DEPTH
Questions asked by Jon Wilde, added to Rock Realms 4th April 2011.
UK quartet Depth are releasing their debut album "Situations Fulfilled" on 6th June 2011. So, we thought we'd have a little chat with them to find out more...
Hi Guys, thanks for taking a moment to answer these questions. Hope you are well?
Depth: Hello! No problem. Yeah we're really good cheers!
What’s the history behind Depth? How did the band form, and what’s the background of the various members?
Depth: It started about 6 years ago when Luke our guitarist and Robb our drummer came together and jammed out in high school. We used to play old classics over and over again such as Smoke On The Water! We started to really enjoy it and decided to take it to the next step and start a band, Luckily all of us have been close friends for years and we approached Paul our lead singer and bassist and Ryan our other guitarist. (Luke's brother, which was handy!) They had both just recently left high school and had started work, we came together once or twice a week to practice at our local village hall scrapping together the £28 it cost to rent out!
We started off doing covers of the artists that inspired us to start writing our own material, We started to write more of our own material and slowly stopped playing covers and ended up recording our first E.P. We started playing a lot more shows together and started to really gel and went on our first tour and things started to really pick up. in 2008 we were offered a one album deal through Rising Records which led us to write Situations Fulfilled.
Who were the early influences? Do you all have similar listening tastes?
Depth: We had lots of influences ranging from Funeral For a Friend, Killswitch Engage, Story of the Year, the Blackout to Iron Maiden, White Snake and Deep Purple.
We all listen to a wide range of music which is pretty similar! everything from Rock to dance, rap and dub step. Occasionally we even enjoy the odd Girls Aloud tune!!
Did you know what sort of sound Depth was destined to have at the start, or has it developed a lot since you began?
Depth: It's definitely developed since our first E.P, We knew what sound we were aiming for however we were new to writing songs. As we gained experience playing together our ideas widened. We were starting to produce the melodic catchy tunes we were aiming for!
How would you describe your sound to somebody who hadn’t heard you before?
Depth: A roller coaster ride of rock and sex! Catchy, melodic riffs and powerful vocals!
What’s the Norfolk music scene like and how has that affected the band’s development?
Depth: There's not much of a music scene in Norwich for upcoming bands, therefore it was very difficult to start and develop. We just played as many shows as possible to try and gain more and more fans. We decided to broaden our development by purchasing our van EVA!
Your debut album "Situations Fulfilled" is on its way out in June 2011...How long did the album take to write and record, and was the creation of it hard work, fun, or a bit of both?
Depth: Yeah, its a re-launch of our debut album. it took a year and a half to write and record. We spent a lot of time writing songs until we were happy with them and it took a lot of hard work! However writing and playing music is our passion! Yeah there was a couple of heated moments where opinions clashed but only because we're passionate. There's a lot to give and take when writing and we aim to write songs that we think would appeal to fans and also write songs that we would listen to! it was definitely hard to write songs to a deadline, but knowing the outcome, looking back it was great fun!
Is there a story behind the title?
Depth: We wanted to have an album name that portrays a journey of hard work and love for music, Having a goal to aim for and finally achieving something that you love, The fulfillment of completing something big! We tried showing this through our artwork as well.
How do you go about writing your songs? Talk us through the construction of a typical track...
Depth: We always start with a catchy guitar riff, and try and build from that. We would play the riff over and over again until one of us has an idea. Quite often we hum out ideas and record them on our phones! Its a really good way to get down ideas on the go! It could take weeks before one of us gets another idea to build from the guitar riff. But we would continue and chop and change bits constantly until we're writing stuff that makes us all grin and feel good.
Where do you look for your lyrical and musical writing ideas?
Depth: Musical ideas personally I'm always listening to music and other artists, and always want to write riffs that make me head bang, and nod along. I take a lot of inspiration from Funeral for a Friend, Story of the Year and Killswitch Engage. Lyrical ideas, we always try write about feelings and emotions, Or destruction and valiant moments. Try to widen our lyrical range so audiences are able to relate to them.
Is there a story or theme running through your songs?
Depth: All of our songs have a story, an issue and resolution, We tend to not have themes running through our songs. Its not something we've thought of yet!
Do you do anything unusual or special in the studio to get your sound?
Depth: We all record as if we're playing live in front of thousands moving around and head banging! its always good to try and get the energy across to the fans through the album! We all wear comfortable pants! Have to be ready and comfy! Also limbering up by playing plenty of Xbox!
Talk us through your existing touring/gigging plans...
Depth: We've just got back from a tour in March which went really well! We gig all year round in numerous venues all of the U.K! We're looking to do another 3 or 4 tours this year. So if our van stays alive hopefully we'll see you at show soon!
What is one of your live shows like? What should fans expect from one of your performances?
Depth: Lots of sweat, tight high energy performances, hard, fast pumping rock! with a bit of comedy! We get up on stage and enjoy every second of it, playing to 1 person or 1000 people makes no difference to DEPTH!
What have been the highlights and lowlights of your musical lives so far?
Depth: Playing in different cities on tour and hearing the crowd sing back our lyrics! that's awesome. Playing in an aircraft hanger to 2000 people and getting an endorsement with Hughes and Kettner was a definite highlight! Lowlights, Driving 8 hours to a venue to find out it had been closed down and we hadn't been told! Having to do our first tour in a Peugeot 206.
Any question you love being asked that I’ve missed? If so, what’s the answer?
Depth: Our van! She's a beauty to sleep in! We don't know it just looked good on paint when we first designed it. 10 inches.
What are you up to once you’ve finished answering these questions?
Depth: Doing band work and replying to some fans! Then most likely going to play Xbox!
Anything else you would like to mention?
Depth: Check us out on MySpace, Facebook and Twitter! also you can catch our video for our single Burning pages on youtube! Our guitarist Luke has better gear than his brothers! (an ongoing battle!)
Thanks again!
Thanks again to they guys for their time.
http://www.myspace.com/depththeband
