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Scottish progressive metal marvels TIBERIUS have continued to go from strength to strength since their arrival on the scene back in 2015. A string of EP’s and single releases led them towards the unveiling of 2020’s debut full-length A Peaceful Annihilation. We all know what happened that year…As well as allowing for opportunities for experimentation and innovation (which we’ll get to later), it also enabled the band the chance to reflect on their journey and determine their next course of action.
“We’ve had an unofficial motto of “Get Real Weird With It” and that’s been present through all of our material but we feel like we’ve kind of tempered each other’s abilities to go absolutely insane,” explains drummer Nick Kelly. “On the flipside of that we also encourage each other to go more insane if we feel like we’re being too beige or careful. We’re just a bunch of friends who can be brutally honest with each other and aren’t afraid to challenge each other to make music that we’ll enjoy playing.”
“I feel like the journey that bands take to get that level of comfort we are experiencing can be quite different but with us it’s never been the case,” adds frontman Grant Barclay. “Nick joined us in 2017 but the rest of us have known each other for around 20 years and even then with him joining the fold in what was already a quite close-knit group we’ve never felt like we had to hold back. We have individually and collectively become better songwriters and a lot of that is down to speaking to people in the industry, friends, family and asking people what they hope to get from music. We’ve done a lot of growing together and have started to look outwards for help to shape our sound.”
Utilising this collectively developed mentality has culminated in their hot-off-the-press follow-up entitled Singing For Company. An effort which the band feel like is the most comprehensive expression of their sound yet. “The banger rate is definitely higher on this album” declares guitarist Chris Foster. “More bangers, less mash!” Jokes Grant. “There is a real confidence there now in our songwriting ability as well as our confidence in stepping back and allowing other elements to shine and breathe,” adds guitarist Jahan Tabrizi. “Previously we’ve been desperate to show everyone what we’ve got in terms of all the notes all of the time whereas this time we are more established and have recognised that dynamics are important. We didn’t get to tour the songs from A Peaceful Annihilation until much later and by that point we’d realised there were certain sections we could have extended so a live audience could enjoy them more. I use the term riff economy a lot now and we’ve definitely been more conscious of writing sections with the live shows in mind.”
Live shows are one of the key elements in TIBERIUS‘ repertoire, they have received rave reviews about their infectious stage presence and energetic antics. With this in mind, the band wanted to ensure that potential introductions to their live set elevated their performances as opposed to being a hindrance. “I kind of see myself and Chris as the first line of defence when it comes to producing and the arrangements and I was quite destructive when I was brought ideas,” admits Jahan. “I would tear bits out of the ideas whereas in the past I would write additional material to try and accommodate those ideas. Instead we took things out or shelved them for another potential opportunity and that definitely helped. Less is more!”
“But sometimes more is more!” quips Chris. “I think the big difference is the focus on those moments of stepping back as with the first album me and Jahan wrote something that we thought was good, engaging and exciting based purely on what we wanted to do on guitar. They were all very guitar-driven songs but this time we were more aware that Grant in particular needed chances to show off his range. The early feedback we’ve had from the singles made it clear that people were appreciating this and complimenting Grant‘s performance because we’d given him more space to shine. There have been times when we’ve used odd time signatures or weird structural stuff and when we were recording it sounded cool but trying to get your head around it live would trip you up. We’ve already had a preview show where we played a good chunk of the new album so we feel like we’ve gotten to grips with it pretty quickly”.
“We kind of fucked up though didn’t we?” adds Grant. “We wrote these sounds which we felt might be less taxing to play live and they’re actually solid!” Chris adds, “we went the wrong way but that just shows how much better we have become at songwriting and we can sit in the groove. It sounds great but behind the scenes we’re sweating! What we want a live show to be like and the kind of music we write is an interesting mix. I want the experience to be chaotic. I don’t like a nice controlled show. I want everyone to feel slightly worried!”
“We’re basically just doing everything in this band on hard mode. Hurt me plenty!” proclaims Jahan. “I’ve definitely tried to make my live performances a bit easier as when we were touring for A Peaceful Annihilation it was a nightmare trying to sing those songs and jumping up and down like a lunatic” reveals Grant. “It’s bloody hard to belt those songs whilst bouncing around for like three minutes straight. So we’ve got some chill moments where I can do some breathy singing and feel comfortable rather than pushing my body and my voice so hard all the time.”
As mentioned previously TIBERIUS weren’t able to properly promote and tour for the release of A Peaceful Annihilation due to the pesky pandemic but this handed them the chance to get creative and live up to their motto, opting to create some DIY videos during lockdown. “I made the video for Mechanical Messiah in about a week in my flat using my chin and a lot of videos the other guys sent me and just green-screening in what we could,” laughs Chris. “I think going down that route and going fully unhinged kind of became the TIBERIUS brand to accompany our songs with high effort, ridiculous music videos”. “Most of the ideas stem from Chris‘ brain and he’s generally the one that comes up with the initial concept as he’s the guy directing it and physically shooting and filming a lot of it, not to blow too much smoke up his arse but he’s great at presenting the skeleton of the idea to us in a way that it makes it easy enough to achieve,” confirms bassist Ryan Anderson. “Even if we’re not in the video physically we’re all present on shoot day so we can be a part of the process. We have a lot of fun with it and when one is done we’re usually looking forward to what the next one might look like”.
“It was very much necessity is the mother of invention” adds Grant. “We just had to improvise and keep going full steam to promote the album and Chris was just like ‘don’t worry, I’ve got this’.”
“So naturally I thought the easiest thing to make in my flat with almost no resources was a sci-fi video!” Smirks Chris. “I watch a tonne of movies so I constantly have inspiration and stuff I’m drawing from for ideas. It’s been perfect as we’re always conscious about what we can do to get people excited about TIBERIUS.”
To contend with the ever-increasing wave of new and upcoming bands looking for their share of the spotlight, whether they like it or not, social media participation has become a necessity. You can be one funny, well-timed video away from going viral and opening the doors to a whole new audience. From a personal standpoint the members of TIBERIUS have not been the biggest fans of having an online presence but when it comes to the future of the band, they have taken it in their stride and are experiencing considerable results. “I think one of the biggest things for us, when we released the first album during the pandemic we didn’t really know what we were doing,” concedes Jahan. “TIBERIUS has been around for a long time but it’s taken us a long time to figure out what we actually want to do and get comfortable with everything. Initially there was a lot of internal struggles about us having to get involved in social media but we realised we have to embrace it and we’re having a lot of fun with it and given us a chance to communicate with people in different ways. Back in 2020 all the PR companies were shut down and we had to compete with all the other bands out there trying to promote their work. You could spend money on ads but you were getting no reach as there was just too much noise out there. We started upping our social media game by using our own back catalogue as there was still a lot of people who hadn’t heard songs like Leviathan so we could test the waters on the likes of Instagram and TikTok. We started to become comfortable with the formula and started considering how we could adapt this to the new content to make sure it was authentic and engaging as possible. We’re not exactly going to go viral but we’re consistent and we’re not going anywhere!”
“People appreciate the honesty of us just being our authentic selves and giving people an opportunity to see who TIBERIUS are as people,” adds Chris. “These guys are my best friends and I think that people can see and appreciate that relationship that we all have. This is not just a business arrangement.”
“I’m not sure if it is something to do with just the Scottish sensibility that we can be self-deprecating and we are constantly taking the piss out of each other but it really helps that none of us come into this with any sort of ego,” explains Grant. “If anything the guys are telling me that I need to be more front and centre and I need to be more selfish and they are pushing me. It’s not something I want to do. TIBERIUS is an evolution of us as people that we’ve stuck with and it took us a while to figure things out but we’re not worried about having this perception that we’re squeaky clean and have hit the ground running immediately. You can listen and see that evolution throughout our music and our videos and I think it’s a level of authenticity you don’t get with a lot of other bands.”
2025 is shaping up to be a particularly prosperous year for TIBERIUS, having already experienced tracks from Singing For Company receiving air time on Kerrang Radio, being announced for Radar Festival and ProgPower Europe as well as gearing up for a selection of UK dates in April. Having already played a headlining show in their hometown of Edinburgh, the quintet are ready to take their live shows to the next level. “We’re levelling up our production and it’s a big deal for us,” explains Jahan. “We want to perform a stadium rock show in a small venue and do as much as possible to make that happen.”
“None of us want it to just feel like you’re listening to the album in a room. It has to be an experience unto itself,” adds Chris. “I think Chris would agree that TIBERIUS is pretty much a second full-time job and there isn’t a day goes by that we aren’t doing something TIBERIUS related. It can be quite draining but that moment when you walk on stage and start playing it reminds you that it’s all worth it,” smiles Jahan. “It’s very much a pay-to-win industry and it can be hard to compete with those bands that blow up on social media but we wouldn’t be doing this if we weren’t passionate about it.”
Singing For Company is out now via self-release. View this interview, alongside dozens of other killer bands, in glorious print magazine fashion in DS120 here:
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The post Tiberius: More Bangers, Less Mash! appeared first on Distorted Sound Magazine.
