Furyon
Date: 9 September 2012
MM: Hi, great to meet you, could you give us a brief history about the band?
Matt: The band's been going about seven years now. It came together from the remains of an old band and me and now ex-guitarist Chris Green formed the band out of that. We are Brighton based. There has been a few changes, Pat's our newest member and we are all based around the Brighton area.
MM: It’s hard for bands to be able to just get in the van and tour around the country isn’t it?
Matt: It is a lot harder than people seem to realize. Even on Facebook today, we are getting comments like when are you coming to Bournemouth? When are you coming to Kent etc. ... and it’s like .. You know what, we would love to be everywhere if we could. In fact I was doing an interview at Bloodstock recently and I was saying the same thing. Basically what we are trying to do is to aim for four days in certain areas of the country, instead of going sporadically everywhere. So for example, we played Newcastle, Edinburgh, Glasgow and then Aberdeen. Then we will be returning home to then go over to Europe. The UK fans really deserve it.
MM: How has the tour been going so far?
Matt: Yeah it’s been great, Newcastle was great last night, because we hadn’t been there for a while and the last time we were there, we had a support slot with Winger and I remember talking to the crowd back then and they were saying it’s been a long time. It will be the same tonight at The Vale (Glasgow) and people that do know the band, their first reaction will be “YES IT HAS”! ... and don’t make it as long next time!
But yeah the last time when we were with Winger we picked up some fans so it’s all good.
MM: I love the 'Gravitas' album and I think the first time I heard you were with the Classic Rock free cd's they give away and then catching you on that tour with Winger. How is the writing process for the next album?
Matt: Yeah, 'Gravitas' has had three releases almost and I will say about it tonight. I mean really it seems old to us and must seem so very old to the fans. We are just itching to get some new stuff out and we are airing a new song tonight. As you know Metal Hammer cover mounted an issue of the album without 'Disappear' on it. Now that’s 60,000 copies across the UK. We said no to them doing that in Europe as we couldn’t as we are signed to Frontiers.
So there is 'Gravitas', then there is the new third release of 'Gravitas', which is the main release with the two acoustic tracks and three on the Japanese release.
MM: Personal favorite tracks on 'Gravitas' and to play live?
Matt: I have always liked 'Souvenir’s' because it’s heavy, as well as melodic and it has that ... “OH MY GOD”! ... aspect to it. Really enjoy playing the ballad 'Our Peace Someday' live.
MM: Yeah when I saw you do the run through just now, it made my hair stand up on end!
Matt: Live, it’s great to play, but it didn’t sound great live for a long time and its really weird when you write a song you need to fit them in and like everything it needed to settle, but now, if you were to ask Nickel, our bass player, he would say he really likes to play 'Our Peace Someday'. For some reason every time we play it, it seems to move and I get to spin off a bit into a different world and it’s absolutely lovely. It was never meant to be on the album originally. There was not going to be any ballads on the album, then literally the producer heard an acoustic version and was like that’s going on as well!
MM: You have played some big festivals recently, how was Bloodstock and of all the festivals you have played which would you say is the most memorable?
Matt: For me so far the most memorable was 'High Voltage' last year and we opened the Metal Hammer stage. It was on a Sunday and the crowd that turned up for us was just immense. It was a great, great crowd and I love it, it’s a picture I really love and I know it’s on our Furyon England site. It was just such a great crowd and the size of the crowd at that time of day on a Sunday was amazing.
Download this year, although we played an unplugged set, again we had a nice crowd of people turn up. I don’t know, there’s something about it, it's Download man! I mean we were up there and I could see Lamb of God playing on the main stage and I could see the castle and I remember thinking to myself ... I remember coming to this festival when I was a teenager! Me and my friend had been here and hitched back in an ice cream van and Whitesnake were headlining. You know we were kids. Of course it was one stage then and just being able to play there was immense.
MM: How would you describe Furyon's music?
Matt: It's melodic, heavy, with touches of progressive music. We are a band you need to see live really. As we were saying earlier, we don’t get out and about as much as we should and would like to. When you do see us live, you know you have been to a show and even the guitar solos are even starting to get cheers when they start. So yeah, we are a band you must see live to fully appreciate what Furyon is all about.
MM: Worst and best things about being on the road?
Matt: I think if you are feeling a bit run down, as anyone can understand, that’s a bad bit and if you have to stay somewhere that is not very nice and you are knackered. The good side, is meeting the fans , I love it when people show their appreciation for what we do and when people go, we have come all this way from such and such means so much and is what it's all about.
MM: What music do you listen to while you are on the road?
Matt: This is interesting really, when we first get into the van and we are heading off straight away, it's some rock music and it’s really loud and everything else. Then Pat gets into the van and he’s like ... “can we not listen to this please”! ... And it’s funny because his taste is the heaviest out of all of us and he’s like yeah ... “I was listening to Decapitated in the gym this morning or Meshuggah” ... And he’s like ... “oh please can we just put some Jazz or something on”! ... but what have we been listening to on our journey? I had Opeth's new album on, which I think is really good, very progressive and Floydy. It’s been a real mixture actually we had some blues and at one point our drummer put a Poison album on, the one with Richie Kotzen on, and Pat was going ... “What is this”!. Also we had some Aerosmith and Tool on, so a real diverse selection. In fact I had some Alterbridge on my headphones a bit earlier.
MM: So which bands influenced you growing up?
Matt: If I am really honest, personally as a vocalist it was Def Leppard. Joe Elliott I think has just got such a killer tone. I was a big Bon Jovi fan. My first concert was Europe, I am a big Joey Tempest fan. That’s what we were getting given at the time you know things like 'Animal', 'Living on a Prayer' I mean I remember when “Living on a Prayer” was at number one in the charts, and the “Final Countdown” was number one. I even remember walking across the playground and saying to my mate, which one do you like best?
Then I got into Queensryche and L.A. Guns and GN'R. Then I heard The Black Crowes and everything changed all of a sudden. I was wearing velvet jackets, black jeans, and cowboy boots. Pat was a complete Pantera, Megadeth fan really into the thrashy stuff. Lee had the same kind of tastes as me, but maybe a bit more Faith No More and Soundgarden, as he is a bit younger than me.
MM: So what are your current feelings on the music industry on a whole? Do you think the Rock scene is healthy?
Matt: It is and it isn't healthy, in a way. I mean you come up to the other side of the country and you are like ... “Why is there only 25 or 30 people here”? ... and people are saying ... “oh its terrible around here, the scene etc” ... so then you are thinking, why is it so diluted? Then you can go somewhere else and Slipknot are playing the big arenas and its rammed, so it's like there's something in the middle that is not quite right at the moment. I do think it is thriving, but there is something that is not quite there.
MM: Three words to sum up Furyon?
Matt: IN YOUR FACE !
MM: Any messages you would like to give your fans and our readers / listeners?
Matt: Thank you everyone, thank you very much. Buy the merchandise, come to our shows, we are constantly trying to change things regarding the merch and shows! Again thank you very much! Check out our website - www.furyon.net
MM: Thanks!!
by: Seb Di Gatto