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Hertfordshire-based alt-metal band DEFENCES have just released their third studio album Shadowlight, so we sat down to chat with vocalist Cherry Duesbury about all things DEFENCES; the album, the band, and their influences.
Formed in 2014, the band have gone through a couple of member changes, but DEFENCES currently consists of vocalist Cherry Duesbury, heavy vocalist William Alex Young, guitarist Calum Wilmot, bassist Owen Hughes-Holland and drummer Kyle Park.
Speaking of the original lineup, Cherry joked that they initially formed in quite a funny way. “I have always wanted to do music for as long as I can remember, but I’m really shy, so the idea of being a solo artist and being alone onstage was always incredibly scary to me, and I didn’t know anyone who wanted to be in the same kind of band as me, so I turned to Google,” she laughs. “And I found a website called JoinABand.com so I wrote a post and that’s how it started. Since then it’s been a mix of people we know, but I love that website tidbit.”
The current lineup seems to have hit the sweet spot, with album Shadowlight being released to overwhelmingly positive responses, and experience Cherry details as “crazy” and “unlike anything we’ve experienced before”. It’s their first release with Long Branch Records behind them, too, whose support has been “invaluable. It’s been really awesome welcoming people to this new era of DEFENCES.”
Though DEFENCES stand firm on loving every song on the album, Cherry does concede that Perish has a special place in her heart both instrumentally and lyrically but mostly because “it features my first ever scream” comes proudly from her. “I’m still a novice at screaming,” she laughs. “The band had no idea I was going to do it, I just showed them the demo and they lost it! I definitely want to experiment with it more in the future.”
“We wanted to take the band in a new direction,” she continues. “And this album is the start, we [as a band] have grown and gained experience in the industry. Our individual tastes have shifted too and we wanted Shadowlight to reflect that.”
Nowadays, very few people seem to listen to just one genre and stick to it. More and more people are branching out and listening to a variety of genres and DEFENCES wanted to tap into that opportunity not to be put into a restriction of ‘just metal’. “From a musical perspective, I know that Calum [Wilmot, guitars] is influenced heavily by bands like WAGE WAR and early SLEEP TOKEN. For me, my biggest influence is PVRIS, Lynn Gunn‘s lyric writing is insane…MEMPHIS MAY FIRE is another big one for me. But I’m also influenced musically and lyrically by artists like BILLIE EILISH. I love these artists because I have found some connection to them, and I want to create that.”
With herself being so strongly moved and influenced by her favourite artists, Cherry is keen for their listeners to get that same strong reaction from their [DEFENCES] music. “There is a specific journey that Shadowlight takes you on and through, but I want the audience to relate to that in whatever way it fits. For me, the album is about coming to terms with who we are as individual people, the reasons why we are who we are, both good and bad reasons. And actually taking time to look at and process the bad. Hearing that people are relating to that is really cool!”
DEFENCES are on many people’s ‘bands to watch’ list, including ours here at DS, and Cherry attributes that to the current push for female-fronted bands in the industry that there has been over the past few years – with social media constantly calling out festival lineups for not enough representation or diversity on lineups. “I myself am quite a good USP for the band,” she points out. “Unfortunately [up until the past couple of years] it’s been quite unusual to have a female-fronted metal band in general, and certainly having a black woman in a metal band was even more rare. So people are kind of surprised when people find out who we are” but they use that to their advantage, bringing people in with the surprise and then keeping them there with genuinely good music.
Though the industry is getting better, there is still a long way to go. “I love seeing all of these up-and-coming female artists in the industry, but it’s still weird for me when I go into the room and I’m one of the very few women in the room and one of the only black people there. But the atmosphere is improving and we are being taken seriously now, which is a start,” Cherry assures.
Even if the industry still has some growth in it, the fans’ support is what matters the most to DEFENCES. “The fact that fans are already singing along to the new music at our shows is mind-blowing and means the world [to us],” says a genuinely in-awe Cherry.
If you missed out on seeing DEFENCES at their album release show in London, you’ve got time to listen to Shadowlight and learn all of the lyrics in time for when they embark on a UK tour next year with support from CRUSHED BY WAVES.
Shadowlight is out now via Long Branch Records.
Like DEFENCES on Facebook.
The post Defences: Searching For Shadowlight appeared first on Distorted Sound Magazine.
