Invasion Interview: SXSW 2010

Posted on Feb 23rd 2010 6:00AM by Sean Woosley
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British metal wizards Invasion are a sight to behold. Since 2006, the high-energy trio has been packing a heavy onstage punch with their eclectic mix of mysticism, booze and Motown sounds. Their typical live show offers flying guitars, blazing drums and a wailing diva clad in sorceress gear. Forget about three chords and a cloud of dust. Invasion slays audiences with just three strings, a bare-bones drum kit and one melodic, soulful voice. Spinner recently spoke with the band in anticipation of their stint at SXSW.

Describe your sound in your own words.

Our sound is pretty much Black Sabbath with a bit of Metallica, really. Kind of sloppy old metal, but short songs. We don't have a bass player. Our singer comes from a Motown, soul background. She brings a different energy to the vocals.

What are your influences?

For me, personally, it's Metallica, the early heavy metal, like Judas Priest, new-wave British heavy metal and thrash. My drummer is basically a metal head, as well. She's into some of the more modern bands than I am. She's very exciting to watch. Our singer comes from that Motown heritage, really, but has a big interest in rock and metal. A lot of the bands that I'm really into, that I felt kinship with, are coming out of the States. In terms of decent old school metal there's not much in the U.K. I often wish I was in the States because it's a much more vibrant scene, more forward thinking. We tend to be about five years behind in the U.K. for some reason.

What's your biggest vice?

Pretty much everything. We call ourselves drunk wizard metal. If we're headlining it can be a bit lethal if we're on too late. I definitely like to have a few drinks, but my motto is that no one is better when they're drunk. I think it's best to keep that for after the show. There's nothing more fun than playing music for people who want to hear it, so you shouldn't need too much more.

Do you have any musical guilty pleasures?

I do like a lot of the cheesy classic rock. I really genuinely have an affectation for Toto and some of the more overblown stuff like Journey.

What's the craziest thing you've seen or experienced while on tour?

The first time our drummer lit her cymbals on fire, I didn't know she was going to do it. So that was a big surprise to me. I throw my guitar quite a lot and one time--it was quite a big gig for us--I threw the guitar and it smashed a big window. Luckily, they didn't ask me to pay for it and they really loved it. So the combination of the fire and the smashed windows kind of helped us get a starting place in our career. I didn't mean to do it.

Is that just three strings on your guitar?

Yeah, just because I really don't use the rest and it means I'd have to worry about putting them on there. I think it's quite good to limit yourself in some ways as well, but I might have to put a fourth one on because I wrote a new track on the acoustic using four strings.

Are you working on new stuff right now?

Yeah, we're writing, now. I'm really excited about the new stuff. I really think the next one is going to get us a lot of interest, hopefully, because we know what we're doing a bit more and the songs are really strong. We're doing pre-production on either an EP or an album which we hope to get out before the summer.

Are you getting a lot of support from your label?

They're quite a big management company. They look after some big dance bands and pop bands in the U.K. but they're really into metal so they lose a bit of money on us. So, we're lucky. They're just really nice guys and they know what they're doing. They let us have complete control. Can't really complain in this current climate. We're doing quite a lot of U.K. festivals and European festivals. We'll be starting a U.K. tour on Thursday that's looking very good, actually, with a London/Japanese band called Bo Ningen. They're getting a lot of hype and they're great. We're just going to do a lot of shows in Europe and the U.K. and will do as many as we can in the States, depending on how it all goes.

How did you come up with your band name?

We probably could have come up with a better name, really. Early on, without overthinking it, we were trying to come up with something that was quite heavy metal. We were looking for an intense name because we were going to be writing intense songs. We write our songs very quickly and wanted a name that captured that. Invasion popped up.

Sean Woosley is a contributor from Seed.com. Learn how you can contribute here.