Band of the Day: Terakai

If you like your metal bands connected with Japanese cooking sauces, then you’ll only be mildly disappointed when you get to the question about how Terakai got their name…

Simple things first – where are you guys from?

The depths of Reading in the Royal County of Berks.

How did you meet?

We were actually brought together by the scene in reading which used to be huge and vibrant! We all played in other bands before Terakai and started in our original line up in 2009. Elliot joined us a few years later after our original drummer moved on and we knew Dale from the old days so when we needed a bassist to step in he was the obvious choice!

How long have you been playing as a band?

We were active between 2009 and 2014 when we went on hiatus. Rumblings about a reunion started early last year and here we are!

Before you get sick of being asked… where does the band name come from?

At the time we were desperate to have a unique name which couldn’t be mistaken for another act, I guess inspired by local heroes such as Sylosis, Viatrophy, Malefice etc. Somehow we arrived at combining pterodactyl and cobra kai, though who knows why?!

Contrary to popular belief it has nothing to do with the popular Japanese cooking sauce…

What are your influences?

We’ve always been aligned with what I’d call the classic Metalcore greats like Killswitch, All That Remains etc, but our influences have always been wide and diverse, from Eric Clapton, AC/DC, Metallica etc through to Periphery, Meshuggah, Lamb of God, Architects and everything in between.

Describe your music. What makes you unique?

I guess the combination of our varied influences always gave us a familiar but fresh sound, something really heavy but with an accessible feel. Also these days everyone is going for the 7, 8, 9 string DJENTYBOI style and we’ve always tried to steer clear of that and going too low with tunings.

Do you have any particular lyrical themes?

A lot of our lyrics deal with introspective personal stuff like mental health struggles and feeling lost in life as we grow older etc, but we also try to write relatable songs dealing with issues everyone faces in life like losing a loved one.

Every so often the fire is stoked and the socio political hat goes on as seen with “All That Divides”.

What’s your live show like? How many shows have you played?

Honestly lost count over the years! People always said we were ridiculously tight and energetic which was a nice thing to hear. Whenever we played at home it wasn’t unusual to get a stage invasion in the last song. One time the only people not on the stage were the sound guy and the bartender! How nothing got broken I’ll never know. Joe also got a beer shower mid set at some tiny little drama club in Bracknell once

What’s the wildest thing you’ve seen or done at a live show?

Way back in 2007 some local heroes played a show at our local haunt The Face Bar which was a farewell to their vocalist at the time. Over 100 people packed into a tiny room it was absolute chaos. In the last song a couple of guys accidentally brought down some ceiling tiles while crowd surfing and mob mentality took hold, within minutes the whole ceiling came down! It was insane. The venue team were less than impressed as you’d expect, and the band never played there again funnily enough.

What kit do you use / guitars do you play / etc.?

Joe – Sennheiser microphones, Shure In Ear Monitoring, LD Systems wireless kit

Tom – Fender, Gibson and ESP Guitars, Hughes & Kettner amplifiers and Victory speaker cabinets

Dale – Lakland Bass Guitars, Fender amplifiers, DarkGlass tone processing

Elliot – Mapex drum shells, Tama snares and pedals, Gibraltar hardware racking, Zildjian cymbals, Vic Firth sticks, Remo/Evans Skins and Roland triggers. In the studio we use Kemper amp modelling for our guitar and bass tones.

What, if anything, are you plugging/promoting at the moment? Our new single! “All That Divides” was made available digitally everywhere on October 2nd!

What are your plans for the next 6 months or so?

We’re sitting on a tonne of material which we’re working through the pre production process on. At this stage we’re not sure what release is going to look like ie whether we stick to strong singles or go for a body of work like an EP or full length, but rest assured there’s plenty to come.

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!

Man there are so many bands we’d love to support! I guess aiming high there’s the obvious big hitters from our influence base like the KSE’s, Architects & While She Sleeps of the world but one band I’d love to go out with is the guys in Loathe. Hands down one of the most exciting bands at the minute and coincidentally one of the guys was a big fan of ours back in the day, funny how things go huh?

And in terms of an opener, these guys are making serious waves at the moment and are bigger than us, but it’d have to be RXPTRS from Bristol. They’ve just performed a sold out socially distanced show in London and are hands down one of the best acts out there at the moment. Fresh sound and incredible live show. You need to get to know this band if you don’t already!

Terakai: official | facebook | twitter | instagram | spotify

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

0 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments