Rising To The Masses: Convey

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Before the first riffs echo through the fields of Catton Park, we are diving head first into the pulse-pounding world of the New Blood Stage at Bloodstock 2024. So grab your backstage pass, tune your senses, and join us as we explore the stories, inspirations, and the relentless drive of the bands who are rising to the masses! Introducing Convey…

How would you describe your band to someone who’s never heard you?

I think Jack put it best when he described us as “Lingering teen angst and existential exasperation wrapped in electrical tape and barbed wire”. Basically angry vocals and big fuzzy riffs is our driving force!

Tell us about your band’s origin story. How did you all come together?

It started with Ollie and Jack writing songs in a bedroom back in 2018 but nothing came of it. Fast forward to last year and we reignited the project and dragged in our friends (Alex and Rob) for the Metal To The Masses competition in Cheltenham. The rest is history!

What song would you recommend for someone’s first listen of your band?

Describe your songwriting process. How do you create your music?

It varies a lot. Quite often it’ll start out as a riff from Ollie being sent into our group chat. We then sit down and work through it and hash out the last details in rehearsals. Some of our songs have continued to evolve long after we’ve debuted them live.

How do you handle creative disagreements within the band?

9 times out of 10 it’s a majority rules situation but sometimes with bigger choices we have big conversations and if we’re not all 100% in on it we’ll give it a miss. We’re all pretty laid back though so it never gets heated.

What are your musical influences?

There’s too many to mention! We all draw influences from so many different places. You’ll definitely hear some of the obvious big bands like Slipknot and Metallica but underneath that we love bands like Cane Hill, Stray From The Path and End. I’m sure if you asked each of us individually we could all come up with a list each!

What’s the story behind your band name?

It sort of just came out of nowhere, we had a shortlist of 4 or 5 and just went for the one that stuck with us. Nice and simple, nothing too deep and meaningful.

What’s your guilty pleasure music outside of metal?

We can’t call ours guilty because we all own them! We all have very varied music tastes that includes Pop, Jazz, RnB, and just about every other genre you could name. It all influences us in some way and we feel like it helps us develop our sound into a unique one.

Tell us about your most memorable live performance or tour experience.

It has to be the broken table at the Frog & Fiddle in Cheltenham in February this year. We opened a wall of death and when the dust settled there was a table at the edge that didn’t survive the carnage. There’s a picture of us holding some of the remains on instagram.

What’s the most challenging aspect of being a metal band in today’s music industry?

Keeping up with the pace of everything! As with a lot of smaller bands, we all have full time jobs and busy personal lives and being in a metal band can feel like another life on top of that sometimes. It’s a crazy lifestyle to choose but we wouldn’t have it any other way.

Any advice for other aspiring metal musicians?

Work hard and enjoy the journey. Keep going for the love of it

What’s next after Bloodstock for the band?

We’re currently recording our next release, hopefully we’ll be making an announcement about that in the coming months but we want to keep things simple. Keep playing live, keep releasing new music, keep growing and moving forward.

How do you choose album artwork or visuals for your releases?

Jack is our visual guy, he designs everything we use. We go for something that works well with the music and adds to it. Sometimes we see artwork and it doesn’t add up with what you’re hearing. We want it to be as cohesive as possible!

What’s the most unexpected inspiration for one of your songs?

There’s a couple of songs that we’re working on at the moment that really have a rhythmic feel that has a latin vibe. Unexpected but it sounds cool which is the most important thing.

What’s the best gig you’ve attended as a fan and why?

I think our answer would be different every time you asked us. Most bands put so much effort into their shows now and it pays off for all of them. We appreciate good production that bigger bands can do but sometimes you can’t beat something intimate that’s too the point without the bells and whistles.

Have you faced any challenges as an unsigned band? How do you overcome them?

Everything is a challenge when starting out. Getting promoters to take the chance on us and getting people to check out our music for the first time are things you just have to chip away at and accept that not every attempt you make is successful. Every choice and opportunity is a learning curve.

How do you stay motivated during creative slumps?

There’s nothing wrong in taking a break if burnout is kicking in. Sometimes that’s all it needs. Other times we go and find new music to spark new inspiration or we go back to what inspired us in the first place. It’s just a musical writer’s block and it’ll ease, it’s important not to force it though.

Convey are set to play The Hopical Storm New Blood Stage On Saturday 10th August 2024.