Annial

In keeping with the tone and style of Blood-River (And to reinforce viewers opinions that I have totally fucking lost it, I'll turn you over to our resident interviewer, Dave, who happens to be a baby seal.

Over to you Dave.

Thanks Koil.

Okay first question -
What advice would you give to a new extreme metal band who wants to gig in Birmingham?

(Morgan, vocals)
well the best advice I could give really is to practice hard before considering gigs, you want to be at your best! and you also want to know the songs that your playing like the back of your hand, after getting the song side done and the music done, make sure people know who the fuck you are, start it small though, that way its kinda subliminal and you will stick in peoples minds, then of course there is the factor of GETTING an actual gig, sign up to a promoter who puts on gigs and gig with them for a while and make sure you put on an amazing show, the more amazing shows you do, the more people come to see you, the more money is made for the promoter, the more he’ll want you to play and headline, the more you get known, which could eventually lead to you putting on your own shows and making a profit for yourselves.
Well that’s a crash course really in a few things I have learnt over the years, I hope I haven’t dragged on ha-ha

Morgan (annial vox)

That's a great piece of advice there Morgan, would you say that there is a decent metal scene in Birmingham?

I think that there is a lot of talent out there just waiting to be brought out and recognized by the punters and music fans of Birmingham. But at the moment it’s the loyal fans of metal that are keeping it going, everyone else is into this emo and indie stuff. So sometimes a metal band really needs to make something big to be noticed! The Birmingham metal scene will start to hotten up I think, I do hope its sooner rather than later.

The fans, bands and venues need to find each other and not just in Birmingham neither, it needs to be throughout the UK, which is really the reason for Blood-River.
Where have you played live?

I have played Edwards’s no.8 extensively, Madhouse studios, the actress and bishop pub, and digbeth market tavern and a few schools in and around the Solihull area. but I mostly played in Birmingham, this was with my old band Ashtureth who split up after the tragic loss of our drummer Luke Weston R.I.P. with annial we have only done 1 gig and that was at the madhouse studio, it was a great night because it was organized really well by Simon who works there, he’s putting on a metal night every few weeks I think and its a great laugh and a really amazing venue, I would recommend it to any blossoming metal band out there or any older metal bands as well!

So how did Annial come about?

Annial started a while back, I was at a band practice with my old band when I saw an add wanting a metal singer so I applied, I rang the dude called Ian who would later on become the lead guitarist in annial, he said that the band I had applied for weren’t really gonna go anywhere but that he had another band * Annial * that needed a singer and bassist, I said I would play bass and sing for the band, after the first practice with me as vocals and bass, Jon as rhythm guitar and Ian as lead and Bryan on drums I saw potential. later on we found that Bryan could not keep up on drums with Ian’s and Jon’s guitar playing, so I asked a good friend ash if he would be our drummer and he accepted, after one practice ash left annial to pursue further things with his other band Cerberus, I then asked another good friend tom Collins if he wouldn’t mind helping us out and he accepted, I then decided that to get the most out of me as a front man I should get another bassist in instead of myself, so I roped in Matt Lewis from my old band.....and with that annial was complete

Where do you see yourself in five years?

If annial stay together for that long and stick at the hard work I think we could be supporting signed bands and getting our music to higher levels

As you have mentioned signed band support, I've been to a few gigs where the support acts just get ignored by the crowd. Has this happened to you if so who and when?

We were the first band on at the gig at madhouse and we got the best response out of all the bands that played, after we played most the people left. It was a great gig in all

That is incredible, When I've gone to see signed bands, most folks stay at the bar or just ignore the support altogether.
The Madhouse, Excuse me here but I'm nearly pissed and I can't remember where the Madhouse is. Give us some details about it.

It’s situated in a very convenient place in Birmingham. not too far away from sound control and all the other music shops, which also coincidently is quite near to kerrang radio, it is also pretty near snow hill train station so it isn’t much of a walk from the train to the studio, all in all its THE rehearsal studio that I would recommend to any band out there in Birmingham.

Well when I get around to finding the gigs in Brum, I'll make sure I get the Madhouse mapped.

Ok, now tell me a bit about yourself, you know the score, age, musical taste, stuff you like to watch, make this bit as big or as small as you wish.

ha-ha, well here goes,
I grew up listening to bands like nirvana, joy division, the cult, the cure, black Sabbath, you get the jist of it, I listened to them from I was born to be honest, my mom and dad were a big influence in the early days to what I listened to. as I grew up I started listening to a lot of rap and some rock, like Eminem Dr dre the Gorillaz but still listening to nirvana and Sabbath, then I got to about 11 years old and I discovered metal, and fuck me, it took its teeth and sunk em in and dug its roots right into my heart and brain. Since then it’s been metal mainly, but my other great love is for Indie music, it’s just summat different for me to listen to.

I watch cartoons mainly, the Simpsons, family guy, the grim adventures of Billy and Mandy, the fairly odd parents. And top gear of course. I also watch jackass dirty Sanchez and viva la bam. And any skate videos as I do a lot of skateboarding. I’m 17 now and I think I’ve picked a lot up about people in that time, its helped having the people around me that I’ve had. my big time heroes are My dad and my big brother, they look after me and are just my heroes without them I wouldn’t be who I am today and for that I’m so very thankful.

my musical influences as a front man are Anders Friden from in flames mike and Justin from SikTh and Kurt Cobain ( I bet you saw that last one coming eh.? ha-ha) I believe Kurt was an amazing front man because he became an enigma and a mystery and I think that’s what a front man needs. I’m a loving guy, but also a very hateful one, I love those who I know and are close to...but if I don’t know someone then I spose the case is they are guilty till proven innocent in my books of being an asshole ha-ha. That’s quite a bit about me there, ha-ha

If you could go back in time, say about 50 years, would you attempt to change anything?

Not really, I believe in the chaos theory and that everything is the way it is for a reason

Ok, last question for you sire.

If you woke up one day to find that the government had banned all forms of metal and it was now compulsory to listen to synth-pop bands, what would you do?

Well I'm sure all the great metal bands would all join together and unite everyone who loves metal and we would rise against the government and I think we would kinda wopp some ass....make iron maiden the new parliament!