Interview: Paradise Sins (Written)

UK hard rockers, Paradise Sins, are ready to make their mark with the release of their enticing new EP, Desires, which is out on Friday 6th December. The melodic rock crew have also just revealed their hugely captivating new single and video, Love Like Hell. in this interview we speak to guitarist and band founder, Dan Jay, and learn a little more about Paradise Sins.

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.

Hello there!! We’re Paradise Sins, a melodic, hard-rock band based in the UK. We officially formed in 2022. It kinda sprung out of nowhere to be honest. I walked away from music in 2020. I just had nothing left and everyone in my musical circle was turning different corners and everything felt very disconnected. At the start of 2022 I just felt this insane urge to start writing again and everything spiraled from there. I reconnected with Conor (guitarist) and he had found himself in a very similar situation. Loui (bassist) had spent the time we were locked away during the pandemic obsessively learning bass guitar. All it took was a few beers in the local and a wild plan to start a balls-to-the-wall rock band. A drunken blast of emotions to be honest! Little did we know quite how wild it’d become. From there I reached out to Zack (drummer) who I’d seen play a few years back when he was a kid. I remember thinking, ‘this kid is going to be a superstar’. He had it all. I got in touch with him with some demos and he was immediately in. It took a fair amount of time searching for a vocalist. The demos were super strong and we had around 100 applications for the vocal position. This guy followed our Instagram one day and I checked out his page – the guy had pipes of dreams! About an hour later he emails us applying for an audition. I couldn’t believe it. He had everything we were looking for. High-end, soulful, bad ass vocals. Luis sang ‘Back to the Rhythm’ by H.E.A.T as an audition. It was perfect.

From there we started to rehearse as a unit and began production on our first EP, ‘Untamed’. We put out the first single, ‘UnDead’ in November 2023 and that essentially catapulted us onto the live circuit. Like I said, we just did not expect this to turn into anything like it has.

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

Big vocals, stadium-sized anthems and grooves to match. We’re a melodic rock band but we put the heavy in where we can. To pin our influences you could relate us to Def Leppard, Ghost, Alter Bridge with Maiden whipped cream.

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

So we released our first EP, ‘Untamed’ in April and we’re now following that up with a new EP, ‘Desires’ coming out December 6th. We’re putting out the first single from ‘Desires’, ‘Love Like Hell’ October 11th and second single late November. Biggest news is we have been signed to management which will take us on the road throughout 2025. 2025 we hit the road hard, hitting all corners of the UK. We’ll be releasing dates soon. We’re a live band. It’s where our sound and energy is truly captured and it’s going to be a very busy 2025 for us!

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

4 out of 5 of us never really thought we’d do this again especially on this kind of scale. It’s freakin’ magical to connect with people musically. It’s not really something that can be explained truly I feel. You just have to be fortunate enough to be able to do it. And I say that meaning on all levels. We’re true musicians with infinite passion and we wholeheartedly believe in what we are doing. Most positive experience? Mash all the above up, put on a live show and see people having the best of times with you. It’s incredible.

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

I think we thought the most challenging part would be finding the right people. I just did not think we would be able to discover anyone who shared the same vision I had. We unexpectedly crushed that challenge. At present, the most challenging part is adapting to the ever-changing climate of the music world. You know, it’s like you do your first couple of shows and all your friends come, then the more shows you do the less friends turn up and you’re then left with trying to prove yourself to the great unknown. But instead of trying to prove ourselves, we just go out, do what we do and love every moment with the people that come see us. There’s millions of bands trying to do the same thing but we keep it simple if you love it – it works. Love Like Hell I suppose . . .

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?

OK this is a biggy. And I will be totally transparent, some of these modern expectations were part of the reason I walked away from music back in 2020. In today’s world you have to be everything. Content creators, video editors, graphic designers, promoters, booking agents, music producers . . . the list goes on and on. But you have to adapt to it and make it work for you. It’s vitally important to try and connect with your followers. We do that but I also wouldn’t say we follow your typical modern trends. We’re not posting memes of ourselves but that doesn’t mean we’re not having a good time you know? It’s almost like you feel like you have to be posting in what some cases is embarrassing content just to get a few views on a new music video . . . Hey listen, I love some of that stuff and I love what some artists are doing and I absolutely will go listen to them if I enjoy their content. But what we try to do is just be ourselves and just try and show people how much we love what we are doing. No matter where it goes, that’s what matters most. Saying that, videoing Zack sticking a plunger to Loui’s hair-ridden head is quite the temptation . . . and you may see that in the near future, all for the views right?!

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?

Another tough question with what could be a lengthy answer/discussion. All I’ll say is I think you have to get to the point of learning about the industry first before you can truly comment. Like I said there are millions and millions of bands, artists, songwriters etc all trying to achieve their dreams. We are in the process of stepping up to those industry challenges but we are totally up for it and will explore plenty of ways to combat them. A lot of dice rolling and a lot of the time for absolutely nothing but, come back to us in a year, I might have a better answer for you.

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

Go see new bands! Watch the support acts, buy their stuff and keep it all alive. I know that’s cliché but it’s just the truth. I’m seeing some fantastic moves in some of the bigger venues who are taking that risk of putting original bands at the top of the bill. It happened to us. On our second show we supported Guns 2 Roses at The Robin in Bilston – 700 plus people – crazy. Few months later, we’re headlining The Robin because they want to expose hard-working bands to people who want to support live music. So in terms of supporting Paradise Sins, come see us live, come say hey and support every frickin’ band we play with.

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

We’re all gamers, man. Conor’s quite often neck deep in World of Warcraft while Luis and I are still moping over Arthur Morgan’s death (spoiler alert sorry). I’m still searching for his cure. Knowing Rockstar Games I imagine deep within that genius code Arthur still lives . . . right? Please?

10. Where can people find you?

You can find our music on pretty much every major streaming service. We’re also on all the socials and we’re always looking to connect with new followers. As I said earlier we’re taking to the road in 2025 so you’ll be able to find us playing live across the UK next year, maybe even further afield . . . Here’s our main social/music links:

Website | Spotify | Apple Music | Instagram | Facebook | YouTube | TikTok

You can presave our new EP, ‘Desires’ on Spotify here.