During the sunny afternoon of Sunday, January 21, 2018, I had the pleasure to spend a bit of time at the Legend Club in Milan with Sean Long and Mat Welsh, guitarists of the British metalcore band While She Sleeps. Although they were tested by the non-stop tour and the long journey from Rome to Milan, they proved to be very open and really funny! In fact, laughs were certainly not lacking. You can find here a live report and a photogallery of the evening.
Enjoy the reading!
Hi my name is Margot, I’m from Metalpit.it – an italian webzine. I’m really excited to meet you! And thank you so much for spend a bit of your time with me.
Yesterday night you were in Rome. What was the reaction of the italian fans? And what do you expect for tonight?
S: Thank you very much! It was our first time in Rome, ever. We had never been there except as tourists and we usually never know what to expect when we play for the first time in a place. We had already played in Milan, of course, but never in Rome. We could bring new and old material… so yes, it was really amazing.
M: Beautiful reaction last night in Rome! The concert was incredible. And we can’t wait for tonight!
What’s your album’s writing process?
S: Well, it’s not that suddenly comes inspiration. Usually, however, someone writes the music and someone else writes the lyrics… during the same period maybe. And sometimes we try to combine texts with music, and we see which one convinces us more.
M: Well… For example, we can take pasta and tomato sauce. You can put the pasta in the sauce, or the sauce in the pasta.
S: Yes! The important thing is to wait until the pasta is ready and that all the ingredients are well combined.
Well, It’s such a good metaphor for Ttalian people!
S: Ahahah, well… I think that maybe this is why our albums, maybe even for other bands, it might take some time to go out. It could be that even for a month no inspiration comes. No spark. But we wait for the right moment. And it takes time to make everything special.
Let’s talk about your latest album “You Are We” (that I personally love!). The tracks are very personal but, at the same time, you deal with political themes like war and terrorism. What did inspire you to speak about these difficult and important themes?
M: I think this is a parenthesis of the process of transcribing an album. In those years we had so many changes that everyone talks and know about. We only try to reflect these problems that everyone has, making them something global. So… it’s like you have a problem and I have the same problem, and we discuss it together. It’s something mental. And of course it’s also how we manage to create audiences: people come to our concerts, they listen to the words of our songs, and recognize themselves in these messages.
S: Yes, it’s like when it happens to say to someone “Oh, you’re saying just what I was thinking about!” I think that a band does this when it’s on top of a stage… just for thousands people. People who may not know how to express themselves, and our words are their voices.
What is your favourite song of “You Are We” to play live? And why?
M: I think that for me every night it changes…
S: I really like “You Are We”. It’s not that hard to play… and it’s very balanced. Plus it’s a very strong song.
M: I really like “Silence Speaks”… it always sounds very well in a live performance.
In “Silence Speaks” you had a collaboration with Oliver ‘Oli’ Sykes of Bring Me The Horizon. But… If you could choose only one artist to collaborate with (dead or alive), who would you choose?
M: Mmm… I think I would choose Zack de La Rocha (Rage Against The Machine). It would be really cool.
S: Yeah, that’s true… nice choice. I’m tempted to say Rihanna… I don’t know how, I don’t know why. But I like her melodies like crazy. And then she’s a great pussy!
Watch out! I’ll write for real in the interview that you like Rihanna!
S: Ahahah! I don’t know… I could also say Michael Jackson though.
What are your plans for the future? Do you have any ideas for a future album?
S: Sure. I think composing music is always in our minds. And I think this is one of the best things about being in a band, creating these new things. There is always that idea of “what will we do next”.
M: In this moment of our career we travel the world on tour proposing our music. But the most important thing for us is not this, it is being continuously creative and compose our music. It has changed from the past, because at the beginning we could not wait to go on tour, but now we give more importance to the real creative process. If you think about it, the possibilities are endless. I think we are very excited… but at the same time we are sailing in the middle of an ocean. We have no idea of what will come out!
S: We never know! This is good. For example he next album could be a real shit though… we don’t know.
M: It could be for good!
S: But we only do things that we are connected to. And so it was also in the past. Because we say yes just to the music we create! And this makes music what it is. And even if it’s shit… it’s not for us. Because we say yes to our creations! We welcome and accept them.
M: We’re a “yes band”!
Thank you so much for being here with me. See you tonight!
