Formed in early 2022 in Horsham, Rogue Awakening is an alt-rock/alt-metal female-fronted band made up of:
Kimberley, Vocals
Tom, Guitar/Vocals
Ollie, Lead Guitar
Nick, Bass
Kyle, Drums
Their new EP is “Feed Me Fire,” and it has hit the UK rock scene with some really positive reviews, which has spread to a positive vibe on the live scene. With the ongoing aim of bringing our readers the best of up-and-coming music, we knew that we wanted to review and speak to this group. So, with an exclusive interview here for you, we hope you delve into the EP, give it a stream, and start to watch this space as we intend to see how these talented melodic rockers continue to make waves. All of the band members joined us, and we discussed the EP and where the band is at.
You can download it here.
“Feed Me Fire” hits us all with this big drum sound and some crunching guitars. It really gets the whole EP off to a flying start, and we did wonder about the production side of things (maybe we would have turned those drums up even more in the mix). The whole production is slick and commercial, which gives the EP a solid feel for the listener.
Kimberley- “Feed Me Fire” was actually the last song we wrote for the EP. I think it is probably the one we are proudest of, as it shows a real evolution in our music; it shows the growth and how the dynamics of us as a band working together have developed. You can tell the tracks importance as we named the whole EP “Feed Me Fire.” We did self-produce it, but we have a sound engineer on board, and we went to the studios, IgniteAMR, with Nic in Horsham. We went there for all the tracks to maintain consistency. I think that Nic, with all his abilities, has also evolved along with us. On this one, he worked closely with Kyle on the drums, and Kyle actually went back on his own to work on the drums.
Kyle- I thought the drums sounded great in the final mix.
Kimberley- It’s rare for us to let the drummer out to do the communication side of things!
We liked the commercial, hard rock, and melody sides of the music. On the guitar side of things, Lorraine (in the review comments for this) felt the guitars were nodding towards an older Rolling Stones style of playing. We wondered how the songwriting featured the guitar sound and how it all came together in the studio. Not that Rogue Awakening is blues, but some of the guitar work is interesting for its influences.
Ollie- It’s not blues style; me and Nick are the least likely people to listen to blues! A lot of our influences stem from Alter Bridge, Halestorm, and that kind of thing. Then again, I know Alter Bridge is blues-inspired, and they have a sound we try to emulate here and there. Now, looking at “Feed Me Fire,” the intro riff came at a time when I was listening to a lot of Finnish folk metal and the oldies like Priest and Maiden, and it evolved from that. For writing, we often all come in with a piece, half-an-idea and we will sit down and work together I think the song was an amalgamation of each and every one of us, and for me personally, the song is where we are at. We have all had a hand in it; we have all written a part of it.
“Overshadowed,” we noted the wonderful touches on the video. It has these montage style ideas to it, the silhouettes, the hands making patterns, the simple images. It all worked really well for the band in the early days of creating the videos. It is also a great track, very strong melodic hooks.
Tom- It was actually Kimberley’s friend Emma Millions, who, luckily enough, is a film producer. With “Overshadowed,” it was all pretty new for us, it was our second single, so we wanted to do some kind of video, and we asked Emma what she thought. We spoke to her about the themes and ideas in the song. It’s that concept of having an issue, but it’s not really there, and doubt creeps in and sabotages a relationship. I think the darkness is there in the video, the whole idea is that things are not quite as they are with the silhouettes and the underwater images. Emma did the feed for “Feed Me Fire” as well, so we have been lucky. We wanted to be a bit silly, not super serious. So (in “Feed Me Fire”) we played with ideas of my friend Terry being kidnapped and taken off to the woods, and the witches and all of it. But Emma did a great job with these extremely talented people who gave their time for free, which is insane but so much appreciated. Normally, that kind of production would cost so much money, but we are building up creative relationships. As for those other two witches, we had never met them! We literally met them on Instagram and asked them! We gave them the address, and they came down.
Nick- I was going to say that it was crazy finding a witch on Instagram, there is the address, and down you come! And you mentioned a scene in with the infared figures. As a fun fact, we actually shot that in an office with us all in suits. It ended up being in the woods, but we do have footage of us all in an office in suits just rocking out. And that is where the infrared camera came into play, I think.
Kimberley- I’m sure that footage will come out one day as a strange outtake!
Next up, we wanted to touch on image. We wondered whether the band had sat down and discussed a “look” as such, or whether things were just falling into place without a pre-plan! And let’s face it the harder rocking bands are often known for excess in image.
Kimberley- When we first started, we never even considered image, but before we performed in our first ever show, we just said that we would wear black. It was black T-Shirts. Then there was one moment when I turned up in the studio and put some make-up on the guys, an eye shadow look. Maybe a Nordic-Viking look was tried, but we have never really made that image decision. I quite like the journey we are on with that, and I don’t want to force anything. We are evolving the image with the sound, and I don’t want to overthink it.
“Dark Thoughts” is a great track, it shows some depth and diversity in the sound, with some vocal harmony, male/female vocals, and it fits into the power ballad style of the musical buffet. For this one, we wondered how the song evolved in the songwriting process.
Tom- I can’t remember if it started out as a duo, I actually started out with Kimberley doing acoustic covers, R and B mostly. So we knew that we could both sing, and Kimberley has this distinctive and powerful voice; we have built the band around that. But in this band, we are all part of the creative process. Nick, for example, is on bass, but he will often come into the songwriting with a riff or wider idea, same is true for Ollie. Kimberley and I will then build the melody and lyrics around that. That is so nice, as no one person has to be creative and come up with material, as that is their job in the band, we mutually come up with ideas, or riffs, and hopefully it comes together. Sometimes we will push each other, I remember Kimberley sending me away to try and write better lyrics, and I think I did! But this song, “Dark Thoughts,” is different from the rest of the EP, it is us doing something a little different. But it was a challenge for us, and we like it.
As a listener, you do need light and shade, even in an EP. You need the contrasts so that the different songs will stand out. So we liked “Dark Thoughts,” as you get to hear the final song more.
Kimberley- Yes, light and shade are very important, Tom and I have certainly spoken about it, writing the lyrics. All of us have different experiences and lean slightly towards other genres, so we have never had to push to hard to be able to push outwards musically more. We never set out to write a ballad, it happens naturally..
“Bored,” we felt, was possibly the least commercial on the EP, but it retained this pulsing drum and bass sound that carries it through, almost like a throbbing metal vibe.
Ollie- This is where our sound started from. A lot of our first songs were very chord-driven. As we developed, we got onto “Dark Thoughts” and then “Feed Me Fire,” and so it is evolving as a band. Our general dynamic is changing. We have been described as hard rock, pop/punk.
Tom- From the playing perspective, “Bored” is the simplest of the songs to play, it is the point from which the rest of our music sprang.
Ollie- The way I see it, “Bored” was our foundation. We started with “Bored,” and it is the most popular one that we have on Spotify, it came out first. So we have built on top of “Bored.”
And what is happening in 2023/24 for the band?
Tom- We are busy. We have Pipeline Brighton on September 23rd, and on the 15th of October, we are in Hastings, and then Southampton in November, we are playing The Hobbit there, and Ollie has been desperate to play there for a while! We are looking to get some festivals in 2024, and maybe a tour in March/April 2024, pushing beyond the South Coast. And just maybe an album in summer 2024.
For a last fun question, we wondered about which solo performer or band from the past they have never had the opportunity to see and would they time travel back to and watch in their hayday?
Kyle- Queen! My Dad saw Queen a few times, and he said they were incredible, so it’s Queen for me.
Kimberley- Kyle stole mine, as I would have said, Queen. But I would choose Prince, as his live shows were legendary, he was such a performer.
Nick- I would have loved to see Rush live at some point, but I won’t now. I had a chance in 2013, but my friend took someone else! But otherwise, Motorhead, I wish I’d seen Lemmy; he was such an influence on my sound on the bass.
Tom- I would have said Queen or Prince, but I will go for Bowie. I was never hugely into him, but when he passed, I realised how good he was as I delved into his music. Seeing him in full mid-70s legendary status would have been wonderful.
Ollie- Mine would be original Dimebag Darrell era Pantera. I know they have Zak Wilde now, but to see the original lineup in the original venues would have blown me away. He was a huge influence to me when I began to play guitar, and as one of the heaviest sounding, I fell in love with his music. How he began with hair metal in the eighties, but then changed to the sludge metal of the nineties and then the groove metal. He was a legend taken too soon.
Strange fact, he was buried in a Kiss coffin.
Ollie- With Eddie Van Halen’s guitar. So these legends were fans of him, and he had Ace Frehley tattooed on his chest as well.
Legends all! Just for the record, as we close this interview down, Mark would have either gone back to hear Queen, or caught Nina Simone in one of her early jazz club days. That woman has the best voice ever! Lorraine would go back and sit in the selected audience for The Beatles when they played “All You Need is Love” in studio for the world!
And now, readers, enjoy the videos, catch up with Rogue Awakening and their music; they are very much with us!
By Lorraine Foley
and
Mark C. Chambers
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