The Über Rock Interview: Dead Label

Written by Rich Hobson
Sunday, 27 May 2018 04:00

URHQ-approved and a legitimate tour-de-force in the live setting, Irish metalheads Dead Label have put the time in at some of the UK’s most prestigious festivals including Download, Bloodstock and Hammerfest.

I caught up to them at the latter to see how things are looking for the band in 2018, and what we can expect of record three:

Dan O’Grady (bass/vocals): We’re deep into the writing of the new record right now, but we don’t have an album title or anything like that.

Danny Hall (guitar): We’ve been chopping and changing around eight tracks, so we’ll hopefully get to 10 or 12 and cut it back. Once we get home we’ll get straight onto writing the album, that’s our priority.

Dan: We’ve got it all demoed and in pieces, we just need to play with it all and see if it’s good!

What value do you feel festivals like Hammerfest lend to the wider metal scene?

Claire Percival (drums): One thing I’ve noticed is that it’s very civilised, in a good way. It’s really clean; there are some people that don’t like variations of festivals where they’ve been camping in the mud and the rain. This festival seems nice for if you’re just done with that. It’s good that it gets other metalheads out to festivals, who might not otherwise go to festivals any more.

Dan: I’m pretty sure it sold out at like Christmas, too. It’s really popular.

Danny: It’d be a good place to bring your kid and enjoy some bands.

Dan: Then send him off to Download when he’s old enough!

You’ve played both boutique festivals and bigger ones like Download – how do the experiences compare?

Danny: Well, it’s influenced us big time. The experience of playing those bigger stages has influenced writing the songs heavily, wanting the songs to translate to the crowds so that they’re just as good for the people at the front as they are for the people in the back, and even people who don’t know the songs. We’re not necessarily trying to simplify our stuff, but we want it to work.

Dan: Make it more digestible. The more technical stuff doesn’t usually translate well to big stages, it kind of gets lost. But if you play those big open riffs, big heavy riffs that can resonate and penetrate the crowd, that’ll land better live and that’s what we’re trying to focus on.

Danny: We’re a live band mostly, and for any metal band it should be important that the live show works and that goes doubly for us.

What is the biggest thematic influence on your music?

Dan: It really does vary. I find that we write the majority of the music first, then I take out some stupid metal poetry crap that’s sat in a notebook somewhere, but once we have the music it can influence where those lyrics go. Without that music it doesn’t feel satisfying to just have those words – like ‘I’m not going to want to sing this in ten years’ but once we have the music we can find a way to represent that music and unite the ideas. You have your typical metal songs where you want to go out and kill a bunch of people, but you also have personal introspective stuff, too.

Word has it that there’s a new record on the way – what can we expect of it?

Danny: It’s a little less tense than the previous record. We were really trying to prove ourselves on that, like ‘we’re a good metal band – fuck you!’ haha.

Dan: We weren’t happy with the production. The songs on the very first album, ‘Sense of Slaughter’, we played forever, there was a lot of learning in the recording but the production didn’t lend itself well to that. Then with ‘Throne of Bones’ everything was put through a filter, everything went under the microscope so we all knew what was going on. This time, while we’re still keeping everything under the microscope its more relaxed – we’re having more fun. We’ll jam the songs out and I’ll be pissing myself laughing at how heavy it is.

Danny: The shackles are off, we’re having fun but playing very heavy music at the same time. The songs are a bit simpler as well, we’re writing songs over days where we can kick around the riffs and beats and work out everything.

Do you think the massive success of bands this side of the world like Architects, Marmozets, Creeper etc. emboldens you a bit to go bigger as well?

Claire: We’ve been after the whole world since the day we started. It’s wonderful that there are bands paving the way, but we’re hoping to add to that. Particularly in Ireland, its even harder because in England you’ve got London, and cool as it is to go and play there, we can’t afford to move there and make a move like that. We’ve been inspired by bands like Bring Me The Horizon, who got huge with this really heavy sound, and even though we sound nothing like them, we could try and get to that level.

Danny: It’s great to see those bands and get hope, but I don’t think we’d change anything we’ve done or are doing just to do the same as those bands.

What has been the high point so far?

Dan: There’s been a few highs and lows. You’d be surprised; some of the highs aren’t even playing shows, but on the way when you’re driving through the Alps and being like ‘how did we do that?’, driving through surrounded by snow, sticking your hand out and feeling ice-cold glacial water and just having experiences like that. There’s obvious stuff like supporting Machine Head, Gojira, Fear Factory… Download, Bloodstock, Hammerfest! It’s all amazing – great opportunities.

Claire: Download in particular maybe because it’s really hard to get. We looked forward to that so much, and the moments before going onstage were more nerve-racking than most.

Dan: It’s a famous festival. I went to Download when I was a teenager – to us that was like impenetrable, like you’ll never get to play there, so to actually do that was like ‘HOLY SHIT!’

Danny: For one moment, it’s hard to say… But Download will be up there.

What do you hope to achieve as a band?

Dan: For me, doing this as a full-time job.

Claire: Actually, that is probably what we’re really trying to do at the moment. We want to consider ourselves professionals, to not worry about other jobs. So, world domination maybe?

Am I right in saying you’ve been around for a decade now?

Claire: November yeah! Jaysus, when you say it like that…

What are the biggest things that have changed in the last ten years?

Danny: Getting the songs to translate to every crowd, I think. When we started out it was all about riffs in the songs, getting out to play live and whatever.

Claire: Industry-wise, people always talk about the switchover from downloads to CDs. Granted, we were never in a position to be selling CDs, so we haven’t experienced a loss of that like big bands have, but the other side of that is that the internet has helped us and people know who we are now as a result of that.

How do you feel about the Irish music scene right now?

Dan: It’s strong, and only getting stronger. There are bands inspiring bands, and especially in Dublin there are bands that are getting out further and further, playing shows, making albums and doing music videos and whatever. It’s just getting stronger and stronger.

• Dead Label play the Sophie Stage at Bloodstock on Saturday 11 August.

www.facebook.com/DeadLabel/