Nu Gothiks metal band Knife Bride explore human experiences within their music, most recently inspired by topics such as the disconnect you may feel in relationships and not often understood topics such as sleep paralysis. They have carefully crafted their own unique sound and include artists such as Kate Bush, Bring Me The Horizon and Spirit Box as some of their influences. Aggy Gillon chats to front-woman Mollie Buckley and drummer Sean Windle after their set. They discuss their most recent releases, their strong bond as a band and as friends, living out their dreams performing at Download Festival and their aspirations for the future.
You guys played a bit earlier on, how did you find your set?
Mollie: Oh my god, we loved it!
Sean: So Good
Mollie: I don’t think we expected…well we knew we were gonna love it but there’s always the fear of how nervous are we gonna be, are we gonna be able to bring the energy. There was no expectation of how busy it was going to be because it was an early slot but it packed out. I feel like we just had the best time! There was so much synergy wasn’t there?
Sean: There was yeah. When we first got there it was tipping down with rain. We had to get all of our stuff out of the van and set up on stage.
Mollie: You were a little bit stressed…
Sean: A little bit stressed *laughs* to be completely honest! But as soon as everything was set up we just relished in it.
Mollie: We relished it, yeah! It was one of those moments I think we were always going to relish in it. All of us as a band, have been together long enough now and best mates for long enough now I think we know when we get our anxiety points at different points. So once we all cleared through that sort of fog and we were on stage that’s it. The crowd was amazing. It’s just been so good. The weather worked for us, tipping it down when we were playing *laughs*
So was this your first Download?
Mollie: Yes, well kind of…
Sean: Technically. We played the RIP stage a couple of years ago.
Mollie: Yeah but we have never been on the bill properly. We have never been on the t-shirt.
Sean: I’m gonna get one in a minute I think!
Mollie: Yeah you have got to! But yeah this is the first year where we are officially playing Download.
That’s awesome. What does it mean to you to play Download Festival?
Mollie: Eh…Everything!
Sean: It’s the dream. It’s like THE festival isn’t it?
Mollie: It’s the one we have all been going to for years separately before we knew each other before we were a band. I feel like it’s the festival to us as Kerrang was to us as a music channel, you know what I mean?
Sean: It is the biggest one
Mollie: It influenced us massively. We all would come separately and think, I need to f*cking do that one day!
You released a new single a few days ago (June 12th) Can you tell us a bit about that?
Mollie: Yeah! ‘Melancholia’. So we have actually been sitting on her for quite a while.
Sean: Long time now yeah
Mollie: We have been playing it for about a year and that is a problem we have to overcome. I get too excited and I’m like please can we play it? Before it’s out *laughs* Naughty, I need to stop that! *laughs*. It’s a song about disconnect in relationships. I feel like I have been going through that recently. The older you get, the more you naturally separate from friendships. And you’re fighting for it and you just got to realise there is a disconnect and that’s fine. I try and write about things that are a little bit more…
Sean: Prevalent in your life.
Mollie: Yeah and also left field but they are still subjects that everyone goes through.
Yeah, relatable.
Mollie: Yeah, not sexy but..*laughs* It’s happening!
We love that *laughs* Your last album, that was last year, wasn’t it?
Mollie: Yeah we released an EP last year…Time is an illusion at this point *laughs*. ‘Don’t Dream Too Much’ was a three-track EP we released which was ‘Permanent S m i l e’, ‘Sacrifice/Surrender’ and ‘Smother’. Maybe not in that order…
Sean: Yeah, I panicked there I was like which song?
Mollie: What’s the name of our band? *laughs*
So what was the inspiration behind ‘Don’t Dream Too Much’ or the theme?
Mollie: The theme was all about sleep and dream paralysis.
Oh, sleep paralysis is terrifying.
Mollie: I don’t actually suffer from it but Lauren who was the fifth member of Knife Bride, left at the start of the year. She’s actually my cousin, the love of my life. She suffers with it and I was always really intrigued by the idea of it and I have really in-depth dreams. I just wanted to write about something larger than life, I guess. That was the main influence subject-wise. Trying to write about something that none of us can really capture. When you wake up from a dream and you try to tell someone about it, you can’t quite grasp it, can you? So trying to put that into music felt easier than just spoken conversation.
So, is your latest single going to be a part of a new EP or album?
Sean: Can we say? *laughs*
Mollie: Em…yeah! You heard it here first folks *laughs* Yeah there is going to be a little trickle of stuff coming in from us. We are very excited about it. Again, it’s been an idea for a long long time. There is so much that we have been sitting on. We are a DIY band, so obviously we are self-funded. Everything is f*cking expensive *laughs*. So it’s just one thing at a time but we are eager and excited.
Sean: This is all we want isn’t it? As a band, releasing music and playing these shows.
Mollie: It’s hard when we’re not. We just have a little lull. We had this amazing tour with Vukovi in February and since then to be honest it’s been a bit of a lull. Were all just working at our day jobs and rehearsing, recording, and doing demons. But you sometimes feel like a non-musician so to be back in the great scheme of things it feels really good.
Yeah getting back in the groove.
Mollie: Yeah we are back in the groove! We are very excited to have a campaign behind us again.
Have you got more shows coming up this year then?
Sean: We have got 2000 Trees next month.
Mollie: It’s not a show but we have been nominated for two Heavy Music Awards so we will be there in August. Then September onwards we have things that we can’t discuss yet…
Just keep an eye on your socials.
Mollie: Yeah, absolutely
So, what’s the dream? What’s the future for Knife Bride?
Mollie: I think we would just love to do this full-time. That’s what we always say.
Sean: I just want to play music, write songs, release songs, and see how people react to it.
Mollie: See the world with your best mates!
Sean: On the last tour in November, we supported SKYND
Mollie: We went to ten different countries
Sean: More than that! We got to see so much of the world.
Mollie: All in a tiny little RV *laughs*
Sean: All in a tiny van *laughs*
Mollie: We were crammed but luckily we are all very in love with each other and also on the days where we are not so in love we are so close that we can just say don’t f*cking talk to me *laughs*.
What has been the highlight of your career so far? Anything that sticks in your mind that is memorable for you?
Sean: Today!
Mollie: Aww, Shaun you’re right!
Sean: 100% today, honestly. I was on stage nearly having a little cry. This is so…everything I have ever wanted!
Yeah, We can’t even imagine how you guys must feel. It’s amazing!
Mollie: The guitarist was saying to me, oh it’s just another gig just to try and get me in the headset but it’s so hard because it’s so not.
Sean: This is Download
Mollie: It’s Download! Every time we do a show you have to think it’s just another gig, try not to freak out! *laughs* but we have never played a festival.
Sean: Not to this extent, no.
Mollie: Yeah we have played much smaller ones.
Sean: This is the big one.
Mollie: This is a big boy *laughs*
Are you guys here for the rest of the weekend?
Mollie: We are here until Monday, baby!
Oh, excellent! Have you got any bands on your hit list this weekend?
Sean: I want to see Karnivool!
Mollie: I am absolutely desperate to see Fallout Boy. Baby Metal.
Sean: Baby Metal I really want to see! I’m kind of watching FranK Karter right now *laughs*
Mollie: Enter Shikari
Sean: Shikari is a big one! I can’t wait to see them
Mollie: I saw Make Them Suffer yesterday and they have been my highlight so far. They were so good! Of course, we are also here to work so whoever we see is a massive bonus. Also having some of these *gesturing towards her can of liquid death* and a couple of beers.
For your fans, what would you like to say to them?
Sean: Thank you for f*cking everything!
Mollie: Yeah, thank you for your support so far. It is quite wild to know that we have such an organic reach. We haven’t released in so long and we haven’t been on an editorial playlist for a while and our monthly listeners are still at twelve thousand and were like how is that happening? The fact that people came to that tent today. When I look out into the audience and people are singing our songs back to us I’m like, this is too much! Thank you for supporting our journey so far and we hope to make you proud.
Interview and photos by Aggy Gillon