Forging a potent reputation with a sound going against the general trend of their local music scene, Remnants of Hope is an Atlanta bred band on the rise. Their Industrial/punk rock sound has seen the band have their most potent year yet since forming in 2014, the sharing of stages with the likes of Eyes Set To Kill, Famous Last Words, Wednesday 13, Allegaeon, Byzantine, and Not Tonight Josephine among numerous all adding to the reputation of Remnants of Hope. With thanks to vocalist Alexander Death, and guitarists Nykii Nightmare and Paul Graveyard, we grabbed the opportunity to find out more about this growing force…
Hello and thanks for taking time out to talk with us.
Hello and thank you for having us!
Can you tell us about the band and how it all started?
We’re a band called Remnants of Hope from Atlanta, Georgia. We started out covering songs from bands we liked then making our own music videos and putting them up on YouTube. After we became more passionate we started writing our own material, not long after that we came up with the name “Remnants of Hope” and started performing.
Is Remnants of Hope your first foray into music or have you been involved in previous outfits?
Group: We’ve not been in any bands before this one.
What inspired the band name?
Group: We’re an industrial band and most of our songs take place in a post-apocalyptic setting. We wanted a name that would describe fighters for the greater good in that setting.
Was there any specific idea behind the forming of the band and also in what you wanted it and your sound to offer?
Group: We wanted to be an industrial rock/metal band. We wanted to have flaming guitar solos as well as screaming and singing. We wanted to put on a very theatrical live show, when we’re afforded the time to set-up and we’re allowed to bring extra stage items we take fog and lights with us, as well as stage props.
Do the same things still drive the band when it was fresh-faced or have they evolved over time?
Group: Our passion for music. That will never change.
Since your early days, how would you say your sound has evolved?
Group: Heavier with much more complexity.
Has it been more of an organic movement of sound or do you deliberately push yourselves into trying new things?
Group: Both, as artists we want to progress and do new things, that plus the natural maturity of our song writing progressing makes our sound change.
Presumably across the band there is a wide range of inspirations; are there any in particular which have impacted not only on the band’s music but your personal approach and ideas to creating and playing music?
Zander: Danny Worsnop. His vocal style on Death to Destiny was very intriguing and encouraged me to change up my own style.
Nykii: Bullet for my Valentine. The way their songs are composed is inspiring to me in creating my own compositions.
Is there a process to the songwriting which generally guides the writing of songs?
Nykii: I compose all the music then Zander and I get together for the lyrical content of the songs. After that we go down the list of what vocal style the song needs to sound the best. Once the vocal style has been selected me and Paul write the guitar solos. That’s the process and steps we usually go through each time we write a song.
Where do you, more often than not, draw the inspirations to the lyrical side of your songs?
Group: Real life experiences, video games we’re playing…Possibly horror movies for some songs (Afterbite).
Please give us some background to your latest release and some insight to the themes and premise behind it.
Group: Mirroring My Pain. We put it out last April. The EP is about dealing with and defeating your demons.
Mirroring my Pain [the intro] is the start of the story line, the realization that the character of the story can change certain aspects of his life. See Me Fall is about the character confronting his demons, saying how they only want to see him bleed. Every time he looks into the mirror his demon self is threatening to slit his wrists. At the end he confronts and defeats his inner demons. Digging Graves is the part of the story where he buries the worse half of himself, once and for all letting go of his pain. The character has inner turmoil as he fights against his darker emotions to move on. Worth Fighting For is the final song on the EP. The character has taken care of all of his inner demons, but his emotions that lash out are still plaguing him. He fights and kills “Anger” and “Pain” in a symbolic measure that he now has them both under control.
Are you a band which goes into the studio with songs pretty much in their final state or prefer to develop them as you record?
Group: Yes, we do a lot of pre-production to make sure we get things right once we start recording them.
Tell us about the live side to the band, presumably the favourite aspect of the band?
Group: Whether we play for fifteen minutes or forty minutes, we give it our all the whole time. To us it’s what we live, breathe and train for. The live show is everything to us.
It is not easy for any new band to make an impact regionally let alone nationally and further afield. How have you found it?
Group: Sometimes, we’ve been really really lucky this year with opportunities to open for bigger bands. Last year we were not nearly as fortunate, so we were basically just trying to push out as much online promotion and campaigns as possible.
How has the internet and social media impacted on the band to date? Do you see it as something destined to become a negative from a positive as the band grows and hopefully gets increasing success?
Nykii: Where we’re from bands are either death-core or pop-punk. This has put us in both a fantastic and a terrible place at the same time. Thanks to social media other band members from different bands can quickly go to one of our sites and comment on the fact in a negative manner that we’re not exactly the same as them, making the exact same music as them. On the other hand, we’re different and we fit better on some shows than others would. I think social media for the most part is already becoming a negative thing at our current place. Keeping it working to your advantage is just a massive game of X’s and O’s. Every time you get three in a row the game appears to restart and you need to find a new corner to try and occupy with your work.
Once again a big thanks for sharing time with us; anything you would like to add or reveal for the readers?
Group: Once again, thank you for having us. Our music video for A Warriors Heart is out now! (or will be by the time this interview is posted). You can watch it here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94ZNBLFhA8c
https://www.facebook.com/RemnantsOfHopeBand/ https://twitter.com/RemofHope
Pete RingMaster
The RingMaster Review 26/09/2016
Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright
Bad Egg is next, coaxing ears with a singular hook wearing an early Adam and The Ants scent before things open up with wiry melodies and predacious beats as McAvinue’s guitar spins a web of tangy melodic intrigue. Less ferocious and imposing than its predecessors, the track is dangerously bewitching, leaving a lingering imprint before Teethin’ strolls in like a gunslinger, one hiding its bite behind catchy endeavours but perpetually gnawing away with post and old school punk invention. Its exceptional persuasion is followed by that of Little Man, a haunting ballad-esque canter seemingly as much inspired by the darker explorations of Siouxsie and The Banshees as bands like Hole and 4 Non Blondes, and quite irresistible.
The great start to the album continues with I Did Something Bad, the growl lined vocals of Greg Hal a magnetic essence as swinging riffs and rhythms unite while the guitars of Yan Pierrat and Hal spin a web of sonic and melodic adventure. Like its predecessor, there is an instinctive catchiness to the song which is irresistible even when the bass of Robin Rob’s grooves along on its own. The band lists inspirations as the likes of Black Stone Cherry, Steel Panthers, Red Fang, and Nashville Pussy, and it is those kinds of influences which especially leap around within the album’s second track.
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The following Blind Taste is of the same ilk but instantly revealing its own funky swagger and melodic character led by Logeais’ fine vocals and the ever persuasive enterprise of Sarthou’s keys. A touch more restrained than its predecessor yet with an energy and zeal to its magnetic stroll, Orsini’s guitar adds extra sonic endeavour to the weave of grooves and melodies courted by robust rhythms before the outstanding Vampire Lady teases and taunts with its seventies blues ‘n’ soul hued dance.
New Haven’s SEA OF BONES and New Hampshire’s RAMLORD come together for one of the incursions upon ears, each offering one epic trespass of their uncompromising sound and intent. Sea of Bones strike first with HOPELESSNESS AND DECAY, the trio of bassist/vocalist Gary Amedy, guitarist/vocalist Tom Mucherino, and drummer/vocalist Kevin Wigginton unleashing a cavernous soundscape soaked in predacious intensity from the off. For over ten minutes the trio breed a wall of confrontation as expansive and decayed as it is at times melancholically seductive. The track ambles, at times lumbers, across the senses, spreading its filth clad body and air with sludge fuelled hostility and moments of corrosive ambience leaving ears and emotions numb.
respect of the listener’s peace and sanity, the first half of the split is consumed by Black Tar Prophet’s sludge/doom powered incursions into the senses and imagination. Starting with the compelling persistence of MALIGNANT, a track living up to its name, the duo of bassist Greg Swinehart and drummer Erik Dever snarl in their distinct way across a further three incitements. As dark as they are heavy, as primal as they are strangely comforting and understanding to the darkest corners of one’s thoughts, Black Tar Prophet probe and transfix with RUINOUS DECAY and the deeply disturbed ABUSE especially momentous.
The last of the Broken Limbs offerings is GUILT AND HIS REFLECTION, thirteen tracks bringing Texans CARA NEIR and WILDSPEAKER together in a split which sees its concept realised through both bands revolving around cannibalism in a post-apocalyptic scenario. The first seven songs escape the creative potency of Arlington, Texas crust duo vocalist Chris Francis and multi-instrumentalist Garry Brents. Starting with the sonically and vocally raw but melodically seductive HALO OF GREY, Cara Neir proceed to explore not only the psychological depths and impact bred in an apocalyptic environment but those of the listener too as tracks like CLINGING TO MY LAST BIT OF SANITY and THE VIEW THROUGH THIS FOG seem to flirt with ears and imagination as fully as they wonderfully antagonise them with their blend of black metal and post rock infested punk. Each of the band’s songs leave a potent impact with the outstanding almost poppy EGO EATS MAN stealing the pair’s half of the show.
Through the turbulent and at times almost spatial landscape of Self Destructive Haze and the mazy multi-textured Thread Of Life attention is tightly gripped, the second of the two a real seduction of ears with its invasive storm cored by melodic beauty, and latterly, dark stringed seducing while the exceptional Concentric Waves, with the ever compelling bass exploits of Kornelius Kiriakidis especially magnetic, mesmerises as it aggressively and technically swings to and fro.
Good variety across Sucker is another potent attribute, the country blues drama of Arms Dealer, which features guest Damon T, providing a flavoursome turn in the album’s landscape while Dadgerous featuring Bison Steed wraps itself in a Kyuss meets Red Fang-esque roar. The track is outstanding, a virulent trespass of the senses which ignites the spirit and energies of those it touches.