Norwegians Shot At Dawn will unleash their fourth addition to their catalog of releases an EP called "Legendary". The entire band got together to discuss this release and themselves as a band and what the future holds for the rest of this year!
1. Please tell us about the history of your band and its members.
Shot At Dawn started as Misery Conduct way back in 2005, and spent a year and a half using that name before changing to Shot At Dawn. We've been through quite a few members where the only constants have been guitarist Chris and bassist Espen. To be honest, we've lost count. Chris and Espen met up after Espen posted online looking for a band to play music close to Thrice, AFI, Jimmy Eat World and so on. In all honesty, he was tricked into this. It didn't matter, though, since Chris was wearing makeup and that justified the harder music.
Throughout the years, we've played quite a few cool shows with bigger international acts, mainly due to our energetic and highly entertaining live shows, but also because our blend of metal is quite rare in Norway. I'm not saying this to be cocky or anything, but people notice us. About five years ago, Aki joined Shot At Dawn as our drummer. He had just moved down to Oslo from the northern parts of Norway, replacing our previous drummer who wanted to keep playing underground shows.
Alex joined us a year ago on guitar, ending a six month spell where we had an incomplete lineup. Alex also plays in the djent band Kodeks, and he'll probably hate us for calling it a djent band. Haha.
Martin came in as an emergency replacement for our vocalist when we were flying out to Finland in February. He stepped in on a three-day notice and absolutely killed it, so we asked him if he wanted to bring his beard and long hair to our group photos. He said yes, and the rest is future. Get it?
2. What's the origin of the band's name?
“Shot At Dawn” comes from World War 1. Over 300 British soldiers couldn't cope with the war and did not want to fight anymore. They were blindfolded, usually tied to a pole and executed by firing squad for cowardice, mutiny, desertion or other breaches of discipline.
3. Where is the band based out of and what is your music scene like there? Are there any local bands you could recommend?
We are based in Oslo, Norway. Oslo has quite a few good local bands, and we're happy to recommend our friends in Stormbeist, Blodspor, Serenity Trace, Ampmandens Døtre, Timeworn and Sverm. That should be a varied list of bands from punk to br00tal metal.
4. How would you describe your style? Which bands influenced your music?
However cliche it sounds, we don't want to limit ourselves to a specific sub-genre. We all like different music and different bands, and everyone brings their own influence to the music we make.
To generalize our own music is hard, it's much easier for others to label it, but we see it as modern melodic metal influenced by thrash and hardcore. An older kind of metalcore, not that new stuff with tons of horrible auto tune. We've been influenced by bands like Killswitch Engage, Black Dahlia Murder, Pantera, Darkest Hour, Testament, As I Lay Dying (pre-crazy) and At The Gates.
5. What's your take on the "Legendary" EP as a whole?
We feel that we've taken a good step up with the EP compared to our older stuff. The songs are somewhat simpler in both structure and riffing, which in turn make them more catchy. We all like catchy music, so we're happy with the direction our music is heading in. It's a varied release with four songs that are quite different from one another, and we feel it's a strong release.
Grind, track 3, is actually the first song we ever made back in 2005, and we've redone it completely. It's massively improved from the original demo and the song released on our 2008 record "Sic Vic Pacum Para Bellum", and it shows our progress as instrumentalists without compromising the core of the song.
Under The Surface is our tribute to Norwegian pop singer and icon Marit Larsen. We've made her classic ballad a metal song. It might not be very familiar other places in the world, but once you hear the original, you get it.
6. What's your favorite song EP right now?
Espen: My favorite song is Grind. I absolutely love how energetic the start of that song makes me even now, ten years later. I'm also very fond of playing Under The Surface, I like the feel of that song.
Chris: 6: Grind has always been a favorite of mine, it's actually the first song Rob (our first guitarist) and I made for Shot At Dawn back in 05. We've reworked the song with better lyrics, leads, chorus and verses - in other words, only the arrangement is the same. Everything else is better. Same but better. If you want to know how it originally sounded, check out our first demo "Genesis: Part One" (under the name Misery Conduct). You probably won't find it. Unless you stumble over an obscure Russian pirate site or something. And I dig the title track because of the southern party-vibe and Pantera-ish riffage.
Martin: Dark Design is my favorite song on the record! Mainly because of the drive and the fact that I can visualize the story! The breakdown part also satisfies my guilty screamo/emo pleasure!
Alex: If I have to choose I think it's Dark Design. The strong commercial appeal of it hits straight home in my melodic metalcore-loving heart. Although Grind is a really close second, it's just got the full essence of what we're all about musically.
Aki: Dark Design is my favorite track. This is where I feel that our song writing started to feel right, and that had an effect on the rest of the EP. The track challenged me to make simple and melodic drums, and made me turn away the safe choices drum-wise. I'm really happy with what we did in the studio with this track.
7. What should people know about your band? Why should they be interested in it?
We don't take ourselves too serious, and we're not elitists like many metal fans and musicians are. Our shows are about energy and having a good time more than being brutal. So basically, if you are a fun-loving ADHD metalhead, you might like us.
8. What plans do you have for the future as a band?
The rest of 2015 will be about supporting the EP with concerts around Norway. In 2016 we'll try to bring Shot At Dawn on a tour of Europe in some form. We want to play as much as possible for as many people as possible. That's a nice plan, isn't it?
9. Where can we listen to your band and where can we buy your stuff?Our music is available on all digital platforms as far as we know, Spotigy, Tidal, Amazon, iTunes and like a bunch more. We have a bandcamp with merch and music available on shotatdawn.bandcamp.com.
10. What is it you'd like a listener to remember the most when hearing your music for the first time?
This is a very good question. Hopefully that they think the music is good and want to listen to it again haha. And that they want to discover the dual guitars and harmonies. If people sing our songs in the shower, we've accomplished something great. Thanks a lot for your time and questions, we appreciate it.
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