Band Interview: Parasitic Twins

Games, Brrraaains & A Head-Banging Life are pleased to bring you an interview with drummer, Dom Smith of Hull doom merchants, Parasitic Twins.

1. Tell us a little bit about your background and how the band came into existence.

It came out of a desire for me and Max to do something heavier, and more abrasive than anything we managed before in our previous bands, Seep Away (hardcore punk) and stickybackplastics (blues rock). We wanted to build something between the two of us, where we could tour it, travel and create under our own steam, without too much compromise. Max’s riffs and vocals are intense as hell, and my drums are abrasive and tribal, and it seems to always work in one way or another!

2. You say you’re “the fastest doom metal band and/or slowest grindcore band on the planet”. I absolutely love this and feel it sums up your sound perfectly but you’re not an easy band to pigeonhole. Clearly genres aren’t that important to you, right?

Are genres important to you? It’s a difficult one, isn’t it? I’m a journalist in my day job, so I do understand the value of them. However, dude…I mean, we’re a grindcore/doom band so…it’s just heavy as fuck, and nobody can classify us. That makes it hard in some ways, but when places like GBHBL get it without any specific genre guide, that makes it worthwhile for us.

3. You’ve most recently released a split EP with The Carnival Rejects. A natural coming together?

They’ve been good friends of ours since myself and Max were in Seep Away. On top of that, Max is in a punk band with the Rejects’ vocalist and guitarist James Briggs (called Rotting Monarchs), and I am also in a drone band with James called The Trembling Hellish Infernal Nightmare Generatior, so there’s that! Other than that, we thought that the contrasting styles on the split would be well…difficult for everyone listening to digest, but fun for us to put together at least, but we are pleased with how people are taking it so far!

4. We have to talk about Spaceman. What made you want to cover such a track?

Ahh, man! Simply put, me and Max think that track, and Babylon Zoo as a band were before their time. We thought we’d bring it back, but also make it a lot heavier, and darker! People seem to dig it though, so I’m happy about that. I guess as well, because of the novelty factor of covering a nineties anthem, it was good to bring more attention to CALM.

 

 

5. All proceeds of the sale went CALM (Campaign against Living Miserably). What made you decide to get involved with this?

CALM has been a cause close to me for a long time, and I really believe in the work that they do. A number of my friends have been involved with them too. Men don’t talk about their mental well-being enough in the UK, but then none of us do.

I think we focus too much on what we don’t have in life, instead of celebrating what we do have, and that’s easy to do in this generation of instant gratification – we want to appear strong, and capable at all times, because people feel the need to look a certain way, or do certain things to gain more followers. I think personally that’s a very toxic way to be, because it’s not really and it’s very lonely. I think it’s important for people to realise that it’s good to talk and bands like ourselves are here to listen, as well as places like CALM, The Crisis Text Line, Samaritans and other places. I think in general though as a society, we need to celebrate each other rather than competing, and offer whenever we can, because everyone is struggling in some way that we can’t understand. The solution? I think it starts by talking to family, then friends and anyone else and sharing as much as you can so you can feel that value.

6. It’s no secret anymore that mental health in the music business is something that has been ignored/overlooked for some time. What do you think artists/fans/labels etc can do to help?

Talking, man. I think more people putting on more gigs in aid of causes like CALM would be great as well to people awareness on a national, and international level.

7. What has been the highlight of 2019 so far?

Playing and Holland was great. Releasing ‘Spaceman’ and having such positive has been amazing for us too. Thanks to everyone who has ed us so far!

8. What does the rest of the year look like for the Parasitic Twins?

We have some tour dates coming up in November, but before that we are headed to Thailand and Taiwan for shows in October. We have a some special hometown shows planned too. We’ll stay busy for sure!

Links

Bandcamp | Facebook | Twitter | YouTube | CALM Charity