Loathe (band)

The band's founding members, including former Rainhill High School pupil Erik Bickerstaffe, knew each other from different musical projects that they were involved with, such as Our Imbalance,[2][3] since before the formation of the band, but started working together as a new band around 2011-2012 when their other projects came to an end, this band would come to be known as Loathe by 2014. In 2015, they performed at Deadbolt Festival on 8 August, and in Autumn that same year they released their first EP titled "Prepare Consume Proceed" independently.[4][5][6] The band initially kept their names anonymous, using stage names (DRK, DRT, SNK, MWL and NIL) along with not revealing their origin. Kadeem France was the only one whose stage name was revealed (DRK) as he is the lead vocalist, and was identified by a prophetic mask of unknown significance, which was used as the album artwork for their EP.[7][8][9] on 22 November, the band supported metal band Empires Fade during their show in Manchester.[10]

Moving onto June 2016, the band would tour as support act for Oceans Ate Alaska during their UK tour.[11] On 8 July the same year, their EP was re-issued through SharpTone Records as the labels first release since its conception a month prior, and was accompanied with a music video for a new song exclusive to the re-issue, "In Death," which featured France wearing his mask.[5][6][12] Bickerstaffe explained that the band was discovered by the label shortly after their independent release of their first music video for Shoel/In Death, and after their initial dialogue and exchanging of ideas, the band and label managers "clicked" and they partnered up.[13] The EP received positive reviews, Kerrang! magazine praised the album's heavy Djent style and "synthy atmosphere" but criticised the band's horror-like image, stage names and France's mask as "some bargain-bin horror flick," giving the album 3 K's out of 5.[14]

As the band's career progressed, the members decided that the use of code-names and the mask was unnecessary, citing that they just wanted to be themselves when performing their music and pointed to the likes of Ghost and Slipknot and their influences for starting that gimmick in the first place.[15] Bickerstaffe would later admit that their use of masks and code-names was "...shamelessly taking ideas from other bands.", ditching them as a means of distinguishing themselves.[3] Also in early July the band performed at Tech-Fest, later on the same month they toured as the support act for metal band Carcer City around the UK, and on 25 September, the band performed at Ozzfest meets Knotfest California on the Nuclear Blast stage.[16][17][18]

Former member Shayne Smith live at The Key Club, Leeds in 2017

Initially, the band was planned to start off 2017 as a support act for Emmure during their UK tour in January, however due to unforeseen delays in Emmure's album production, the tour was cancelled.[19][20] In April the band toured as a support act for Blood Youth and in May the band also performed at the London warm-up show for Hellfest. A few months later, they released their debut studio album, titled "The Cold Sun" on 2 June 2017.[21][22][23] The album was produced by Matt McClellan and was recorded in The Dark Studios in Atlanta, Georgia.[6][12] From 23 August to 5 September the band headlined a tour in the UK with metal band Harbinger, following up with three more dates from 6 to 8 with metal band Lotus Eater, and later throughout October and November, the band was the support act for Bury Tomorrow during their "Stage Invasion" tour in the UK.[24][25][26][27] One of their last shows of the year was performed at Binfest 2017 in late November.[28]

Starting off 2018, the band released a split EP with the metal band known as Holding Absence, another band signed with SharpTone Records, on 8 February.[29] In March they toured as co-headlining act with Holding Absence with Modern Error as a support act, along with supporting metal band God complex during a show in Leeds, the band were nominated for their first award, that being Metal Hammer Golden Gods Award for best new band of 2018, and in April they were also be nominated for Heavy Metal Awards best UK breakthrough band, the latter of which the band performed at the award's announcements ceremony in Manchester.[30][31][32][33][34] The band performed at the Slam Dunk and Teddy Rocks festivals in May,[35][36] and in June the band's bassist Shayne Smith announced that after performing at Download Festival, he will be departing from the band to pursue a career as a tattoo artist,[37][38] with his role being filled by ex-Holding Absence guitarist Feisal El-Khazragi.[39] In early July the band performed at the 2018 Tech-Fest, and later that same month the band performed at the 2000 trees festival. In September, they were the supporting band for Sikth during their "Riddles of Humanity" UK tour, along with also supporting Of Mice & Men on their mini-tour in the UK in November.[40][41][42][43] In December, the band supported metal band Palm Reader in London.[44]

In regards to releasing future music, Bickerstaffe stated that realistically a new album will be released in 2019 and that they have been writing new songs, stating that at some point they might recluse somewhere to focus solemnly on making music, though has admitted that he isn't sure if the next album would be an EP or a full studio release yet.[15][45][46] In October 2018, Bickerstaffe commented that the band had planned 12 new songs for the album, In the meantime he has also been busy producing music for other metals acts, one such release being the EP "Created Sick" by Merseyside band God Complex whom they toured with earlier the same year, meanwhile vocalist Kadeem France collaborated with metal band Of Legions on their single "Vision of Misery."[47][48][49]

In late April and early May, Loathe supported Hollywood Undead on the stretch of their UK tour, attended the Two Thousand Trees Festival in July, and attended both the Radar Festival and the Heavy Metal Music Awards in August.[50][51][52][53][54] Loathe released an EP entitled "Gored/New Face In The Dark" featuring the two new singles on 20 September 2019, along with a music video for Gored with one for New Faces In The Dark being released on 10 October.[55][56][57][58] On 29 November, the band released a new song titled Aggressive Evolution, along with the announcement of their new album titled I Let It in and It Took Everything and was set to release on 7 February 2020.[59] In December, the band toured as a support act for Stray from the Path during their European tour, along with The Devil Wears Prada and Gideon.[60][61]

On 10 January 2020, the band released Two-Way Mirror, accompanied with a music video.[62] The band released the song "Screaming" a day prior to the release of their second album on 6 February in anticipation of the its release, which coincided with their UK Headlining tour, where they were supported by bands The Well Runs Red, Phoxjaw, and God Complex.[63][64] Upon the albums release, Bickerstaffe expressed that the new family of tracks "...offers a brand new perspective and identity for Loathe." while still retaining some familiar aspects of their previous music.[65] In June, the band participated in the virtual Download Festival.[66]

On 22 January 2021, the band announced that they will release a new album called The Things They Believe on 7 February 2021, year to the date since the release of I Let It In And It Took Everything.[67] It will feature collaborations with The 1975's saxophonist John Waugh, Parting Gift guitarist Peter Vybiral, and Vincent Weight.

The band describes themselves as a conceptual band, as throughout all of their album releases they have been telling stories of fiction.[13] Their first release, Prepare Consume Proceed, was said to involve a story about a tormented protagonist, who loses a loved one and is later killed by the end of the EP's run.[82] With the release of studio album "The Cold Sun," it tells a narrative of a violent post-apocalyptic setting, mixing themes of desolation with an overarching sense of positivity and heroism. The record supposedly tells a story of two protagonists who exist during this dystopian setting set up by in the album.[6][78] Bickerstaffe has stated that they don't take influence from other major concept records and acts such as Thirty Seconds to Mars and Pink Floyd, making the remark: "Our inspiration to create concept records mostly comes from wanting to create our own worlds within the music, almost like looking at the album as a book with separate chapters."[13]

For the second album, Bickerstaffe has stated that their writing process starts with the concept, which is spread out across 12 songs. Once they have a plan for what they want to create, they focus on sustaining those songs.[47]

Metal Hammer and WhatCulture writer Matt Mills named the band 2018's greatest live metal act, stating that their presence on stage is "always intense and cinematic" whilst applauding the band's use of atmospheric, minimalist interludes inspired by film soundtracks.[83] The band's lead vocalist Kadeem France utilised a prophetic mask of unknown significance, which was used as the album artwork for their EP.[9] Bickerstaffe mentioned to Kerrang! that they "...take a lot of inspiration from Marvel, DC and the rest of the comic world - seeing our live shows like performance art." adding that "The mask is definitely a big part of that what we do, but it's not entirely everything."[84] Since 2016 however, the band has not used the mask, citing the gimmick to be influenced by major acts such as Ghost and Slipknot, wearing it to pay homage to such bands.[15] During the same year, Kerrang! writer Sam Law criticised the band's use of masks and then stage names in 2016, calling it "shittily clichéd."[14] The use of TV screens on the stage is also utilised for the band's gritty, theatrical presence.[83][85]

Major acts such as Deftones,[12][68][86][87] Slipknot,[12][86] and Korn[12] have all been cited as major influences on the band's sound, with Bickerstaffe stating that the band aspires to be on the same level as them, going on to say that he and the other members are not inspired by the sound of "modern bands today", preferring the sounds from those they do take influence from.[12] France and Bickerstaffe also cited Deftones and Meshuggah for their use of clean vocals and heavy guitars, but also cited Radiohead as an influence regarding their means of experimenting with their music.[68] Bickerstaffe has also mentioned that his teenage influences consisted of Miss May I and Attack Attack!, grouping them as synthcore, and whilst at the time he disregarded much music outside of metal at the time, he had matured to enjoy a much greater range of music since.[3][47]

Major influences outside of the metal band scene are the soundtracks for Silent Hill 2, composed by Akira Yamaoka, and Akira, composed by Geinoh Yamashirogumi, and the Blade Runner soundtrack composed by Vangelis. These soundtracks influenced the band's debut album, The Cold Sun, regarding its story-telling and atmosphere, along with Akira being an influence on the album's artwork.[12][83][88]

• Kadeem France - unclean vocals (2014-present), clean vocals (2017-present)
• Erik Bickerstaffe - lead guitar, clean vocals, unclean vocals (2014-present)
• Connor Sweeney - rhythm guitar (2014-present), backing unclean vocals (2017-present)
• Sean Radcliffe - drums (2014-present)
• Feisal El-Khazragi - bass, backing unclean vocals (2018-present)

• Shayne Smith - bass (2014-2018),[37] backing unclean vocals (2017-2018)