How have you found the tour so far?
"Amazing, it's been really really good fun. Adept, Malefice, Cytota and Heaven Shall Burn are like the perfect touring buddies, it's been really really cool."

With two new members in the band, do you intend to change the way you write your future material?
"Um, we don't intend to but I think that by having two new members in the band, your writing style kind of takes on a new influence, so to speak. But to be honest, me and Ben kind of wrote pretty much all of 'City Of Vultures', so we've still got that element, and we'll still be Rise To Remain no matter what."

Article continues below...



Which bands do you draw your influences from?
"Me personally; Killswitch Engage, Faith No More, Metallica, a whole bunch of classic and contemporary bands like Parkway Drive. There is a lot of music that I tend to draw influence from. Lyrically I tend to draw more influence from what's happening around me as a person and as a band."

For those that haven't heard Rise To Remain, how would you describe yourselves, and which two tracks would you recommend looking up?
"Rad noise coming out of gnarly guitars; and I'd say check out 'The Serpent' and 'Power Through Fear'."

Has the vibe changed in the band with the new line up?
"Yeah for sure. I don't want to not speak to Pat and Joe or anything like that because they are great dudes, but I guess that we're almost happier, we're working a lot better. It's good."



What were the knock on effects of Rise To Remain having to pull out of the US tour with Machine Head?
"Well I think the knock on effect was that we didn't get to fucking tour with Machine Head. It really sucked. We had to push the album release back which sucked a lot. But at the same time we went into the studio and recorded four new tracks because we don't want to fuck people around like that. It's going to be the same price, not a special addition jack up the price bullshit. So yeah, same price, four new tracks and they should be seeing a release over here as well."

Aside from that, what's next in the pipeline for Rise To Remain?
"We've got the Warped Tour, we've got Download, we've got Rock Am Ring and Rock Im Park in Germany, Sonisphere in Spain, got a whole bunch of other stuff under the hat that I can't really say, but it's going to be some of the biggest shit we've ever done. We're really excited."

And finally, do you have any tips for unsigned bands looking for success?
"Just keep doing it. I think that so many bands just give up when times get really really hard. As a band we started off in a really difficult situation and we're kind of used to it by year two; but we started off with this whole stigma where people wouldn't want to listen to us because of who my Dad is, or whatever stand point they chose to have on that particular day. We definitely struggled through it, and we kept doing it because we knew what we liked doing and we knew what we could do. So I think you should just believe in yourselves and just keep doing it."








Photos © Leah's Ears Photography 2012.

28.3.12