Sylosis – Exclusive Interview With Alex Bailey and Carl Parnell

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Sylosis on stage at The Jagermeister Tour in Islington
Sylosis: Reading's shredding finest

Rock Sins’ favourites Sylosis last month headlined the Metal Hammer Razor Tour all over the UK and we were lucky enough to catch up with the boys once again on the last night of their tour at the Camden Underworld (read the review of that show right here). Here’s our catch up with bassist Carl Parnell and guitarist Alex Bailey.

Jamie: Right, I’ll get the standard question out of the way first; It’s the last night of the tour, how has it been going? It sounds like it’s been pretty good judging by some of your Facebook statuses…
Bailey: Yeah it’s been great, we’ve either sold out or nearly sold out every show! We sold out Sheffield, that was awesome, where else…Cardiff was amazing
Carl: Manchester…
Bailey: Yeah, and we don’t normally go down that well in Sheffield but we played there yesterday and it was amazing, really really good.

Jamie: I know you guys have played with Anterior before, did you know much about the other bands (While She Sleeps and Bleed From Within) that you’ve been touring with?
Carl: Bleed From Within we’ve known for a few years so we’re good mates with them, While She Sleeps we met last year but we’ve heard lots of good things about them, they’re up and coming.
Jamie: Cool.

Jamie: I’ve seen you guys advertising for places to stay at various times during the tour, have you found somewhere to crash most nights?
Carl: Yeah, totally blagged it every day!
Bailey: You get to meet a lot of people that way and that’s what its all about, best way forward.

Jamie: This is your second Metal Hammer sponsored tour in the last few months, obviously the last one was also with Jagermeister, did that tour work out well for you guys?
Bailey: Yeah, awesomely. It’s just the extra promotion you know, it’s their name(s) as well as ours.
Carl: The backing and the promotion was way higher than anything we’d been used to before that tour, and they’re such a cool group of people at that magazine as well
Jamie: The last few months you guys definitely seem to be getting more press, particularly with Metal Hammer, they seem to have really got behind you as a band..
Bailey: Yeah they have
Jamie: Do you think it’s making a difference?
Bailey: Yeah definitely, just looking at the turnouts to these gigs you can see its helped already.
Jamie: When I saw you with Josh back in November and I asked you where you wanted to be in a years time and Josh said selling out venues the size of Islington Academy, well you’re pretty close to that already with tonight and it’s only February…
Bailey: Yeah man, we’ve been very lucky, the other guys on the bill definitely help too. We’re all similar enough but different enough too to have a good mixed crowd, but its very good for us and its cool.

Jamie: Talking about drawing in different crowds I think that was one of the cool things about the Jager tour, we know that you’re great mates with Exit Ten and they drew in part of a different crowd to that tour, was it nice to be on the road with them again?
Bailey: Yeah, we’ve been great mates with them since day one
Carl: And the fact that they’re a bit different to us made it a diverse group of bands (on the Jager tour) which was a good thing

Jamie: Going back in time a little bit, I saw a video about your trip to India, how was that as an experience for you?
Bailey: Yeah, that was mental, literally, mental.
Jamie: Because they made you a backdrop out of wood for the stage and everything…
Carl: There were fireworks and pyro going off and it was so weird, we’d never experienced hospitality at that high level before. We were trying to buy gifts for our girlfriends and families from the Taj Mahal and the host wouldn’t let us pay for anything he was buying them for us.
Jamie: Wow!
Carl: Yeah it was that kind of thing, we were just gobsmacked by it.
Jamie: So that literally gave you a taste of “the other side” of things
Bailey: Yeah it was just insane, I’d love to go back.
Jamie: I’m sure, and metal bands don’t tend to get out that way very often
Bailey: It’s definitely up and coming there though
Carl: Yeah Lamb of God were out there and did a huge show
Bailey: Did they?
Carl: Yeah, they love it over there though, metal is the fastest growing music genre out in India right now
Jamie: Well hopefully you’ll be able to get back over there fairly soon
Carl: Thing is as well all the bands over there were SO good
Jamie: Did you have local support bands then?
Bailey: Yeah we had a few local Indian bands and they were amazing

Jamie: Really obvious topic, the new album is going to hit pretty soon, its been getting quite a lot of press already and people seem to be saying a lot of good things about it, are you guys happy with the reaction to it so far?
Carl: Yeah we couldn’t have asked for anything better really, especially as its quite different from our old stuff, we’ve taken things in a slightly different direction, but we’ve been very lucky and we’re very happy (with the reaction)

Jamie: I know the promo video on your website (for The Edge of The Earth) said you wanted to have a more raw sound this time, are you happy with the sound you’ve managed to achieve?
Carl: Yeah, its definitely what we aimed for, we knew what sound we were looking for right from the start
Jamie: Did you have to change equipment or playing style or anything like that to get the sound you were looking for or was it just a case of the production?
Carl: We tried out a few different amps and settings and stuff like that. It was quite a lot of trial and error.

Jamie: Do you guys have any favourites from the new album?
Bailey: Hmmmm, I just like playing all of them really!
Carl: A Serpent’s Tongue is probably one of my favourites, that’s track 5 for those who don’t know *laughs*

Jamie: Is there any particular reason why out of all the new material you’ve been playing Sands of Time and Altered States (of Consciousness)? They’ve been in your live set since around Sonisphere last year…
Carl: I think really just because we practiced a whole range of songs and they were the ones that sounded the best, especially with Josh now doing vocals and getting used to that, he was most comfortable with those two songs. Obviously that was early days, now he’s comfortable with everything.
Jamie: On that note, do you think you’re all comfortable with playing as a four piece now?
Carl: Yeah definitely
Bailey: Yeah, you can really tell Josh’s confidence has gone up a lot…
Carl: It’s made a huge difference, he absolutely nails everything now! It’s working real well.
Jamie: Yeah because when I saw you guys back in November, not in a bad way but he still seemed a little bit nervous about the vocal side of things cos he hadn’t sung on many shows at that point
Carl: Yeah, that was very early days but he’s fine now
Jamie: That’s really good news for you guys, really pleased for you.

Jamie: This is the last night of the tour, after this you’ve got Hammerfest, and Hit The Deck (festival) which I think only got announced today…
Bailey: We only got announced today?
Jamie: Yeah, I think you guys, Bleed From Within and While She Sleeps as well
Carl: Exit Ten are playing too
Jamie: Oh cool I didn’t know that
Carl: It probably wasn’t supposed to be announced yet..*laughs*, Exclusive!!
Jamie: Is that as far as you’ve got with your upcoming plans or do you have other things in the pipeline?
Carl: We’ve got a few Euro festivals, we’ve got Summer Breeze…
Bailey: Extreme Fest in Paris, there’s a few more
Jamie: Wicked

Jamie: As usual I put on Twitter earlier asking if anyone had any questions for you guys and I had about 7 people ask me “can you please play Download and save the festival?!”
Both: *laughs*
Bailey: Well obviously it’s not our decision, but we’ve love to play it!
Jamie: i’ll tell them to get hassling Andy Copping to get you guys on the bill!

Jamie: Ok, I’ll wrap it up, last one, Bailey this doesn’t apply to you cos I asked you this last time, when I asked Josh last time where the band name came from he said that he didn’t like the band name, do you like it (To Carl):
Carl: Yeah, it’s alright, it doesn’t mean anything, which is good *laughs*
Jamie: Based on what you guys said last time, you’ve almost hit your goals that you mentioned then, do you have any other things you’d like to achieve in the next few months or the rest of the year?
Bailey: Go to Japan and America
Carl: Long, big tours in places we haven’t been before
Bailey: Get travelling and get out on the road!
Jamie: Alright guys, thanks again as always!

Sylosis’ second album The Edge Of The Earth is out now on Nuclear Blast Records. You can read our review of the album right here.

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