Interview: Far from Refuge (Written)
Diverse Brit prog metal crew, Far from Refuge, lay down a significant marker in the form of their blistering new EP, ‘False Flag’, which lands on Friday 19th July. The record is preceded by their explosive new single and video, ‘Ghost of Eros’, which is out now.
Far From Refuge are Joél Sutherland – Guitar/Vocals, Suran Jayathilaka – Vocals, Matt Poskitt – Bass/Vocals, Jules Watts – Drums.
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.
JS: I’d been writing songs and had been between bands for a number of years. I finally decided to get some people together and realise the music in my head! That part is a lot harder than writing the actual songs!
SJ: I joined Joel in 2016 and we were soon joined by Matt. After a few ins and outs we now also have our percussion powerhouse Jules!
2. Someone comes to you and asks you to sum up what kind of music you play – what do you tell them?
JS: Metal! Sometimes we find it hard to fully categorize our music, as we just play what sounds good to us. Some songs lean more toward progressive metal and others could sound like pop punk!
3. What’s currently going on in your camp? New releases? Tours? Etc.
JS: We just released a single of our new EP coming out in July! The single is called ‘Ghost of Eros’ and is made for anyone that likes high intensity metal!
We have got a couple of insane shows lined up in the lead up to our EP release. Keep your eyes on our socials for announcements on those!
4. What has been the most positive experience of making music to date for you?
JS: Playing music with a great group of people, and nurturing my musical ideas in to the songs we have today.
5. Likewise, what has been some of the more challenging aspects and how have you overcome them?
JS: You’re going to have some rough gigs! We try to make the most out of every opportunity. We’ve played shows on stages the size of a postage stamp and still had an amazing time!
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?
JS: Never stop creating, but make sure you set some time aside for the boring admin stuff! Focus on and follow the people and bands you care about, and try not to get distracted by watching too many reels!
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?
JS: I want to preface this by saying that I love the convenience of streaming. However, I really miss the days where buying an album was a special moment, and I savoured the accompanying booklet and art.
I hereby propose that every new album requires a 5+ page booklet with all the lyrics and cool images. You can make it digital, that’s fine.
8. Speaking directly to listeners – what would you ask they do to help support your music?
JS: Firstly, thank you so much for your support! If people like our music, hopefully they’ll share it with their friends and come to a show!
9. Outside of the music, what do you do to relax?
JS: Super hot baths and reading IT books! Hope you enjoy the mental image, readers. Yes, I am very metal.
SJ: Relax? What does that mean?
10. Where can people find you?
JS: Ping “Far From Refuge” into your favourite search engine! Thank you for your support!
