I think Nassau had a bit of a giggle answering our questions. How dare they have fun!
Simple things first – where are you guys from?
Clark: Josh and I went to school together in Aberdeenshire and both moved down here for Uni.
Ben: spawned in Bristol, grew up in North Yorkshire, currently Edinburgh.
Sin: I got spat out somewhere far north in the hills and glens.
Magnus: Much the same.
How did you meet?
Sin: We’ll Magnus and I actually met up in Aberdeen many years back and worked on an old project named Empyrea. He ended up moving to the capital before me a few years after that project fell through. Once I finally got down to Edinburgh we just started working together again instantly. If memory serves, we started going over some stuff while I was viewing places down here actually.
Clark: Josh and I were abducted from our student accommodation by Magnus to do open mic nights and via Stockholm Syndrome I agreed to play drums for him. Josh was recruited later for bass, but when our first guitarist left we bumped him onto guitar.
Ben: I answered an ad on a FB page.
Sin: …and said ninjas were better than pirates. Was a close one but glad we let it slide.
How long have you been playing as a band?
Clark: 3 or 4 years I think?
Sin: Aye a few years now. It took a fair while to find a line up that stuck.
Before you get sick of being asked… where does the band name come from?
Magnus: The last free port of civilization.
Sin: The last bastion of freedom for humanity.
Clark: (It’s an island)
Ben: Summat to do with pirates I think?
Clark: Definitely pirates.
What are your influences?
Sin: oh fuck…
Clark: We have some common threads but there are a lot of weird tangents
Josh: Blondie….
Magnus: Opeth, System of a Down, Rage Against The Machine
Josh: …I don’t want to say Blondie….
Clark: Between the buried and me, (Josh can I say Igorrr?), Twelve Foot Ninja, Jinjer.
Josh: Periphery, Igorrr, Devin Townsend,That’ll do.
Sin: Tommy Lee Sparta, In Flames, KoRn, Skindred, Cypress Hill, motherfucking DethKlok! …and so forth.
Magnus, coming back from toilet: Put Bloodbath on mine.
Ben: for bass specifically, Flea, Chris Wolstenholme, Tim Commerford, Jaco (obv) and Simon Grove are probably the most relevant/important. More generally, David Maxim Miçic, Plini, Opeth, Scale The Summit, SOAD, RATM, RHCP, The Cat Empire, Bill Evans, Snarky Puppy, Vulfpeck, Stravinsky, Debussy, Nobuo Uematsu, Knower, Beardyman, Dizraeli and the Small Gods and Iglooghost are the first things that come to mind
Describe your music. What makes you unique?
Sin: ah…
Clark: We take a bunch of different styles and put them in a blender.
Josh: We are spontaneous.
Sin: It’s really whatever we feel might be fun to play.
Magnus: We honestly don’t have a specific genre, we just do what we like.
Clark: The bedrock of what we do is metal but all sorts of influences from funk, blues and more progressive stuff.
Ben: my genome? The precise combination of sounds which form our songs? Seems like a weird question. Are you asking what makes us interesting?
*Short interlude to stroke Ben’s hair and calm him down*
Do you have any particular lyrical themes?
Sin: Old school horror, Lovecraft. Cosmological horror, Stoker and the like play a big part.
Josh: We have one on a nightmare I had as a child…
Ben: rar rar rar RAAAR
What’s your live show like? How many shows have you played?
Magnus: Well we put quite a lot of effort into our live shows because who wants to go and see a band who just stands and plays what you get from their album…but slightly worse.  I lost count of how many live shows we have done.
Clark: Intense. Damp. There is a lot of sweat, everyone puts a lot into a show.
Sin: Josh do you have any input on this?
Josh strumming guitar
Ben: Literally the most fun I ever have in public. Other than that I have no clue.
What’s the wildest thing you’ve seen or done at a live show?
Clark: Who was it that got covered in Ducktape? It was a Scumpulse gig?
Magnus: ….In what context sorry? I don’t remember this at all…
Josh: I think I was there for that.
Clark: The long and short of it was, they ripped it off afterwards and it took a bunch of his body hair off.
Sin: I saw Magnus twerking against Gregor from Dolour in a pit while they were playing.
Josh: The power went out at a Devin Townsend gig and he had to entertain us with an acoustic guitar for 15 minutes while they rebooted the power.
Clark: He was trying to get everyone to shut up so they could actually hear it. I was in the front so I was fine.
Ben: I’ve seen some mad shit at boomtown. Once saw a man climb a speaker scaffolding that must’ve been like 30 metres high at least and just boogie there for like a whole set.
What kit do you use / guitars do you play / etc.?
Group slowly looks at the guitar corner. Guitar corner looks hungry
Sin: Let’s keep to what we use in Nassau.
Magnus: Ibanez RG7620 and RG7621. Victory Kraken. Boss-MS3.
Clark: My favourites right now are my Tama Speed Cobra and my Sabian Omni rides. I like me some big-ass cymbals, I don’t have a crash under 18 inches
Josh: Ibanez RGAIX7FM, S7420 but I have also been using the RG7421. EVH5150, 50W (it’s my first valve amp and…well…it’s the best. Never wanted anything else). Line6 Helix. Horizon Devices Precision Drive.
Sin: Sennheiser e845. Fucking love that mic. Have been using the same one for about….17 years? They are so damn good.
Ben: ESP LTD Basses, B205SM and the B206SM. Also use an ME-50 Boss multi-fx legal. TC electronic BH550 bass head.
What, if anything, are you plugging/promoting at the moment?
Sin: Our gear apparently…. Well we got a new single just dropped on the 13th called Satan and we have another just around the corner. First run of shirts is up too but we have only really been pushing them at live shows.
Clark: Please buy the shirts so we can afford drum recordings.
Josh: Also stay for the show.
What are your plans for 2020?
Magnus: Get an album recorded
Clark: Boat load of shows and a boat full of album.
Sin: Get a boat.
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!
Magnus: I would like Gogol Bordello to be headlining and Metallica to be supporting.
Sin: Scumpulse, IHLO, Anomos….wait… only 3 bands? What was the question?
Clark: Desiign to open, Tiberius headlining. *404 error*. We have played with them before and they have always been a delight.
Sin: …In Flames
Josh: I would love to be supporting Devin Townsend. Bleat to open.
Sin: Heilung….
Ben: I was gonna give a serious answer but Magnus’ answer was the answer I didn’t know was the truth.
Sin: …Beethoven
From previous Band of the Day, Khaidian: Do you believe metal should challenge the listener?
Sin: Channel the listener maybe.
Clark: It depends on the music, definitely. Sometimes in I’m the mood for softer easier things but for the most part I like it to engage my brain.
Josh: There is such a wide array of metal genres out there now anyway that if you do want a challenge there is plenty of it out there, but there are also a lot more user friendly bands out there. I think the point of it is that I like there is a choice so I don’t think that it should challenge you because I like a healthy mix of both.
Ben: if you want. If you don’t, that’s cool too. Whatever floats your goat. (Challenging metal does float my goat though!)
From another BotD, Not Ur Girlfrenz: What was the first concert you ever went to?
Sin: oh man….I honestly have no idea.
short silence
Clark: ….I REMEMBER! Dream Theatre: Systematic chaos tour 2009. I was 14 and it was so much for me at the time.
Josh: Mine was Iron Maiden final frontier tour. We were all packed in there and it felt like the whole place was like a pit.
Magnus proclaims: Alice Cooper. Twisted sister. 2005.Ben: either Supergrass or Mercury Rev. Can’t remember which one came first.
And from She Burns Red: What is the one thing that really annoys you about being in a band?
Magnus: It’s like I’m forced to hang around with people which I greatly resent.
Sin: Well what am I going to say now?
Clark: The journeys aren’t always the best. Picture this: We have to put 5 hairy sweaty bawbags into a Vauxhall Meriva and pile in 5 guitars, 3 amp heads, and…well…an irresponsible amount of drum equipment if I’m being honest.
Magnus: And then take last week for example….we had to trail this clown car arrangement on a 300 odd mile round trip, through TWO storms through the Cairngorms up to Forres and back.
Josh: I like being in a band!
Ben: the truest answer in general would have to be organising rehearsals but with Nassau, it’s not usually stressful and I don’t usually have to do much organising anyway. Otherwise I guess [insert rant about musicians being undervalued by society and smashing capitalism]
wpDiscuz