The Über Rock Interview: The Face of Ruin

Written by Rich Hobson
Sunday, 22 April 2018 04:00

Metal is nothing if not a global scene, and Midlands metal band The Face of Ruin have looked further afield than the usual local inspirations to forge their own take on the melodic death metal genre. Having played Bloodstock Festival back in 2016 (before they’d even had a release) and made themselves fixtures of the local circuit, we caught up with them to find out what gigs like the HRH Metal event means to them and the wider scene…

I started by asking the what was it about the Gothenburg Sound that appealed to them…

Rich: For me especially, I’ve always been a big Iron Maiden fan. I started off with hard rock and heavy metal, but was keen to see what else was out there in my teens. When I found the Gothenburg stuff, it felt like a natural follow up to the bands and actually, Alex introduced me to Dark Tranquility – one of the great Swedish melodic death metal bands – and from there I’ve delved into that scene. It’s the guitars; I’m a guitarist so those dual melodies really appeal.

Do you think the lack of a major scene in Warwick has given you a push to play other cities?

Rich: Yeah… It’d be easy enough to move to Leamington Spa or whatever…

Alex: But there’s not a lot there either.

Rich: So I suppose you’re exactly right: Birmingham’s got what you’d probably consider a quite large rock and metal scene. So yeah, getting here and playing here has helped us a lot really.

Alex: Even if there was a big metal scene in Warwick, we probably would’ve come over here eventually anyway, because there’s so many great bands and such an active scene. It inspires you to play better; so many bands from Birmingham have inspired our own band.

Matt Haycock (drums): It was the Metal To The Masses competition here that really helped us.

Rich: It definitely helped us play more shows in Birmingham, anyway.

So what is in Warwick right now, musically speaking?

Rich: There’s a Wetherspoons… *all laugh*

Alex: There used to be The Cavern, but that’s more of a sports bar than anything.

Rich: I’m not aware of any music venues, to be honest.

Alex: No music venues that would put us on, anyway. There’s a couple in Leamington, but a few of those have closed down too. It’s the same old story across the country, really; in smaller towns venues are shutting down left right and centre. Even bigger cities – The Flapper here of course. It’s just what’s happening in this country right now.

How vital do you think those venues are to a band like yourselves?

Alex: They’re really important. A place like The Flapper, I mean we didn’t get to play that until late into our “career”, but its one of the first places we played in Birmingham and such a great venue. Places like that, you’ve got a ready made crowd in regulars and locals who might not have heard you. So to go somewhere like that and play for them, it’s massively important. If you’re starting a band you can’t just jump immediately to the Academies, it just doesn’t happen. You need the smaller venues and people who are willing to give you a shot, take a gamble on you even if you don’t sell many tickets.

You guys played Bloodstock in 2016 – how was that for the band?

Rich: Amazing, yeah. That’s definitely been the highlight for us, so far. We won Metal to the Masses and played Bloodstock with no releases.

Alex: We released a song just after it. We scrambled to release one before, but it was just not happening, so we released one after. We didn’t even have any professional pictures at the time; we’d won the competition and Simon Hall – who organises it – took us to one side afterwards and said ‘I need this, this and this’ by midnight and we were like… shit. We managed to pull it together though, we had a few photos. That’s just been us from the start, taking things gig by gig and riding by the seat of our pants. But it’s gone alright so far.

Rich: It’d be great to play the Sophie stage at some point.

What value do you think boutique festivals and local showcases have for the wider music scene, especially in terms of developing new bands?

Alex: At a festival like today, it’s great. You’ve got bigger bands on the main stage who draw people in – I mean there’s loads of people here already – and it’s a sell-out, so even if people drift to the main stage, there’ll be more people around to drift to the third stage and see us. It’s great, massively rewarding for smaller bands.

Rich: I think, in terms of the wider music scene, if people don’t listen to metal but know there’s such a big event going on in Birmingham, they might think its worth a look.

Alex: Especially for a band like us – I mean, death metal isn’t everybody’s cup of tea, but if someone’s come to Alestorm and think ‘that’s alright’ and give us a chance.

What would you say is the biggest lesson you’ve learned as a band so far?

Alex: My big one is ‘take yourself seriously, but don’t take the music too seriously’. That’s the best way to get ahead really. Take gigging seriously but remember it’s meant to be fun, you’re supposed to enjoy it and be passionate about it. Don’t let it grind you down – there’s always things along the way but keep pushing through.

What are your plans for the rest of the year?

Alex: We’re definitely going to write a few tracks, hoping to get it all together by the end of the year. Recording-wise… it’ll happen.

Rich: We always say that!

Alex: Well yeah, but late this year/early next year seems to be where it’s going. We’ve got quite a few gigs coming up as well, in new places we’ve never played. One of them is Beermageddon in August – we’ve wanted to play for absolutely ages. Writing, gigging – that’s it.

‘Beyond Life’ is out now.

Face Of Ruin play The Arches in Coventry on Saturday 5 May and Beermageddon in August.

www.facebook.com/thefaceofruin/