Wednesday, May 10, 2017

Callus Interview

For those that have never heard of you before, can you tell us a little bit about the band?
We're a raw power trio looking to make rooms rumble where ever and when ever. We call ourselves a stoner thrash band hitting hard with riffs and harsh vocals making quite the obnoxious sound, not for the feint hearted!

So far you have released 2 ep's, how would you describe the musical sound that is presented on both of the recordings?
HEAVY. Really heavy. Like Ben said earlier we kind of describe ourselves as “Stoner Thrash”, the length of the list of bands we draw influence from is stupid.
We love the thrash sound, but we are also really into the more mid-tempo down tuned riffs, with more progressive elements thrown in. We draw influences from as many sources and sounds as possible and we try not to limit ourselves in what we do musically, even with us being a three piece.
The first EP is “Live At The Yorkshire House” which… yeah you guessed it, a live recording we had done in Lancaster in 2014. The second is “Through, Blood, Sweat, Piss and Pain” which is our first studio effort. 


3.
What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the music?
I honestly cant tell you, me (Louis) and Ben write from the heart and its whatever comes out it makes complete sense to us. We have no limits in what we want to write about, it comes from a deep dark place within and that makes sense to us. We like to leave it open to interpretation, I would hope that if anyone was to read (Its not like you can tell what we are saying when you listen to it!) they would form their own vision about what the music’s about.
Its personal man.

“Giver, of life’s last trick on me
Taken, all your fear is ours to see
Crawl, cower no escape now I leave you blind
Poison, roots inch their way into your mind”

“Drop your guard
Crossed cold steel
Disregard
How you feel”

“Darkness writhes, into the path I tread on
Eats the light, feeds on my misery
Took your time, because we’ve been waiting for you
Stand and fight, fade out another day”

“Scrutinize
All my lies
See through me
Eat the key”



4.
What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Callus'?
We’ve thick skin and cold hearts we couldn't get a name more perfect. Gritty ass name for a gritty ass band!

(From the Dictionary)
Adjective
Adjective: callous
Showing or having an insensitive and cruel disregard for others.
"His callous comments about the murder made me shiver"

And yes there are two ways of spelling Callus!

5.
What are some of the best shows that the band has played over the years and also how would you describe your stage performance?
We’ve had so many good shows and traveled to all sorts of places but the one that comes to mind is actually a home town gig in Lancaster at The Bobbin on may the 4th a few years ago when we were starting out, for me personally (Ben – Bass and Vocals) it was that show that brought the realization that we can and will be unstoppable.
One of the best shows for me (Louis) was at The Star and Garter in Manchester… brilliant venue and it was one of those night where everyone was In the right mood and it all just kicked off.
As for performance It sounds and looks aggressive as fuck and that’s how we’ll keep it! We’ve been described as monstrous, seems quite fitting!

6.
Do you have any touring or show plans for the future?
We're always up for gigs anywhere we can but we’re all family men and have commitments at home, we may not be able to take all the shows that we are offered family comes first.
We take things as they come and in terms of shows its fairly quiet at the moment but a tour will definitely be on the cards in our future.

Upcoming dates are as follows
May 23rd Wakefeild, The Snooty fox
June 10th Burnley, Sanctuary Bar
June 16th Morecambe, Bath Hotel

It’s also fair to mention here that we also got confirmed for next years Hammerfest in Wales which is a mind blowing opportunity for us and one which we are extremely humbled by.
The date for that is March 16th 2018 (!!!)
Oh and Sepultura are playing the same festival… bit of a “holy shit” moment.

7.
Currently you are unsigned, are you looking for a label or have received any interest?
It’s not something we’ve discussed massively before I'm sure if somebody approached us we’d love to make a deal or something.

8.
On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of stoner, doom and thrash metal?
Im not too sure on a worldwide level to be honest!
I think the best way to answer that might be that we have played with a few foreign bands before, one night we played a show with Tombstones (Norway... I think) and Witch Mountain (US) and both bands said they caught our set and were really into it so that was amazing to hear and very humbling, both bands were amazing.


9.
When can we expect a full length and also where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?
We have plans to be recording again late this year or early next year we just need to sort our funds out and get our plan of action together. We're gonna keep writing, gig when we can and see what path shows up for us.

10.
What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?
We love all things heavy we’re a bit of a mix to be honest but for bands pushing us there was a local band called Fighting Keegans that pushed us further than anyone else we loved what they did and they are the reason we started up ourselves. We owe them a lot. Mastodon has got to be one of our all time favourites their music blows our minds.

11.
What are some of your non musical interests?
Ben – Pokemon, Dragonball, all anime really and of course the major all day sesh.
Louis – Reading the works of HP Lovecraft and Stephen King, also a massive Halo fan and record collector. 
Mark – Western films, record collecting and bongs.

12.
Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?

Thanks for reading if you got this far guys…

If you fancy keeping up to date with the band use your computer skills and find us on…

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/Callus.band/?ref=br_rs
Bandcamp: https://callus117.bandcamp.com/

Or even better come to a live show and see what its all about…


May 26th Wakefeild, The Snooty Fox
June 10th Burnley, Sanctuary Bar
June 16th Morecambe, Bath Hotel

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