eternal lord
Before the shock announcement that Ed Butcher was to leave his role as the grinding vocalist for hardcore metallers Eternal Lord, I caught up with the sexy singer and his band mate, guitarist, Chris Gregory to chat about their plans for a new album, selling out and their love for ice cream.
You have been together as a band since 2005 but have only just released your debut album Blessed Be This Nightmare; did you have a huge sense of achievement when you got to that stage?
Ed: I guess we only really started writing the new album with the new line-up.
Chris: Before we made the album we were just messing around and having a good time as a band and them we thought it was time to knuckle down and do something decent.So how did you all meet?
Ed: I met Chris when I was about 15/16 and I did work experience from school in a music shop in my town where Chris was actually working at the time and after that we formed a band and messed around and then a few years later we formed a more serious band then I f**ked off for a while and came back and joined Eternal Lord.Are you worried that people will start thinking you’ve sold out?
Ed: I don’t give a shit. We haven’t sold out at all in any way.Chris: I don’t know… I went and bought some fancy shoes.
Ed, what has the reaction from the fans been like since you joined the band?
It was a while ago now and when I was back in the UK a fair few kids showed up to shows and now the album is out we shall see. When I joined we decided to go for a different sound than the guys had before and we wanted to stop doing what all the other bands were doing which is just trying to be as fast as they can and blast all the way through and pig squeal!
You’ve obviously had a few line-up changes, but is this it now?
Chris: We like living on the edge and chopping and changing. We’re just having a good time at the moment.
What’s in the near future for you?
Ed: We going to do a lot of f**ng around over the next couple of months. We were meant to be touring but we’ve given ourselves a break because, before the album came out we had written so much of it and Chris had written some stuff about 2 years ago before I even joined the band. We are going to chill out at home and write some more songs and hopefully get a new album out at the beginning of next year.
So there’s going to be some new material coming out then?
Chris: Fingers crossed.
A lot of people look up to you guys, but who do you look up to within the industry?
Ed: Fred Durst. I don’t like metal at all. I was into that at a time and was all about it but I don’t listen to metal anymore now.
Ooh, controversial! So is the life of a rock star what you imagined it to be?
Ed: We’re definitely not rock stars.
Chris: We still do the same things now that me did when we were 16.
Ed: We’re still ugly, broke and we just hang around! We don’t get paid for this, we go home and find jobs until we go on tour again.
Who is your favourite band that’s at around at the moment?
Ed: I’ve always been a big fan of Sigur Ros, they have always been on of my favourite bands and probably always will be.
There are so many bands trying to make it in the music industry at the moment, what do you think sets you apart from the rest?
Chris: We’re uglier than everyone else but we somehow managed to get on a good label and get some good people behind us.
Ed: And we have good hair; we have rugged hair… but not as good as Random Conflicts hair: they have a uniform of mullets!
What do you think of the metal scene at the moment?
Chris: this year the scene has completely changed in my eyes. When we first arrived on the scene everyone was super-friendly and out to have a good time and a dance, then it changed a bit and people become more concerned with what they looked like and now, this year, every kid wants to be the hardest kid in the world and starts fighting and it’s just stupid.
The scene seems to be dying off now that people are starting to follow the trend of liking rave and indie music. Why do you think that people are being so superficial?
Chris: Not enough ice cream. I’d go out for the ice cream. If they gave out milkshake ice cream at gigs I would go to every show.
Yeah, but you’d be sick
Chris: it would be a world of delicious treats
So what’s your favourite ice cream?
Ed: Neopolitan: best of three worlds.
We ask everyone we interview to come up with a question for the next person we interview....and Colin MacIntyre wants to know “If you had a sheep, what would you call it?”
Chris: I’ve got two sheep and I can’t remember what they’re called.
Ed: I don’t like sheep. But if I had to name one it would be called Shaun the sheep.
FemaleFirst - Ruth Harrison