Push to Fire: Alternative Music Webzine

Push to Fire Interview: This Distance
This Distance are a hardcore-metal band from Wales. To date they've played gigs with Eternal Lord, Trigger the Bloodshed and Your Demise, establishing themselves firmly in the underground metal scene.
Nath and Scott spoke to Push to Fire in March 2009, revealing details of a tour for July, info about their new release and their thoughts on the Welsh alternative music scene.

How did This Distance form?
SCOTT: The band basically formed from the ashes of a band called The Descent. Back then we were playing Death Metal, something most of the band was not entirely happy about, so with the decision to follow a more melodic path, and with the addition of new guitarist Paul, we chose to start completely afresh with a new name, and a new sound. This Distance has existed in its current form for about 8 busy months!

This Distance by Marianne Harris

Who do you draw inspiration from?
NATH: We draw inspiration from a number of different bands. Musically we are influenced by the likes of It Prevails, Bury Your Dead, For The Fallen Dreams, Emmure and Misery Signals, who are all American bands that we feel pioneer the modern Metal/Hardcore sound. Our aim is with This Distance is to do our best to develop this sound with a melodic twist. Because we take influence from so many different bands it's impossible to name just one or two influences, and in that way we really have a sound that is our own.
I think it's safe to say that everybody is well and truly sick of all the bands out there ripping off the Black Dahlia Murder thing. It's old and it's stale. Bands like Architects and Bring Me The Horizon are helping people get with the times with their new material, and hopefully our upcoming EP will make a contribution in making sure Metal & Hardcore stays fresh and exciting too!
Do you tend to listen to a lot of bands that play the same genre of music as yourselves or not? (which bands do you like to listen to in your spare time?)
NATH: Well, yes and no really. We come from backgrounds based in the Hardcore scene, so we listen to a lot of Hardcore as well as Melodic Metal bands. For me recently, the new Architects album 'Hollow Crown' has been getting a lot of rotation. When you play heavy music so much, sometimes it is nice to listen to stuff you can chill out to as well, so it's not uncommon for Set Your Goals or New Found Glory to find their way onto the stereo either.

There are a lot of bands coming out of Wales at the moment and making it big (e.g. The Blackout, Attack Attack), how does it feel to be part of the Welsh music scene?
SCOTT: Yeah, I definitely agree with you - South Wales has been producing great bands for years. You've got the obvious names like Lost Prophets, Funeral For A Friend, Kids In Glass Houses, and more recently, like you say bands like The Blackout. These are all bands that are big in the mainstream, but if you dig a little deeper you can find so many more great bands, just check out Save Your Breath or Brutality Will Prevail and see what I mean. Maybe there's something in the water in South Wales haha, who knows?
How would you say you differ from the other bands coming out of Wales?
NATH: That's an interesting question... For us, I really feel that we've had to work that much harder to get where we are now. It might suprise you, but we've only just started winning over crowds in Wales, which is fucking weird because when we play anywhere else in the UK we get crazy reactions haha!

This Distance new record

You have quite a few dates listed on your MySpace but not really a 'tour' due to the dates being quite spaced out. Would you say you prefer to do one off shows or full tours, and why? Any plans for a tour in the future (support or headline)?
SCOTT: That's only because we haven't announced the tours we have lined up for the summer! I can tell you that we have an 8 day UK tour supporting Many Things Untold of Rising Records in July, which is yet to be announced properly, and also might get extended to a few dates in Belgium too. Apart from that tour, we're trying to leave our summer as free as possible, so we can play some more tours which are being organised. Until we've played a full tour, I can't really answer the question of whether we prefer one-off shows or tours. All-dayers are always a lot of fun though!
You're also playing shows with quite a few different bands - which shows (and bands) in particular do you think we should we check out and why?
NATH: Definitely. I think that's the best thing about the band - you can stick us on any kind of lineup and we'll go down well, which is reflected by the variation of bands we're booked to play with.
Shows we're looking forward to are the all-dayer we're playing with Postmortem Promises in Newport TJs on the 30th of May, and Glasgow Metalfest on the 15th of August with It Prevails, The Eyes Of A Traitor, Your Demise and more. That show's going to be especially insane because none of us have ever been to Scotland before, and we don't know how we'll go down, so we should probably all play wearing kilts and no underwear haha... Those shows and the tour with Many Things Untold in July. In terms of bands you should check out: Staring At Mirrors, Heart In Hand, More Than Life
'The Reality, The Perfection' is set to be released at the end of the month. Is this your first record?
SCOTT: This EP is going to be the band's first proper release yeah. It's going to be out on March 23rd via iTunes - make sure you go buy it because we're all poor!
How did you find the whole recording process - did it take long to get all the tracks recorded? Was it fun?
SCOTT: Yeah for real, it was a lot of fun. We'd had a bad experience at a studio in Wales before, where they basically ripped us off and the outcome was shit, so to work with a friend who I have known for years was really refreshing for us and he did such a sick job. We’ll always want to work with Stu (Studio 6) and don’t think there is many other places in the UK today that do a much better job in recording metal, so we thank him so much for the hard work and time/dedication he put in for us. Everything fell in to place smoothly - it was as if the EP was a jigsaw meant to be slotted together. The whole process was pretty jokes, we spent 7 days just hanging out and having a good time together, so certainly, it was a great time for us and we just cant wait to go back there and work for a good solid few weeks next time round.
How long did it take to write the record and what can we expect from it?
SCOTT: It took about 5 months to write the record. Once Paul joined the band on guitar, we got into the task of writing immediately, I guess it just felt really natural. We're really happy with the songs on the EP, they're all written and recorded so well we couldn't ask for anything more. Expect heaviness and melody in equal measure, with off-chord breakdowns to blow your brains out your arse.
Nath (bass) joined the band in December. How quickly has he been able to pick up the songs and is he still in TJM?
SCOTT: Yeah we decided to add Nath in quite soon after we felt things weren't working out with our previous bassist, just due to the fact we knew him already as a solid dude and knew he’d fit right in, be committed, and be able to create and write with us. It really only took 1 practice with him to pick up the bulk of our set - the rest he figured out by ear, seeing as we already had the recording of the EP back. Sadly TJM are no longer, but when he first joined he was still playing in them. They were a real good band and we knew it could be tough for him to remain committed to both bands, but we took the risk, and it definitely paid off. The current lineup is the strongest we've ever had, and we're all super excited for the future.
What are your plans for the summer?
Basically to tour as much as we can. We've already got a UK tour with Many Things Untold for July, and we're in the middle of organising a couple more. We want to get out there and play to as many cities as we can! Paul and Nath are in uni, so the summer is pretty much the largest break they have, so we want to make it as busy as possible. Above all we want to be having fun - I can't think of anything i'd rather be doing with my summer than spending it with my best mates, travelling round the country in the back of a van playing shows!
Tell us one thing you want to have achieved by the end of 2009
NATH: Haha, many big things I hope. Hitting up Europe at some point would definitely be an achievement for us. Securing ourselves a record deal would be the icing on the cake too! We're just gonna be working our arses off in general to make sure that we make these things happen. It's going to be a busy year, but we've all got good feelings about it, and i'm sure we'll nail every challenge that we come across.

Thanks to James M for organising this interview and to Scott and Nath for taking the time to answer Suzy's questions. Photo by Marianne Harris and record cover image courtesy of the band/James M. For more on the band and the latest info on forthcoming tour dates: http://www.myspace.com/thisdistanceuk

Push to Fire Interview: This Distance This Distance are a hardcore-metal band from Wales. To date they've played gigs with Eternal Lord, Trigger the Bloodshed and Your Demise, establishing themselves firmly in the underground metal scene. Nath and Scott spoke to Push to Fire in March 2009, revealing details of a tour for July, info about their new release and their thoughts on the Welsh alternative music scene.
How did This Distance form? SCOTT: The band basically formed from the ashes of a band called The Descent. Back then we were playing Death Metal, something most of the band was not entirely happy about, so with the decision to follow a more melodic path, and with the addition of new guitarist Paul, we chose to start completely afresh with a new name, and a new sound. This Distance has existed in its current form for about 8 busy months!
Who do you draw inspiration from? NATH: We draw inspiration from a number of different bands. Musically we are influenced by the likes of It Prevails, Bury Your Dead, For The Fallen Dreams, Emmure and Misery Signals, who are all American bands that we feel pioneer the modern Metal/Hardcore sound. Our aim is with This Distance is to do our best to develop this sound with a melodic twist. Because we take influence from so many different bands it's impossible to name just one or two influences, and in that way we really have a sound that is our own. I think it's safe to say that everybody is well and truly sick of all the bands out there ripping off the Black Dahlia Murder thing. It's old and it's stale. Bands like Architects and Bring Me The Horizon are helping people get with the times with their new material, and hopefully our upcoming EP will make a contribution in making sure Metal & Hardcore stays fresh and exciting too! Do you tend to listen to a lot of bands that play the same genre of music as yourselves or not? (which bands do you like to listen to in your spare time?) NATH: Well, yes and no really. We come from backgrounds based in the Hardcore scene, so we listen to a lot of Hardcore as well as Melodic Metal bands. For me recently, the new Architects album 'Hollow Crown' has been getting a lot of rotation. When you play heavy music so much, sometimes it is nice to listen to stuff you can chill out to as well, so it's not uncommon for Set Your Goals or New Found Glory to find their way onto the stereo either.
There are a lot of bands coming out of Wales at the moment and making it big (e.g. The Blackout, Attack Attack), how does it feel to be part of the Welsh music scene? SCOTT: Yeah, I definitely agree with you - South Wales has been producing great bands for years. You've got the obvious names like Lost Prophets, Funeral For A Friend, Kids In Glass Houses, and more recently, like you say bands like The Blackout. These are all bands that are big in the mainstream, but if you dig a little deeper you can find so many more great bands, just check out Save Your Breath or Brutality Will Prevail and see what I mean. Maybe there's something in the water in South Wales haha, who knows? How would you say you differ from the other bands coming out of Wales? NATH: That's an interesting question... For us, I really feel that we've had to work that much harder to get where we are now. It might suprise you, but we've only just started winning over crowds in Wales, which is fucking weird because when we play anywhere else in the UK we get crazy reactions haha!
You have quite a few dates listed on your MySpace but not really a 'tour' due to the dates being quite spaced out. Would you say you prefer to do one off shows or full tours, and why? Any plans for a tour in the future (support or headline)? SCOTT: That's only because we haven't announced the tours we have lined up for the summer! I can tell you that we have an 8 day UK tour supporting Many Things Untold of Rising Records in July, which is yet to be announced properly, and also might get extended to a few dates in Belgium too. Apart from that tour, we're trying to leave our summer as free as possible, so we can play some more tours which are being organised. Until we've played a full tour, I can't really answer the question of whether we prefer one-off shows or tours. All-dayers are always a lot of fun though! You're also playing shows with quite a few different bands - which shows (and bands) in particular do you think we should we check out and why? NATH: Definitely. I think that's the best thing about the band - you can stick us on any kind of lineup and we'll go down well, which is reflected by the variation of bands we're booked to play with. Shows we're looking forward to are the all-dayer we're playing with Postmortem Promises in Newport TJs on the 30th of May, and Glasgow Metalfest on the 15th of August with It Prevails, The Eyes Of A Traitor, Your Demise and more. That show's going to be especially insane because none of us have ever been to Scotland before, and we don't know how we'll go down, so we should probably all play wearing kilts and no underwear haha... Those shows and the tour with Many Things Untold in July. In terms of bands you should check out: Staring At Mirrors, Heart In Hand, More Than Life 'The Reality, The Perfection' is set to be released at the end of the month. Is this your first record? SCOTT: This EP is going to be the band's first proper release yeah. It's going to be out on March 23rd via iTunes - make sure you go buy it because we're all poor! How did you find the whole recording process - did it take long to get all the tracks recorded? Was it fun? SCOTT: Yeah for real, it was a lot of fun. We'd had a bad experience at a studio in Wales before, where they basically ripped us off and the outcome was shit, so to work with a friend who I have known for years was really refreshing for us and he did such a sick job. We’ll always want to work with Stu (Studio 6) and don’t think there is many other places in the UK today that do a much better job in recording metal, so we thank him so much for the hard work and time/dedication he put in for us. Everything fell in to place smoothly - it was as if the EP was a jigsaw meant to be slotted together. The whole process was pretty jokes, we spent 7 days just hanging out and having a good time together, so certainly, it was a great time for us and we just cant wait to go back there and work for a good solid few weeks next time round. How long did it take to write the record and what can we expect from it? SCOTT: It took about 5 months to write the record. Once Paul joined the band on guitar, we got into the task of writing immediately, I guess it just felt really natural. We're really happy with the songs on the EP, they're all written and recorded so well we couldn't ask for anything more. Expect heaviness and melody in equal measure, with off-chord breakdowns to blow your brains out your arse. Nath (bass) joined the band in December. How quickly has he been able to pick up the songs and is he still in TJM? SCOTT: Yeah we decided to add Nath in quite soon after we felt things weren't working out with our previous bassist, just due to the fact we knew him already as a solid dude and knew he’d fit right in, be committed, and be able to create and write with us. It really only took 1 practice with him to pick up the bulk of our set - the rest he figured out by ear, seeing as we already had the recording of the EP back. Sadly TJM are no longer, but when he first joined he was still playing in them. They were a real good band and we knew it could be tough for him to remain committed to both bands, but we took the risk, and it definitely paid off. The current lineup is the strongest we've ever had, and we're all super excited for the future. What are your plans for the summer? Basically to tour as much as we can. We've already got a UK tour with Many Things Untold for July, and we're in the middle of organising a couple more. We want to get out there and play to as many cities as we can! Paul and Nath are in uni, so the summer is pretty much the largest break they have, so we want to make it as busy as possible. Above all we want to be having fun - I can't think of anything i'd rather be doing with my summer than spending it with my best mates, travelling round the country in the back of a van playing shows! Tell us one thing you want to have achieved by the end of 2009 NATH: Haha, many big things I hope. Hitting up Europe at some point would definitely be an achievement for us. Securing ourselves a record deal would be the icing on the cake too! We're just gonna be working our arses off in general to make sure that we make these things happen. It's going to be a busy year, but we've all got good feelings about it, and i'm sure we'll nail every challenge that we come across.
Thanks to James M for organising this interview and to Scott and Nath for taking the time to answer Suzy's questions. Photo by Marianne Harris and record cover image courtesy of the band/James M. For more on the band and the latest info on forthcoming tour dates: http://www.myspace.com/thisdistanceuk