Sepulchre have just released an EP ‘The Great South Western Depression’ following a long hiatus after releasing their first album ‘Betrayed By God’ in 2012. They are currently planning a tour next year as well as their second full album.
Dave talks to vocalist/guitarist Darren about their new EP, about the history of the band and future plans:
Dave: Thanks for giving up your time for us Darren! How are you doing today?
Darren: It’s a pleasure! Thanks for having me!We are doing well. We are just getting ready to play a headline show at The Office in Swansea, Wales.
Let’s start at the very beginning shall we?! What’s the history of Sepulchre, from the start to now…
We formed in 2004, initially as a 2 piece with myself and Aimee Coppola both playing guitar. We wanted to expand and we went through a few members before Aimee decided to take up the drums and she has been our drummer ever since. We then found Chris (bass) and have remained a trio.
We started by playing local gigs (Around West Wales) and started to venture outwards into places like Southampton and Bristol which is our favourite place to play except possibly Swansea as it’s our home town!
We recorded our first album ‘Betrayed By God ‘ in 2012 and we are very proud of it even it is a bit rough around the edges as it was self-recorded! Sadly, we had to break up in 2013 as I crushed my finger and was no longer able to play the guitar but we managed to restart in March this year and recorded the EP.
You’ve got an interesting name, where is it from?
Sepulchre is a type of tomb and it seemed to describe our music perfectly: dark, depressive and hard!
The EP came out in July, how do you think it went?
I’m really excited about it. I bore my soul into it vocally and I genuinely believe it sounds better than anything we’ve done before. We wanted an EP with no triggers and no effects with the drums sounding real and to have a ‘live’ feel to them. I think we accomplished that.
Have you got a favourite song from it?
I love all the songs on it, particularly when we perform them as playing them live is such a release for me but if I had to pick one it would have to be ‘Move Or Die’ because it’s a complex song to pull off and there are solos in it which I love!
What was the writing process like?
The writing process was good for me as the lyrics are all about personal experiences (mainly traumatic experiences) and so the lyrics seemed to write themselves.
The music is generally much more of a joint effort; we get together and all have input on how the riffs/drums/bass lines fit.
What was the recording process like?
The recording went really well. We recorded all of it in two days. It was all recorded live in BBC studios with Elliot Cadmore who did an excellent job.
How do you describe yourselves to someone who’s never heard you before?
We get a lot of comments saying we sound like old school death metal (Carcass, Morbid Angel, Entombed etc) but we like to add various elements; primarily we play Death/Doom/Thrash metal.
You’ve also got some shows lined-up, as well as a bigger tour being planned for next year, what can we expect from your live shows?
We are loud and heavy so expect to see pits full of sweaty metalheads!
What’s in your stereo at the moment?
Vallenfyre. Vallenfyre is always in my stereo!
Is there anything else you would like to say to our readers?
Thanks for making it this far!
We hope to see you on the tour in January and don’t forget to check out our new EP, you can listen to it for free on bandcamp.
You can listen to their latest EP: ‘The Great South Western Depression’ here:
https://sepulchreofficial.bandcamp.com/
Keep up to date with all their latest news here:
https://www.facebook.com/pg/sepulchreuk/