Raised By Owls Interview

1.For those that have never heard of you before, can you tell us a little bit about the band?

Hi, firstly thank you for asking us to do the interview. We are Raised By Owls, an extreme metal band spawned from the depths of England to cause a mild disturbance then apologise shortly afterwards. We formed in 2015 and we're a very British metal band. We released our debut EP 'The Great British Grind Off' back in October 2016 which we are giving away as a free download on our Bandcamp page.

2.How would you describe your musical sound?

We like to think of our sound as a melting pot of extreme metal sub-genres. There are elements of death metal, grindcore and a few hints of black metal. We try not to restrict our sound to a specific genre, if it sounds good we will use it. Actually, if it doesn't sound good we'll probably still use it.

3.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the music?

Our lyrical content takes a comedic approach, we don't take ourselves or our lyrics too seriously and we think the music expresses that. From the start we always said we wanted the lyrical themes to be absurd. Our focus on the EP was to poke fun at British culture and British celebrities.

Sam, who writes the lyrics, doesn't have any particular hardship or negativity in his life. He just likes going to the pub and has a weird obsession with UK mega-chef Ainsley Harriott. So that's what he writes about. 

4.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Raised by Owls'?

We were talking about this the other day and cannot actually remember the exact moment we coined the name 'Raised By Owls'. We wanted to take a typical metal band name like 'Raised By Wolves' or 'Raised By Lions' you know, a strong and fierce animal that you might typically associate with metal and replace it with a not so metal sounding animal. Like an owl.

5.What are some of the best shows that the band has played so far and also how would you describe your stage performance?

We've played shows up and down the UK and played with some awesome bands in front of some really cool crowds. We played the Sheffield Corporation with Bleating Apocalypse last week, which was a great show. We've been to see some of our favourite bands play there, so it was brilliant to get the chance to play on that stage ourselves.

Cambridge with Serrabulho and Chestburster was great and Derby with End Of Salvation and This Is Hate was another good show, however I think the highlight still has to be our very first gig. We played the first UK round of 'Metal 2 The Masses' with Deathflux and Built Upon Hatred for a chance to play Bloodstock Festival. That was a really cool opportunity for us, and we were really happy to be accepted to play. It felt like the perfect environment to introduce the Raised By Owls live extravaganza.

We always like to have a laugh with the audience but we take the performing of the music seriously. It's frantic, sweaty, offensive and hideously noisy throughout, and we plan to get more so in every aspect with each gig.

6.Do you have any touring or show plans for the future?

We'll be hitting Manchester, Reading, Leeds and Nottingham in the coming months, but are eager to book more and really get ourselves out on the road.

7.Currently you are unsigned, are you looking for a label or have received any interest?

I think the dream for a lot of bands is to get signed, but it's not something we're really focusing on right now. I think we're still trying to find our footing in the world and gather interest. Without sounding like one of those inspirational posters you see on Facebook, we're just having fun with it and we're taking each day as it comes. Unless we are approached by a big European club like Bayern Munich or Real Madrid, or Wigan.

8.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of death metal and grindcore?

We've had some fantastic feedback online. We've not just had a lot of attention in the UK, but also France, Germany, and even the US! People are sending us messages to say they dig the tunes and find our videos funny and that means the world to us. We're honestly grateful for anyone who takes the time to watch our videos or listen to our songs.

Like most other bands, we’ve been told that we suck and that we’re not metal, but we’ve developed a good coping mechanism. Normally we sob uncontrollably for 9 hours straight, compose ourselves, then carry on.

9.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?

The next EP will be at least 90% Shania Twain covers. Only joking, 100% Shania Twain covers.

10.What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?

CRIKEY FLIP, Now you're asking! We take inspiration from bands like Carcass, Napalm Death, The Black Dahlia Murder, Behemoth, Cannibal Corpse, Pig Destroyer, Municipal Waste, King Parrot, At The Gates, and loads more. The list goes on and on...

Recently we've been really enjoying latest releases from The Drip and Iron Reagan. We've also been digging Omnipotent Hysteria who dropped a ripper of an album late last year. Party Cannon are on the playlist frequently as well.
Oh, and we listen to the soundtrack for the hit motion picture 'Chicken Run' at least once a month.

11.What are some of your non musical interests?

Pretty normal interests like any other lads in their twenty-somethings would have: going to gigs, video games, Satan worship, knitting, manufacturing plastic, teaching grandma how to use Tinder and drinking tea by the bucket load.

12.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?


Thanks for the interview!

Stay metal and stay weird!