After a ton of work, shoots, reshoots, editing, re-editing, panicking, reshooting, running around, screaming, hiding in a corner and shaking, emailing and chasing… we are stupidly happy to be able to premiere the new video from Welsh nutters (and former Headline Act) Madicide. Perfectly placed for a Halloween launch, “TommyKnockers” is nice and creepy, set in the woods, and (for those who’d not picked up on it) based on the Stephen King novel of the same name.
Due to also being from Wales and therefore speaking the same language, we decided to ask Hutch to throw some questions at the band…
As a thrash fan and a Welshman, I’m aware of who you guys are, but for those who don’t know, let’s start with a quick introduction to Madicide. The band went on hiatus in 2015 before returning with a revised line-up in 2021. What were the reasons for the return?
Thank you Paul! Personally, I just missed it all so much, we had a bit of momentum building up before the hiatus and a lot of unreleased material. It just seemed like a huge waste to just stop and lose all of that – luckily the boys agreed with me! We’ve been through a lot as a band and it’s great to have the full lineup again, it isn’t Madicide without us four idiots in it. [Ceri]
You returned at a time when live music was under extreme challenge thanks to the pandemic. What are the key challenges that the band has faced since 2021?
That’s a great question Paul – We decided to reform at maybe the most difficult time in the music industry. Simply arranging to meet, planning new material and rehearsing formed their challenges. I do think it helped though in a way, it pushed us and gave us the extra fire we needed, the determination to work through the challenges we faced regardless of how difficult they were [Josh]
I’ve seen you live which is where I think you are at your strongest. What was the first gig back as a band like, and how did it feel to be playing live again?
It was awesome, I wasn’t sure if people would still remember us as we’d been away for so many years. The turnout of our first show back was amazing, seeing so many old faces was really touching and the crowd energy fed into our playing. The atmosphere was electric, and the feeling I had on stage was a feeling of pure ecstasy and I remembered again why I loved being a musician. [Josh]
Tommyknockers is the single that we are premiering – tell us a bit about the song, the story behind it and what it’s all about.
Ian Woolfe provided the bulk of the riffs for this one and you can really hear a lot of his groove metal influences shining through – I fucking loved the big chunky groove of it immediately but got lost looking for a theme or lyrics for a good while. I’d been playing around with this basic lead pattern for the intro which had this kind of sci-fi-horror vibe to it . I ended up basing the lyrics around the first Stephen King book I read; “The Tommyknockers” – The plot is kind of crazy and all over the place, it was his last work before going to rehab in 1988 for alcohol and cocaine and you can tell! I think it’s awesome anyway – it’s got horror, it’s got some really fucked up aliens and it was my introduction to Stephen King, I’ve been hooked since. [Ceri]
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We are about to premier the video – tell us about where it was filmed and how you came up with the direction.
This video has been a huge undertaking for us and it’s gone through a LOT of changes.
We’d not done a narrative music video before so this was a really new experience for us all. We’d already started filming in the woods (near Bwlch Mountain, Treorchy in Wales) but after getting the footage back we just weren’t happy with the shots.
We completely scrapped the first version of the video and started again, this time finding some actual professional videographers to help us out! We got in touch with Andrew Evans (AME productions) who then enlisted his colleague Justin (Farsight Films) to assist. Originally our good mate Emily Mugford was playing the lead role of ‘Bobbi’. Sadly, Emily couldn’t make the re-shoot due to health issues – We’ll definitely work on something with Emily in the future though as she was fantastic on the first shoot!
Andrew was luckily able to find us a replacement at short notice – Professional actress, Chloé Teresa Wilson who’s local us in Wales but also trained in New York. Chloé did an amazing job and it was a really cool experience getting to work with the pros. I worked out a storyboard for the video and even did a bit of directing (if you count standing behind the camera yelling ‘do a Kubrick Stare!’ as directing haha).
The re-shoot was done over three locations, Andrew’s studio in Bridgend, the woods local to Andrew’s place and the Welfare Hall (Ystradgynlais) for the onstage shots. We had a great time shooting this one. I think the outdoor night scenes especially have a great horror feel to them, lots of red lights, Chloé doing her stuff and we even had Ian Woolfe and Jack Williams running around in the dark with black morph suits and sweaty alien masks on! What’s not to love? [Ceri]
You’ve signed to Unearthed Music and are working with Neil Branagan. You’ve also been part of Neil’s Moshin the Roof On compilations in the past. How did you come to join Unearthed and how has it been so far?
We’d known Neil for a little while prior to him becoming our manager – He played our old 2015 single ‘Death March’ on his podcast and gave it a very generous review.
Following that, when we released our first single as a band after our 6 year hiatus (‘Carnivore Incarnate)’ it featured on ‘Moshing the Roof On Volume 3’.
I’d been following certain bands online, noticed their rapid progress and realised that they were all with Unearthed Music and had thought for a while that we should approach them. When I saw Neil’s post on Facebook that he’d joined as a booking agent I thought lets get in contact!
It’s been amazing so far and Neil is great to work with – He has loads of helpful ideas and has the same vision and direction as us in terms of where we want to go next as a band. We’ve also got some great gigs lined up and that’s all thanks to Neil and Unearthed. [Josh]
Finally, what are the plans for the rest of 2023 for Madicide?
Our “TommyKnockers” music video will be out this month, we also have some high profile gigs lined up over the next few months with some killer bands:
26th of October (Fuel, Cardiff): We’re opening for Tailgunner on their UK headline tour
28th of October (Bunkhouse, Swansea): We’re open for Gama Bomb on their UK headline tour
AND we’re playing two Festivals this November…
18th of November (Rebellion Club, Manchester): We’re playing ‘Thrashchester 2023’, headlined by Shrapnel
19th of November (Fuel, Cardiff): We’re back at Fuel for the 10 year Anniversary of ‘Eradication Fest’ with our mates in Verletzen as well as Solitary, Raised By Owls, and Abaddon (playing a classic Venom set).
We’ll spend December focusing on getting new material down for our debut album ready for 2024.
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