EMQ’s with REPULSIVE VISION
Hi everyone! Welcome to our new EMQ’s interview with Cumbria, UK based Old School Death Metal band Repulsive Vision. Huge thanks to guitarist Matt Davidson for taking part.
What is your name, what do you play, and can you tell us a little bit about the history of the band?
I’m Matt Davidson and I play guitar and do backing vocals in Repulsive Vision. Feeling disillusioned by the bands I was in at the time, I started it as a project in late 2010 to delve into more of my own specific influences. After writing a set’s worth of new material, I branched out to bring in some musicians to play local shows. Over the next few years, the project evolved, the line-up changed several times and in around 2015, we finally collaborated as our current band members (myself on guitar, Gary Young on drums, Mark Kirby on bass and Dan McEwan on vocals). With our wide array of influences and backgrounds, we worked together to progress the material I’d previously written further, and we eventually released our debut album “Look Past The Gore And See The Art” in 2017 on Mighty Music Records. Since then, we’ve been focusing on being active on the underground extreme metal circuit performing all over Mainland Europe and the United States (including notable performances at the following festivals: Hammerfest, Vagos Metal Fest, The Siege of Limerick, Las Vegas Death Fest, Goathell Metal Festival, etc. Now in 2020, we are ready to release our second album entitled “Necrovictology”
How did you come up with your band name?
The band name came from a documentary I watched about Video Nasties around the time when I started writing for the project. I’d picked up the “Box of the Banned” DVD boxset and became fascinated by the history of censorship, leading to me finding as many articles, books and films about the subject as I could. One of which had a section where Mary Whitehouse (one of the leading forces against the video nasties) referred to horror as “Repulsive Vision”.
What Country/Region are you from and what is the Metal/Rock scene like there?
We’re from Barrow in Furness in the North West of England. As its quite a small town in the middle of the countryside, we’ve got a relatively small scene, particularly for extreme metal. That being said, the area has some great dedicated metalheads and a couple of cool metal bands (ie Thy Dying Light, Red Shift). For bigger gigs, we tend to go further afield to cities like Manchester, Newcastle, Leeds, etc.
What is your latest release? (Album, EP, Single, Video)
Our latest release is our second album, entitled “Necrovictology”. It was released on LP, CD and digital formats on the 21st August via Emanzipation Productions.
‘Other Than Divine’ (Official Video)
Who have been your greatest influences?
We all come from very different musical backgrounds but the main inspiration behind RV is Classic Old School Death Metal and Punk. On the extreme side, some of our major influences include Carcass, Napalm Death, Death, Morbid Angel, Edge of Sanity, Entombed, At The Gates, Obituary, Mercyless, first album Gorguts, and plenty more. On the punk side, we’ve taken inspiration from bands like Bad Religion, Subhumans, NOFX, Nausea, Driller Killer, Minor Threat, etc. We also have hints of thrash metal (particularly Slayer, Sacred Reich, Kreator, etc) and other styles in our sound (Candlemass, Darkthrone).
Beyond the musical influences, I tend to take a lot of my subject matter from true life documentaries and articles. For example, the work of psychic debunker James Randi inspired several tracks (particularly our new single ‘Other Than Divine’).
What first got you into music?
As did many people in my generation, I spent my formative years living through the Nu-metal era of the early 2000’s, beginning with bands like Limp Bizkit, Linkin Park, and Papa Roach. From there, I started to discover the classic rock and metal bands (Aerosmith, Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, Dream Theater) and eventually getting into thrash metal and punk in my mid-teens.
If you could collaborate with a current band or musician who would it be?
I’d love to work with Bill Steer someday. A stellar musician and songwriter with a great attitude and an unbelievably consistent history.
If you could play any festival in the world, which would you choose and why?
One of my ultimate goals is to play at Hellfest in France. I went there from 2011 to 2016, watching it rise and become the huge festival that it is today. It’s such a nostalgic place for me and I’d absolutely love to make it a reality.
What’s the weirdest gift you have ever received from a fan?
I’ve got to admit that we’ve never really received any gifts from fans.
If you had one message for your fans, what would it be?
Thanks so much for the support and we massively appreciate you being there for us, whether you’ve been there since the beginning or just last week.
If you could bring one rock star back from the dead, who would it be?
Perhaps a bit of a cliché answer but I’d love to know what Cliff Burton would have done had he not died back in 86.
What do you enjoy the most about being a musician? And what do you hate?
Personally, my favourite part of being a musician is the connection between likeminded music fans. Being able to work together with others and create niche material that somehow makes sense to people all over the world. Being able to travel and meet people from a city or country I’ve never been to. Seeing people from all over the world enjoying what we’re doing. Getting to work with some of my personal idols
Hate may be a strong word, but I find that my least favourite part of being in a band is the uncertainty of creativity. We’ve just spent 3 years perfecting what we consider to be our best album yet…but there’s no guarantee that our fans will agree. This mindset gives us more motivation to improve and stay true to ourselves in future writing sessions.
If you could change one thing about the music industry, what would it be?
Without wanting to go into too many details, I’d love it if we went back to physical media again. I love the convenience of things like Spotify and MP3’s but their massive effect on the industry has been devastating in the long run for niche music in terms of their financial longevity. It’s definitely better for promotion but difficult to make a career out of.
Name one of your all-time favourite albums?
I have so many favourite albums but the first one that comes to mind is Dream Theater’s third album, “Awake”. Although most tend to favour “Scenes From A Memory” or “Images And Words”, I gravitate towards “Awake” as it’s a heavier, angrier and more pessimistic album than those previously mentioned. Following the unexpected success of Images, the band were expected by their label to replicate their formula leading to a darker atmosphere within the band. Although unknown to the rest of the band, keyboardist and main lyricist Kevin Moore had decided to leave directly after recording, reflecting the distaste and disinterest he was feeling at the time in his subject matter (the lyrics for opener 6:00 are indicative of this). Musically, “Awake” steps up the game for instrumental prowess, while also stepping into a heavier metal sound, using 7 string guitars for the first time. This also showcased James Labrie’s amazing range for the last time as he ended up irreparably damaging it after recording. It’s an incredibly diverse album that effortlessly moves from haunting ballads like ‘The Silent Man’ and ‘Lifting Shadows Off A Dream’ to the guttural metal of ‘The Mirror and Lie’. An overlooked Prog Metal masterpiece from the masters.
What’s best? Vinyl, Cassettes, CD’s or Downloads?
Although I think they’ve all got their merits, I’ll always prefer CD’s. They’re compact, convenient and massively nostalgic to me. I have several thousand CD’s but only a few of the other physical formats.
What’s the best gig that you have played to date?
There’s been several great ones for us but three that specifically come to mind are Las Vegas Deathfest in 2017, Hammerfest in 2018 and Vagos Metal Fest in 2019. Each of them signalled big progressions in our career and gave us opportunities to play alongside great bands like Vader, Sepultura, Napalm Death, Candlemass, Death Angel, Mortician, etc. Las Vegas Deathfest was our first major show outside of the UK (we played an intimate show in Ventura, California earlier that week), Hammerfest was our first major UK metal festival appearance and Vagos Metal Fest stepped us up to an Open air performance at a major festival in Portugal.
If you weren’t a musician, what else would you be doing?
I’d probably have money haha!
Which five people would you invite to a dinner party?
I’d probably be boring and just invite my band members. They’re great guys and I reckon it’d be a good laugh.
What’s next for the band?
Unfortunately, Covid has cut out a lot of our plans for 2020 but we are focused on getting more opportunities for 2021 and beyond. We are focused on the promotion of “Necrovictology” and the writing sessions for album number 3.
What Social Media/Website links do you use to get your music out to people?
The usual suspects: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Spotify, Reverbnation, etc.
www.facebook.com/RepulsiveVision/
www.mobile.twitter.com/rvdeathmetal
www.instagram.com/repulsive_vision/
www.repulsivevision.bigcartel.com/
www.open.spotify.com/artist/0ZRKL1Uk1qrfhnfjRtSVRC
www.youtube.com/channel/UCkylB7Wdr0vcthxcxA3kCZA
Jaffa Cakes! Are they a cake or a biscuit?
Cakes. It’s right there in the title!
Thank you for your time. Is there anything else that you would like to add?
Thanks for the support and I hope you all enjoy “Necrovictology” which was released on the 21st August!
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