Interview: 40,000 Leagues (Written)

40,000 Leagues are a five piece metal band hailing from Greater Manchester in the UK. Their latest release is a single called ‘The Dragon Will Rise’, and in this interview we find out a bit more about them.

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.

We are 40,000 Leagues, a metal band from Greater Manchester, UK. The band formed in later part of 2016 after our vocalist Nathan Crossdale met guitarist Andrew Davidson at a gig. From there they decided to put together a metal band. Nathan knew Paul Beesley from being in a band together back in college, and reached out to him to be the drummer.

Not long afterwards, Joe Leonard joined the band as the lead guitarist and brought progressive metal and metalcore elements into the 40,000 Leagues sound. Joe very quickly became the main songwriter for the band. Nathan also knew Rick Wiltshire from another band during college and reached out to him to be the bassist.

Harry Hulme joined the band in 2019, replacing Andrew on rhythm guitar, and the line-up has remained the same ever since.

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

Our music combines elements of melodic metal, metalcore and progressive metal, with an emphasis on guitar solos. Our music often has twin guitar harmonies, lyrics that delve deeply into thought- provoking topics and an astute balance of heavy riffs and heartfelt choruses.

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

We recently released our latest single, The Dragon Will Rise, along with a music video that combines metal and badminton in a way that hasn’t been seen before. The video is a comedy that takes some inspiration from the film Dodgeball, and features a whole load of cameos from some of Manchester’s finest metal bands. If you haven’t seen it already, please do go and give it a watch. We are also getting ready to release our next single, The Architect, as well as a further single later in the year.

In terms of shows, we have a slot coming up at Rabidfest in November – which is an amazing metal festival held in Oxford. We also have a Halloween show alongside our good friends in Karma’s Puppet – at The Swan in Macclesfield. The Swan holds a special place in our hearts, as it was the first venue we ever played at as a band.

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

Nathan: The most positive experience for me would have to be Story Time. It wasn’t rehearsed, it just came to me in the heat of the moment. We were playing M2TM Manchester Final as the first band on, and I got a packed 400+ venue full of people to join me in sitting down for the calm part of our song, “From The Sky”. From then on it has been a staple of the 40,000 Leagues set since.

Harry: The most positive moment so far for me has to be the turn out for the launch party of our latest single and music video ‘The Dragon will Rise’. Seeing a badminton wall of death and badminton-themed pit really was something else, and seeing people have that much fun is a win for me.

Rick: I have had so many positive experiences as a member of 40,000 Leagues. Perhaps my favourite though would be supporting RED and Keith Wallen (of Breaking Benjamin) at Manchester Academy. Playing a show at the Academy has always been a dream of mine, ever since I was a student at the University there.

Paul: My most positive experience in the band would personally be playing the Manchester Academy show where we supported RED. Getting to play to such a crowd and looking to see people react to our music in such a positive way and the energy we feel from the audience.

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

We have found that promoting music can be one of the more challenging aspects of being in a band, as there are so many great bands out there and trying to get noticed online or booked for slots at festivals such as Bloodstock and Download, it can seem next to impossible to be noticed. We try to never let this get us down, as with anything in life – if you want to succeed, you need to keep on trying and fighting through the adversity.

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?

We try not to base how we view ourselves as a band based on the numbers of likes or follows on social media accounts; instead we look at how people enjoy our live shows and what people say about our music.

That being said, we do try to make sure that we are releasing content as often as we can – making sure to properly promote our upcoming shows, posting reels with clips of our live music and trying to post at least twice a week to keep up our online engagement.

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?

There are so many talented bands out there, who just seem to fly under the radar. We would really like to see more recognition for more artists who put all their time and effort into creating incredible music.

Also, lots grassroots venues are closing across the country. We would really like to see more done by the larger venues and tour management companies to help these venues. Without them, we wouldn’t have the underground scenes that play such an integral part of the British music industry – as every big band started out playing shows at small venues.

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

Please listen to our music, share it, comment on it, and tell other people about it. Even just simply liking or commenting on a band’s posts can really go a long way to helping them. If enjoy our music, do come to our shows, chat with us, potentially buy our merch – all these things keep the band alive and able to keep playing shows and making music.

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

We all have our own ways of relaxing and focussing on other aspects of life when we are not hard at work with the band. Nathan works as a personal trainer and is often at the gym. Rick works as an actor and likes working on film projects. Joe sends the most time working on the music for 40,000 Leagues but also is a fan of video games. Harry runs his own props business, making props and costumes for film, and Paul has a young daughter who he cares for alongside his partner.

10. Where can people find you?

You can listen to our music on the links below. Our merch is also available on our Bigcartel site, and you can check us out on social media on the links below too:

Spotify | Bandcamp | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter