Heavy metal rockers JOHANNA REY has just recently released their latest album and a single accompanying it. Some shows will be said in the next year too. The band talks of the future, how they came together, and the music they create.
1. Please tell us a bit about the band.
Were are a 4 piece band based in Birmingham UK, some would say the birth place of down-tuned metal. We write chaotic and raw mathcore drawing inspiration from, The Bled, Converge, The Dillinger Escape plane, Botch to name a few.
2. What’s the origin of the band’s name?
Scopolamine or street name Devils breath is a compound that leaves its victims in a state of hallucinations and a lack of free will. There was a case were two women were using the drug to mug unsuspecting victims. The band name came from their names and we felt if was also a nod to albums and bands that had a name for example Jane Doe or Norma Jean. The deeper reason behind the band name is it represents in a way our society, the women in the wrong almost represent social conditioning to not ask questions and do as you’re told and in some countries this becomes a crowd mentality and those who stand out or do something different are looked down upon.
3. Where are you based and what is your music scene like there?
We’re based in Birmingham UK. There has always been a good scene in Birmingham and something about the city that we feel pushes the drive for people to write and create in general. We have a bunch of great bands in the city at the moment which is creating a good feeling for heavy music. We’re slowly, like most cities loosing a lot of venues so really encourage people to support their local bands, venues and promoters.
4. How would you describe your style?
When we write we tend not to think about things like genre and work on instinct. Pete, Rob, and Leigh have played music together off and on since we were all at school and we seem to have an understanding of how we write. We are all heavily influenced from the early 2000’s, bands like The Bled, Botch, Coalesce and The Dillinger Escape plan are ingrained in us and are pretty much always going to be an subconscious influence when writing. Alec joined the band in May 2020 and brings lyrical and musical influences from political and personal avenues. Apparently he sounds like James Muñoz of The Bled, but he had never heard of them before he joined Johanna Rey!
5. What have you released so far and what can someone expect from your works?
Trial by Choice’s video is out now and is sick. We wanted the video to be special, so we are super excited that it is featured on Outburn! Reality Fallacy (the album that features ‘Trial by Choice’) came out on the 14th of October and people seem to dig it so far with Trial being a keen favourite for a few people.
Expect chaos with light and dark. I guess one way you could think of it is being hit by a hurricane with Trial by Choice being a heavy beast early doors. Black Balloons is the eye of the storm, a moment of calm and build before the rest of the album smashes you round the face again! There are moments of melody and there is plenty of lyrical metaphor and self-reflection to sift through.
6. Tell us a bit about this new video that’s dropping,
We always want to create something different to the ‘video of band playing song’ aesthetic. We do everything ourselves and that includes the video’s, so we want it to stand out. Trial by Choice is about not making decisions or the anxiety of making mistakes so we wanted the video to be erratic and crazy, so we strapped a GoPro to our chest and ran around Birmingham doing some weird shit in the process.
7. How about playing shows and touring, have anything planned out?
We will be announcing some really exciting shows soon and plan to hit the UK hard next year to continue the support of Reality Fallacy and more music that we have already started writing.
8. What plans do you have for the future as a band?
We want to give Reality Fallacy the time it deserves but not dwell on it as our only release. The future is bright for us. More music, more shows, more chaos, angry lyrics, fast riffs and good times.
9. Where can we listen to your band and where can we buy your stuff?
Go to our Linktree. There you have all of the streaming links: https://linktr.ee/johannarey. If you want to buy our music rather than stream it, or you want a Trial by Choice T. We designed & printed some for the release and they can be copped through our bandcamp: https://johannareyband.bandcamp.com/merch
10. What is it you’d like a listener to remember the most when hearing your music for the first time?
Art is subjective. If our music emotionally moves someone, that would be insane. Even if someone hates it. If one person loves what we do, and someone else hates it, that’s fine with us. The last thing anyone of us would want to be, is vanilla or indifferent. Sonically and lyrically, we think we have achieved that with Trail by Choice and the wider album. Share it with your enemies.
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