Interview: XIII Doors (Written)
Games, Brrraaains & A Head-Banging Life bring you an interview with heavy melodic metal band, XIII Doors.
1. Hello! Thank you for taking the time to chat to us. First things first, tell us a little bit about yourself and how you got started.
My pleasure! So my name is DJ and I’m the frontman of XIII Doors. I grew up in Clare in the West of Ireland and have always been surrounded by music. My dad plays guitar and bought me my first one when I was 4 and I was hooked after that! When I was a teenager I started getting into heavy music, and playing local shows etc and a career has thankfully blossomed from there.
2. Someone comes to you and asks you to sum up what kind of music you play – what do you tell them?
We’ve been joking about this recently in the band actually…we sort of half describe ourselves as Metal-Pop! Musically, I feel we’re fierce and heavy, but vocally we keep it melodic and catchy…A blend of all our influences!
3. What’s currently going on in your camp? New releases? Tours? Etc.
We just released our 2nd single Unleash The Beast on the 4th of December! We’re really excited to see how people react to it after such a strong response to Lead The Way. Other than that, we’re planning some upcoming releases in the New Year and have some tour plans in the works for mid-2024 but we can’t announce anything yet!
4. What has been the most positive experience of making music to date for you?
I love putting smiles on people’s faces, so when people tell me that they really like our music I really enjoy the fact that it made their day that little bit better for 3 minutes or so! We just want to help make the world a better, happier place.
5. Likewise, what has been some of the more challenging aspects and how have you overcome them?
Music is a really difficult business, anyone that tells you otherwise is lying! Personally, I find writer’s block can be tough to overcome…sometimes ideas flow really well and then other times you can get frustrated when nothing is coming to you and you start to question your abilities etc. Thankfully it normally goes away quickly!
6. How do you handle the modern expectations of being in a band? Always online, having to put out content constantly, your success measured in likes and follows?
Yeah being in a band nowadays is really quite different to how previous generations dealt with things. Like you said, you have to be online all the time, creating content and engaging with people on social media. It’s time consuming, and tiring but at the end of the day when you work in this business you know what you’re signing up for! Like any other job in the world, you have to deal with the unglamorous aspects too.
7. What’s something that really ‘grinds your gears’ about the industry/business these days and what would you propose is done to combat it?
Hmm…I think the fact that music is pretty much a free commodity now is a shame but it’s almost a double-edged sword. The likes of YouTube and Spotify pay very little to artists, but at the same time they’ve exposed our music to people that would have never heard it through Release Radar etc. so it’s a tough one. I would certainly be happy though if streaming royalties were increased for artists!
8. Speaking directly to listeners – what would you ask they do to help support your music?
If you want to support us directly you can buy our merch on our website (https://www.xiiidoors.com/) or buy our music on Bandcamp (https://xiiidoors.bandcamp.com/) this money comes straight to us!
9. Outside of the music, what’s do you do to relax?
I’ve got two dogs so I really enjoy going out for walks with them. Running too is one of my more preferred forms of exercise! Other than that, I’m a big reader and I’m attempting to learn French at the minute. None of those activities are incredibly relaxing I know, but they’re enjoyable for sure!
10. Where can people find you?
Here’s our links:
Website | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | TikTok
