In advance to their European tour with Coldburn and In Circles, which kicks off on April 5th in Bocholt, Belgium, we thought it would be nice to have a chat with the guys in Brutality Will Prevail. 2012 was a rowdy for the band with the release of their latest record Scatter the Ashes and the departure of singer Ajay Jones. Guitarist Ash Gray filled us in on the current situation.
Hi there! First and foremost, how are you?
“We’re all well and chillin thank you.”
You’ve been doing some extensive touring, got a Southeast Asia tour coming up, not to mention Download. I can’t help but feel that for a band that started out so small that these are big events for Brutality Will Prevail as a band. What do you think has been the driving force to have made is this far and how do you feel about it?
“Yeah we’re really stoked on all on this as of Thursday coming up we will be leaving for Europe, Japan, Australia, SE Asia and China. We never thought we’d get the chance to do things like this so we’re real stoked/chuffed about this. As a band were just recording records, playing shows/festivals and doing the tours we were offered. The more tours and records we did the more and more we wanted to keep pushing.”
Since the hardcore community got wind of Ajay’s departure from the band and Louie from Breaking Point called upon to sing in his place, there have been a lot of people with different opinions and feelings concerning the change in vocalists. How do you feel the change has affected the band and the music, and what kind of new things does Louie bring to the table?
“Everyone is going to have a opinion on the situation that’s just the way it goes. The change hasn’t affected anything to be honest, Louis is a good friend and we’re glad he wants to do this with us. We will start writing again after we have finished these tours coming which we are all real excited about, Louis has brought a lot of new fresh ideas to the band and is always suggesting new things, both on and off stage, all the time.”
“Scatter The Ashes” has brought some new, unexpected material to the table that people weren’t expecting from BWP initially, with some faster paced songs and overall being more experimental then your previous work. What can we expect musically from BWP in the future?
“Scatter The Ashes we tried something new with upping the pace on the record in general as well as the fast songs. Next record we will be trying to put more unexpected material on it, as well as keeping the same sound of course!”
Since its birth in the early 80’s, the genre of hardcore has grown from simple hardcore punk to a much broader term, describing bands with a similar mindsets but vastly different sounds together. Brutality Will Prevail has one of the darkest and one of the more unique sounds in modern hardcore. What do you think about where hardcore stands today as a genre and how do you incorporate different musical elements into it?
“I think at this present time there are so many different genres in general and in hardcore so really there are so many sounds in one genre itself. You have straight up hardcore bands, you have power violence bands, you have melodic hardcore bands, then even the darker style like ourselves. There are many more but the list would be never ending. People have loads of different influences and I think sometimes that can be the result of the sound of a band.”
Internet and modern social media has brought the worldwide hardcore community closer than never before. What are your thoughts on the pro’s and cons of social media in the hardcore scene?
“Pro’s – I would say it’s a massive help for bands starting off it’s so simple to just upload your demo online and get people listening to your band, as well show promotion is massive online that pretty much is the only way to find out about shows these days. General updates on bands, merch stores loads of other things really. Con’s – Maybe too much ‘discussion’ sometimes haha.
Your release ”Sleep Paralysis” is one of the more distinct releases BWP has under their belt, taking a distinct leap from what ”Root Of All Evil” was at that time. What was the inspiration and thought process behind the creating and writing of ”Sleep Paralysis?”
“Sleep Paralysis, we had the theme and basically wanted to write three songs around this concept, which was really cool and something new for us to do. It was kind of a Pink Floyd/Ambient with our sound put into one, which was how these three songs come out.”
Finally, what can we expect from BWP in the future?
“We will be playing more shows/tours and start writing for a new release after all these tours are finished!”
So, make sure to attend any of the shows near you to see Brutality Will Prevail scatter the ashes of each stage. Go here for all dates.
Legends Arising 
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