Collapse hailing from London are set to go down a storm following the success of their debut album, ‘Arms and The Covenant’ and having performed at many big festivals and supporting heavyweights such as Devildriver and Anthrax, the crowd at upcoming Brighton metal festival, MammothFest are in for a hell of a show! I caught up with lead guitarist, Andrew Ongley to speak about the festival as well as their album and more..
So you released your debut album, 'Arms and The Covenant' last year, how happy have you been with the reaction to the release and what have you been up to since?
The reaction was absolutely astounding. There was such a long delay between recording and releasing that we got used to the tracks, so it was almost like re-discovering the album when everyone else heard it. Since we released it, we've been grinding it out around the UK, at Les-Fest, Headbangers Balls, Rock & Metal Circus festival as well as shows with the cream of the current UK metal crop, Bull-Riff Stampede, Dishonour the Crown & Monument among others.
How did it feel to have the backing from the likes of Metal Hammer and Terrorizer with the album?
We couldn't have asked for more from both of them. The Metal Hammer Spotlight campaign in particular was the most successful one they had ever run, behind Iron Maiden. Both of them do a fantastic job of shining a light on what's out there,
What was it like working with engineers ’Ginge‘ Ford (Trivium), Mark Lewis (Chimaira/Whitechapel), and DevilDriver's Mike Spreitzer on your latest album?
All three of them bought so much experience & enthusiasm to the table, it was truly inspiring. One of my favourite memories from the sessions was hanging out with Ginge and talking about when he was In Dub War touring the US with Snot, and what it's like working with Colin Richardson (Ginge is his assistant). Mike is a long time friend, we had to work remotely via e-mail & Skype which had its own challenges but he was very focussed on delivering our exact vision for the project. Unfortunately, we didn't have too much contact with Mark as he was in the middle of the last God Forbid album but I couldn't be more pleased with the guitar tone on the album, he truly is one of the leaders in his field.
Following your success so far with your album, what have been some particular highlights of your career?
Without a doubt Donington, that was one of those shows that you go to for so long and say 'One day, I'm going to be on that stage' and to have that finally come true was the best feeling. Hardrock Hell in Ibiza was a lot of fun too, probably as much for hanging out with the guys from Revoker, Monument & Diaries of a Hero as playing, although I'm not sure the hotel staff saw it that way!!!
You are currently on tour and have a few festivals slots coming up, such as Out Of The Ashes Festival, AltFest and MammothFest, how excited are you for these shows?
Absolutely thrilled. Alt-Fest is such an exciting development for the UK, you see festivals of this breadth in Europe but it's the first time it's crossed over into the UK. We're especially pleased about Out of the Ashes, we've been discussing recently that we need to play in the North more, I think this is going to be that start of that change.
With MammothFest 2014 marking the return of the festival's rebirth, how do you feel to be part of this?
Mammothfest should be legendary, we almost made the last one as part of a tour package at the time but it didn't quite work out, so it's going to feel like vindication to come back and wreak havoc on Brighton this time. It's such a strong line-up, it's insane. Expect long waiting times at Brighton General by the time we're done.
What can attending fans expect from your live shows?
We like to get on and give people what they want, no messing about especially at festivals when time is short. We're actually discussing some new ideas at the moment but those are firmly under wraps, you'll to come along and see what we've got planned next.
Can you tell us a bit about the recording and song writing process behing 'Arms and The Covenant'?
Arms was written in quite a short timeframe, I think at the time that we started working on it we were still trying to figure out what we were all about. There was quite a shift between the first CD and 'Scar the Silent Sky', I would say Arms is probably us stretching our wings further and seeing where else we could go with the scope that a full length album provides. Certainly for me, I re-visited some older influences that I'd never really incorporated into my own music before, I think there will certainly be more of that on the next album. The recording process was pretty quick but varied, the drums were done with Ginge in Newport, Wales, then bought back to my studio in London where we did guitars, bass & vocals. Once it was all recorded & assembled, we shipped it over to Mark to engineer the guitars, then on to Mike to handle the mix. The whole thing took about three months beginning to end.
Since the release of your debut, have you started any work on new material and if so can you give us a bit of insight into how it sounds so far?
Yes, we're about halfway through our next album already. The new material is the first to include Christian in the writing process and I would say there's a marked difference, the songs have much more melodic control and tons of groove. It took us a little while to figure out how to combine our writing styles, but we've definitely found the way forward now. The next one is going to be definitive Collapse.
Have you got anything you want to say to your fans coming out to MammothFest 2014?
Just a big thank you for all the support, thank you for choosing to support grass roots music events and showing all the bands on the bill that their hard work means something. We hope that you have a blinding weekend and we look forward to sharing it with you.
What else does Collapse have in store for 2014?
We're due to hit the studio again in September, we'll be shooting a video or two in October/November, you can expect a new single from us sometime around December and a new album in January. In the meantime, come and find us at:
27.06 The Penny Theatre – Canterbury w/Bullrif Stampede & Wretched Soul
28.06 The Forum – Tunbridge Wells w/Bullriff Stampede & All the above
11.07 Out of the Ashes Festival – Ellesmere Port
14.08 Facebar – Reading w/Bullriff Stampede
15.08 The Gryphon – Bristol w/Bullriff Stampede
16.08 Alt-Fest – Kettering
29/31.08 Mammothfest – Brighton
05.09 Fibber Magees – Dublin
06.09 Limelight – Belfast
http://www.Collapse.co
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.376641555699218.96733.108383189191724&type=3#!/CollapseEngland?fref=ts
Mammothfest takes place Saturday 30th and Sunday 31st August 2014 at
The Green Door Store, Brighton! To see Collapse smash it at the Festival get your tickets here! http://www.mammothmetalfestival.co.uk
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