Sulpher

Woolhouse Studios
Stuart Nicholls stunphoto.co.uk
Woolhouse Studios
Stuart Nicholls stunphoto.co.uk
Stuart Nicholls stunphoto.co.uk
Woolhouse Studios

Sulpher are a four-piece industrial rock powerhouse with a devoted following and have been voted “Best British Metal Band”. Their first album Spray was hailed as ground-breaking and their track ‘Fear Me’ was used for the USA Winter Olympic Games promo. The band toured with Marilyn Manson and Sisters of Mercy and band members play with legends such as The Prodigy, Gary Numan and Marilyn Manson, and previously with Pop Will Eat Itself, Jesus and Mary Chain and Curve. They are about to release a hotly anticipated second album, and are previewing it at select gig dates. Sulpher is made up of Rob Holliday, Monti, Tim “Mud” Muddiman, and Andy Spillane. We grabbed a chat with founder members and multi-instrumentalists Rob and Monti to find out about their new album, favourite gear, and gigs.

Hometown:
London
Debut:
2002
Homepage:
www.sulphermusic.co.uk
Twitter:
@sulphermusic
Sulpher Rob talks guitar and bass Monti talks drums and producing Kit List

Sulpher

Sulpher love playing live and have been playing a range of venues across the UK to debut their new material. We wanted to know how it’s all been going. Rob says there’s nothing like getting out there.

I started out playing music with my friends when I was in my early teens, we formed a band and started playing as soon as we had enough songs learned. I’ve always personally been into music to play live, I was playing in bars at the age of 15. It’s in my blood.

Monti likes the unpredictability of a playing a set, whether it’s at a big or small venue.

I love playing it live. Nothing beats the adrenaline and spontaneity of a live show. No matter how much you rehearse the set, you never really know what will happen at the gig.

The band recently played the intimate Purple Turtle in Camden to a pretty starry audience as Rob explains:

We felt the show went really well - it was intimate to say the least - it was a very different show for us. We just wanted it to be about getting up there and playing together as a band again for the first time in a long long while. We were stripped back to the bare bones - just the band and the audience - no fancy lighting and smoke and mirrors. Just sweat and volume. All the guys from The Prodigy, and Gary Numan and his lovely wife Gemma, all came down to show their support which was so cool of them.

Stuart Nicholls stunphoto.co.uk

We asked about the band’s favourite gigs and Rob told us about Sulpher and also other favourite moments.

I will always remember Sulpher supporting Marilyn Manson in Germany years ago - that to me was one of the best we ever did as Sulpher goes . Obviously there have been some amazing shows with Manson and The Prodigy with such huge crowds going nuts and great stage shows with all the trimmings - fabulous lighting etc.

It’s always fantastic being onstage when it’s at that level I would have to say for sure with The Prodigy at Milton Keynes bowl in front of 85,000 is probably one of the best moments for myself - just looking out at that many people all going mental from the front to the back is quite surreal.

Stuart Nicholls stunphoto.co.uk

For Monti it’s a US gig that tops his list.

My most memorable gig was at the Texas stadium with Curve when they were supporting The Cure.

Sulpher’s music cuts across genres, with a mixture of different styles appealing to a diverse audience. Monti says:

We don’t see ourselves as being part of any particular “scene” or sound. The writing just evolves and each song reflects the mood of whichever one of us started working first on that song.

Stuart Nicholls stunphoto.co.uk

Writing is a collaborative process, though lyrics are mostly supplied by Rob, who describes the new album as blending the power and aggression of its predecessor with some more melodic moments. Monti says their new work is less experimental and more melody-driven.

I think we’ve managed to keep the power and energy and aggression of the first album, but become better at song writing and being a bit more melodic rather than just pure aggression. We didn’t want to make a replica of the first album that’s for sure, but we didn’t want to lose our identity. We spent a lot of time and worked hard to get things just the way we wanted them on this next record - experimenting and trying out a lot of different variations and wanted to just let it naturally progress to what it is today.

Woolhouse Studios

So how do they actually write the songs? Rob gave us some insights.

We have no set way of writing at all - we’re all over the place! Sometimes I’ll have a vocal melody idea or a guitar riff or a chorus idea - or we’ll get started with a cool synth sound or a drum loop of some sort. We’ve always been the same, we don’t like rules or boundaries we just go with the flow. We spark ideas off each other until we’re both happy with the way the song is moving forward and the finished product obviously.

Monti can’t resist a little dig at this point!

I think the second album is more stripped back. It is less experimental and more melody driven. The lyrics (which I leave to Rob) reflect Rob’s various relationship dramas in the intervening period. I’m the well adjusted one in the band!

They’ve put up a little teaser of the track Threw It all Away.

Rob admits that although he loves writing and recording, he can get impatient with the process.

Sometimes you just get so bogged down trying to complete things, and that can get pretty tedious. I get frustrated sometimes when it comes to that kind of thing.

Monti

At the moment they mainly work from Monti’s London studio and have produced the album themselves. Monti says it’s really tidy when Rob’s not there, and Rob paints a lovely picture of his band-mate.

It’s a mass of lights and cables and Monti crawling around like a mad scientist amongst it all! There has been talk of having other producers do mixes which we are very much open to. Chris Vrenna (Nine Inch Nails/Marilyn Manson/Tweaker) is doing a mix for us at the moment. Even though we’re pretty definite on how we want our music to sound, it would be nice to hear another person’s view on our stuff sometimes. Dance producer/DJ Andi Durrant has done a mix of one of our songs called ‘ Tomorrow’ and I love what he’s done with it.

Sulpher have lots of treasured gear, from beaten up guitars to the latest software (see side panels) and the new kit available has really opened things up for them says Monti:

I love what you can now do with technology in terms of getting a great guitar sound. There are so many brilliant options compared to 10 years ago when we did the first album.

Influenced by acts and musicians as diverse as Skinny Puppy, The Cure, Pantera and Deftones, Sulpher look set to win over another legion of fans with their powerful rock metal mayhem.

Rob talks guitar and bass