Kaine will be celebrating 5 years of the Reforged line-up with a special gig, and live album recording at Three Wise Monkeys, Colchester on Friday, May 19th, 2023. Joining them will be guests Osmium Guillotine, Killerkorp, and Heathen Kings.
The current incarnations of Kaine formed in May 2018, and have since released two studio albums Reforge The Steel (2019) and After Extinction (2022) as well as the Extinction After EP (2023), Kaine EP (2021), Falling Through Freedom X EP (2022), The Waystone EP (2020) and two live albums. The band has headlined Colchester Arts Centre, opened Burrfest at a sold-out Dome in Tufnell Park as well as toured the UK in support of the legendary Lillian Axe and Riot Act in 2022. Recently the band supported NWOBHM legends Trespass and Cher/Whitesnake Guitarist Joel Hoekstra alongside Brandon Gibbs of Devil City Angels and Poison fame.
This week’s rehearsals at Unit One will be purely in preparation for May 19th. The band plans on debuting some new tracks for the event, which will be recorded for a new live album by Talon Payne of Gallow Wood Studios.
Advanced tickets for the event are still available here.
We are pleased to unveil our brand-new artwork, and album title, for the new Kaine record to be released later this year. The artwork is again by Silencer8 who has designed every one of the band’s album covers since the debut album in 2012.
After Extinction will include 9 brand new tracks written and performed by the same line-up which recorded 2019’s Reforge The Steel, the first time the same line-up has appeared on back-to-back releases from the band. More details will be revealed at a later date.
Appearing on the record:
Rage Sadler: Lead Vocals and Rhythm Guitars
Liam Etheridge: Drums and Backing Vocals
Toby Woods: Lead/Rhythm Guitars and Backing Vocals
Isaac Healy: Bass Guitar
with
Heidi Crowell: Keys and Synths
Talon Payne: Backing Vocals
Produced by:
Kaine with Wayne Thompson and Talon Payne
Recorded by: Wayne Thompson (Unit One Studio’s) and Talon Payne (Gallow Wood Media)
Last weekend we finished tracking all the vocals and vocal overdubs for the new Kaine album at Gallow Wood Media with Talon Payne. The remaining parts to be recorded are the keys from Heidi Crowell. The album is currently being edited and mixed behind the scenes and will be ready for release soon. Liam and Rage be discussing the songs on the album on the forthcoming Podcast episode.
Kaine have released an early image of artist Silencer 8’s work on the artwork for the new Kaine album. Silencer 8 has provided artwork for every Kaine album since the bands beginning all of which can be seen in the gallery below.
Kaine will again be back at Unit One next month to begin tracking the guitars and bass for the new album. The drums are still being worked on however good progress has been made with the new record.
We can also confirm that the bands Swansea show at Hanger 18 will be re-arranged. Presently the Welsh Governments restrictions are not enabling live music to come back unrestricted and the venue couldn’t have afforded to do the show with the limits on numbers at the venue in place. Hanger 18 were however happy with all the hard work done to promote the show and are keen to reschedule as soon as possible.
Kaine will be back at rehearsals today in Unit One.
Last rehearsal sessions before recording the new album
The new album recording begins today as Liam Etheridge will start tracking drums for the new album at Unit One Studio’s in Colchester. The drum tracking will be taking place from the 21st to the 23rd and will hopefully be completed by Sunday night. The bands fifth album is yet to be named, but will contain 9 brand new songs written over the past three years. The album would have been recorded a lot sooner but it has been postponed several times due to the Covid 19 pandemic.
The new version of Kaine was officially formed on May 12th 2018. But How did we arrive at this point?
The short lived 2015 line-up
The original band had been formed in 2009 and had had various line ups over the years, the people in the band would usually gradually change over time so things didn’t seem so radical to the wider audience. However in 2016, following the departure of founding member Dan Mailer (bass/vocals) and Ant Murch (lead guitar) in 2015 the line-up of myself, Chris MacKinnon (drums), Saxon Davids (lead guitar) and Stephen Ellis (bass) formed in 2016. Dan and Ant had been known to most people as they had both performed on our first two albums, Dan had left in August 2015 and Ant left at the close of play in 2015. Stevo had been with us a few months already when Anthony departed, and Saxon first joined the band in 2014 as a substitute for Anthony on a tour he couldn’t do and just remained in the band from that point alongside Anthony so the transition between Dan and Anthony departing didn’t seem that different or radical to those who had followed us for years.
The 2016-2018 version of Kaine
HARD ROCK HELL – 2018
The 2016 version of Kaine would go on to be a very popular line-up, from playing our regular shows at The Soundhouse in Colchester, the Asylum in Chelmsford, the B2 in Norwich and The Smokehouse in Ipswich among others. We built up a real following of regular gig goers and supporters during that period and began to write a new album, which would eventually end up being A Crisis of Faith, an album which we played most of the stuff live before we recorded it. There was a real emotional attachment between that group of guys and audience throughout that period and real desire to see us do well. We released A Crisis of Faith in early 2018, and although our fans loved it, it was largely ignored by the wider Metal audience and it didn’t really pick up much steam. Because it took a more modern, proggier direction from our previous release The Waystone it was met with a lot of criticism from the New Wave of Traditional Metal community and it generally didn’t go down well with that audience. We had a number of gigs booked and were also on the biggest festival billing we had ever been on, at Hard Rock Hell Metal 2018 playing the same stage as Grave Digger. We played the gig and we went down a storm at the sold out o2 Academy, Birmingham and it looked like to many on the outside that things were about to happen for the band.
Sadly, life doesn’t work out that way.
Liam joins in April 2018
Internally within the band there were a number of personal circumstances that would force change. Chris was the first to depart not long after that in April, but this was largely an expected departure due to Chris own circumstances and thus I had already sounded out Liam Etheridge as a potential replacement. Liam is someone I knew from way back as his old band Asylum had played with Kaine on a number of shows, someone who I knew was a good drummer and a decent guy and someone who I thought would work really well for the band. I did however offer Josh (or original drummer) the opportunity to come on board again if he would like to, but he was busy with A Bribe for the Ferryman and Dismanibus at that time as well as working with Elimination. Chris formally left the band and Liam came in the week later, rehearsed and we were back to gigging almost straight away with no downtime. Stevo however had said to me at this point that he didn’t enjoy playing in the band without Chris and said he would stick it out but was generally unhappy.
A few weeks go by and Saxon calls me to inform me that he was leaving the band to move to America to be with his then fiance. I accepted his resignation and then called Stevo to offer him his release from the band. Both agreed to stay as long as it would take to find replacements.
I called Liam and gave him the bad news, and we agreed that it was probably game over for Kaine but we would see what our options were and try and keep it going.
I offered Dan and Anthony their old spots back, but Dan had recently joined Osmium Guillotine as a vocalist and was suffering from carpel tunnel syndrome which was restricting what he could do on bass. Ant was playing in covers bands and couldn’t commit to Kaine at that stage. People may think its strange to invite former members back to the band but I feel its a matter of courtesy. Josh, Dan and Ant poured a lot of their own time and money into Kaine in the early years and the band simply would have never existed without them. The least I can do is offer them their position back if it comes up. I never want to be one of those musicians who never asks someone back or holds grudges about departures. Life happens. People have their own reasons for leaving bands, usually varied and you can’t take it personally and you have to respect what they did to help make that band happen to begin with. We wouldn’t exist without those guys, or anyone who has been in the band these past 12 years and they deserve the credit for what they contributed. I knew they couldn’t come back, it’s just a matter of respect, and I respect them enough to ask, even if it is a “no”.
So, the night of the departure announcement I put up an advert for both positions and go to bed thinking that it was probably game over. In fact I had written a retirement statement that night anyway as I had fully expected it was game over. At that point in my life things were a bit of a nightmare anyway, I had started shift work in a warehouse after being made redundant the year previous from a job I had been at for a long time. I was working hard and my hours were all over the place, so my brain was scrambled trying to adapt to that on top of the band imploding suddenly immediately after an album release. I also had a ton of unsold CD’s, shirts and vinyl’s from that release which probably cost me close to £10k to produce altogether that without a band, wouldn’t have been sold so I was in a bit of a desperate situation financially as a result. I am not a wealthy man, so spending that sort of cash (not all at once might I add) on making that recording and then printing the CD’s, Vinyl and shirts to not sell them would have been a huge issue as I wouldn’t have had money to survive on! I think it’s worth pointing out that there are no issues between myself and any of the members from the A Crisis of Faith line-up. That is not the reason the split occurred. As with anything, its more complicated than that and I respect their decision to leave the band.
Toby Woods joins in 2018
A few people have had digs at me for my decision to continue the band. They probably don’t understand that the A Crisis of Faith line-up wasn’t the original band and we had always had changing members over the years. They also were probably unaware of the financially implications to me personally if the band did end. I swallowed all of the bands costs (and still do) and don’t get that money back without sales so for me to put out a record without selling it would have been financial suicide for me at the time. This wasn’t about my ego.
The next morning I was messaged by a guitarist named Toby Woods about trying out. I asked if he could do Saturday, which he could, which was just a few days away and we booked in a try out. Toby went away and learned the stuff. That day I had a message from Dan suggesting I try out “this guy” and sends me a video. He had tried out for Elimination when Dan was working with them and didn’t get the gig. It turns out that guitarist was Toby. Dan’s pretty good at spotting good players so that’s a good endorsement to have going into your first try-out with Kaine!
On the Saturday session at Pioneer it was myself, Stevo, Liam and Saxon with Toby. We go to start playing Heavens Abandonment from A Crisis of Faith and Toby just didn’t join in. I am thinking in my head, this isn’t good and look over to Liam who looked back at me in silent agreement. We stopped playing and asked if he wanted to join in this time. So we start and Toby then plays the song through exceptionally well. Relief. It turns out he was just watching Saxon to just get an idea of how he played the song! The rest of audition went perfectly and we offered him the gig, well Stevo did actually, which was a bit cheeky as he was leaving the band as well! But that was fine as we were in a agreement. We causally asked him as we packed down if he knew any bassists and he said he had a mate who could play bass. We asked if he could ask him to try out, and by that evening his mate was booked in for a audition the following week. Toby was announced for the band and Saxon had officially departed as of that point. He never did find America though.
The week after Isaac Healy, who Toby had played with in Cannon, tried out for the band. Myself, Liam, Stevo and Toby were present. Again it went well and he was offered the position, which he accepted. He and the new line-up were announced that night. Toby would have his first gig with us on the 19th (the following weekend), which would be Stevo’s last show, at The Smokehouse, Ipswich and the new bands very first gig would be May 26th at the B2 in Norwich and we have been together ever since.
Isaac joins Kaine a week later!
During this period I started writing what would become Reforge The Steel. We would learn and work on the new songs between gigs and even began recording it in November 2018, just months after the line-up had changed and not even a year after A Crisis of Faith. We would continue to gig and work on the new album, Reforge The Steel until it was finally released in 2019. We’ve since played 40+ shows together (which would have been a lot more before Covid hit!) released The Waystone anniversary EP, two live albums, another EP and are just about to record a brand new album. This will also be the first time in the bands history that the same line-up has appeared on back to back albums.
I will cover more detail from the new line-up period in more posts throughout the week, I just thought this would be a good starting point to give more details on how this version of Kaine formed, and why.
What have been your favourite moments from your three years in Kaine so far?
For me, the highlights of my time in the band have probably got to be the 10-year anniversary show at Colchester Arts Centre and Burr Fest at The Dome in London with my favourite of the two being the 10-year show, which has been the gig with the best crowd so far.
I also got a dent in my new car trying to find somewhere to park at night in the rain for a crappy hotel that was possibly also a drug den so there’s that too.
How have you changed since joining Kaine?
I own more shirts without sleeves and more music equipment.
But seriously, I feel that I’ve become more confident and comfortable when performing on stage. Before joining Kaine, I pretty much stood still, not doing much. Obviously, I’ve still got room for improvement but I’m getting there. For the next album, I’ve adopted the use of a pick for most of the new songs as I feel the sound of it suits some of the material much better. It’s also given me the chance to get more familiar with a pick as I never really used one in the past, with the only song prior having me sometimes use a pick was “Loudwire” on Reforge. Also apparently a lot of venues have crap monitors for bass players, If I even get one that is. I recall one venue claiming that they can’t put the bass through the monitors, so that was fun.
What were your experiences recording Reforge The Steel?
Most of the main writing for Reforge had already been done prior to me joining the band. I mainly just worked on my own basslines. But I feel that a lot of the time everybody is subtly changing what they play over the course of weeks or months of playing the same songs. Even some of the songs that we have recorded already are played differently than what’s on the album versions.
Recording Reforge was fun as we hadn’t really been working together as a band for very long, although Rage and Liam had been working together for a little while before Toby and I joined. And Toby and I were previously in another band together for a couple of years.
All the rehearsals and gigs leading up to the recording of the album did not prepare me for the seemingly endless guitar harmonies that were added to the songs on Reforge, however.
How about The Waystone Anniversary EP? How did you find working on that?
The Waystone was pretty fun to record, as a lot of the album had subtle changes with everyone throwing their own takes and different influences on the original versions of the songs.
The title track was probably the most difficult to learn and remember each part, what with how many different sections the song has and the different time signatures for certain sections. We also came to a decision of changing the original bass focus intro and making the song more concise. I think it’s the only time in any of the songs we’ve recorded that feature bass tapping except for my version of the bass fill in “Fall of Jericho” when we play that live. Even so, the final recorded version was different from the original version I initially wrote. As I initially wrote it on the six-string bass, utilising the high C string but In the end, I recorded it on the five-string and decided to not go as high.
What have you contributed to the new Kaine album?
On the new album, I’ve got a song that I wrote most of but had some input from the rest of the guys, I also have another couple of ideas that I just haven’t put into music yet.
And obviously, I’ve been mainly writing and playing my own basslines for each song but have been simplifying them somewhat to suit the different nature of the new material. The new album has been a different experience to write, as most of it wasn’t written beforehand with us learning how to play it.
Are you looking forward to hitting the studio in the coming months to record it?
Well, I can’t really say I’m not at this point, can I? Anyone want to take bets as to how many extra harmonies Rage and Toby add to the songs?
In all seriousness, being in the studio can be frustrating when you keep messing up the same take, over and over but at the end of the day, it’s great fun.
Are you excited to play live again, now the band is clear to play again?
Since March 2020, we’ve had a total of 1 gig, which was a Livestream only gig a couple of months ago. I can’t wait to be back out playing especially with the 13 or so gigs we have booked for the next few months this year. It’ll also give me a chance to use my new Spector that has been in the past few rehearsal videos in a live setting for the first time.
What are your ambitions with Kaine moving forward?
Well hopefully, as well as all the gigs we currently have booked, it would be great to get to play some larger venues, even as a support act for some more well-known bands. Of course, a tour or two wouldn’t hurt either.
I’d also like to try and get an endorsement of some kind from one of the brands I use, even if it’s just cables.
What would be your dream gig?
For a dream gig or scenario, think it’d have to be headlining a sold-out tour, not even necessarily in massive stadiums or venues. Just decent-sized venues with great crowds, doesn’t even matter where in the world they are.
What are the highlights from your three years in Kaine?
Obviously, the first two that come to mind are The 10th-anniversary show at Colchester Arts Centre and Burr Fest last year. The Arts Centre has always been one of my favourite venues and after seeing Dragonforce there on the Maximum Overload Tour I made it a goal of mine to play there at some point. The 10-year show was a really special night. I remember looking out from behind the curtain at the back of the stage just after Osmium Guillotine had finished and then being completely lost for words at how many people were in that room. I don’t think I’ve ever seen it that full before!
Then Burr Fest last year. I mean what a last gig before gigs were made illegal. Isaac and myself have been to the Dome a couple of times to see Band Maid and Man With A Mission. They were great shows and I always thought it would be great to play there. It was a little daunting being the first band on of the day as there were thoughts of no one being there when we started but luckily the place was nearly full when we started playing. It was a great feeling standing and playing on the same stage that I’d seen some of my favourite bands play on and was a great night overall.
Burrfest 202 – The Dome, London
What are the main differences from when you started in Kaine to now?
I would say my stage presence has greatly improved. When I first started with the band I would worry about getting the notes right more than actually performing. Over the last three years, I’ve become a lot more confident on stage and have found the gigs go better if I just have fun rather than trying to make everything “perfect”. I’ve also come a long way as a guitarist. I’ve found that if I write solos that I can’t play then I have to get better so I can play them.
Other than that, I’ve got longer hair and some different guitars.
In Cold Light, Norwich (2019)
What was it like writing and recording Reforge The Steel?
Well, I think Reforge is a testament to how well the four of us work together. We had been playing together less than a year when we started recording. To have all the songs written and well enough rehearsed to start recording all within a year of meeting each other was quite impressive I think. The writing process was a lot of fun. We spent a while just jamming the songs that Rage had put together and adding our parts in until they were fully formed songs.
The recording was equally as fun. I really love when you start to hear the songs coming together as you gradually add more parts until the finished product is there. Obviously, some of the songs could have done with some more harmonies but they’ll have to wait for the next album!
What was it like recording The Waystone anniversary EP?
It was a great time reworking the songs in rehearsal to fit the current line-up. We have different styles to the line-up that was the album so it was fun putting our own spins on the songs. I’m really happy with how it turned out in the end. It was also great to throw the new song Monument on there as well. Whilst it was written a while ago it had never been recorded so it was good to be able to record it and put it out. That one’s also a lot of fun to play.
What are your contributions to the new album?
I have written two songs for the album and contributed my own ideas and guitar parts to the rest of the songs. This album has been a much more collaborative effort with some of the songs being written as we just jammed in the rehearsal room which has been enjoyable. My two songs are very guitar-heavy and I tried to make them faster paced so that they’re harder to play.
Are you looking forward to recording again?
I am. I always love going into the studio as it always inspires new ideas. You think you know everything that you’re going to record but then once you’re there, you find different things that you can add to make the songs heavier or add more harmonies.
Are you looking forward to playing live again?
Of course. The lack of gigs has been frustrating to everyone so it’ll be great when we can play loud for some people again. It’s been really exciting seeing all of the gig offers coming in recently and it’ll be wonderful being on stage again with my amp up too loud and unable to see the fretboard because my hair’s in my face and the stage lights are shining in my eyes. What a good time that’ll be.
What are your ambitions moving forward with the band?
I think the ultimate goal for all of us is Rockstar, isn’t it? Why would you be in a band and not want that? Whilst that would be nice I’d love for us to play some bigger venues with some bigger bands possibly. Would be nice to do a tour or two to see how that is. Another thing I’ve always been interested in is writing a concept album. I think it would be a challenge to try and get the whole album flowing with itself almost like one long song with one theme. I might have to give it a go.
What would be your dream gig, tour or festival to play with the band?
Absolute dream situation, I’d love to play the Budokan in Japan. So many of my favourite bands have played there and it would be awesome to be there playing. A sold-out world tour in sensible sized venues would also be nice. Just anything with a packed room of people who have come to see us really. We got a little taste of it when we played the 10-year show but I can only imagine the feeling of having that every night.
Kaine are about to finish the rehearsal stages on their new album and are preparing to enter the studio ASAP. They will be at Unit One Studios, Colchester again today to continue work on the new album. The band is also getting a number new of the new songs ready to play live when they return next month at The Music Room, Ipswich.
So far Kaine will be performing at the following dates with more to be announced:
May 22nd, 2021 – The Music Room, Ipswich [Tickets]
October 1st, 2021 – The Victoria Bikers Pub, Coalville [Tickets]
October 18th, 2021 – TBA
October 23rd, 2021 – The Victoria Bikers Pub, Coalville [Tickets]
October 30th, 2021 – Leo’s Red Lion, Gravesend
October 31st, 2021 – Trillian’s, Newcastle
There will be an update on the new album recording sessions soon. In the meantime the EP CD’s and T-Shirts are being printed. Shirts have been limited to those who have pre-ordered the CD with a limited number being available once they go on general sale.
The bands next project will be to write and record a new EP which will be exclusive to Patreon members.
