Heavy music is going through a transformative time right now with acts having to work hard to impress increasingly discerning fans. The music needs to be not just memorable but also easily distinguishable. It needs personality. Step forward Cage Fight who on new album ‘Exuvia’ have taken their hardcore roots and built something truly unique. Gary Trueman chatted to singer Rachel Aspe and guitarist James Monteith about the new record, the writing process and their progression as a band.
New album ‘Exuvia’ is a massive step forward from your first album in many ways. It’s also an interesting and pertinent title too, the shedding of an odd exoskeleton or skin to make way for a new one to be revealed. Was that the thought behind it?
Rachel: “Yes, it has a lot of meaning. It’s a new us.”
James: “It’s a rebirth. We did the first album where we worked together for six months and recorded it. It was a real vibe thing where we just went with the flow. We’ve got to know each other as musicians a lot more since then. In a weird way ‘Exuvia’ in terms of the band is the starting point of us taking it seriously and having a vision for a project.”
It’s interesting that you say you’re taking it seriously now because you sounded like you were taking it seriously years ago. You can hear and feel the maturing of the sound. You’ve kept your core sound but have built on it. Do you feel that’s the maturing of you all as individual musicians and getting to know each other better as well?
James: “Yes I think so. A big part of it is us maturing together and understanding each other more musically. We all work together very well and understand how to get things out of each other. It’s the maturing of the relationship as four people.”
The themes within the songs on the new album are very personal and carry a lot of gravitas with them but also remain generally positive. People are going to relate to them in different ways. Was it important to get that personal stuff out as a part of the creative process?
Rachel: “It was the first time I wanted to write lyrics, and I can only write about personal stuff. This is what I am best at. I want to tell my stories and write in a way that people can relate to them too, not too much in the detail but in the themes. Every song has come from a personal story.”
There are a couple of songs we would like to highlight. The first we’re sure women everywhere will relate to and that’s ‘Pig’ which is about men sending unsolicited messages online. The song in a way gives women an opportunity to put their hands up and say me too.
Rachel: “Yes, most women are too shy to talk about it. They are scared. It’s a sensitive subject. I feel it helps more to talk about it. People need to keep talking about it and sharing.”
Are things improving at all or is it just as bad as it was?
Rachel: “It’s just the same, there are just new pervy people.”
James: “You had one the other day Rachel didn’t you?”
Rachel: “Yes. It just isn’t stopping.”
It’s important to get it out there to make people realise this shit has got to stop.
Rachel: “Yes!”
The title track was written alongside Rachel’s grandmother who contributed to the lyrics. She sounds like an amazing lady.
Rachel: “She is. She’s always been very supportive of my music. When I told her we have a new album, she was going through radiotherapy, and I asked if she wanted to participate. She was really excited to tell her story, very proud. So, she gave me the words, a list of words, and we put it together to make a song. She is also talking in the song. That’s really nice.”
Is she really into the music too, into the band?
Rachel: “Yes, she goes onto YouTube and finds the songs.”
That’s amazing, a wonderful story in itself. Within this album and compared to the previous one how has the writing process evolved. Did you do anything different this time around?
James: “It definitely organically became more of a team effort. The first album was a team effort but from starting the band to going into the studio was only six months with the last record. There were a lot of pre-written ideas and lots of material that we just formed into the songs that made the first album, whereas on this record everything was written from scratch with everyone bringing their own elements together. The ideas started off similar to the previous album with me having some demos that I’d made and would share and then develop. A couple of the songs were also developed musically by Will (Horsman – bass) and Nick (Plews – drums) coming up with the raw ideas together in a rehearsal room, the old fashioned way. The title track, most of that was Will and Nick and then Rachel and I came in later to add our bits on it. So everyone has made a big contribution to making this record sound how it does.”
So do band members sometimes put their hand up after hearing something on a demo or in a rehearsal studio and say actually I’ve got something that might work with this?
James: “All the time. Like the song ‘Pig’, that actually started with a drum idea Nick had. He’d written a few drum patterns and I was playing around with a riff but didn’t have a rhythm for it. Then when he sent me the drums I knew the riff would work here and I could time it so it works with his pattern. That was how the beginning of ‘Pig’ came out. There are a lot of moments like that where someone will have an idea and then someone else will add to it.”
Bass player Will Horsman is the newest member of Cage Fight. What impact has he had joining the band, what does he bring?
James: “He’s brought loads. Musically he’s brought loads of great ideas, like with ‘Exuvia’ and the structure of that song. He also contributed some lyrics as well. He’s also very good at booking hotels and posting out merch. He’s come in with a level of enthusiasm where he wants to do absolutely everything and help the band. There’s lots of admin and stuff being in a band and Will has dived right in as much as he can to help. He’s a massively brilliant addition to the band.”
So what off stage roles do the other band members have to keep the wheels turning smoothly?
James: “We all have our other roles. Rachel is basically in charge of all our social media, planning our content and making sure everything is presentable. Nick does our PRS (Performing Right Society) admin and booking our rehearsals. I do a lot of the overall planning, dealing with management, dealing with booking agents, all that kind of stuff.”
Rachel, your vocals have changed over the last few years and on the new album you get to show off a much wider range of vocal styles. There are some real stand out wow moments that will show people how far you have come. Do you feel that yourself?
Rachel: “Thank you. I think before I wanted to keep my old influences and keep my hardcore voice, because before we were more a hardcore band. And now, I found this voice which is more angry. I was a bit shy to use it at first because I didn’t know if it would fit the songs. But as the songs have evolved I have been able to use that voice and try new things. I have completely changed my technique. Sometimes I still have a bit of that voice from before. I also wanted to do a bit of clean singing because I there are emotional parts that needed it. I tried to do as much as I could on this album.”
You do mix it up on ‘Exuvia’. We are seeing bands mixing up vocal styles and here you are doing all of it yourself which is still not common. You’re doing clean singing, and also vocal fry which is more rocky as well as the growls and screams. People are going to appreciate more just how good a singer you are when they hear this record. What do you do to look after your voice, both when touring and when you’re off tour?
Rachel: “Thank you. I need to be very careful. I need to sleep a lot. If I sleep less my voice becomes more fragile. I also eat very well and try to eat healthily. There are so many things I do every day. I spend an hour a day exercising. On tour I have to do warm ups.”
It’s good to hear and a good example to set for any newcomers entering music as singers. So many think they can just sing or scream into a microphone and they can just do it without warming up or maintenance. Doing it healthily is important isn’t it?
Rachel: “Some people can do it without warming up, but me, I guess we’re all different.”
What are your plans for the rest of the year?
James: “We have an album release show on Friday May 1st at Blondies in London which hopefully will be sold out. We’re doing Dark Reign Festival, Radar Festival and Beast Fest. After the summer we’re looking at touring options as we want to get out to as many places as possible. So watch this space for touring.”
So just for fun to wrap things up, we thought we’d do a variation of name three items to summon me. So Rachel what three things would you need to summon James and then James what three things would bring Rachel to you?
Rachel: “A kebab, a beer and my dog because James likes my dog.”
James: “For Rachel, a cup of mushroom tea or some form of herbal tea, protein power and some supplements to stop other people’s farts from smelling.”
Haha! That must be a tour bus issue?
James: “It can be even though we try to behave.
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Interview by Gary Trueman
Photos by A Ford