Influx of Insanity. Influx of Insanity play heavy, ambient, progressive music. Since bursting onto the scene at a R*E*P*E*A*T Young Performers Gig, they've wowed fans across East Anglia with their incredible musicianship and awesome songs : it is hard to believe that so much mesmerising noise can come from just two (fairly) small people! This year they won the Cambridge Band Competition and then BurySOUND 2018 aged only 15, and they are now preparing to annouince themselves to a waiting world with their upcoming 'Influx of Insanity EP', a "studio" version of the set that won them these awards. Despite the vocals being tracked in a padded shower, these impressive tracks make it obvious that it is high time for us to ask Influx of Insanity to explain their secrets! |
* Influx of Insanity who, what and why?
Influx is Dom Howard (Guitar, backing vocals and weird FX things) and Oli Brown (Drums and Lead Vocals). Its hard to chain us down into one category as our music flies freely in the realm of the unknown entity. We do it because we have a load of fun.
Heavy, but also chill at times. Influences from just about everywhere.
We try to keep it fairly varied in energy levels throughout the gig with massive heavy sections, solos, groovy bits ect. We have a load of fun, hope you do too!
Basically its heavy at times and ambient at others, with harmony and rhythm being a big part of what we write. Its dynamic music. * You've an ep out soon preceded by a single 'Season of Mist' this week, what can you tell us about these please? After writing, recording and releasing our first EP, Visions, we learnt loads about the whole process and we feel our new music represents us at the moment. The EP is pretty much a studio version of the set that won us BurySOUND and the Cambridge Band Competition this year. The single Season of Mist was released on the 21st September (listen here!) and the EP will be released sometime mid October. All instruments (aside drums) were tracked entirely by us and we have mixed and mastered everything ourselves. In fact, vocals were tracked in a padded out shower! Its been a ton of work but were really happy with the outcome. We hope you enjoy listening to it as much as we enjoyed making it.
We think the bands that influence the Influx of Insanity sound are probably Toska, Tesseract, Periphery, Karnivool, Arcane Roots ect. Honesty we love all sorts of stuff. Delta Sleep, Coltrane, Allan Holdsworth, Robert Glasper Experiment, Meshuggah, whatever really. Were a fan of Corbyn - hes a man who sticks by his beliefs, whatever people say about him. Olis family also have a vague link to Mahatma Gandhi (Great grandfather met him in a British prison!) - his beliefs about non-violence are just as important today as they were during the struggle for independence in the 40s. Also, Lyndon B Johnson gets a bad name for the Vietnam war, but his Great Society legislation helped millions of Americans rise above the poverty line. His program of social reform is a far cry from Trumps current economic policy which helps the rich and hurts the poor.
Our music is not really simple I guess. We often play in odd time, theres plenty of big, meaty, extended chord voicings and generally we try to pack in as much interest and creativity into the songs as we can, to challenge ourselves (and our neighbours!!). We also love having a jam (often posted on YouTube) - its cool to see what come out.
Thats for you to decide ;))))) * You began the band when you were both really young, what were the benefits and problems of doing this? When we were 12/13, we played in a massive 14 piece band called Endangered Species. We covered Smells Like Teen Spirit, Eye of the Tiger and that was about it. As much fun as it was working with loads of people, we got nothing done. Maybe this is why were a two piece now! Honestly the earlier you start the more experience you have but then again it really doesnt matter - start making music and have some fun.
Its crazy! * What next for Influx of Insanity? More rehearsing, more gigs, more music! Weve got some great gigs coming up soon, including headlining the Apex in Bury on the 8th March 2019!! Go check our Facebook and Instagram for more details. * How can our readers hear your music? Why should they bother? You can check it out on all major streaming services: https://open.spotify.com/album/16i6BQItO9GBqGhXU1WbCS https://influxofinsanity.bandcamp.com/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F09AqfFZ5nE Even if you think youll hate it, give it a listen, you never know. Its been a long time in the making!
Chips, all the way. Preferably chunky, soft in the middle and proper crispy on the outside. |