Interview with Laid Wasted, Death Metal Band from Southampton

Interview with Laid Wasted, Death Metal Band from Southampton

 Laid Wasted is Death Metal Band from Southampton, UK. Laid Wasted are Sean Walsh - Vocals, Joe Long - Guitars, Sam Whitbread - Bass, Chandos Day - Drums, and Adam Robbins - Guitars. Check our interview with Laid Wasted, Chek it out.

Introduce us to Laid Wasted?

Joe Long: Sean Walsh on vocals, myself (Joe Long) on guitar/backing vocals, Sam Whitbread on bass guitar, Chandos Day on drums, and Adam Robbins on guitar.

We play death metal which leans more towards the technical and progressive realm of the genre. Our sound also incorporates elements of black metal and thrash metal.

What are the lyrical themes of Laid Wasted?

Sean Walsh: The main theme in our lyrics is the day to day insanity of modern existence… and whatever other crazy shit enters my head at the time. 

 What are your influences?

Joe Long: A wide range of things influence the music that we write. Music is the main inspiration for me, but life in general and the kind of world we live in definitely make a strong impact as well.

When writing our music, I find that the bands which mainly influence me are those who I feel are very forward-thinking and question the boundaries of the metal genre. Bands like Opeth, Meshuggah, Black Crown Initiate, Ihsahn/Emperor, Psycroptic, Rivers of Nihil, Ulcerate etc. I think they all really bring something new to the table.

But there are many musicians outside of metal who inspire me as well such as Guthrie Govan, The Aristocrats, Tortoise, and my father who is an excellent acoustic-blues/classical guitarist.

Chandos Day: Chaos, war and death... Oh you mean bands! I’m quite a fan of bands with a diverse sound such as Sikth and Between The Buried And Me, and their ability to create a massive story within their songs. They're also not afraid to be whimsical and wacky, something I want to delve into with the songs we write in the future.

Can you tell us about the Metal Scene in Southampton?

Joe Long: For the most part, it’s great! There is a regularity of good gigs in Southampton spanning across all types of metal. It’s far better now than it was 4 or 5 years ago, and the growth of the music scene has been quite noticeable. Over the years we’ve gained a strong hometown following and made many good friends with fans and other bands, which definitely makes me feel as though there’s a metal community here.

Who are Your Favourite Metal Band?

Chandos Day: Sikth, all time favourite band.

Joe Long: Opeth and Meshuggah have been my two favourite bands for a long time. I really can’t choose one over the other! Black Crown Initiate is definitely up there too.

How do you think your music will progress in the future?

Chandos Day: Progressively... more progressive. However, there’s also a primitive, heavy-as-fuck side to the Laid Wasted sound which I hope we retain. We are definitely moving away from our death/thrash "roots"...

Joe Long: We have steadily been working towards a more progressive death metal sound over the last couple of years, while still really pushing the brutal and technical aspects of our music. I think we’re closer to achieving what we would like to do as we write every new song.

In recent years we’ve been forging on our own style, considering dynamics and melody much more. I foresee the thrash side of our older sound decreasing in favour of the progressive and black metal influences that have been creeping in. Our music will become more extreme and dynamic, but more focused and intelligently constructed too. I hope!

Are there any countries you’re interested in touring or performing in? Why?

Joe Long: Everywhere and anywhere in the world where there are people are willing to watch us, if our music reaches out to enough people. In particular I’d really like to play a show in Holland as I am half-Dutch and have visited the country many times.

What bands would you like to play alongside?

Chandos Day: One band that I reckon we would really compliment sound wise is Gojira - they're also the very first death metal band I heard back in school so it's nice for my death metal saga to come full circle.

Joe Long: So many! In terms of UK/upcoming bands, the ones which I would love to gig with but haven’t yet are Mask of Judas, Xerath, and Seprevation. A personal dream of mine would be to gig with Meshuggah, Black Crown Initiate, or Rivers of Nihil one day. One can dream!

Any last words?

Joe Long: Thank you BDP Metal for the interview and to anyone else who has supported us so far. We’re recording a new EP very soon, so expect new and old material to emerge in the not too distant future. We also have roughly half an album ready, but it will most likely be a while longer until we’ve finished writing that. I can assure that the new material is sounding excellent so far and is definitely a major step up from our older music. Our music is available at laidwasted.bandcamp.com. Cheers!

Laid Wasted:

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