06-12-2009Interviews - The Rotted

Everyone thought we were going to jump on the metal core band wagon - Rocksnail talks to The Rotted

“Everyone thought we were going to jump on the metal core band wagon and thought we were going to come out with a second rate suicide silence or annotations of an autopsy album or something deathcore” States guitarist Tim Carley before vocalist Ben Mcrow interjects" “and play music that's basically played by guys 15 years younger than us. They might not have been too far from the truth but as Ben goes on to explains, “ We've been playing in bands doing gore, zombie and vampires and it was time to say hey we can do something different and add another string to our bow.” So there must have been a catalyst for the change in direction? I was keen to learn why they felt it so necessary to step away from the identity they bore for the past ten years. “ As people you develop as you get older and we just reached a point in our lives where we've thought hey we've got other things to talk about. We've done theatrical bands for ten years, maybe it's a chance to do a band that's more real". I guess sometimes you just reach that point and in engaging in conversation with these two blokes, although they are both extremely warm and welcoming you sense the unease they have with society in general. It appears that a distain for common culture has culminated in the need for a release in a new outlet, one to be taken seriously and not to be fucked with.

As Ben goes on to explain about his personal growth in the past few years, “When I was 18 I was living at home with my mum and dad and didn't have to worry about a huge amount. As soon as you move out your paying taxes you're watching how your money is being spent by this country and how you're being boxed in more and more, you're being fucked on a daily basis. I've left London now and live in West Somerset because I don't want anything to do with society. I wouldn't say I do exactly what I want to do all the time, Id just say I never do what I don't what to do!” As they regale in how things change as you get older Tim jumps in, “In my 30's I'm so much happier and so much more secure than I ever was in my 20's and I know what I like about society and what I don't and The Rotted is my outlet to say Fuck you, you know don't fucking go to war in my name don't fucking spend my money on shit and I have no interest in being anything to do with the real world. I've found a way to exist outside of society and I'm so happy with that.”

So what is The Rotted's new material all about, in the bands own terms, “ Riffs that make you go fuck you, I'm here on a Friday night to enjoy myself.” And they certainly do. Just so long as your Friday's are best spent blasting away to some ultra heavy sounds played at rapid speed. The majority of the songs, the diehard Gorerotted fans may appreciate, were in fact re-workings of the old songs. When asked about how it all came about and the material took on such a shift the guys said, “The last one was some ideas from the gorerotted days that got completely rewritten over the course of a month and they changed so much from what it was originally and that was when we decided fuck it thats not gorerotted at all, we're The Rotted.” And the ethos behind the music that is being written Tim exclaims, “We always like to push ourselves. What's the music we want to hear, what's the music we enjoy playing and if we enjoy it then pretty much other people will want to hear it. Its like we don't feel affiliated to any scene, controlled by any rules of any scene so we can just play what comes out naturally.” It's brash, bold and cocky just like The Rotted's musical output and it makes for an interesting thought. And as the band continue they seem bursting at the seams with passion for the band, literally unable to contain just the sense of comfort and freedom they have to express and be themselves. Tim says, “ It's about individuality and doing it with passion in your own way, its acceptance, enjoy it or don't enjoy it, if you don't just walk away.”

And with the distain firmly set for general society the band have already started working on album number two, ready to explode with even more primitive power we can expect, “ There's a lot of db style drumming and a lot of punk, dirty raw punk and anthems and Jan can write the best melody in the world and to here that combined with a dirty fucking skanky riff, its brilliant mate.” and as Ben goes on to explain they are not a bunch of guys to rest on their laurels, “We will not let the other one do anything less than a hundred percent, he'll tell me if its crap and I can do better, I do better and I'll do the same to him. Were constantly pushing each other to do better and go further.”

So there you have it an insight into why The Rotted came about and what they intend to do. Old fans best get used to it because I'm not too sorry to have to say it looks like this is the entity that will outlast them all and the band don't seem to comfortable with the idea of ever throwing it back together, even if just for old times' sake. “ If all the people who made Gorerotted what it was we might we best buddies still it might be possible. But there's a bit of bad blood and realistically it's not the direction anyone wants to go in.”[/i] Admits Ben, “[i]Time is a great healer and things get forgotten over time but I don't see us ever playing again. I'd like to just leave it as it is. Would you get divorced and remarried because all you friends said they preffered your old wife?”