Loathe

We got Mark, the bassist of death metallers, Loathe to spit it all out in a one on one interview with Scream. If heavy is your thing, you should check these monsters of metal from Malta out today!

Interview By Scream

Photography By Steve Giordano Imbroll and John Gauci

Headbang Today: Welcome to HeadbangToday.com! As always, we honour the bands and its members who are willing to do an interview with us! So let’s cut to the chase! For those that are unfamiliar with Loathe, tell us briefly about the band.

Mark: Hey there, thanks for the offer! Loathe has been around for almost ten years, in various forms. The band is one of the oldest and highest achieving in the country of Malta. What we’ve done of importance in the last 3 years is tour the UK 4 times over, record an EP, record a full length album and headline several great gigs locally.

Headbang Today: Your full length debut album is said to be set for release any time soon… What can you update us with on the progress of your album?

Mark: At present we’re ironing out some minor issues with the label that will carry this album, but after that it’s pretty much the time needed to ship masters out and duplication and the album will be in hand.

Headbang Today: Now you’ve done quite a few gigs in the past couple of months while touring the country. How did that go?

Mark: Correct. That was our fourth tour of the UK in 3 years. So far, our tours get better by time. Crowd response is always stronger, more people show up to the shows, and people seem to like our stuff more every time. Plus, we now have pockets of hardcore fans in the locales we’ve played, so it’s great to have them come back every time and bring their friends!

Headbang Today: You’re doing the “We Have Unfinished Business” show where you “versus” the band Slit this coming weekend. But by the time this interview gets published, you would’ve played that gig already… It also seems to be the final show for your tour… What will you guys be up to after that show?

Mark: Yes, we do have that show, although we considered the tour closed with Friday the 13th’s gig with BNI. However, this ought to be a great show, we have not played with Slit in years, and they are also a vastly experienced band. After this show we’ll get back to the practice room, really hammer out any issues before printing the CD and continue where we left off before the tour when it comes to new material.

Headbang Today: Speaking of new material, I’ve given your tracks a listen and I am very impressed by the solid composition and awesome variety in the vocal work. A perfect blend of thrash, death and hardcore metal! Do you write your songs having these genres in mind or does it come naturally by just jamming together?

Mark: Thanks for the compliments man, we’re very happy with how it sounds ourselves! Well, you mentioned the three basic genres of metal the band is influenced by. Everyone brings some preference of their own to their table. Most of the riffs are written by Kurt, who of course writes what he likes, but then during practising everyone puts their ‘twist’ on to it, if you please.
Loathe Bassist Mark

Headbang Today: And your personal influences would be?

Mark: well, my overarchingly favourite band forever would be Slayer, but in the past few years I’ve gravitated towards bands such as The Black Dahlia Murder, Psycroptic, Necrophagist, Bloodbath and other brutal metal acts. Of course I’m also a big fan of other bands like Lamb of God, Devil Driver, Gojira and so on.

Headbang Today: Aah… the latter of the bands such as Devil Driver and Lamb of God deserve a spot in our up and coming “Top 10 metal albums of 2009″… Any other new releases this year that blew you away?

Mark: definitely TBDM’s Deflorate, Behemoth’s Evangelion, and an odd choice for me personally, Rammstein’s Liebe ist fur Alle Da.

Headbang Today: Rammstein was mentioned to us while compiling the list, but I very much doubt that it would make the list… Unless of course you release your album before we publish the list to take Rammstein’s spot!

Mark: Not that the possibility doesn’t tempt me, but I doubt we can humanly move that fast!

Headbang Today: So tell us about the best and worst gigs (also possibly the most bizarre) gigs that you’ve experienced during your decade of gigging.

Mark: To be fair, I can’t be the judge of all the gigs, because I joined Loathe around 4 years ago. But in these four years, my worst gig has to be some night here in Malta, I was feverish and the sound on stage was crap. Needless to say, my playing was sloppy. I couldn’t choose a best gig, because we’ve had so many, but I rank our appearance with Sabbat in Bradford in 2007, the launch party for our EP and every time we’ve played in Birmingham very very highly.

As for most bizarre, well, that may well be Wales, on this last tour. The Welsh are mad. We know that now. Suffice to say that my travelling tip is: “If offered to crash in the pub where you played for the night, sleep in the van”

Headbang Today: HAHA why would you say that?

Mark: Not that they weren’t great people, mind you, but let’s say the owner and his clan managed to drink 2 metal bands under the table, after which they proceeded to ‘gently’ wake us up with tunes, played over the PA, till 5 in the morning, drinking inhuman amounts of alcohol all throughout.

Headbang Today: Ouch, I’m sure that one caught up with you guys the following day! Well, we’re actually pretty excited and waiting in anticipation for your album release! Should a world tour cross your paths in the very near future, would South Africa be on the map?

Mark: Yes, the drive in the morning was silent indeed.

Well, we do plan to hit Europe in the near future, as so far we’ve concentrated upon the UK. We need fresh blood! And although a world tour is not on the cards for the very near future, we would definitely want to hit as many places as we could! I also understand you guys are completely mental, which not only warms my heart, but makes me want to visit even more!

Headbang Today: Yip, these South African metal heads are whole different breed of headbanger on its own…. But they are sure to fill up the venues and empty the bar fridges!

Studies have shown that despite having tiny brains the size of a pinhead insects possess several impressive mental capabilities from the ability to count and categorize objects to the ability to recognize human faces…. Does that make you feel bad for squashing all the bugs you have during your lifetime?Loathe Guitarist

Mark: Not really, if they do have an ability to recognize human faces, they ought to know the look of an angry metalhead who will crush them! Unless they are Hindu and have been very bad humans in a previous life, in which case, my apologies bro….

Headbang Today: HAHAHA! Last question… Give us your thoughts on the following: Headlining for a Headbang Today festival one day:

Mark: That would be ace! And a great honour for us. You’ve already been so good to us, is it because you want to our pure off-white souls?

Headbang Today: Maybe just a little….  – Illegal downloading of your album:

LoatheMark: You know, I don’t mind that. As long as the music is listened to, I don’t mind if people get it for free. In the digital age, the end user is used to getting stuff for free, so it’s up to the bands to be smart (not sneaky) and create new ways of making money so they can tour and write more.

Headbang Today: That’s true!  – - Last one: What the future of Loathe has in store for us headbangers?

Mark: Well, we’d love for the album to be loved, for a start! We’re confident a lot of people will like it. Apart from that, we’ll keep on gigging and writing new stuff, and hopefully become even more road honed and play to a whole big bunch of people. It’s hard work, but if it’s easy it’s not worth doing.

Headbang Today: Well my friend, I would like to say that all the hard work, blood sweat and tears that you dudes have endured is definitely paying off! Your music rocks and the headbangers on this side will love it!! Thanks for the sincere interview!

Mark: Thanks very very much Scream for digging our shit and believing in us! We’d love to visit SA someday, and if you ever chance on this side of the globe, remember you have friends in Malta!

IF YOU’VE NEVER HEARD OF LOATHE BEFORE UP UNTIL THIS INTERVIEW, COME CHECK THEM OUT HEADBANGERS!

www.loatheonline.com