Interview: Fates Messenger (Written)

Games, Brrraaains & A Head-Banging Life bring you an interview with thrash/metalcore four-piece Fates Messenger. Formed by members of legendary hardcore/thrash outfits Above All, Romeo Must Die and Dishonour The Crown, Fates Messenger will release two singles; ‘Scars’ and ‘Bonechapel’ on March 1st 2024. The singles are taken from their upcoming debut EP due later this year.

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.

Hi, thanks for the support and interest in Fates Messenger. We are a UK metal/metalcore band from the UK that have formed from the ashes from a few bands from back in the day from the uk hardcore/metal world -Above All/Romeo must Die/Dishonour the Crown to name but a few. Made up of myself Tony – Vocals, Ron – Guitar, Paul – Bass, Will – Drums.

2. Someone comes to you and asks you to sum up what kind of music you play – what do you tell them?

It’s a sound made up from many genres that could appeal to anyone who likes heavy music and into metal/thrash/hardcore/metalcore really. We are writing stuff that we like to hear but it’s a fusion of a lot of those genres and influenced by the years we spent touring with a lot of different bands from back in the day.

3. What’s currently going on in your camp? New releases? Tours? Etc.

We are just getting ready to release our 1st release on March 1st, 2 songs on all the usual streaming platforms with another 2-3 songs making up a full E.P shortly after. We have around 7 new songs recorded, mixed and produced by ourselves ready to go and get out and start playing live.

4. What has been the most positive experience of making music to date for you?

To be honest writing and recording with Fates has been a lot of fun and relatively easy seeing as we have been doing it remotely from different corners of the UK. Ron the guitarist had a lot of fully written songs ready to go so it’s just been a case of picking up from where he had got to and then each of us bringing in our own personal qualities to each tune and we are very happy with the outcome.

5. Likewise, what has been some of the more challenging aspects and how have you overcome them?

Well not being able to get in a practice room is slightly challenging but working with such talented musicians who have all got decent recording tech at home has made it all achievable. Lots of ideas, WhatsApp messages and different mixes that we are totally in control of have really helped us create such monstrous tunes that we are all really proud of.

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?

Weird one really, we’ve all been disconnected from music for such a long time and the landscape has changed dramatically with social media which in one way makes easier but in another a lot harder. We all help out a bit with the socials, but Ron seems to have a really good grip of those elements but we’ll all learn as we go along. We haven’t really got any expectations in how we will be received with this new material but as long as we are having fun writing, recording and can translate that energy when we perform live we’ll be ticking all the boxes. Making a few festival appearances further down the line would be a personal achievement for myself but it’s all about writing and performing tunes that we would love to hear ourselves.

6. What’s something that really ‘grinds your gears’ about the industry/business these days and what would you propose is done to combat it?

Not to much really, but I guess we are all older and wiser these days and are just doing this for the right reasons- releasing tunes that we think a lot of different scenes could be into with no labels or gatekeepers to hold us back.

7. Speaking directly to listeners – what would you ask they do to help support your music?

Follow us on the socials, download our tunes and check us out if we ever play in your area.

8. Outside of the music, what’s do you do to relax?

Ron and myself spend a lot of time going to the gym, running- I kitesurf and snowboard when I can. Can’t say for Will and Paul but we all have very busy work and family lives as well.

9. Where can people find you?

On all the usual social media platforms:

Instagram | Facebook | TikTok | YouTube

Hopefully you’ll be hearing our name quite a bit one the single drops on 1st March.