Interview with Regulus

We recently caught up with the lovely Regulus for a crafty chat. Here’s what they said

First of all we would like to say congratulations on signing to ‘Off Yer Rocka Recordings’, it couldn’t have happened to a more deserving band. You guys must be feeling great about this?

 

Thank you. Yeah, we’re psyched about it, we’ve worked hard to get to where we are, and to have someone recognise that and invest in our future is a huge step forward for us. They’re a great company who are really keen on nurturing new bands, every interaction we’ve had with them has been really positive and forward-looking. The contract is perfect for us: really straightforward, allowing us to continue being a hard-working DIY rock band and carry on doing what we do best, while getting a little help from the label putting us and our music in front of an audience that we wouldn’t necessarily be able to reach by ourselves.

 

Without a doubt the biggest and best show we’ve done so far. Everything about it just felt great: the vibe from the crowd, the stage, the sound, the crew… Everything! It really felt like a step up for us to be put in front of that many people who really “get” stoner rock, and to come away with such a huge reaction and so many positive comments is very validating. While it was a little intimidating, it also felt very natural for us to be there; this is the kind of event that we belong at now after having relentlessly upped our game over the years.

 

 

Oh yeah, we were there for the whole weekend soaking up the good vibes! We just love being in that environment, we’re never the type to hide backstage. If we had to choose from all the great bands that weekend, these would have to get special mentions for putting on great shows: Vodun for being primal and powerful, Desert Storm for being crushing and groovy (definitely our kinda thing!), Poseidon and Electric Citizen for being great new discoveries, our good bros in Sergeant Thunderhoof for being indescribably beautiful and heavy, and Orange Goblin.. for being Orange F***ing Goblin, baby!

 

 

Well we absolutely love playing Rebellion, it’s such a great stage so we’re gonna use every inch of it like always! I guess we’re just one of those bands that simply loves to perform; we play every show like it’s do-or-die. The Manchester scene is one of the best in the country and we’re working hard to increase our fan-base there, so we’re gonna come out swinging. Plus, most of our set is made up of new material off the upcoming album, so if you haven’t seen us for a while you can expect to hear a ton of new stuff.

 

 

The bass has always been the foundation of what we do, so we knew it was going to be hard to fill Carl’s shoes and whoever we chose needed to be special. More than anything it was important to find someone who fits our work-ethic and was going to help us push forward both sonically and practically. Martyn pretty much came out of the blue from a band we were gigging with a fair bit at the time, Phoenician, and approached us. We’d done a few auditions with some really talented people from a variety of backgrounds, but no-one had felt quite right yet. When Martyn turned up he immediately settled into the vibe and we found ourselves playing better and being more creative just because of his presence and attitude, we knew straight away he was the guy for us. He comes from an amazingly varied background and brought so much to the table that we were inspired and uplifted immediately. As for how he’s settling in… the guy learned an hour long set in two weeks and played two of our biggest shows right out of the gates! It feels like he’s been with us for years. Plus, he’s a very talented producer, which adds another string to our DIY bow.

 

 

Of course! It’s undoubtedly our favourite festival, and just being there with the whole metal community giving us such support was massive for us. It was our first taste of a really big stage (our cables wouldn’t reach the amps!) and to fill that tent to capacity with fans we’ve earned from all over the country was proof positive that this is where we belong. There’ll be a video coming soon, so you’ll be able to see for yourself. Also, coincidentally, it was our hundredth gig as a band and a great send-off for Carl.

 

 

Originally we were slightly uncomfortable about the “competition” nature of it, it feels kinda phony to compete with bands in a creative context; but M2TM has a great vibe, it doesn’t really feel like a competition at all, but rather a series of great gigs with a positive outcome that transcends simply finding a “winner”. Sure, we were thrilled to make it to the finish line and go on to play Bloodstock, but more importantly the gigs and crowds were fantastic and supportive of everybody, we made some great friends and fans and had a blast doing it. Big shout out to Mike Linehan of Lizard King Promotions and Simon Hall from Bloodstock for putting it all on and bringing the scene together for such a positive event. As for “mental preparation”: there was none…! We just do what we do with as much love and ferocity as we can. Every gig is as important as the last, irrelevant of whether or not there’s something to gain.

 

 

It’s always gonna be hard to define your own music, but I guess we’re “high energy stoner rock”… At least that’s what we’d like to think! We draw influence from such a wide range of styles, there’s a bit of something for everyone: rock, blues, metal, stoner, doom, psychedelia, funk, prog… Even the occasional dance beat! The four of us come from such a range of backgrounds, we like to wear our individual influences on our sleeves; “stoner rock” is hard to define at the best of times, we endeavour to make it even harder! We always say that we’re “influenced by all your favourite bands, but sound like none of them…”!

 

 

I guess probably the show we played at our local stomping ground, The Washington, in Sheffield a few months back… It was such a low pressure, fun show that we kinda took it for granted, I suppose. Lesson learned: don’t let your drummer neck the entire rider before going on, lest all your songs be played 50bpm too slow! The set ended up sounding like Sunn O)))! Beyond that, most of our funny experiences come from the crowd… There’s some crazy people out there!

 

 

We’re currently recording our second album, “Quadralith”, the first to be released on Off Yer Rocka Recordings, due for release around March next year. It’s a big step up for us both in terms of song-writing and production; we’re really excited to show it to the world. It represents exactly who we are as a band at this point in time and expands on everything we’ve done so far. Beyond that we’ve got our first excursions to Europe in the pipeline, the first being the HRH Ibiza Road-Trip in May; plus more of the same hard-working, road-dog attitude… We’ll be touring the UK as much as possible in support of the new album, aiming to get to every nook and cranny of the country we haven’t hit yet and reach as many people as possible. The future’s looking bright and we plan to capitalise as much as possible by continuing to do what we love harder than anyone else.

 

Thanks for taking time out to speak to us today, we look forward to catching up with you guys soon.