Many thanks go out to our friend and fellow college partner in crime up at Ferris State University Alex Gilbert from Roadrunner Records. He has given me the chance to speak with hardcore breakout artist Your Demise hailing from the United Kingdom. They just released their new album entitled Ignorance Never Dies off of Visible Noise/Earache Records. This band has unquestionably made an impact overseas playing intense shows and driving crowds to the brink of insanity. We sat down with Your Demise to discuss their chaotic rise and their impressive work ethic that has propelled them to the big leagues. They are currently doing promotion in New York City for their new record Ignorance Never Dies before they head back out on tour. Below is the talk I had with their bass player Jimmy Sampson.

YOUR DEMISE is:
George Noble (Vox)
Daniel Osbourne (Guitar)
Stuart Paice (Guitar)
Jimmy Sampson (Bass)
James Tailbee (Drums)

UTG: Welcome to Under the Gun…we are glad to add some UK flavor to the site.

YD: (Jimmy) No worries, thank you.

UTG: Diving right into Your Demise’s debut record, which UTG would like to say ‘congratulations’ by the way…is called Ignorance Never Dies. It was released little over a month ago from Visible Noise/Earache Records on 20th April 2009. What kind of responses have people given you on the new album?

YD: We kind of got that we sound a little like Comeback Kid but we have a unique style where we put our own spin on the hardcore genre. Everything always been positive except the people question the interludes mainly. People don’t get them. We used the “Unknown Dub” interlude as our intro to our shows and the people respond really well.

UTG: Was writing or recording the debut record at any point difficult for the group? If so what kind of roadblocks or problems did you encounter?

YD: Recording is never straightforward because we never record in the amount of time given to us (laughs). We are a band that doesn’t really practice at all because we play so many shows. With Ignorance Never Dies we literally recorded the cd in literally a month! It was the most hectic time of my life because we recorded it in a month on a Macbook. If we didn’t have a deadline or anything then we probably wouldn’t have got anything done.

UTG: Was there a certain song off the album that really stuck out as your “favorite” track; and why was it exactly? You can name two or three if you want…

YD: “Burnt Tongues” is the sickest song we’ve collectively written. It’s really hardcore and we all love it. It’s just a brutal song.

UTG: With the altering of band members do you see a radical change in the sound of this record as opposed to previously released or unreleased material?

YD: Absolutely. Our last drummer took like 5 days to record some of our older stuff and after he had done it the producer said it was garbage so he put in programmed drums. It was just like a waste of time. Our new drummer now is actually my good friend from back in the day and he is just ridiculously good at drumming. The band has a better sound and has been evolving over the entire time we’ve been playing.

UTG: I see from reading the MySpace biography of Your Demise that you have had to deal with equipment thieves. How did your gear get stolen?

YD: Actually we had our stuff stolen from us when we were at home.

UTG: You guys are on a break until July 10th; what are your plans for this short time off?

YD: Go back to work for a while to get some money. That’s what all the guys do usually when we have a short time off. Now since we are touring more we don’t work as often. I’ll end up hanging out with my girlfriend though for the time being in our new apartment.

UTG: I had heard from close friends that your live show is intense in Europe. Can you give me a taste of what a true Your Demise concert experience is like? Do you tend to break stuff often or is it more the crowd going completely crazy?

YD: Things get broken, it just happens. The kids who are used to going to Taking Back Sunday come to our shows and run right to the front and they don’t’ realize what’s going to come. Kick to the face/microphone to the head; it’s all coming. The music scene is cool though because everyone from Europe is into the hardcore stuff. It’s not specifically people in different categories like, “I’m into metal” or “I’m into Alternative” it’s purely hardcore and it’s awesome.

UTG: Do you have a ritual, habit or ceremony that the band carries out prior to going on stage?

YD: Everyone drinks as much Monster Energy Drinks as they can, not really, but we drink a ton of that stuff. I’m almost sick every show because I drink so much of it. We really don’t have a pre-show ritual; we all just stretch a little bit then go out and play.

UTG: We prefer to not end interviews on a final question, but rather a closing comment. Call it a soapbox moment if you will. You can use this time to discuss something outside of Your Demise that’s been on your mind:

YD: It’s crazy to be in New York City. To be here is awesome and I love the experience! Other than that I can tell you that when we are at shows people think we are the biggest assholes ever (laughs). We pretty much make our fun by picking on Oz (Daniel Osbourne, guitarist) because he’s a complete idiot. Everyone wonders why we pick on him because they think he’s so nice. It’s pretty much a normal occurrence of torturing him every chance we get. We shot him with an air-soft gun once and had red welts all over which then led us in jail for a night. That event was cleared up though.

http://www.myspace.com/yourdemise

Interview by Grant Trimboli

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James Shotwell

James Shotwell is the founder of Under The Gun Review. He loves writing about music and movies almost as much as he loves his two fat cats. He's also the co-founder of Antique Records and the Marketing Coordinator for Haulix. You should probably follow him on Twitter.

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