Wednesday 22 August 2012

Interview with Desert Storm


Today on Sludgelord I am interviewing Desert Storm. The brilliant Blues Tinged Sludge/Stoner Metallers on whose album – Forked Tongues I reviewed very highly last year.

Well these cool dudes have kindly granted me an interview before they go on their long awaited UK tour with legendary Stoner Metallers – Karma To Burn.

Q1 – For People not in the know – Can you tell them how the band came about, When you formed etc...

Desert Storm formed in February 2007, originally as a four piece with Matt Ryan-vocals, Chris White-guitar, Ryan Cole - Bass, Elliot Cole - Drums.
About half a year later Chris Benoist joined the band on Bass and Ryan Cole switched to guitar.

Q2 – How would yourselves describe your sound.

Desert Storm are a hard blues rock band, taking a lot of influence from classic 70's rock but can also be very Heavy in places..which I guess shows our love for sludge/metal as well. We like to experiment with different styles...something which some people don't get. The new album like Forked Tongues is also varied with blues,sludge, and even some folky elements in places. Should be out later this year!

Q3 – Which bands influence you on your music.

Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Clutch, Tool, Kyuss, Down, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Metallica, Pantera the list goes on...

Q4 – Is the band a full time project or do you have full time jobs to contend with.

Unfortunately not, we all have day jobs, Matt works for Rockstar games in Edinburgh as a games tester, I'm a joiner/carpenter, Elliot is Chef, Chris White is a IT Helpdesk at info cash and Chris Benoist is a graphic Designer.


Q5 – What is the song-writing process like in the band. Is it a whole band collective or individuals that write the music.

Well things are a bit difficult with Matt living in Scotland and Chris B commuting to work in London, so usually what happens is Chris, Elliot and myself rehearse weekly, Chris B comes for the last hour or 2 as well. Songs are usually written/structured by by us. They are usually based around a riff that Chris or myself have come up with and then we build on that from there. We record ideas and send them to Matt who then writes lyrics and comes up with melodies. Every now and then He'll make a rehearsal and we'll jam together and decide what works, and what doesn't.

Q6 – Forked Tongues got a lot of major praise when released back in 2010/2011. You must have been stoked with the responses you got.

Yeah we were pretty pleased with how it was received on the whole.

Q7 – What has been the reception like to your live gigs. Has it all been good responses. Any major live highlights so far.

Yeah its been great, most gigs we play we seem to get a good response which is really encouraging. It's nice to see people enjoying our music. Some highlights include an almost sold out show with Orange Goblin at the o2 Academy Oxford, our album launch at the Cellar was also really cool too!


Q8 – You are about to tour with Karma To Burn. Bet your guys are really looking forward to that. I hope its a major success. As we need bands like them to come back and do more tours to open more doors for band like yourselves.

Thanks Steve, yeah we are all very excited, its going to be a great experience for us all, and it is our first proper tour! We are all massive fans of Karma to Burn and are stoked to be on it!

Q9 – Do you get many gigs in your home town of Oxford. Or do you have to travel around a lot.

We seem to gig Oxford too much really, it is always great playing your hometown, but it's nice to play other cities too.

Q10 – Does your family and friends support your great band.

Yeah they all seem pretty supportive which is nice to see!


Q11 – The UK has many superb Sludge/Stoner Metal bands coming out. Just not enough venues to put them on unless your a shitty Emo/Hairgel Metal Band. What do you think of UK's gig scene for bands like yourself.

It seems like there is a good thing happening right now in the UK, lots of cool bands and a lot of decent promoters. The Desertscene Rock dudes, Buried in Smoke promos, Human Diesease promos, Jackdaw promos and Heretic Promos all seem to be doing a good job for the stoner/sludge bands right now! It's good to see and I hope it continues to prevail!

Q12 – What are your fave bands around at the moment. Any new ones you can recommend for ourselves to check out.

There are loads of great bands, can't list them all but here are some we really dig! Check out our bros in Mother Corona (we will be doing a split ep with these chaps in 2013 Watch out!) Komrad, Undersmile, Mutagenocide, Dopefight, Sedulus, Gurt, XII Boar, Diesel King, Steak, Snakebite, Caravan of Whores, bendal interlude, Witchsorrow, Profane & the sacred the list goes on...sorry to anyone I forgot!


Q13 – Your new album is coming out soon. Can you give us more information about that. What we can expect.

Yeah looking forward to getting it out, its got 12 tracks (4 re-recordings from the 2008 self titled demo) lots of big blues riffs & grooves, some really heavy sludge parts, folk parts...have to wait and see but we're all pretty pleased with it...its been a long time in the making, and We all feel the production is an improvement on the Forked tongues record and that the songs are stronger.

Q14 – What are the most and least rewarding aspects of participating with the band.

The most rewarding is playing shows and seeing the crowd enjoying it. The buzz you get is great! It's cool spending time writing with good friends too! The least rewarding is lugging gear in/out of venues at the beginning and end of a night.

Q15 – What is your view of bands and blogs giving away music for free. Lot of bands and people have different perspectives.

I think its great for bands getting exposure and helps inform people of good upcoming bands worth checking out.


Q16 – What are the future plans for the band. Do you have more tours planned.

We've got a few shows lined up from the end of the year after the Karma to Burn tour, including a show with Truckfighters in Oxford and Gentleman's Pistols in Birmingham! Along with the album, we are planning a split ep with our good friends in Mother Corona, they rock well worth checking out people!

As for next year, it would be great to get over to europe to do some shows...hopefully do a week or two next summer!

Q17 - Finally, Do you have anything to say to your fans who will be reading this. Any encouraging words to them.

We wanna say thanks to all the stormers that have supported us from day one! cheers for buying our stuff and coming to shows, we really appreciate that! Keep it up ;) Spread the word folks!

Well guys thanks for answering these questions. All the best from all of us at Sludgelord.

I hope to catch up with you at Trillians Rockbar at Newcastle with the legendary Karma To Burn. 
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