Exclusive Interview: Siderian talk working with Demons Run, Underground venues and new material!

After David Pope from Northamptonshire Groove Metal act Siderian joined forces Demons Run for new single “This Sedation” and with his band having a wealth of recently announced shows in their own right including Novembers highly anticipated Rabidfest, we figured now was a good time to chat to him about what his band have been up to lately…

How did it feel to be back on stage with Siderian after 17 months out with the Great Plague situation? Did the time away make you hungry to get back and were there any nerves before that first show with Beyond Your Design, Reaper, Hellfekted and Bloodrust? “Getting back on stage felt pretty damn good if I’m honest, months and months of pent-up frustration unleashed in a torrent of screaming (from my perspective at least!). Although it was a seated show at The Hairy Dog, it was sold-out and it just felt right to be back among good numbers of people hungry for live music. The dreaded Covid affected the line-up prior to gig day, but every band that played gave it absolutely everything. The headliners, Beyond Your Design, annihilated their headline slot, full-on crowd singalong to close a quality night. We received kind words from many people and got to play with some phenomenal bands at a class venue, so yes, it felt amazing to be back at it”

How has the time away treated you and the band? How have you prevented idle hands being the devil’s workshop? “There’s two ways of looking at this really. Being honest, from a band perspective it’s not been great. Prior to lockdown in early 2020 we were absolutely flying, we were the tightest we’d ever been live, the writing process towards album two was humming and we had a whole bunch of awesome shows and festivals booked to look forward to. All that momentum just vanished overnight and we, like everyone else, had to turn our attentions to real life concerns.

The time away did give us the opportunity to reconnect with our families. Even as an unsigned band, you end up missing birthdays and anniversaries and events in order to do band stuff. It was nice to have a totally clear diary and lose the day to day stress of being in a band. It’s been a time of re-evaluation for a lot of bands, ourselves included, now things have re-opened. People develop different priorities and renewed interests, which is understandable and the ramifications of this pandemic are still being felt in the live scene. It’ll be a good while, if ever, before things return to the way they were”

During the time away from the live shows you headed over to Dubrek studios in Derby to record vocals for single “This Sedation” with Demons Run (out now); how did the collaboration come about and what was it like working with him? “I’d come across Demons Run a few years ago as part of our local scene in Northamptonshire and had tapped Ian (Ian Martin – Demons Run) up to maybe collaborate on something. His music interests me greatly and resonates with me in a way that made me want to get involved. As with most things, life got in the way and it never came forward and I felt as though I’d let the side down a bit by not finishing what I’d started.

I saw a Demons Run post early in lockdown and it sparked something that made me want to finish what I’d started, so I went back, revisited my rough initial recordings and started to put together some vocal melodies and lyrics to fit the massive tune Ian had sent me a few years before.

I’m a horrible technophobe, I’ve tried home recording before but it essentially involved me shouting at my laptop, which doesn’t make for great recordings. I wanted better than that, so I contacted my old pal Rich McKerron at Dubrek to see if I could spend a day with him recording vocals for “This Sedation”, plus another guest appearance on a track for Metal Maelstrom Coalition (keep your eyes peeled)”

How was the dynamic different working with Demons Run as opposed to Siderian? Did you learn anything or get a fresh perspective that you can take into future Siderian recordings? “Ian has been great to work with and I look forward to doing more with him in future. It was a very different process to writing with Siderian, the music essentially being finished when I first received it, except for vocal parts. The music had a grand, epic quality to it that made me want to push myself vocally. I am a big fan of the band VAST and I could hear comparisons with the track Ian had sent and wanted to try and in some way replicate that style. However, bar one brief attempt at clean vocals on Siderian’s debut EP, I’ve never felt the need to actually sing and have never really discovered “my voice”. I can scream and growl until the cows come home, but actual singing was something new. I could hear how I wanted the vocal pattern to sound in my head and think I eventually got there, thanks to some useful vocal exercises and the patience of Rich at Dubrek. I’m not sure you can expect clean vocals on any future Siderian releases though!”

On the subject of Siderian recordings, your last album “Origins“, recorded with the legend that is Neil Hudson (Krysthla, From Eden To Exile, Gutworm) was released in June 2019, so have you been working on any new cuts you can tell us about of late? “As mentioned, lockdown killed our writing momentum. We have a new song (tentative title “False Stabs”) that’s been 95% finished for over a year, but lack of practice time has prevented us getting it in shape for the live set. The ending is far, far heavier than anything we’ve done previously, we’re always chasing “faster, heavier”, so I guess we’ve succeeded with that. It’d be good to get that nailed. Oddly, our last practice session saw most of a new song spring to life from absolutely nothing, but that is sometimes the way I guess. We have plenty of ideas that just need formulating into songs though”

How stoked are you to be in the bill for Rabidfest in Oxford in November alongside the stacked lineup including Osiah, Diamond Head and Weaponry? “This is probably the best line-up we’ve been part of to date. Rabidfest is one of those festivals we’ve wanted to be a part of for years, so to be asked to play alongside such bands is a real honour and vindication for the hard work we’ve put in since we formed. We know we’re good enough to be playing these sort of line-ups and to finally have that opportunity is great and we’re looking forward to making a full day of it. I know some of our “thrash” lads are buzzing to be playing alongside Diamond Head. Personally, I can’t wait to see Osiah and Blood Oath and we all love playing with Divine Chaos”

Like us you joined the campaign to save The Black Heart in London with their epic crowd funding campaign which will do a huge amount for the scene. How important has it been to Siderian have smaller venues in which to sharpen up the live performance and bring Metal to the Masses? “Smaller venues are the lifeblood of bands such as ours. Sadly, we lost a fair few as a result of the pandemic, but to see places such as The Black Hart, The Craufurd Arms and our local The Black Prince make it through the other side is fantastic. Hopefully, the resurgent demand for live music will see some of the older closed venues come back to life, especially round our way”