Burke And Hare Interview

1.For those that have never heard of you before, can you tell us a little bit about the band?
We are a two piece sludge/stoner metal band from Hertfordshire, UK. The band consists of me (Tom) on guitar and vocals and Jack on drums.

2.So far you have released an ep, how would you describe the musical sound that is presented on the recording?
Heavy as fuck haha! We were basically concentrating on getting the best riffs that we could but also making it interesting. Like we love to have heavy swing timings to get your hips moving but also some brutal breakdowns where possible.

3.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the music?
To be honest we don’t really focus too much on the lyrics. Its mostly what comes to mind when we’re jamming the songs out in practise. Rhino Ket is a just a surreal one about what if a Lion had a fight with a Rhino on ketamine? A1M is about driving up and down a motorway while stoned. Those two songs I didn’t really think too much about lyrical content. Suburban Coven was the exception though. It was inspired by an old women who lives round the corner from me and she has her three bins lined up outside her house, she lives at number 6, so when the bins are out they say 666. It just got my imagination going about her being a witch and being part of a coven in the heart of suburban England.

4.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Burke And Hare',?
William Burke and William Hare were two serial killers in Edinburgh in 1828 who robbed graves and murdered people to sell their corpses to a doctor at the Royal College of Surgeons, so he could use them in his anatomy lectures. It sounds like a good basis for a metal band name don’t you think?

5.Currently there are only 2 members in the band, are you open to expanding the line up or do you chose to remain a duo?
We have talked about maybe adding another member but when you get down to it me and Jack have this telepathy with each other. We’ve been in bands together for a long time and its made us tight as a musical unit. We have both done separate things of course but when we get back into that rehearsal space together and back on stage, its like nothings changed and your ready to take on the world together. God that makes us sound like a married couple haha!

6.What are some of the best shows that the band has played so far and also how would you describe your stage performance?
I think we’ve enjoyed every single show we’ve done. We’d always come home from a gig and say to each other “that was the best one” only to say the same thing after the next gig. Locally though in Hertfordshire there’s a great metal scene. You always feel the love at the gigs and you end up making friends at every show, whether its yours or someone else's. London is always a treat to play as well. In terms of stage performance, we just try to have fun. Not take ourselves seriously and just have a laugh.

7.Do you have any touring or show plans for the future?
We are trying to get some shows together for later this year. Our last show was in April but it feels like an eternity has past so we want to get back to gigging ASAP.

8.Can you tell us a little bit more about 'Moon Song Records'.?
Moon Song Records was a label started by a couple of mates of ours at university. We recorded and released our first song through them last year and we also recorded a couple of other songs with them and released them as the Moon Song Sessions. The label is sadly no longer running but they had a very eclectic roster of artists and we were proud to be the only metal band to have released music through them.

9.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of stoner and sludge metal?
I don’t know about the rest of the world but we’ve had a very positive reaction whenever we’ve played somewhere. People always seem sceptical about whether a two piece metal band can work but they always come up to us and say how massive we’ve sounded for just two guys.

10.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?
Probably tuning lower. We are suckers for tuning low. Maybe drop Q if we can managed that haha!

11.What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?
Eyehategod are the biggest influence on the band, no question about that. But also fuzzy stoner bands like Fu Manchu and Kyuss. The Melvins too, we mustn't forget them. Jack and me love our deathcore as well, so thats why we love our breakdowns. Bands like Suicide Silence, early Thy Art is Murder and Carnifex we listen to all the time on our journeys to practise and gigs. What I’m listening to nowadays is mostly industrial stuff like Throbbing Gristle and Godflesh. Jack I know is partial to some indie and emo like Mac DeMarco and Sunny Day Real Estate. To be fair I love those bands too.

12.What are some of your non musical interests?
Jack is the cool one out of the two of us. He’s a proper good skater. I’m the boring one who likes to read and watch films all day.

13.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?
My final words are to shamelessly plug the EP! You can download it through our Bandcamp: https://burkeandhareband.bandcamp.com/album/burke-and-hare-ep
Hail the Riff!