Please tell us about the history of your band and its members.
The band has been going for ten years and in that time has seen a number of line-up changes. I am the only original member but the band was started by me, so has always been steered in a similar fashion. The members of the band at the moment are Gareth Arlett from Amputated, Addam Westlake from Striga and Mike Hitchen from The Drowning though we do have another member lined up. In ten years we have recorded 8 albums and 2 split albums. We have toured in the UK and Europe and have recently provided a soundtrack to a Neil Johnson movie.
How would you describe your style? Which bands influenced your music?
We play death/doom but with a lot of other influences ranging from medieval music to black metal. We have recorded an ambient album and 2 acoustic albums (one was a double album with one metal side and one acoustic side). We were very much influenced by the early death/doom bands and also by traditional doom like Trouble. Alternative bands like Bauhaus and Dead Can Dance are big influences as well as 70s folk rock and rock music. Leonard Cohen was also an early influence on the band.
Why should a metalhead buy your demos/albums?
We don't just try to be extreme or particularly original but rather let each song become something of a unique entity rather than just recording an album that sounds the same from start to finish. The albums cover a lot of ground musically and are very much based on real and personal experiences and the experiences of others around us, so they are played with conviction and emotion. This has always been more important to us than musical virtuosity. People who listen closely to the music rather than just dipping into it, seem to find a lot of comfort from it; after all we all go through some very difficult times and it helps to know other people have been there before is.
What have you released so far and how were your releases received by the public/media?
Shadow of Sorrow was our debut, this was followed by the double album The Anatomy of Melancholy (named after the Robert Burton book, not the Paradise Lost album which came out after this). A Garland of Tears followed this. The next album was Et Lux Perpetua and then the line-up changes started meaning there was a bit of a gap for a while. We next released the metal album Silver Under Midnight and Preservation Restoration Reconstruction which was an acoustic album. The next album was Eye of The Needle which has only been download so far. The latest album is Damnatio Memoriae due out this month. We have done three albums on vinyl including a different mix of Et Lux called And Everlasting Light. We plan to do a vinyl of Damnatio. The two split albums were about 4 years apart and were Black Lights and Silent Roads with The Drowning and Empyrean Rose with Pylon. We have also released some live material and rare stuff. Four promo vids have been made over the years by Andrew Spencer, a director based in Erdington, Birmingham, where I used to live. The reviews have been many and have ranged from average to very good indeed over the years. One highlight was a Kerrang! review for Garland which awarded the album 4ks.
Do you play live as well? How's your live activity so far?
We started playing live after the release of the second album. We had some issues at first as our drummer had injured his wrist. He went on to doing vocals with me and the studio engineer from the place where we recorded the earlier stuff became our drummer. Over the years, even with many line-up changes we have played live as regularly as possible, sometimes having to get things together very quickly and sometimes swapping people around as when we played Doom Over London for the second time and our other guitarist was ill, so our old bassist filled in with some keyboards. Old band members have been known to return for live performances and recordings from time to time.
What should labels/zines/promoters know about your band? Why should they be interested in it?
We are an underground UK metal band that has worked very hard against a lot of problems and very little budget over the years. We keep doing this for the love of it. We have no interest in making money or becoming well known and we have a nice solid fan base which we have aquired over the years. We play to the best of our abilities and do the best performances we can. We steer clear of bullshit and we are too old to pretend to be rock stars.
What plans do you have for the near future as a band?
The Pledge Music project is going well so we hope this will happen. If it does, it means a vinyl and cassette release of Damnatio. We have a couple of fests lined up including Mammothfest in Brighton and Hollowfest in Bristol. We are booked to support Draconian in London in August. We hope to put out a live album and a ten year anniversary compilation later this year or next year and we have signed with a Dutch promoter.
Where can we listen to your band and where can we buy your stuff?
You can listen on our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0brxIqwp7_Ia7jxCr45llg
Our Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MySilentWake/app_2405167945?ref=page_internal
Bandcamp: https://mysilentwake1.bandcamp.com/ buy or stream.
Reverbnation: https://www.reverbnation.com/mysilentwake
Merch can also be bought here: http://mysilentwake.bigcartel.com/
and here: http://stonegrooverecords.spreadshirt.com/my-silent-wake-C196488
July 2015