickups and added some nice locking tuners.
Jamie: Right now for live purposes I’m using my old Premier GenX series kit. I’ve had this bad boy since 2008 and it has never let me down yet. She is a tired old girl though. I have always been a Tama guy though.
What, if anything, are you plugging/promoting at the moment?
Bryan: We’ve got our first single, “Cut You Out”, coming out in September with a music video so that’s the main push for now. While that’s happening we are arranging an EP launch gig sometime, maybe October. But we’ve got a lot of planning and things to do for that.
What are your plans for the rest of 2019 and into 2020?
Willie: Our plans are just to get the band’s name out there and play the best shows possible. We want to connect with as many people as we can and build on an already incredible community.
Jamie: Shows, write, record, repeat!
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!
Willie: Me personally I would love to open for Architects. They are a band that I love to watch and aspire to be like. Passionate, an incredible work ethic and so close with their fans. As for someone opening for us I don’t care who they are as long as they keep it heavy!
Bryan: Supporting someone like Periphery would be a dream come true, I have to say I’m a bit of a Periphery fanboy. I saw a band a few years ago called thecityisours who put on an amazing live show, the boys from First World Hunger from our area have been doing well so maybe them, us and thecityisours… or if we can get in Periphery’s good books, them definitely headlining.
Jamie: Tough question. Seeing as I don’t have any mates in other bands as I’ve been out the scene so long I will totally body swerve that part of the question. Growing up everyone dreams of playing to a big crowd. If I could open up for any of my idols I would die a happy man. Total spectacle bands like Rammstein, Tool or Slipknot. Opening up for us… I’d probably go for something that would enrage our audience to get them hyped up. What are N Dubz doing these days?
