Spotlight On: Pray For Blood

Tuesday, 15 November 2011 22:02

By Nic Wright

Mix up Pantera, Devildriver and Sepultura. Add a dash Lamb Of God, a sprinkling of Metallica, and season with Machine Head. What does this get you? A hell of a lot of noise for starters, but also, according to guitarist Jonathan Barker, you get Sunderland metal outfit Pray For Blood.

Born of metal band cover jams last, their current line-up was cemented early this year, when Tom Chapman stepped up as vocalist, followed Aaron Bainbridge, who became their bass player after a road trip to see Children of Bodom. Shortly after, the band wrote their first song, ‘Bloodbeat’ and ‘set out to make a mark on the music scene’.

And making a mark is certainly what you’d expect from a band that describes themselves as 'groove/death metal'. “We’ve always used the term groove/death metal to define ourselves,” explains Jonathan. “It’s more like groove metal with elements of death metal, such as our vocal style and use of double bass patterns. Groove metal is basically thrash metal with the tempos slowed down, usually with added rhythm to make up for the lack of speed.”

As a band famed for their live performances and proud of making music ‘powerful’ and ‘wild’, the realities of laying down tracks in a studio environment proved challenging as they came to record their demos; “the idea of recording our material for the first time was overwhelming at first,” says Jonathan. “We would normally just let loose in practice, but in the studio it was a bit of a bitch really. We were there from 6pm - 11pm doing single recordings for each instrument, which we’ve never done before. But by the time we got to do our last track we just did it as one. However in the end we were happy we got to see the more technical side of the industry.”

Luckily, the drawn out mechanics of studio recording haven’t put the band off returning to the recording booth just yet. “We just want to keep getting better and better,” maintains the axe-man, “putting our music out, and at the same time getting a bigger fan base.” In fact, the band may be heading back to record soon. “Hopefully we’re looking towards doing another couple of demos next year with some of our older tracks re-recorded.”

Not only are Pray For Blood attempting to leave their mark on Sunderland’s metal scene, they’re also making a big effort to revitalise it. Their monthly metal night, Metal Meltdown, which takes place at Bar One, has been drawing in fans with its blisteringly heavy line-ups. Jonathan appreciates the scarcity of metal nights these days, and is grateful for the chance to be a part of stimulating the scene. “First of all a massive thank you to the guys at Bar One for giving us the opportunity,” he says, “the night itself so far has done really well. You don’t really see a lot of heavy metal nights in Sunderland, and it’s amazing that we as a band can offer that to music lovers.”

The band is keen to showcase the, perhaps often neglected, heavier side of the city’s musical community, which in Pray For Blood’s opinion has recently flagged;  “the metal scene in Sunderland seems to be slowing down, along with the popularity of death/post-hardcore bands. Which is one of the reasons we started 'Metal Meltdown' in the first place, to try and kick-start the 'Metal' scene.”

There are signs of improvement however, says Jonathan, with new local metal bands appearing in the city all the time. “There are times when a really good Sunderland-based metal band will play. For instance we saw Risen Prophecy not so long ago; they’re an amazing thrash metal band.”

As for Pray For Blood themselves, they’re keeping busy writing new material, and hopefully, gaining some well-deserved exposure; “the band has recently secured a spot on the Bloodline CD, a compilation album endorsed by Bloodstock Festival. It should be released by January, and on top of that we are applying to play Bloodstock in 2012.”

The band are also hoping their newly-recorded demos will be reaching some new, influential ears in the new year; “we’ll be sending our demo to every record label we can,” says Jonathan, “and hopefully we’ll get signed.”

The next 'Metal Meltdown’ will take place on 1st December at Bar One, and acts include Pray For Blood, Convulsion and Neon Vortex.

facebook.com/PrayForBloodRocks