Summon: How did the band get started?
Brownie: Me and Hutton started it after my old band split up and things just carried on from there.
Summon: What kind of music do you play?
Brownie: That’s a hard one to call, I’d say mainly we’re a mix of Thrash and Death Metal though we pull in influences from a lot of different genres.
Summon: How has the fan response been?
Brownie: Pretty positive overall, we’ve had a few people messaging us saying they can’t wait for the album and then feedback we’ve had on the songs we’ve got online so far has been good.
Summon: Where did the band name come from?
Brownie: That’s my doing, we’d wrote a couple of songs before deciding to do anything properly with them, the name actually came from a Necro song called “Belligerent Gangsters” the word just kinda stuck with me and seemed perfect for the stuff we had written – the proper definition is “A hostile or warlike attitude, nature, or inclination” which I think pretty much sums up what we’re going for!
Summon: Introduce the band members and what they do in the band.
Austin Hurst: Vocals
James Hutton: Guitars
David Brown: Bass
Jonny Salisbury: Drums
Summon: Who writes the music? Lyrics?
Brownie: Me and Hutton usually split the music writing, then I’ll write the lyrics with Austin.
Austin: It’s always good to get a second opinion on words, placements and structure, we’ll sit there for hours on end trying to get a set of lyrics finished, but the outcome always turns out awesome.
Brownie: Yeah and we usually have a few beers and stuff when we do it too so it’s a laugh.
Summon: And where do the lyric ideas come from?
Brownie: Usually whatever’s a current “issue” at the time, like when North Korea were threatening with the whole nuke shit, we wrote “Terminal Earth” which is basically a critical view on nuclear war, just depends how we feel at the time the musics done. “A Taste of the Grave” came to me after watching one of the “Tales from the Crypt” episodes and stuck with me so we twisted it into a fucked up set of lyrics about a guy who digs up his dead girlfriend with the idea he can give her a second chance at life. We just go with whatever comes to us and then expand it from there.
Summon: What is your view in Satanism and Occultism?
Austin: I don’t really know what to believe I guess. I’d definitely say I’m an atheist, I haven’t been brought up to believe in higher powers or “evil” as such.
Hutton: I don’t really give a shit.
Brownie: We could be here for days on this, personally I’d say I’m an atheist although a lot of Satanism,
particularly LaVeyan Satanism “sits right” with me. As for Occultism my mum was big into it when I was growing up so it was always around me and I was aware of it from an early age, I never really got into it though.
Summon: How many albums/CD’s have you released?
Brownie: We’re releasing our debut album soon.
Summon: Tell me about some the songs on the latest CD?
Brownie: There’s a big mix, as I said before we tend to pull in whatever seems relevant at the time and just go from there.
Summon: Do you have any side projects?
Austin: I’m in another band called Buried From Below which are a completely different style compared to Belligerence.
Hutton: A progressive rock band, a grind band and a groove metal band all based in Brighton.
Summon: Who are some of your musical influences?
Brownie: Greg Christian, Danny Lilker, Jo Bench, Rex Brown, Alex Webster, David Ellefson, Deen Dell, Jeff Walker to name a few…
Jonny: Kai Hahto (Wintersun) and Jaska Raatikainen (Children of Bodom).
Summon: Which current bands?
Austin: Fucking hell, I’m not sure where to start haha. I’d have to start with Napalm Death, Cannibal Corpse, Children Of Bodom, Abigail Williams, Enfold Darkness and I know I’m probably gonna’ be hated for this but I’m a fan of Cradle Of Filth. Deal with it.
Hutton: Pantera, Decapitated, Deicide, Dying Fetus and Carcass.
Brownie: Bonded By Blood, Aborted, Lock Up, Cross Examination, SSS, Blood Tsunami, Havok, really likin’ the New “Prime Evil” EP (Evilution) and can’t wait for the new Carcass album!
Summon: What is the band like when you play live?
Austin: We haven’t gigged yet, we had a few shows booked but they ended up getting canceled because of other bands dropping out. The rehearsals are high energy though and we’ve all got previous experience so they should be good when we get around to it.
Summon: What do you think of the US Black Metal/Death Metal scene?
Austin: I love black metal if its done right.
Hutton: I don’t like Black Metal, but the Death Metal scene is rad
Summon: What do you think of the Overseas scenes?
Austin: America definitely have a better music scene than England, I’m not sure about anywhere else but I’d love to go to America.
Hutton: I like bands from most countries, Canada are good at Death Metal.
Summon: What are some of new favorite black metal/death metal bands?
Austin: Enfold Darkness, definitely guys to look out for, they’re sounding awesome. I’ve recently stumbled upon a band called Make Them Suffer that seem pretty decent as well, remind me of an old Abigail Williams.
Summon: When do you guys plan on writing any new material?
Brownie: I write stuff most days, not necessarily full songs – I’ll start with a riff or 2 and just go from there.
Hutton: Whenever inspiration hits.
Summon: What does the future hold for the band?
Hutton: we’re going to write a few more tunes and plan on getting our album out there as soon as we can.
Contact them at:
https://www.facebook.com/belligerence666
