Feed The Rhino have just finished their first ever UK headline tour, in support of the superb sophomore album The Burning Sins. Rocksins had the opportunity to have a chat with them during that tour.
This is your first headline tour, how has it been so far?
Chris Kybert: It’s been really good, especially London at the Borderline.
Sam Colley: It’s basically our home town.
Chris: It was sold out, so much stage diving, there were stage invasions. It got to a point where there were too many people on the stage.
Sam: Every night has been really good though.
Does it feel like this is what everything has been building to for a while?
Sam: Yeah, we didn’t know what to expect because obviously this is the first time we’ve been out on our own tour. There’s a lot more pressure because it’s your show, you know? Most of the venues we’ve played have been pretty chaotic so, yeah, it’s been awesome.
Leading up to this tour, what do you think has been the most important support tour you’ve done?
Sam: it’s hard to pick one out, really. They’ve all gradually helped us progress up the ladder. From when we first went out with James Cleaver Quintet to Devil Sold His Soul, then there was the While She Sleeps tour. Every tour has just got bigger and bigger and bigger.
Chris: The Gallows tour was pretty big, because it gave us the chance to go out to Europe.
Sam: We were playing really big crowds every night on that tour. That really helped us build an audience.
The Burning Sons has been out for a few months now, how happy are you with the response it got?
Sam: More than happy. This tour specifically has been the first tour when we’ve really had that crowd reaction. The crowd participation has been on another level. It really opened our eyes up to how much people have taken the album in and are really passionate about it. When we were on support tours we were playing to someone else’s crowd. You’re hoping to win some people over. Yeah, we’re more than happy.
Are there any of the new songs that go down especially well live?
Chris: probably The Burning Sons, and Tides as well, we just released the video for that.
Sam: Left For Ruins always goes down quite well. We like to think that, without sounding arrogant, most of our set goes down pretty well haha.
Chris: I think, again, since we just released the Tides video, a lot of people want to hear that because it’s so much different. There’s more singing and people can sing along to that.
Listening to a Feed the Rhino album, there’s always a few mellower songs that change the feel of the album, is that something you like to do to set yourselves apart from other bands?
Chris: We’re all into lots of different types of music, and we like to incorporate the best of everything that we grew up listening to and try to make it our own sound. Whether that be Pink Floyd or Slipknot.
Sam: From the mellowest of bands to the heaviest.
Chris: We just try to make songs that we like.
Sam: We try to push the boundaries, in regards to song writing. We like to send out a message that it doesn’t have to be heavy all the time for kids to dig it; it should be about great music whether it’s brutal or melodic and heartfelt.
How would you compare shows you’ve played since The Burning Sons came out, to shows when Mr. Red Eye had just come out?
Sam: Totally different.
Chris: The Burning Sons is so much, I think, heavier than the first album, and people just go mental to the new songs.
Sam: it’s a step up song writing wise from the first album. Also, what people don’t realise is, Mr. Red Eye was written before we’d even toured, so when it came out and we toured, we started with no fan base and gradually built from there. The Burning Sons was always going to be a dramatic change, with regards to live shows.
Have you got any songs starting to take shape for the third album yet, or is that still a long way off?
Sam: It’s not too far into the future. We’ve already demoed a couple of songs and there’s always more ideas flying around, it’s just trying to find the time to actually write stuff, because we’ve been so busy. But, it’s definitely on the cards.
So, the ideas that you have right now, are the same vibe as The Burning Sons?
Chris: it’s always going to have the Feed The Rhino sound, but it’s always, at the same time, going to be a progression from the last record. Other wise there’s no real point in doing it. When we write a record, we want it to be the best one we’ve ever done, so it’s got to be head and shoulders above the last one or there’s no point. It will be similar, but it will definitely be different, a progression.
You guys are set to open the Brixton Academy date of the Jägermeister tour. Are you excited to play a venue that big?
Sam: Over the moon. It’s been a dream of ours. We saw so many bands there growing up, so you always dream of playing that stage.
As mentioned, Feed The Rhino open the London date of the 2013 Jagermeister Music Tour at Brixton Academy with The Defiled, Gojira and headliners Ghost on Sunday 24th March 2013. They’re also appearing as main support to While She Sleeps on WSS’s intimate “reunite” UK club tour in late April / early March 2013. For more of the latest and greatest interviews with metal bands of all sizes please keep checking back with Rocksins.com on a regular basis.
