Robex Lundgren virkblogg.

What´s the name of your band? Ignite The Sky

How was the band formed? The band was actually formed by the vocalist (Chris Burgess) And the Bassist (Liam Steel) over a cheeseburger at McDonalds

Can you tell about your band?The band started off just wanting to try and be the heaviest act in our area, we then started to focus our songs on basically everything that is wrong, corrupt and broken in this world, focusing on the evil aspects of the Human Race, for example, Dictatorship, Genocide, War, Corrupt leaders etc.

Where are all band members from?/Who does what in the band? Chris Burgess (me) - Vocalist Liam Steel - Bass/Backing Vocalist Shane Dowell - Lead Guitar Peter Sharp - Rhythm Guitar Anthony Frankum - Drums We are all from Oxfordshire, England.

What was the ambitions of the band when you started? To be completely honest, the band was started just to pass the time and have a bit of fun, we never really expected to get anywhere, but now we've played all over the country and played to large crowds, it's all we want, we want to go on tour, play with all the big names in Death Metal, play at Bloodstock and Download Festivals in the UK, as well as Festivals such as Wacken would be a dream.

Could you explain your music to someone that haven't heard you? Our music is very heavy, taking influences from all sorts of genres, such as Slam, Deathmetal and Black metal. I try and keep my lyrics quite intricate, complex in some songs so that you have to think about the different meanings behind it. It's difficult to really explain, you'll just have to check us out!

Where was your first gig? Our first gig was at "The Net" in Abingdon.

Where was the latest gig? Our latest gig was at "The Wheatsheaf" in Oxford

Who writes your songs?/Who writes the music who writes lyrics?I (Chris Burgess) write all the lyrics for our songs, the music is usually all written together by everyone in the band, But occasionally one of the band members will come up with something while they are at home, they'll bring it to practice and we'll make something out of it.

Who has the best since of humor in the band?I think we all have our traits of humor, but it's definitely either got to be myself or our Bassist, Liam. Peter tends to be quite boring.

What's good/bad with the band?/What genre do you feel you are? I think the good aspects of the band are definitely our live performances, we give strong performances every time and it doesn't matter how big or small the crowd is, we do our strongest every time without a doubt. We're all really good mates at the end of the day which obviously helps with going on tour, spending long hours of the day together writing and recording so that's always a bonus. Weaknesses in the band, I think we're all very different in the music we write and it doesn't matter how solid a song is, there is always someone that will want something to change or will keep messing up, especially in the practice room! We've been compared with a lot of genres to be honest, ranging from Death metal, Slam, Post-Hardcore... in all honesty we don't have a specific genre, we have traits of a lot of different ones! ... Shall we say, "Hardslam-deathmetal"?! haha.

Why did you pick that particular style?/What are your songs about?We choose to have these traits because from each style there are different elements that we can choreograph to a song, because our songs tend to be quite dark, violent, that's where the death metal and black metal come into the equation, the slam and post-hardcore elements help with the actual structure of the song, we love to keep it heavy to get those mosh pits going, get everyone involved and pumped! 

Do you write your own material or mainly covers? Strictly we write our own material/.

Have you made any albums?/If yes what are they? We have written 1 EP which was basically a really shitty recording done in an ex-members bedroom. Last year we did another EP called "So Ends Suffering"

Do you have any clips on YouTube? Of course!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Md3gzY3VGZA - Blood of the innocent https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ho6FOwYZ56Y - Fan video of us live https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=in4AfalzE8s - Another fan video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwIsgPZ5Q2Q - Live at the Oxford O2 Academy filmed by "Metalhead Media"

How old are you?/What got you started in music? Chris, Shane, Liam are all 19 years old Peter is 18 Anthony is 17

How old were you guys when you first stood on stage? Shane, Peter and Myself were 17 when we got our first taste of what it's like on stage.

What year was the band started? October 2012

What places will you be playing in in the immediate future? We're playing at the Oxford O2 Academy on 6/9/14 (2 days from today)

Where have you played from then till now? London High Wycombe Abingdon Reading Oxford Henley Aylesbury Swindon

Witch band is the best you've seen? Acrania. Best band we've shared a stage with too.

Is it always the same songs live? We have a setlist that we play, but we do change the sets every now and then

How big crowds do you usually play for? We regularly play for 100+ crowds, but we have played in front of 1500 people which was amazing.

What are the plans for the rest of the year? We are recording our new album in october/november We'll then release that album, get some merch out and have an album release show!

How do you get psyched up for a gig? We all have our different ways of getting psyched up in the band, the rest of the guys seem to just get on with it,  just before our set, I personally sit backstage listen to some music that'll get me in the zone to deliver a powerful performance.

What are your goals with your music? We want to get signed, go on tour and want people to love our music. That's it.

When did you decide to go all in for the music? We decided not all that long ago, we've just finished college and want to give everything we can to this.

Is it easier to get your inspiration from older bands or from bands more modern? We take inspiration from everything, our bassist "Liam Steel" loves older bands a lot more than modern so he gets his inspiration from those bands, I personally love the newer heavier bands while Peter and Anthony prefer the more mainstream music as well as heavy, so we have inspirations and ideas coming from a whole range of musical backgrounds.

What are your sources of inspiration? Personally for me, as I write the lyrics I focus on what I see. Such as Radical threats such as IS is a current problem in the western world, write about that. old stories, such as jack the ripper, write about that. I had a friend commit suicide about a year back so I wrote a song about that. Inspiration is everywhere, you just need to know where to find it.

What's the first step when making a new song? We get to the practice room, we come up with what the song is going to be about, how we want to structure it, I'll write the lyrics and we'll do it verse at a time until we know the song, we'll then go through the song however many times we need to get it perfect, also fixing anything along the way we feel we can make better

How do you feel about the downloading of music instead of buying albums? Of course you've always got to go out and buy the Album!  But if you pay to download it then you're all good!

What would be your dreams for the band? To get signed, to be able to go on world tours, fill arenas, have people love our music. What is everyones dream for their band?!

Besides your own music, what genres and bands do you listen to? I listen to absolutely anything, Classical, Country, Rap, Mainstream music, Death metal, Black metal, far too much for me to try and write for you, name it, I probably like it... just not the bullshit dubstep indie crap.

What do you hold most dear? My music, My family, My friends, My fans.

What would be your greatest fears for the future? My greatest fears for the future... if my band and music get nowhere and I become a complete failure haha!

When you are on stage, what do you fear most then?I don't fear anything on stage, of course I get the pre-set nerves, but that helps with the performance, if you utilize your nerves to give a strong powerful performance then it can make you stronger at what you do! Or if i break another bone on stage... yeah that was quite painful to be honest.

Have you been part of any other projects? Nope!

Have you been in any other bands? First and only!

What would you do if there was no music? Make music.

How important are your fans? The fans are everything, without fans there would be no crowds, there would be no one to meet, no one to try and inspire. To me, fans are everything good that can come out of this band.

What's the funniest/most memorable thing a fan has done for you?Oh god.. well, the most memorable thing for me personally was being stopped in the street by a complete stranger saying how they recognized me, loved my band and asked for my autograph and photo! It was unreal! But funniest... probably when the band was having a photo taken with a fan, she got her tits out and screamed at the top of her voice "I FUCKING LOVE YOU" yeah... was funny as fuck.

How often do you rehearse? Every single week on Tuesday or Thursday normally.

Where do you rehearse? Chalgrove music room... in Chalgrove.

Name 2 of your own songs you like at the moment? Tyranny of Ignorance - Exiled

What do you feel is the best live band you've seen? Acrania - Dead Mesa (Local band) - Crows Reign (Local Band)

What drives a band that isn't all that famous and renowned to try to make a living on their music and to keep playing? The love of the music, if you don't have a passion and a love for doing what you do, then why do it at all?

Do you have any webpages? Other than our facebook, we do not as of yet, but we have a lot of plans for the future!

Any pearls of wisdom for all other bands out there? To be honest, keep at it, give everything you've got into everything you do, fuck everyone that stands against you and what you're trying to do, you'll get there eventually. Don't ever get disheartened when playing to a crowd of other band members at a gig, the starter shows are what make you.

Describe your show, visually and musically: Brutal, exciting, heavy, fast paced and full of energy.

How do you view the music industry of today? The music industry is a very difficult one to break into, i think harder so for the heavier bands such as my own. 95% of bands nowadays sound exactly the same because that's what can sell, it's incredibly difficult for a different kind of band to break through. As for live shows it's very hard without people willing to go out and see up and coming bands, bands that aren't incredibly famous, so I personally think that the more people that go out and support every band, whether you like them or not will help the industry massively.

What advice would you like to give other bands? Keep at what you're doing, always keep the fire going in what you're trying to accomplish. Don't let anyone stand in your way, whether a person likes you or not, stay professional and respectful to be honest. People have their views and can think what they want, but as long as you stay true to who you are, then I don't think anything can get in your way. Play the empty shows with the full force of your live performances, it will get you somewhere, it will get you name out.

What are the biggest obstacles for a band? The biggest obstacles for a band... financially was one of the hardest things for my band as we all started this while we were still at college and have only just finished, trying to fund everything was very difficult. Another thing is trying to move onto the larger venues.

What is best/worst with playing the clubs? Best thing is if you play in a club with a fair number of people who are all up for it, pumped and ready to go, the atmosphere is incredible and the pits can be brutal!

Tell us about upcomming gigs and why we should be at them?Playing the Oxford O2 Academy on the 6th of september 2014, you should be there because we give 110% into every performance, violent, aggressive, powerful. It's our stage when we're on, no one else's, we're as heavy as we can and we love doing what we do and it reflects on the crowd.
How would you describe your sound in one sentence: Aggressive powerful death metal with the violence of slam.

What is your favorite crappy instrument? Has to be the banjo, come on!

Whats your Pre-show ritual? Get psyched, get in the zone.