York based metal band Glamour of The Kill have had a busy start to their 2014, with a short Russian tour and a slot at Takedown festival, but show no signs of slowing down anytime soon. They’re currently in the middle of the mammoth ‘Welcome Home’ tour with Heaven’s Basement, which covers both the UK and most of mainland Europe, and a mere five days after that’s finished they’ll be shooting off to the US to support Escape the Fate. The Edge caught up with guitarist Chris and drummer Ben for a quick chat before their set at Takedown.
Do you prefer playing festivals or your own smaller headline shows?
Chris: We just love playing live really. Festivals are great because you get to hang out with all your mates from other bands, and it’s a good chance for you all to get drunk together! Headliners are cool as well though, because when people are there to just see you, there’s more of a bond between you and the audience.
What’s your favourite festival to play?
Ben: I’d say Sonisphere for me. We played the third stage – which was the biggest tent stage – in 2009 and it was probably the best crowd we’ve ever had. For some reason there were no clashes and the crowd were just amazing; it was late afternoon and everyone was smashed, we had the biggest wall of death we’ve ever had at one of our shows, and we made it onto the highlight reel of the whole weekend. Honestly, it was just brilliant, I’d never had an experience like that before.
C: Our festival shows are always like parties though, if there’s some singers nearby who’re friends of ours they usually end up coming onstage with us!
Are there any other bands playing Takedown that you’ve seen or would like to see?
Chris: Heaven’s Basement, Yashin and The Dirty Youth are all good friends of ours, so we’ll be seeing them. There’s just loads of great bands on today, I’d really like to see Funeral For A Friend as they’ve put out some classic songs. It’s just a shame they clash with Heaven’s Basement! We’re really looking forward to being part of such a great line-up!
You recently played in Russia – did you enjoy it?
Chris: It was really good actually, it’s an incredible country. The fans there are really passionate as well, about fifty of them came to meet us at the airport with banners and gifts and things like that. It was so surreal to have that happening in a country where you’ve never been before. It’s weird how it’s depicted on the news as being somewhere quite hostile but it’s not like that at all, the people were lovely and hospitable, they took great care of us. The only ones who weren’t so nice were the police.
Ben: The fans over there are so passionate about bands as well, it’s a beautiful thing. I think over here, the market’s too saturated, and even in small towns you can see a different band every night of the week, so people care less. In Russia it’s not like that, and they will make the effort to travel huge distances to see bands, they’re completely overwhelmed by seeing a live act because it’s so much rarer over there. When they met us at the airport, we felt like a really small version of The Beatles!
Chris: Yeah, we’re the ugly, tattooed, shit version of The Beatles. We’re the shit Beatles! [laughs]
Where’d you get the name Glamour of The Kill?
Chris: It’s from a He Is Legend song, called ‘I Am Hollywood’. Basically, when we were looking for a band name, years ago, we all just went out and got completely hammered, and we were listening to that song and one of our friends sung the line and just said to us ‘that’s your band name’. And it stuck!
What’s your favourite song to play live?
Ben: For me, it’s got to be ‘Break’; that one just gets everything kicking off and always starts the party.
Chris: Probably our new single ‘Freak Like Me’. It’s a bit of a step away from what we’ve done in the past, as it has a more synth-y, dancey feel to it. It’s a really good pumping song, and when we get to it in the set, there’s always a great vibe.
Have you ever had a scary or overly intense fan experience?
Ben: So many! [laughs]
Chris: I don’t know… people who are really intense like that, I just tend to see as being nicely enthusiastic about what we do, so I don’t mind too much. It can come across as strange, but it is nice to have someone who’s that enthusiastic about your music. Some are more ‘out of the ordinary’ than others, though. I once had someone give me a vial of their hair, that was quite strange.
Ben: And it was armpit hair too, not head hair!
You’ve both got quite a selection of tattoos, what’s your favourite and why?
Ben: My favourite’s probably his tattoo that he has on his ass!
[At this point Chris dropped his trousers to reveal ‘Anal?’ inked on his bum]
Chris: It was a drunk tattoo, but it rules!
Ben: Yep, definitely the best tattoo in the band! We have a tattoo artist on tour with us at the moment, so we might well have a lot more bad tattoos by the end of the tour!
