Vocalist Jason opens up about the new album and how awesome it is, and what to expect from the band as they ride out the Covid storm…
Simple things first – where are you guys from?
Sean, Sam and myself all hail from Manchester, UK (or “Slamchester” as we like to call it,) and Lyn is our little Welsh Dragon from the valleys.
How did you meet?
Well I met Sean and Sam when I was in college, as I auditioned for their band at the time, “Age of Suffering.” We played shows for a couple of years until we played a show with a band called “Decapity,” the drummer of which was a certain Mr. Lyn Jeffs. Now, Lyn was supposed to be joining “Crepitation” full time but we knew we had to have him. We had a few songs demoed that were far beyond our drummer’s capability at the time, so we played these demos to Lyn, hoping that it would sway him to come over to the darkside. It fucking worked! We totally poached him, and I can’t apologise for that, ‘cos listen to the music we’ve made together!
If you like what we do, consider joining us on Patreon for as little as £1 per month!
How long have you been playing as a band?
Ingested has been a band since May 2006. So we are currently 14 years old. Although Sam, Sean and myself have been playing shows together since 2004, I think I was 17 and Sam was 15, crazy.
Before you get sick of being asked… where does the band name come from?
We just wanted a one-word, memorable name that looks good as a logo (think Obituary, Suffocation, Deicide etc.). We sat around in Sean’s house for ages trying to figure something out, then finally settled on “Ingested.” As for an actual meaning, the word means “to eat” or “consume,” and I feel that the way we are influenced by the bands we love when we’re writing an album, we’re consuming them, we’re “ingesting” them and they’re becoming part of us. We’re like the death metal equivalent of John Carpenter’s “The Thing.”
Describe your music. What makes you unique?
Our attitude is what makes us unique. We’re four kids from shitty council estates, without a pot to piss in between us, but that’s what gives us this attitude, this unmatched work ethic. We’ve been given nothing, and earned everything that we’ve achieved, and I think that shines through in our music. As I touched on before, we’re the best bits of all the best death metal bands.
Do you have any particular lyrical themes?
Back in the day we did the typical brutal, horror-gore lyrics (albeit probably a bit more extreme than most!), and they were totally relevant to the music we were writing at the time. But now as we’ve got more comfortable and confident as songwriters, our lyrics come from a more personal place. On the last couple of albums, especially Where Only Gods May Tread, we’ve been writing about our personal experiences, feelings, emotions, I know right, emotions in death metal? Crazy. We write our lyrics in a metaphorical manner, so the listener decides what that song is about. If you listen to one of our songs, read the lyrics and think, yeah I can relate to that, then that’s what it means. We want you to feel that connection with the music, a personal connection that is unique to you.
What’s your live show like? How many shows have you played?
Our live shows are nuts, that’s our bread and butter right there. There is no feeling in the world that compares to getting up on that stage, seeing everyone’s waiting faces, then BOOM. It begins, an hour of utter chaos and carnage. Our fans are amazing, I say this all the time but we genuinely have the best fans in the world, so supportive and my god they throw down at our live shows. Jesus, I couldn’t tell you how many live shows we’ve played now. I know we’ve been doing something in the region of 200 shows per year since we took the band full time nearly 3 years ago. So quite a lot by now I would imagine.
What’s the wildest thing you’ve seen or done at a live show?
Probably the Wall of Death we did a Bloodstock 2018. I think there’s a video of it on Instagram somewhere. It’s insane. There was so many bodies, I think that might be my favourite show we’ve ever played to be honest. Failing that, on our first US tour, I was watching Origin one night, and their vocalist Jason instructed the audience to crowdsurf me from the stage to the bar, so they did. So I got a pint at the bar and then got crowd surfed from the bar, back to the stage!
Don’t fancy Patreon? Buy us a one-off beverage!
What kit do you use / guitars do you play / etc.?
Guitar-wise, live and in the studio we use ESP guitars (6 and 8 strings), Fishman Fluence pickups, Revv Amplification profiles, InTune Guitar Picks, Dimarzio straps and cables and Quantum Industries guitar cases.
Then for drums, British Drum Company
Legend Series, Paiste Cymbals, Trick Pro1-V Direct Drive Low Mass Pedals and Vic Firth Freestyle 5B sticks.
Tell us all about the new album! When is it out and what can we expect?
Our new album Where Only Gods May Tread is out August 14th through Unique Leader Records and is available at indiemerchstore.com and ingested.co.uk
This album is the culmination of 15 years of honing our craft, this is next level shit. If you like extreme metal in any shape or form, I guarantee you will find something you love on Where Only Gods May Tread.
There are a couple of guest appearance on there. Who did you manage to convince to join you, and how did you talk them into it?
We got some absolute belters on this one. We got Vincent Bennett from The Acacia Strain, Matt Honeycutt from Kublai Khan, and Kirk Windstein from Crowbar / Down. Honestly it’s bonds you build on the road touring, we’ve toured with all these bands and stayed in touch. We knew full well who we wanted as guests on this album and luckily for us they all said yes, which is amazing, just listen for yourself they all killed it!
In-house favourite Dan Seagrave handled the album art. Was he given free reign, or did you guide his hand?
We gave him the concept and a rough sketch, so we knew exactly what we wanted. Seagrave is a death metal legend so we’ve always wanted to work with him, the stars aligned and it turns out this is the album that allows us to tick this off our death metal bucket list! We wanted something slightly different so we asked him to work a bit out of his usual comfort zone and use lighter, brighter colours. So now we have this artwork that truly feels unique as it’s a colour palette he’s never worked with before. Look at it, it’s beautiful!
What are your plans for the next 6 months or so? Are you chancing your arm at planning any live shows as yet?
We’ve got a UK/Europe tour with support from Vulvodynia, Vale of Pnath and Bound in Fear lined up for December this year (Covid permitting). But apart from that, were just spending time promoting the new album anyway we can, Lyn’s been working on some music outside of Ingested, and we’ve also been doing Twitch streams every Sunday on Twitch.
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!
Ok so Slipknot, for obvious reasons. Opening I’d have my cousin’s band Primordial Swarm, because they’re fucking sick, check them out.
Ingested: official | facebook | twitter | instagram | spotify
