The weekend is no time to relax! Get your listening gear around Insurgent!
Simple things first – where are you guys from?
We are largely from the surrounding areas of Birmingham, but Joe is originally from Surrey and now lives near Bristol.
How did you meet?
We are all studying at BIMM Birmingham University, so that’s where we all met. The band started with Joe (guitar) meeting Jake (Bass) and jamming a few times before Katie joined on vocals in early 2019.
How long have you been playing as a band?
Well, Jake, Mike and Joe started jamming in November 2018, but we have only gone forward as our current line up since February 2019. It all came together rather quickly once we finalised the line up really!
Before you get sick of being asked… where does the band name come from?
It’s a cool word…no, only joking…sort of… The word insurgent has a lot of connotations of rebellion and fighting against the accepted norm, so we quite like the idea that we are writing music that follows that theme.
What are your influences?
We take inspiration from a lot of modern metal bands, but the ones that really have influenced us are Alter Bridge, Jinjer, Periphery and Slipknot. We aim to take a lot of inspiration from these bands because they blend melody so well with the heavy instrumentation. Katie personally takes a lot of vocal inspiration from Rebecca Macintyre (Marmozets) and blends this with her background in musical theatre to elevate the songs with a theatrical twist.
Describe your music. What makes you unique?
Our music “Will not help your baby sleep at night” says Jake, this is partly due to the heavy rhythmic ideas that are put forward by the band, but Katie’s vocals always deliver a soaring melody above the heavy backdrop. We are always weaving in prog-metal ideas but we make sure to keep everything accessible which means we are forced to be tasteful with our choice of things like key changes, time signature changes and more.
Do you have any particular lyrical themes?
The lyrics are generally critically observant of other people’s behaviour in today’s society. They often refer to personal issues of seeking meaning and identity, but these are almost always without fail applicable to a wider group of people.
What’s your live show like? How many shows have you played?
We like to think that our live shows pack a punch. We don’t mess around with any lighting or silly stage tech as we want all the attention to be purely on the music and it seems to be paying off so far. We’ve only performed live four times now, but we are well and truly ready for our debut headliner at The Flapper, Birmingham, on the 27th September.
What’s the wildest thing you’ve seen or done at a live show?
Katie’s dreadlocks once got stuck in Mike’s drum kit and she had to wait for him to get round to hitting that particular cymbal before being able to move again! Other than that, we’ve had some pretty crazy mosh pits to some of our songs!
What kit do you use / guitars do you play / etc.?
Joe is a big fan of PRS guitars with his Custom 24 and PRS Archon amp, while Jake uses a couple of basses (Squier and LTD) into his Trace Elliot stack. Mike is a big fan of his all-white Tama drum set and uses Zildjian cymbals along with his DW double kick pedal. Katie uses whatever is given to her.
What, if anything, are you plugging/promoting at the moment?
Our debut single called “Counterpart” was released on September 21st on all platforms. Tom Gittins at Monochrome Studios played a massive part in his role as a producer and we couldn’t be happier with how the song has turned out as a result.
What are your plans for the rest of 2019 and into 2020?
We have gigs booked through October including a performance at the Birmingham Music Awards’ monthly network event which is exciting! We also have another single in the works which should hit even harder than the first!
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!
We’d love to open for Jinjer! They’re such a cool band and Katie absolutely loves Tatiana’s vocals. In terms of someone to open for us, we’d love to give our friends in Echo Gecco a plug because they put on an incredible live show and don’t get all the credit they deserve!
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bo0FEyFs8k
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