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They've been hailed as Best British Newcomers by Kerrang! They're famous fans include Fearne Cotton, Zane Lowe, and Nick Grimshaw (to name but a few), and they've been on the lips and in the ears of Radio 1 listeners for weeks, so what is it about While She Sleeps that has everyone talking? Music News caught up with two fifths of Britain's hottest metal band to talk about their new album, and why they're taking the world by storm.
Music News: How are you guys doing today?
While She Sleeps: We’re very good, but a little bit tired, we had to get up at half five, then we got stuck in traffic coming from Sheffield – as soon as we hit London we had four miles to go, but there was so much traffic.
MN: How long have you guys been together?
WSS: As a couple? [laughs] While She Sleeps have been together six years. Some of us were in the same group before, but as a different band, but then again we’ve been in and out of bands for ten years.
MN: And you’ve suddenly blown up now? How’s that?
WSS: Well it wasn’t sudden for us, we were playing locally for about four years, it’s taken a while, but we stuck at it, and now we are where we are.
MN: Has your sudden (or not sudden) popularity been overwhelming?
WSS: It’s been really overwhelming, but we’re just taking it in our stride. There’s so much going off, you just do one thing at a time, every week is full and different, you’re doing this then you’re doing that, and by the time you’ve finished and gotten use to it, there’s something else.
MN: Is this the kind of stardom you were aiming for when the band got together?
WSS: We weren’t really aiming for anything. Obviously you want to be successful and you’re like ‘Oh yeah I want to be in a big band’, but you don’t really expect things to go off quite the way I have – nobody really expects it, it just kind of happens. It’s been a steady process for about two years and then we got signed by Sony, which was incredible, but we’re just taking it all in right now.
MN: How have your live shows changed from before you blew up to now?
WSS: We don’t play to ten people anymore [laughs]. Mostly we just get the opportunity to play to more people, because we get to go on tour with bigger bands. For example, a couple of years ago we did a headline tour, and played to about 20 people a night, then a year later when we’d just got signed to Sony, we were selling out 400 capacity rooms, which was really cool. You just get better and you learn things whilst you’re on tour, and everything just gets better – it’s amazing.
MN: Kerrang! has called you the best new British band, that’s a big accolade to live up to, how do you feel about that?
WSS: I think we’ll live up to it, it feels like the right time for us. We’ve always wanted this, and we’re going to give it our best shot. The award is something that we really wanted last year, but we didn’t get it, so to get it this year is great, and to be able to go to the awards and then win, that was great, afterwards we got drunk.
MN: Tell us about your takeover of Radio 1, it’s been epic!
WSS: It’s been amazing! It’s pretty much played on all of the shows except Chris Moyles. Fearne Cotton played us at 11AM, and we get repped all the time, it's absolute gold. Scott Mills has played us; and Nick Grimshaw as well. It’s weird to hear that kind of heavy music on at the time of the day, but it’s time for a change, and it’s time to create some diversity. There have been a lot of split opinions in the country, but we like that, we get a buzz off of it. People phone in and say that they hate it and that it sounds like a cat screaming, but then other people are like ‘I haven’t heard this band before, this is really cool’.
MN: Do you think having your music played on such a commercial station and so early will help expand your fan base?
WSS: Definitely! There will be people driving to work, or people that won’t admit to liking such heavy music, but when they’re on their own they rock out in the car. It’ll gain us more fans, because at least one of the shows, Fearne Cotton’s I think, has about 4million viewers, so we’d hope that at least one person out of that 4million will become a fan – if they don’t then we’re probably doing a pretty bad job.
MN: So how do you think you’re different and how will you convert people they don’t like metal?
WSS: I don’t think we’re a typical metal band, yeah it is screaming, but we’ve got good melodies as well. A lot of people get angry, everyone does, and listening to our music gets that out. Even if you forget the screaming, I think there’s something in our music for everyone, there’s different parts of the album, or the song, with some bits being melodic, some bits being heavy, so there’s something for everyone.
MN: There’s a lot of screaming, how do you keep your voices in tact?
WSS: Both our singers have lots of exercises they do backstage to warm up; it’s a little annoying actually. They also have lots of honey and tea, so that helps. Singing like that is such a hard thing to do, it’s an art and it takes a lot of work, but they’ve been doing it for years, so they’re use to it, but it’s definitely a skill. We kind of do want people to listen a bit more though, and know that it’s an art and it’s a skill and it’s not just screaming, it’s about being passionate, it’s just louder than singing.
MN: Can you tell us a bit about it your debut album This Is The Six?
WSS: Writing the album was great, but it was quite new to us, we’d never been in such a great studio before. Our guitarist would usually write the riffs and then bring them to us. We recorded all the instruments separately, but it was a great experience, because we’d never been in a proper music studio before, we’d always just recorded everything ourselves – it was a crazy experience, but it was the best thing ever!
MN: What’s your favourite song from the album?
WSS: It’s hard to say, we like all of them, we’re constantly listening to it, making sure it still sounds alright, but the more you listen to it, the more your favourite song changes. Dead Behind The Eyes is a favourite, but also Our Courage, Our Cancer, but we like them all.
MN: What’s been your favourite part of this process so far? So much has happened this year, has anything been a standout moment for you?
WSS: This year, the Kerrang! Awards was amazing and winning was great, then getting pissed, but then we had Download festival the next day, and that was the biggest crowd we’ve ever played to. We had a great slot, which was around 6PM in the evening, so it was absolutely amazing, one of the best shows we’ve ever played. I think we finished that and we were all on a total high – so yeah, probably Download Festival.
MN: So what’s the next step?
WSS: There isn’t really a plan, we’re just going to keep doing what we’re doing, and hoping that more people like it. We just want to play in bigger places, hopefully write a new album after this one, and just keep going – maybe take over the world [laughs]. We’d love to play in more countries too. We’ve only played in the UK, Europe, Scandinavia and Australia, so going to more places around the world would be great.
MN: What would you want to be your next big career achievement?
WSS: Maybe Warp Tour, we’d love to do that next year. If we achieved Warp Tour, that would be the best thing – it’s a few months worth of festivals in America, so it would be amazing – eventually we want to start playing arenas as well. It’s a long way away, it might not be in the near future, but we’d love to do that eventually.
While She Sleeps' debut album This Is The Six is out August 13th
Visit www.WSSofficial.com for more info
ON THE RISE
Clinton Brand III – better known as CBIII – is a California-based rapper. His new single, titled “I Won’t Quit,” is a motivational and relatable message for everyone “going through it.”
The track, with a beat by Tunna Beats, has a Blurry Face vibe. It starts with a violin and the soft “ahh”s of featured singer Alex Brinkley. When the beat drops, piano, bass and drums enter along with CBIII’s lyrical meditations on “overthinking, contemplating, and debating” why he “won’t quit.”
As the final line makes clear, the song is a study in contradictory mindsets. There’s the fear of failure – what if I’m not good enough? – and then the contrast of relentlessness as stated in the title.
The lyrics of the song’s final quattrain are especially strong. Beginning with an example of CBIII’s wordplay (phenomenal and astronomical anomaly), the final message is one of inspiration: I’m tired of this, so I’m going to make it better.
This struggle with nagging self-doubt and overthinking makes “I Won’t Quit” very relatable. In the end, CBIII wants listeners to be inspired, to not give in when they find themselves in similar circumstances.
Brand’s inspiration for “I Won’t Quit” was intensely personal. Following the death of his parents at a young age, he was raised by his grandmother and then was placed in foster care. A recent visit found his grandmother’s memory fading; this was painful, considering that she had once been his biggest supporter.
This episode left him feeling abandoned, in a dark place.
He says, “I wrote the song ‘I Won’t Quit’ because at that time I was suicidal. I didn’t have nobody else to turn to because my grandma didn’t really care anymore.”
The vulnerability expressed in the lyrics made CBIII unsure if he wanted to release the song at all. He says, “I actually sat on the song for like five months before even thinking about releasing it because it’s so close to home that I wasn’t even sure if I was going to have the courage to share it.”
Now that the song is out, its vulnerability is its strength. Brand’s struggle is real, and the general contours – missing family support, doubting yourself, knowing you need to persevere – will be familiar to many.
In addition to his personal desire to live up his dream of greatness, Brand has another reason not to give up: his younger brother, who is currently in foster care. Knowing his brother looks up to him, he wants to remind him that giving in to doubt is the easy way out.
Brand says, “I want to encourage him, to show him that if you set your mind to it, bro, there’s nothing you can’t do.”
In the end, CBIII wants listeners to learn from his pain, to ask themselves, “What if I don’t give up?”
Stream “I Won’t Quit” now, wherever you listen to music.
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