interview with Blind Spite

What´s the name of your band? We are called Blind Spite. The term conveys our attitude towards our sinister and oppressive world. Our art is our escape.

How was the band formed? Simple gathering of friends who wanted to express themselves through dark extreme metal. We all knew each other or knew of each other in our Northern English home city of Carlisle.

Can you tell about your band? Our sound falls between death metal and black metal, both equally relevant to us over the years. Ethically we find ourselves holding a black metal outlook but there are large death metal tones in our sound.

Where are all band members from?/Who does what in the band?

James Watts (vocals) is currently living in Newcastle

Anthony Gate (drums, founding member) lives in Carlisle

Sarah Falder (bass) lives at Tindale in Cumbria

Matthew Langley (guitars) lives in Carlisle.
Jake Bielby (guitars) lives in Newcastle

James and Jake also play in a technical thrash/death band called Plague Rider based in Newcastle. James does vocals for Lump Hammer and his solo drone project Dolmen Dweller as well.

What was the ambitions of the band when you started? Simply to make dark extreme metal to express ourselves in an uncaring world.

Could you explain your music to someone that hasn't heard you? As covered earlier we are a black/death metal band. When I joined the band I was equally influenced by the dark melodic guitar styles of Marduk as much as traditional death metal like Morbid Angel/Nile and this remains to be the case. We aim to write extreme metal with the traditional energy combined with our own atmospherics and art focused in the sound. Our current sound is more black metal with experimental vocals and relentless guitar work.

Where was your first gig? Carlisle, our home city

Where was the latest gig? Byker Grave festival in Newcastle.

Who writes your songs?/Who writes the music who writes lyrics? Matt wrote most of the initial riffs for our last release Extinction Event, Anthony wrote some of the track 'Lemniscate.' The whole band works on the final product with James taking responsibility for lyrics and vocals entirely. Jake has not recorded with us yet but we hope he will contribute to future recording.

Who has the best since of humor in the band? Our vocalist James does. He manages to vilify a diminuitive health and safety manager at his university through a public email.

Why did you pick your particular style?/What are your songs about? The music has influences throughout the extreme metal spectrum, our style is our natural expression. I like the guitars to be relentless and stamina challenging yet maintain the traditional extreme metal energy and expectations. Our rhythm section facilitates this with bass parts prominent when required.

Our songs are largely about the reality of man's insignificance. Doubt is basically about the weakness of the human condition, Extinction Event is about our insignificance in the scale of the wider universe. Despair and austerity of which we are subjected to and the liberating release we feel when this is realised.

Do you write your own material or mainly covers? Entirely our own material, we would rather concentrate on this in live performances but we have covered Blot Thrower's World Eater before.

Have you made any albums?/If yes what are they?

Our latest release 'Extinction Event' can be consumed here along with our previous release Dethrone the Earth

http://blindspite.bandcamp.com/album/extinction-event

Extinction Event is available on cd released by Legion Blotan records

http://www.legion-blotan.mutant-ape.co.uk/

Do you have any clips on YouTube?

Blind Spite - Doubt

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLufnUFmEgg 

Blind Spite - Lemniscate

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izLb8BvKh2M

At what age did you start playing? I started playing guitar when I was 16, after I learned some Metallica in guitar lessons I just got into more extreme metal. I have continued to evolve my style not simply remaining in the same sound.

How old were you guys when you first stood on stage? My first gig was at the age of 17 doing thrash metal with my first band in school. All other members around that age.

Best/worst gig you've played? Our best perfomance was at Byker Grave festival in Newcastle November 2014 with our worst at Banshee Labyrinth in Edinburgh earlier that year

What places will you be playing in the immediate future? Newcastle Uk in May with the Infernal Sea and Haar, British Black metal bands. Sheffiend UK in June.

Which band is the best you´ve seen? I was blown away by seeing Tool in the UK on the 10,000 days tour. The overall show and setlist was stunning. Last November I saw Nargaroth in Helsinki \m/

Is it always the same songs live? We vary this a lot and we will be including some very older material and a cover soon.

Where do you usually play? Northern UK and Scotland but we would like to see the world.

How do you get psyched up for a gig? I don't drink alcohol so I just concentrate on talking to friends and fans then warm up as much as possible so things run smoothly.

What are your goals with your music? To share our sounds with as many fans and bands as possible. I love travelling so to play abroad as much as possible is a dream.

When did you decide to go all in for the music? After going to Wacken 2003.

Is it easier to get your inspiration from older bands or from bands more modern? when I was younger it was older bands now it is definitely more modern bands. Mgla, Ash Borer, Woods of Ypres are heard a lot in my car.

What are your sources of inspiration? Myself, my home, the people around me and places I visit. 

What's the first step when making a new song? Something inventive on the guitar

How do you feel about the downloading of music instead of buying albums? We are powerless to downloading so we need to use it to our advantage. I don't download myself but I accept it will happen whatever. I don't mind, music can't be harnessed.

What would be your dreams for the band? To be acknowledged worldwide as an extreme metal band with a very unique atmosphere

Besides your own music, what genres and bands do you listen to? We all have very different tasted of music to each other within the band. I love all black and death metal with an original feel: Immolation, Incantation, Altar of Plagues, Marduk.

Who do you hold most dear? My grandfather

Have you been part of any other projects? https://soundcloud.com/plaintivebearer

What would you do if there was no music? Be without a voice

How important are your fans? Treasured

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? Simply to be recognised for contributing to an underground scene.

Do you have any webpages? https://www.facebook.com/BlindSpite?ref=hl

Describe your show, visually and musically Honest, gathering, resourceful.

How would you describe your sound in one sentenceThe vitriol of black metal with the pummelling nature of death metal and other worldly atmospheres

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