Bury St Edmunds metal band Brazen Bull released their excellent self-titled debut album last week (review to follow later this week) and the guys kindly answered some questions on the album, gigging, the band and whether they preferred Led Zep, Deep Purple or Black Sabbath!
Brazen Bull are Alex Martinez (Vocals), Charlie Allen (Guitar), Hayden Hornsby (Guitar), Luke Green (Bass) and Jordan Strang (Drums)
'Brazen Bull' is out now on all the major digital sites or as a physical CD from their Bandcamp page - www.brazenbullband.bandcamp.com
Hi Guys, thank you for taking some time to answer a few questions. First off, for
those readers who might not be familiar with Brazen Bull, could you give a short
history of the band?
Luke: The band formed in June 2018 when myself and Charlie, long term school friends, wanted to hit the stage performing our own music after we finished our GCSEs. Not long after that Charlie was doing an interview for music college when he bumped into Jordan who was wearing a Iron Maiden T-shirt. They got talking and Charlie invited Jordan for a jam session and he has been a part of the band ever since. Then over the next few years we started playing some shows here and there but were constantly having line up changes as we weren’t happy with our sound or some members didn’t get along easily. It wasn’t until late 2019, early 2020 we asked one of our Instagram followers (Hayden), who played guitar, whether he would fancy coming for a practice. From there we all hit it off very well and had one of our best shows to date. Then the pandemic hit.
Our singer at the time wanted to part ways so we went on the hunt online for a new vocalist on join my band
.com. That’s when we had a reply to the ad from Alex. We all jumped on a zoom call, had a good laugh and then when lockdown was easing we all got into the practice room and that’s when we felt the band was finally complete.
Were any of you in any bands previously that people may have heard of?
Alex: I was in a prog metal band called Theory of Tomorrow. We actually played at the first Bury Sound heat, a few weeks before Brazen Bull played.
Who would you say were the main influences on Brazen Bull?
Luke: We all have many different inspirations. Jordan has more gothic interests, Charlie
sometimes delves into jazz, Hayden & Alex more proggy, but we tie all these together with influences from bands like Iron Maiden and other classic metal bands.
Your self-titled new album has just been released; where did you record the
album? And how did you find recording, mixing and putting the album together
during the time of COVID? Is the album different to how it might have been if the
pandemic hadn't struck?
Charlie: We had initially planned to record the album during May/early June, however that was delayed to July. We then had to delay the album further throughout the end of 2020 and this year because we wanted to release the album with a coinciding release
gig; however we got to the point with more lockdown measures being introduced we had enough and stuck with the date of 5th March.
Do you have a favourite track(s) on the album and why?
Alex: 'The Boy and the Dancer', but I love every one of them.
Charlie: Either 'Pact in Blood' or 'The Boy and the Dancer' for me, they’re some of the best songs I think we have ever written personally.
Hayden: Either 'In the Interest of Humanity' or 'The Boy and the Dancer'.
Luke: 'Burn the Ships', it was a song we played at our last gig before ‘rona and the audience reaction was beautiful! We got everyone down on the ground and did a Slipknot ‘jump the f*ck up bit’ and every time I think about it I get goosebumps!
Jordan: 'Collapse' - just a straightforward to the point classic metal song song that hits hard!
You've released three singles from the album prior to it's release - 'Angel's Nails',
'Stray Wolf' and 'Pact In Blood'. Do you know how they have fared over the various
streaming sites? And were there any particular reasons why you chose those three
tracks to be singles?
Luke: The singles have out performed my expectations - on Spotify alone we have a total of 22k streams across all three songs as of writing this. The feedback from reviews have been phenomenal especially for our first album. We can't wait to see how people react to the complete album.
The album has pretty distinctive (and impressive) artwork on the physical
release. Firstly, who is responsible for the artwork? And secondly, where does the
name Brazen Bull come from for the name of the band? Were there any other
names under consideration?
Charlie: We worked with artist Daniel Baldruk to make the album art. He designed the first ever Brazen Bull logo so we wanted to keep with him as he knew the idea we had.
When we initially got the first bull design I sent him a few ideas of minotaurs and
the such, however one of the pictures I sent over to base the bull on was a highland
cow that was at the farm I worked on at the time!
Before Covid struck, had you had a chance to play many shows? Were there any
that particularly stood out for you? And have you tried any livestreams, podcasts etc
that other bands have used during the various lockdowns and if so, how did you
find them to do?
Jordan: We actually started to gig in mid 2019 and the final show we did was literally a few weeks before the pandemic struck, which was at the Hunters Club in Bury (Our "hometown" I guess you can say?), That show stood out the most as it was definitely the most energetic, literally as soon as we started to play there was a mosh pit, that was a moment that none of us will ever forget.
In terms of doing things during lockdown, We did try a few different things, We started a podcast for a little while and when our singer Alex joined the band, we did a live stream from our rehearsal rooms to break him in and that went really really well!
I know you had a great show lined-up supporting the mighty Tygers Of Pan Tang
at Norwich Waterfront that has had to be re-scheduled. What is the latest news on
this show? And do you have any other live shows lined-up for late in 2021?
Charlie: We have a few more lined-up, the first of which is a socially-distanced show in Ipswich, May 22nd, supporting Kaine and Arms to Oblivion, but we have more we are currently waiting on confirmation for!
Do you feel that the East Anglian metal scene is a good one at the moment?
Are there any other bands - metal or otherwise - from the region that you'd
recommend to readers?
Alex: I think that scene is great, there are many fans of metal and rock out here and I love it! I'd recommend our friends Dismanibus! Some good ol' visceral thrash/death metal
Charlie: The scene in Suffolk is very loyal and just all around great! In Ipswich, especially the metal scene, there are some great bands with Deadsoul Promotions bringing over bands from across the world! A few local bands I’d say are our friends in Renegade Twelve, Kaine, CTOAN, Kursk, but there are so many more!
And what do you think of the state of hard rock / heavy metal generally at the
moment? As a genre, it's perhaps more reliant on live shows than some other
genres; do you think the pandemic has 'hurt' it for good or do you think things will
bounce back strongly when things open up again?
Alex: I think there's a hunger for live music, and I'm hoping there's a boom once social distancing has dropped.
Hayden: In terms of live shows, my favourites in the local scene are from punk, hardcore,
and death metal bands. However, punk and hardcore I really struggle to find
enjoyment from when listening throughout my day. Metal has never had that issue
for me and every metal fan I know has been playing any new metal that comes out
with joby. However, as streaming services have come into the mainstream, a band’s
income stream has greatly shifted from music sales to shows and merch and I
believe that’s true for almost all genres. Loads of bands have been writing and
recording in this time and I’m certain the genre will bounce back as soon as it can -
however venues have taken a big hit in this time and that is sure to cause damage
to local scenes and new bands starting out.
What plans do you have for Brazen Bull going forward? Are there any more
new songs to be recorded or did you have any songs that didn't make the cut for
the album that may be released?
Luke: Well at the moment its just focusing on the album getting it out there and showing as many people as possible. Then as soon as gigs can go back to normal we just plan to get back on that stage is if it was our last show.
And finally for us old rock fans out there (!), Zeppelin, Purple or Sabbath?
Alex: Sabbath, but that’s hard to answer!
Charlie: It’s got to be Sabbath!
Hayden: I love Coverdale but I don’t really like Deep Purple so it has to be Black Sabbath.
Luke: Sabbath, the godfathers of metal!
Jordan: Sabbath - Love every era, Ozzy, Dio, Tony Martin, and Glen; the fathers of heavy metal.