“REFORGED” KAINE – 5 YEARS TOGETHER AS A BAND

Is it a surprise that you have now been together for five years?

Rage: The “Crisis” line-up collapsed immediately after Hard Rock Hell 2018 and before that album was properly released, it was a whirlwind few months but it seems that was the best thing to happen to this band. I would guess that two weeks to put a new line-up together and not miss a single gig has to be a world record of some sort!

Isaac: When I first joined the band, I was not too sure how long it would last, to be honest. But 5 years on and it is as good (albeit somehow more chaotic) than it was when I joined.

Toby: I think it is more of a surprise to everyone else than it is to us!  I was a little 18-year-old with short hair when I first joined.  My first promise to Rage and Liam was I would grow my hair out, which I did. Now I am desperately trying to grow the matching beard, but it seems my face wasn’t told that I’m now a fully grown man!  To be honest this lineup has felt solid since our first gig. Isaac and I had been playing together for a few years before Kaine, so we knew how each other worked.  We all get on well as well, which I think is why we have kept going.  We can joke with each other (most of the time at Liam’s expense) and at the end of it, we still love each other.

Liam: Yes and no. I am surprised that I became the drummer in the first place. I first came across Kaine in 2014, just as I was finishing senior school, and have been a fan since, and although I had been friends with all the guys since then, I was still surprised when Rage first got in touch with me when he had gotten the news that Chris would be leaving. I am also surprised we managed to get the lineup together 5 years ago so quickly, but I think as time has gone on, I’ve realised that this is most likely a lineup for the long haul. We all have a common goal, we are all mostly on the same page when it comes to songwriting, and we have all worked our arses off to get to where we are now.

How does it feel to be the most consistent line-up the band has had, and the only one to appear on back-to-back releases?

Isaac: I feel quite proud really, I know some people out there do not see us as the “real Kaine” but hey, they can think that. It is not my problem.

Toby: Ha-ha, we are the REAL Kaine now and there’s nothing you can do about it, Sean Connery!

Liam: I cannot honestly say I have thought about it too much. I guess it feels good. I think Rage will have stronger feelings because he is the one who had to deal with losing previous members and changing lineups before us. The consistency of this lineup has been rewarding, we have been allowed to make the band our own and I think what we have now is the definitive sound of Kaine. It is the culmination of the influences the previous lineups had drawn from (which I also love), and the influences that I and the other guys have been allowed to bring into the band.

Rage: Having stability in the line-up has helped me no end in trying to push things forward. Previous versions of the band seemed to fall apart right at the wrong time, meaning we had to start over every time. As far as I am concerned, this version of Kaine is its own band and the line-up. Of course, I am proud of past achievements and the work I did with past line-ups and members, but this has been the band solidly for five years now and has earned its right to be the band known as Kaine and is enjoying the rewards of not giving up on the project and sticking to the mission.

Did you expect to have recorded two full albums with the band?

Liam: Yes, I did. I began writing my stuff for the band pretty much from the get-go and knew that whatever happened, I wanted to record and write with the band for as long as I could.

Rage: I had written Reforge The Steel as we were putting this line-up together, so yeah, that was always my plan to do these albums, and more!

Isaac: When I first joined, I was not even very familiar with the band’s back catalogue, so wasn’t even sure how many albums they had under their belts already. So, I had no sure way of guessing how often we’d be in the studio.

Toby: I think Reforge The Steel was recorded and released within a year of the lineup coming together.  That’s silly when you think about it.  We could not have been together for a month when we started working on the first songs which was great.  It made us feel like we were the future of the band rather than playing the other guy’s songs.  I still loved playing the older stuff but there is something more special about playing songs we had put together.

What was the difference between writing and recording the new album After Extinction and Reforge the Steel?

Isaac: Except for the 4 or 5-hour drive? I feel that AE shows more of our individual influences than the previous releases we have done.

Rage: I wrote significantly less of this album, there is probably the least amount of my music, and solely my music, on this release than any previous, but then you could argue Reforge The Steel was as close to a solo album from me as you could possibly get anyway! I was more than happy for the guys to contribute to most of After Extinction!

Liam: I think the only thing I did not expect was how quickly Reforge the Steel came together. I knew that Rage already had a lot of the songs pretty much ready to go so that did give us a head start, but going from a demo to a full band composition still takes time, and a lot of work. We were doing a song a week at one point, while still doing gigs every other week and as a result keeping the setlist up to a high standard, while adding new songs as and when we were ready. I think that was probably the hardest we’ve worked when it comes to the writing process, pretty much just to hit home to the public that the band was not dead after the Crisis of Faith lineup dissolved earlier in the year. We got the lineup together in the spring of 2018, got the songs completed and ready to record by the time autumn was drawing to a close, and I recorded the drums for the album in the winter. I knew that we were going to be able to take our time with the writing for After Extinction, although admittedly I did not expect the process to be so drawn out. Thanks for that Covid!

Toby: A lot of the Reforge material was prepared by Rage already, so it was a very quick turnaround. After Extinction was a much more collaborative effort with the songs being written jamming at rehearsal which meant we could put much more of “our” sound into it.  Some of the songs were written very soon after the release of Reforge. “The Cycle” was even being performed as an instrumental before Reforge was released.

What were your main songwriting contributions to the new album, and how did you come up with the ideas for your songs?

Liam: My main songwriting contributions to the album were Bright and Left Behind, which I presented to the band as complete songs. I wrote the structure for Bright within the first couple of months of joining the band and had the lyrics mostly completed, aside from a couple of tweaks, by the time August 2018 rolled around. I wrote them on a plane, while I was flying to Canada for my father’s wedding. The inspiration for the lyrics was just the idea of rebirth, which was the theme across Reforge. That is probably the reason why it feels more light-hearted than the rest of After Extinction. I wrote the song structure for Left Behind around the autumn of 2019. I was not sure about it originally, as I thought it would be too tacky and cheesy compared to the other songs we had brought out and were writing at the time. I even gave it the working title “Cheesy as fuck”. Luckily Rage liked it a lot, so we went ahead with it. I wrote the lyrics at around the start of 2021, although a lot of the pandemic memories blur together for me. The subject for that was a lot more personal. Like a lot of others, I have lost multiple relatives to dementia/Alzheimer’s disease. My step-grandfather was the first to go, and then in 2019 and 2022 I lost my great-grandfather and great-grandmother, whom I was always close with throughout my life and witnessed their deterioration. The subject of the song itself is the horrible feeling that someone in the initial stages must be feeling as they feel their mind slipping away, the mixture of fear, acceptance, and desperation to hang onto yourself. My final contribution to the album was the lead break before the solo in Protesting for Profit, as well as the final 2 riffs of the song after the last chorus. They were parts of a different song I was working on during the first lockdown, but something just was not clicking fully with it. In rehearsal, we could not figure out how to progress PFP, so I just said that I have a couple of sections from another song, let’s give them a try. And luckily it clicked perfectly!

Toby: I supplied the bulk of the songs “A Slave to the Grind” and “The Storm is Coming”.  Slave is a fast-riffing thrashy song with some delicious harmonies and clean sections. It’s no secret that I’m a big Megadeth fan so this riff was inspired by their stuff.  It is fast, it’s intricate, ITS SPEED METAL!  Storm was written when I was listening to a lot of Galneryus and I wanted a song with massive lead guitar breaks so I could play and pretend to be a power metal guitar god.  I love classical-inspired repetitive guitar leads which is where the main melody came from. It is a fun song to play even if I’m not a power metal guitarist and the solo is too fast for me to play.

Liam: I am not going to pretend that I wrote anything truly musically original on either Bright or Left Behind, I have no issue with saying what influenced me. 2 songs/albums that had come out at the time really defined 2018 for me and the band, they were Firepower by Judas Priest, and Prequelle by Ghost, from which I was inspired by a couple of chord ideas from Rats. Left Behind, unbelievably, was inspired by Strangers by Dragonforce, off their most recent album.

Isaac: My main contribution was most of the title track, After Extinction. It was originally just a video of me in my bedroom at 1AM with a guitar played acoustically playing a couple of riffs. I did not know that it would end up being the title track of the album.

Rage: A lot of my riffs are songs such as Second Coming, Protesting for Profit, and New Age Martyr but these were very collaborative songs, the only song that was purely “mine” really was Green to Grey but even then, the guys contributed to that.

How did the Extinction After EP come about? How was that written?

Isaac: Whenever we are writing songs, we always seem to end up with a selection of riffs and songs that we always have in the books. We ended up having too many for the current album so decided to release what is almost a “disc 2” with the other songs that we wanted to use but didn’t get a chance to. Some of the others were songs that were not quite finished when we were recording AE.

Rage: We just jammed the songs and they just turned out as they did with no preconceived ideas, none of the songs were ideas we previously had or had even demoed, we just jammed them in the studio.

Liam: Extinction After was just a case of us bouncing ideas off each other in the rehearsal studio. The writing process kicked off around the start of 2021, before After Extinction had even been recorded, with Toby playing the intro riff from what became All Hail the Evil One while everyone else was setting up, and Rage’s ears pricked up. We then proceeded to put together most of the structure in that session. I pitched in another riff of mine, which I guess you could call the main chorus riff. Again, I had another song for the beginnings of a side project I want to do, but the song did not click so I pulled a riff from that for us instead. I did the same thing for the chorus lead-in Dragonlord as well, although I thought that up on the spot as we were looking for something to beef up the chord progression of that section. That was the case for all the EP, we wrote the whole thing together in the rehearsal studio and put all our ideas together. On Repeat was just a fuck-about song. Rage also worked in a way to rip the band Wet Leg to pieces, a band that we all cannot stand! We have played it live a couple of times, the funniest time was when we played a show at the Rep in Ipswich last year, and Toby and Isaac went through the crowd to play the song on the staircase up to the balcony. It is essentially just a jam, it never had any real structure, and it never will!

Toby: That was written entirely through jamming in rehearsal. I’d play a riff. Rage would say “Is that yours” and we’d jam that and see what came out of it.  I think our best stuff to date is on that EP. It’s a bit heavier than people are used to from us but that’s never a bad thing, is it really?  There are some hard sections to play, there’s a lot of down-picking, and it’s an all-round riff fest.  “On Repeat” also ended up being much better than it needed to be. It was supposed to be making fun of [insert god-awful indie band here] but it turned into a shreddy, silly musical joke.

Last year you had your first tour together as a band. What was the 2022 tour with Lillian Axe and Riot Act like?

Liam: Tiring… extremely tiring. I think the maximum amount of sleep I got on the whole tour was 4 hours. Most of the time we were surviving on half that while taking turns driving the van ridiculous distances to the next show! I remember Toby being passed out backstage after we came offstage at The Underworld in Camden, the last show of the tour, and he didn’t appear until the end when we packed up. We also really got on each other’s nerves, I found that me and Toby in particular butted heads more frequently as the tour went on. I think that’s more because Toby knows exactly how to wind me up and I fall for it every time! That’s about all the negatives though. The rest of the experience was incredible. Every band played killer sets every single night, the laughs, and memories we took from it were amazing, and it’s a time I will never forget. Also, all the guys in both Riot Act and Lillian Axe are incredible human beings and we all became good friends on the tour. I hope our paths cross again soon. You can guarantee that the next time either of those bands come back across the pond for a show I will be there.

Isaac: It was a new experience. Some tempers were tested a little, but what can you expect when you’ve only had about 4 hours of sleep for almost a week?

Rage: Touring with legends such as Lillian Axe and Riot Act was an honor and privilege. You can learn so much from acts like that, who are superb live and experienced. I love these bands so playing with them was a bit of a magical moment for me, I basically watched them live every night, taking it in and trying to learn from what they did. They were all absolute heroes to us as well! It was good to finally tour with the current line-up!

Toby: That was an amazing time.  We all got way too sleep deprived and it was the closest we’ve come to hating each other but and the end of it we still loved performing and making music together.  If there was ever going to be a test of how well, we worked together that was it.  I know I can be an extremely annoying person to be around for any extended period and I did my best to get on everyone’s nerves.  We had “everything-man” Alex and Charles “in charge” with us which was a lot of fun.  6 of us crammed into a Vauxhall Vivaro crew cab.  Trying not to die from lack of sleep and in Rage’s case whatever he’d eaten the night before.

Isaac: Also gave me the incentive to check if a sofa is a sofa bed before sleeping in a chair for two nights. Just for Toby to mention he has the same one at home just as we’re packing up and leaving.

Rage: I don’t understand what they are complaining about, I don’t remember being tired at all. I am like that normally.

Are you looking forward to touring together again this year with ex-WASP legend Chris Holmes?

Isaac: I was not expecting to hear about going on tour again so soon after the previous one. It was only a couple of months after we got back from the previous tour with Lillian Axe and Riot Act that we got the offer.

Rage: Again, much like with Lillian Axe and Riot Act, someone like Chris Holmes is a legend in American Rock/Metal and was a huge part of W.A.S.P and that band’s golden era, playing on all the big albums and tours. It’s an honour to support him, and again I will be watching, listening, and learning all I can.

Liam: I am looking forward to the tour with Chris Holmes. I’m hoping for a similar experience to the Lillian Axe tour, and there are also a few different towns that I’ve never been to before added to the tour. So, I’m excited about it.

Toby: Of course.  This one has some days off which will be very much needed.  I think we all know now how to take care of ourselves better on the road, so we don’t end up near death again.  We’re going to some new venues and new places so I am hoping we can pick up a few new friends in the week to further push us closer to being the rock stars we’ve dreamed of.

What are your favourite gigs and moments from the past five years?

Isaac: Of course, my favourite gig has got to be the Kaine X show at the Colchester Arts Centre. But another that I had fun at was the last show on the Lillian Axe tour at the Underworld in Camden. It’s been a venue that I’ve seen bands in over the last few years and have always wanted to play on that stage myself. And last year we had the chance to.

Rage: So many great gigs, headlining and packed-out Colchester Arts Centre was amazing, playing a sold-out Dome Tufnell Park supporting Blaze Bayley for Burr Fest was another amazing show, any of the tour gigs from last year!

Liam: Oh god there’s been so many amazing moments over the years. I think my favourite shows with this band have got to be headlining the Colchester Arts Centre for the Kaine X show in 2019, as well as Burr Fest at The Dome in London in 2020, our last show before the pandemic tore everything apart. My standouts from last year were also playing The Robin in Bilston and The Underworld in Camden, and also playing Club 85 in Hitchin and the Portland Arms in Cambridge earlier in the year with our good friends in Planet Fatale and Neverworld, with Death Valley Knights and Raze also on the lineup respectively. 

Toby: The 10-year show at Colchester Arts Centre was without a doubt a highlight.  Since seeing Dragonforce there as a teenager it had been a dream of mine to play there.  It lived up to every expectation I could have ever had.  It was packed, we played great, it was such a party.  Burrfest was also a highlight.  Isaac and I had previously seen Man With A Mission and Band-Maid at The Dome so that was also an exciting gig.  Getting to play on such a big stage on a lineup with some big names in the world of Iron Maiden was such a big moment for us as a band.  And of course, Liam falling off the back of the stage at The Smokehouse in Ipswich is a favourite moment of mine.  How can you fall off a stage that is two inches tall and pressed up against a wall?  YOU CAN’T, BUT OUR DRUMMER CAN!

Liam: Since being in this band, we have had so many experiences that should not be real. I don’t know what it is with Rage, but he seems to attract the weirdest bullshit everywhere he goes. I dare say he’ll tell the most bizarre account he can think of. I will tell you of a more recent one, and it happened on the first day of the Lillian Axe tour, at The Robin in Bilston. At the time, we had gotten to the venue on time, but the venue wouldn’t let us in for some reason. We went to the reception to see if they’d get someone to open the door for us. They didn’t immediately, in fact, we were stood outside for at least another half an hour before finally being allowed in. If I remember correctly, it was pissing down with rain at the time as well! Our guitar tech, Charles, was starting to get a bit more restless as time went on, becoming more and more desperate to go to the toilet. Eventually, he caved. He did what none of us would think of doing, he ran to the houses across the road, and knocked on a random stranger’s door, asking them if he could use their toilet. Amazingly, they let him in! He spent the next 15-20 minutes in the household of this good Samaritan, absolutely punishing their toilet, and finally emerged from their house much happier and probably about a stone lighter. I suspect the toilet needed counseling though…

Are you excited about the 5-year celebration gig coming up at Three Wise Monkeys?

Liam: Yeah of course I am. Not only are we playing with a lot of friends of ours, but I’m excited to celebrate our time in the band. Kaine X was the last event of that kind, but I think the main attraction, intentionally, was the one-off reunion of the Crisis of Faith lineup, and their setlist at the end of the night. It’s gonna be nice to celebrate solely our time in the band, and it will be a good chance to look back at what we’ve built together, and how far we’ve come as a live act. 

Isaac: Definitely, nice to have a local gig with other great local bands and friends that we’ve known for a long time.

Toby: Of course, there’s been some struggles on the way but it’s looking to be a great night.  We haven’t played in the newly refurbished Threewise Monkeys yet so I’m excited to see how the place looks.  We’ve got a great lineup together for the night with Osmium Guillotine and Heathen Kings who we’ve played with multiple times before.  Killerkorp this lineup of Kaine hasn’t played with before but I’ve seen them a couple of times and they’re an amazing live band.  The gig is exactly 5 years since my first appearance with the band and I’m hoping I don’t hit as many wrong notes as I did that night.

Rage: Killerkorp is an exciting, young, Ipswich band that I have been following for a few years now and will be great on the night. Heathen Kings is another “new” band with members I have known from various acts over the years, whose music fits perfectly with ourselves and Osmium Guillotine, and obviously, we have a relationship with Osmium Guillotine going back years and my favourite band! Ticket sales have gone amazingly well considering we’re up against Blur, and Bloodstock Metal 2 The Masses just doors down on the same night! It’s going to be huge! Live album recording, video, the works!

What can people expect from the new live album?

Toby: Well, speaking of wrong notes…  I’m hoping there won’t be any.  There might be.  OK, there probably will be.  You’d think we’d know the songs by now, but we can always surprise ourselves with some atrocious renditions.

Isaac: A mix of older and newer songs from the current lineup, a bit of something for everyone.

Rage: Unlike previous live albums, I won’t be mixing it thankfully!

Liam: Hopefully a decent performance! 

What are your ambitions for Kaine going forward?

Isaac: Hopefully we can get more tour offers or even a decent record deal/management contract.

Toby: I’m still hoping Rackstardom comes for us.  It’d be wonderful to do the music thing full-time but until then just more albums.  I’d also love to play some international dates at some point.  That would be a lot of fun.  Some more tours would also be great.  I’m hoping we can start to work our way up as a regularly touring band.

Liam: My ambitions for the future are simply to continue building upon the foundation we have laid for ourselves since 2018. Slowly but surely, we will expand our fanbase and continue to build Kaine as a brand, and we have way more plans in the works to do so, and hopefully, they will bring much bigger and greater things for us. This takes a lot of time and work, but I know that all of us, Rage in particular, have the drive to get it done. I truly believe that this is just the beginning for us, and we can only become bigger. We have ideas for the next album too, I have 3 complete song structures already, along with a couple of lyrical concepts. After the tour is done later this year, we will probably start the writing process properly.

Rage: We are taking things one step at a time, but we’ve seen real growth over the last few years, our albums are doing better than ever sales/streams wise, our merch is doing good, our Patreon is strong, and only rare gigs are poorly attended and that’s usually due to poor promotion outside of our control. We are back touring, we are playing bigger venues, and we can go even further still.

What festivals would you like to play in the future?

Liam: I would love to play the biggest festivals, such as Download, Bloodstock, and Wacken, but I can’t say I think of it that much. Wacken would probably be the ultimate goal.

Toby: I think it’s every metal band’s dream to get to Waken, isn’t it?  How great would that be?  Playing in Germany with what would without a doubt be a stupendous line-up.  On the other hand, I’d love to play something where we’d be completely out of place and upset the crowd.  Glastonbury would be funny.  They always get upset when someone like Metallica headlines. So, to have us on a smaller stage mixed in with a bunch of acoustic acts and indie bands would hopefully start a hippie riot!

Isaac: I’d love to play a festival like Wacken or something similar, but smaller festivals are also on my radar.

Rage: I would like to do Wacken, but realistically both Damnation and Incineration festivals would be two I would love to do in the near future. Proper brutal, real, Metal festivals with no bullshit attached. They attract a good crossover of people too.

Any dream gigs or venues?

Rage: I would like to play some of the o2 venues again on a future tour or get the chance to play the Waterfront in Norwich in support of a bigger band, the Arts Centre in Colchester again, and a few places like that! I would love to play in North America, Germany, and Japan someday too!

Isaac: Dream gigs would probably be supporting a large household-name band like Megadeth etc. But a venue I’d like to play in would probably be the Underworld again.

Toby: Any arena or stadium would be amazing and anything with an enormous stage would be great too.  I’d love to play The Underworld again but without the weeks’ worth of sleep deprivation that we all had last time.   Colchester Arts Centre is always fun, so I’d love to play there again.  I’m also a massive Marty Friedman fan so to support him at some point would probably be a life-making moment.

Liam: A dream show would be to play in an arena. I’m not sure who with whom, but I would just love to play either an arena tour or a one-off arena show. The perfect scenario would be us headlining it, but realistically that probably won’t happen!

REFORGE THE STEEL SELLS OUT ON CD

Kaine’s 4th album Reforge The Steel has sold out on CD. A new CD is currently in the works for this album and a further announcement will be made soon with more information on this. Reforge The Steel is the second Kaine album to have sold out on CD in recent weeks as Kaine X Live has also sold out. Kaine X however will not be printed again in any format.

Stock is running low on the following items which will not be printed again:

The Waystone

Items:

  • The Waystone Album CD – 7
  • The Waystone EP CD – 104
  • The Waystone Patch – 9

A Crisis of Faith

Items:

  • A Crisis of Faith [UK] CD – 87
  • A Crisis of Faith [EU] CD – 8
  • A Crisis of Faith Vinyl – 169
  • A Crisis of Faith Live CD – 4
  • A Crisis of Faith T-Shirt – 7

Reforge The Steel

Items:

  • Reforge The Steel Live CD – 47

Kaine X Live Items:

  • Kaine X DVD – 62
  • Kaine X Shirts – 6

Order from: https://kaine.bandcamp.com/merch

NEW ALBUM WRITING AND REHEARSALS RESUME TOMORROW

Last weeks sessions

Kaine will resume their new album writing and rehearsal sessions tomorrow at Pioneer Music in Colchester. Last week the band worked on 6 new songs from the album, two of which were newer additions and the other four had been worked on in previous weeks.

Today the band will be working with Talon Payne again at Gallow Wood Media in Danbury on a soon to be announced release. Kaine worked with Talon previously as he recorded both Kaine X and Reforge The Steel Live with the band as well as recently recording some of the vocals for The Waystone EP. Talon also provided some of the backing vocals himself to the EP.

REFORGE THE STEEL DOWN TO THE FINAL 5 COPIES

The album has over 16,000 plays on NWOTHM Full Albums

There are only 5 copies remaining of Reforge The Steel available on CD. The album was released last October and is close to selling out for the first time. The album will not be printed in this format again, so if you wish to order one of the first prints of the album before they are gone for good please click here. The album will be reprinted in a different format for the second print run at a later date.

Stocks are also low for the following items which will not be printed again:

  • The Waystone Album CD – 14 copies remaining
  • A Crisis of Faith Album CD [EU Edition] – 8 copies remaining
  • A Crisis of Faith Live Album CD – 4 copies remaining
  • Reforge The Steel Live CD – 47 copies remaining
  • Kaine X Live DVD – 62 copies remaining
  • The Waystone Patch – 9 remaining
  • A Crisis of Faith T-Shirt – 7 remaining
  • Kaine X T-Shirt – 6 remaining

These can be ordered from here.

CD’s and other Merchandise starting to sell out (Won’t be reprinted)

We now only have the following numbers of each item left in stock:

  • The Waystone Album CD: 21
  • The Waystone Patch: 12
  • The Waystone EP: 113
  • A Crisis of Faith UK CD: 91
  • A Crisis of Faith EU CD: 22
  • A Crisis of Faith Vinyl: 172
  • A Crisis of Faith T-Shirt: 3
  • A Crisis of Faith Live: 25
  • Kaine X Live Double Album: 6
  • Kaine X Live DVD: 64
  • Kaine X T-Shirt: 10
  • Reforge The Steel CD: 12
  • Reforge The Steel Live CD: 47

Every item bar Reforge The Steel CD will not be printed again though the next Reforge The Steel CD will be released in a different format to the 1st print. All the albums bar Reforge The Steel will become Bandcamp members only once they have sold out with some limited availability for A Crisis of Faith and The Waystone EP on some select streaming sites.

The earlier prints of the CD and Vinyl are very expensive on re-selling sites so to get the merchandise from the band at the best price please click here to order now. Once its gone, its gone for good!

Liam Etheridge – 2 Years in Kaine

Liam Etheridge has now been the drummer in Kaine for 2 years, originally replacing Chris MacKinnon in what was essentially the Crisis of Faith line-up before the band was reformed a month later. He played his first gig with Kaine at The Dev on the 20th of April 2018 and would only play 1 more gig with that line-up (May 4th 2018 at Voodoo Lounge, Stamford) before one final transitional gig with Toby Woods on lead guitar and Stephen Ellis on bass at The Smokehouse, Ipswich on May 19th.

Liam has since recorded and released the Reforge The Steel album with the band, as well as appearing on the Kaine X Live album and DVD. He has also performed drums on the delayed Waystone EP and Reforge The Steel live album. Both projects are on hold due to corona virus and the UK lock down measures.

Liam recently took part in a feature for this website which can be read here – https://kaine-metal.com/2020/04/07/feature-with-liam-etheridge-kaine-drums-backing-vocals/

Feature on Isaac Healy – [KAINE – BASS]

Today’s feature is Kaine bassist Isaac Healy, the last person to join the new line-up as the four members finally came together in May 2018. Isaac jumped in right away with the band gigging the A Crisis of Faith material while writing and rehearsing for the new album, Reforge The Steel.  

How long have you been playing bass? 

I’ve been playing for around 7 or 8 years 

You are a multi-instrumentalist, you play drums, what made you switch to bass as your main instrument and what other instruments can you play? 

I switched to bass as my main instrument mainly out of convenience of being able to practice easier and at any time. 

I actually started out learning classical guitar at primary school and started learning the drums shortly after. Over the years, I never really practiced the guitar as much as I should have but have recently been re-teaching myself.

At The Firehouse, Southampton

You have several basses in your collection, what do you own and what are your current set ups? 

Listing all 17 would take a while so my top 5 in no particular order are: 

  • Atelier Z M265+ custom (the white 5 string jazz bass that I play at most gigs) 
  • Atelier Z Beta 6/32 (Red 6 string jazz bass that I played at my first Kaine gig and sporadically since) 
  • ESP PPJ (’84 signature bass of Masayoshi Yamashita from Loudness) 
  • 1970s Ovation Magnum 1 
  • 2010 Fender Mexican Jazz (my first “real” bass. It was originally black but I had it re-finished in yellow. I promise it isn’t as nasty as it sounds) 
Live in Bury St Edmund’s

What amps and pedals are you currently using? 

I use 3 main amps depending on situation but will mostly have 2 with me. The first is the Trace Elliot ELF which lives in my gig bag as a backup amp or as the main amp if a normal amp is impractical logistics wise. Second is an Ashdown CTM 100 tube amp. My third and most recent amp is an ENGL Ironbass amp which is the most powerful amp I own by far at 800w. 

My pedal board is too large, and I plan on downsizing by getting rid of the multi effect that takes up 1/2 of my board. 

My pedals are actually mostly really boring. Line 6 G30 wireless, Boss TU-3 tuner, AMT bass wah, Electro Harmonix Bass Preacher compressor, Ashdown Nate Mendel NM2 dual overdrive. 

Geezer Butler of Black Sabbath, the man who helped invent music… everything before Sabbath was merely tuning up…

Who are your biggest influences as a bass player?  

Probably Billy Sheehan (Mr Big, etc.), Geezer Butler (Black Sabbath), Rocco Prestia (Tower of Power) and Bohte Daisuke (Kari Band). 

At the Bassment, Chelmsford

What were your musical endeavours before Kaine? 

I had only really been in one gigging band before Kaine which was called Cannon. I was in another band in secondary school, but we never did any real gigs. 

The now closed Asylum venue in Chelmsford

You played with Toby in a band called Cannon, how long have you known and played with Toby, what did you release and what venues did you play with that band? 

I’ve known Toby for about 5 years as we were on the same music course and we actually met in Cannon which somebody else on our course put together. In Cannon we played a few venues that you would maybe heard of if you’re from Essex such as Chinnery’s in Southend, the Asylum and Three Wise Monkeys.

Earlier this year at Colchester Arts Centre

Toby recommended you to Kaine to join the band, how was it to be in a new band and gigging so quickly? 

I hadn’t actually heard of Kaine until Toby asked if I wanted to join. At the time Cannon was winding down due to constant lineup changes so it was good to be in a band that already had gigs on the books. 

Rocking out at The Dome, London

How did you find adapting the A Crisis of Faith songs to your style?  

As I had learnt most of the songs by ear, something that I am definitely not the best at, and the fact that I didn’t already know the songs meant that I was sort of just winging it for most of the parts that were very Stevo. Most of which I just omitted or changed. (nothing against Stevo, I think he’s a much more melodic player than I and we have pretty different styles). 

From the Reforge The Steel photoshoot

You put together the Reforge The Steel album very quickly, how was the process of rehearsing and recording that album for you?  

The recording of that album was pretty easy for me, I managed to do all of my tracking in about half a day. 

Tracking the EP earlier this year

You also recently tracked your parts for The Waystone EP, how did you find that? 

I found that The Waystone songs were quite a bit different to the Reforge tracks, especially the title track The Waystone. That track was much unlike the other tracks we had done, mainly due to how it was almost prog like in structure when compared to the rest of the material.

At Burr Fest 2020

You played both the 10-year show with Kaine at Colchester Arts Centre, and Burr Fest at The Dome recently, what was it like doing those big gigs with the band? 

Doing these two gigs was a great experience and not just because they were in the minority of gigs where I could hear what I was playing. These two gigs were two of the biggest crowds I have played for and two of the most engaged crowds to boot. That just made it even more fun to play in front of them. 

Isaac at Kaine X

Your currently writing material for a new Kaine album, how would you describe the new material so far and the process? 

So far, this album seems to be shaping up to be quite a bit different to the previous albums sound wise. The process so far has mainly been just jamming a riff or two and seeing how it evolves. 

From Kaine X Live

How are you managing your time during the lock down?  

Either practicing bass or just playing video games. 

Isaac ranks the A27M “Cromwell” as the best tank fielded in the Second World War

Favourite World War 2 Tank? 

Fielded: A27M “Cromwell” Prototype: A39 “Tortoise” 

You are also releasing a new live album coming up, which was recorded at the B2 Norwich, are you looking forward to putting out a live version of the Reforge The Steel album?  

Yes.  

Reforge The Steel!

Finally, what is your thought of the day? 

Can animals have the equivalent of an accent? 

You can hear Isaac’s contributions to Kaine on Reforge The Steel by clicking here – there are still a number of CD’s available to order through Bandcamp. Isaac also performed at Kaine X which can be ordered both on CD and DVD by clicking here as well as the forthcoming Waystone EP which can be preordered here.  

Feature on Toby Woods [KAINE – LEAD GUITAR/BACKING VOCALS]

Today’s feature is on Lead Guitarist Toby Woods who joined the band just under two years ago. A guitar teacher by trade, he stepped in after A Crisis of Faith and helped write and record the latest album Reforge The Steel and this is what he had to tell us…  

When did you start playing guitar? 

I started playing at age 6 taking lessons at primary school. The first few years were on a nylon string classical guitar which I didn’t enjoy as much as I thought I would but at age 8/9 I got my first electric and that’s when it became a obsession.

Former Megadeth lead guitarist Marty Friedman with his hero Toby Woods

What were your biggest influences starting out?  

The reason I play guitar is because of the Darkness. I remember wanting to learn to play because I wanted to be the guitar player for the Darkness. AC/DC have always been a massive influence to me. As for metal, the first album I ever bought was Metallica’s Black Album so they have been a big influence on my playing as well. When I first started playing electric, I used to copy James Hetfield’s picking hand, gripping the pick with two fingers. Nowadays, anyone can tell you I’m hugely obsessed with Marty Friedman. Hes definitely my biggest inspiration at the moment.

Fellow East Anglian’s… The Darkness

You are a guitar teacher by trade, how do you enjoy teaching?  

I really enjoy it! It’s really special to be a part of someone else’s musical journey and helping them to progress. Plus I get to play guitar for a living, what’s not to love.

How can someone book a lesson with you? 

The best way to get a hold of me is to email twguitarist@gmail.com that’s where I deal with all of my lesson bookings and any music business.

Needs more harmonies….

You are a guitar enthusiast, how many do you currently own and what models and set ups are you using? 

I currently have 6 guitars: Gibson SG Standard; ESP EX standard; ESP LTD Gus-200; PRS SE Marty Friedman; Jackson Marty Friedman; and a Sigma acoustic. My collection has downsized massively. I decided to get rid of most of the guitars that I wasn’t playing. I’m a big fan of EMG pickups, the Marty Friedman set being the best set of pickups that have ever been made! I use D’addario 11-52 on everything along with Dunlop strap locks. I’ll hopefully add to my collection again soon.

And which amp are you currently using and why?  

I’m currently using a Hughes & Kettner Tubemeister Deluxe 40. It’s a really great sounding head and it’s small which is a massive plus. I went to Andertons with Isaac to get a new Head and Cab and after trying a few different brands, we plugged in the Hughes & Kettner and it blew every other amp out of the water. I only use the lead channel boosted with a Boss SD-1. It’s quite the tone. Every guitar sounds great through it as well. It sits well in the mix with Rage’s guitar tone and Issac’s bass.

Kaine X Live

What were your musical endeavours prior to joining Kaine? 

I had a lot of performance experience at secondary school playing lead guitar in our Schools AC/DC tribute band which was a lot of fun. Then when I got to college I was in a band with Isaac that we’ll get to in the nest question.

Toby and Isaac performed together in Cannon prior to joining Kaine

You and Isaac were originally in a band together called Cannon, when did that start? 

We started that with some of our college friends in 2015/16. We had a good time playing lots of local shows and putting on gigs at college with some other college bands that we were friends with. Our best show was our EP release gig at Colchester Institutes Swinburne Hall with our good friends State of Millennia, who have recently release their first album. We promoted the gig our selves and it was filmed for a YouTube release which might still be out there somewhere. That was a lot of fun.

Did you record any material? 

We recorded a five track EP called Time Machine which was fun to write and record but the band came to a natural end when we went our separate ways for University.

Cannon’s music video

You applied to try out for Kaine on the morning of the announcement of Saxon’s departure from the band, what drew you to want to join Kaine? 

I started off as a fan of the band. I had all the albums before I joined so when the opportunity to join came up I jumped at it. I was rehearsing the songs in-between giving guitar lessons at the primary school that I teach at. I wanted to make sure I knew them as well as I could for my “informal audition”.

Fun and games at rehearsals…

After joining the band you played one gig with Stephen Ellis on bass, how was that? 

That was a good gig. I was a little nervous with it being my first gig with the band but I new I was in good hands. Stephen is an awesome bass player so I was really pleased that I could share the stage with him.

From the Reforge The Steel photo shoot

You recommended Isaac Healy to the band a new line-up had been put together in a fortnight, what was it like to suddenly be in a whole new version of an established band, although also with Isaac who you knew? 

It was extremely exciting. I couldn’t wait to begin playing and writing and cementing my place in the band. I new that Isaac would be a good fit as bass player as we have played and rehearsed together many times.

Performing in Bury St Edmund’s in 2019

How long have you known Isaac and how long have you been playing together? 

We first met when Cannon started. We were on the same course at college but we were in different groups so we didn’t actually meet until the first Cannon practice. It turned out that we had a very similar music taste so we ended up going to a load of shows together with our friend Karl.

Cameron Heeps in action for Ipswich Witches

Your Ipswich Witches hat has drawn some attention, how long have you been a fan?  

I remember going to the good Friday races when I was much younger but me and My Dad have been going to meetings regularly for the last three years or so. I’m glad everyone has been enjoying the now named “harmony hat”!

Toby performed lead guitar and the solos on Reforge The Steel

Reforge The Steel came together quickly after the new band had formed in a fortnight, how was it to record a new album so soon after joining the band and what are your favourite tracks and solos from the album? 

The songs on the album came together really quickly which I think reflects on how well we all work together as a band. I’m very pleased with how it came out and i enjoy every song on it. I think my favourite solo is probably the one in “Wake”. This is because I tried to make this solo more melodic that some of the others. Whilst it’s always fun to shred away, somethings it’s great to put some feeling into the notes. I’m also quite proud the solo in “Black” because it was improvised in the studio so it has never been played the same again. My favourite track is “Reforge The Steel”. Its normally the song we open a set with so it’s always a fun one and packed with energy.

Toby on stage at Kaine X

You played both the packed out Kaine 10 year show at Colchester Arts Centre and Burr Fest with Kaine, how did you find doing those two big shows with the band? 

The 10 year show was definitely an amazing time. It’s a venue I’d always wanted to play a show at and it being very close to sold out made it even more special. It was great to have so many people come out to see us and really enjoying the music. Because it was so close to where I live, it was awesome to have my Mum and Dad there who have always been very supportive of my choice to pursue music and have always done everything they can top help me, whether it’s driving me to gigs so I can play or buying for that new guitar for my birthday that I simply must have! I hope I did them proud.

Playing Burr fest was also awesome. To play on that stage in front of all those people, some who knew us and some who didn’t was truly special. Hopefully we made some new fans that day. Its was great again to have my Mum, Dad and sister there because it was my Mums birthday so it was really meant a lot that she wanted to spend her birthday in London to see us play. It was also great to have my Sister taking some great photos of us all whilst we played our set.

From Colchester Arts Centre supporting Skiltron and Ethereal Sin

Being from the area, the Arts Centre is a special venue to you, what bands have you seen there? Also, you watched bands at The Dome before playing there will Kaine, what bands did you see there?  

My first ever gig was at Colchester Arts Centre seeing Dragonforce. After that gig, I said to my friends that I would one day play a show there! Since then, I have seen Cryptopsy, Crowbar, Limehouse Lizzy, Live Wire and of course Skiltron and Etheral Sin when we supported them. At the dome, me and Isaac have seen Man With a Mission and Band Maid there. I always thought that it would be an awesome venue to play as well. It was really special to stand on the stages that I have seen some of my favourite bands play on.

At Colchester Arts Centre earlier this year

You’re currently writing a new album during the lock down, you have put a couple of tracks together for it, how would you describe the new album so far and your tracks?  

One of the tracks I’ve put forward for the album is purely a show off tune for me. It’s a power metal-y neoclassical shred fest that I put together a little while ago whilst listening to a lot of power metal bands like Dragonforce and Galneryus. The new album is shaping up really well, we’ve all been sharing ideas and writing tunes during rehearsals for a little while now and it’s been really fun bouncing ideas off of each other. I cant wait to get the songs finished so we can start to bring them out live and record them.

Playing The Dome for Burr Fest

Are you enjoying the creative freedom in Kaine? 

It’s been really great to put my own touches on existing Kaine songs as well as being as creative as I can with writing leads when it comes to writing.

Isaac and Toby relaxing after a day in the studio tracking the EP

The band is releasing a new EP and live album this year, have you tried to give the Waystone EP your own flair?  

I tried to put my own spin on the songs where I could. This was mainly putting in my own solos and re-working some of the leads to fit them in better with my style. Other than that, I kept all the essential parts as they were. The live album will also be great when it comes out. It was a lot of fun to record.

From The Bassment, Chelmsford

How did the B2 live album night go for you? Did you enjoying doing the new album in its entirety live?  

It was a great show. It was really great to see so many people out to see us at the B2. It was awesome to play all of the songs live in one go. They’re all a lot of fun to play and seeing the crowds enjoyment made the show easy to play. Again, it was really great for my awesome Mum & Dad and wonderful Girlfriend there to support us a share another special Kaine moment.

Being heavily encouraged on stage…

You can hear Toby’s lead guitar work on the latest album Reforge The Steel by clicking here. There are still copies available on CD available from Bandcamp and is free to stream across all major streaming services (Spotify link included on the tab on this website). Toby also performed on the Kaine X Live Album and DVD which can be ordered here, as well as the The Waystone EP which can be pre-ordered here.  

Feature with Liam Etheridge (KAINE – DRUMS/BACKING VOCALS)

Liam has been the drummer of Kaine for the past two years

We’ll be doing a number of features on the members of the bands, their music origins and how they became a part of Kaine over the coming week. We’re starting off with the man behind the kit…. Liam Etheridge!

At The Firehouse, Southampton

When did you first take an interest in music, when did you decide to start playing drums? 

I’ve really always been interested in music, I can’t think of a time in my life where my life didn’t revolve around it, obviously not just in a playing aspect but a listening aspect. I got a lot of my music taste from my grandparents, who not only listened to older bands I grew to love over the years, but also had a lot of underground taste in the Manchester music scene in the mid-2000s, and there were a few bands from that scene that they befriended and ended up becoming a massive influence for my playing. Funnily enough it was from one of those bands that I got my first drum kit, back in 2008!

Classic AC/DC

What would you say your biggest influences were in the beginning? 

In the beginning, my biggest influences were two bands in particular, the first of which was a band that my grandparents knew called The Words, who were a part of the Manchester music scene from 2006 to 2011, and made some excellent music in the time they were around. It was from them that I got my first kit, but the band that first made me realise that I wanted to be a musician was Wishbone Ash, who still remain my all time favourite band to this day, and are without a doubt the most important band I ever listened to. Their iconic 1972 album “Argus” still remains my favourite album of all time, and I was lucky enough to meet founding member Martin Turner when I went and saw his version of the band in Hertford in 2019 to thank him for what the band had done for me. It was these 2 bands I would start playing along to as a kid, prior to my first proper drum kit, with one single tom (which actually belonged to my small cousin!), and a kit made up of 2 board game boxes, one of which I distinctly remember being a Cluedo box! 

In terms of getting into heavy metal, a lot of the music I discovered on my own, or through my best friend at the time in primary school/early senior school, but the first heavier bands I listened to were AC/DC and Iron Maiden, which were shown to me by my stepfather. One of my earliest memories of heavier music was my family being on a holiday in Florida in 2008, the soundtrack being AC/DC’s Black Ice album. Maiden have remained as my second favourite band, and are another one of my biggest influences.

Liam with Martyn Turner, ex Wishbone Ash

So, you started out in a band called Asylum, when did that start and how did that progress?  

Asylum started as an original band in 2014, but the origin of the band goes back to around 2012, before I joined in late 2013, when they were a part of Harlow Rockschool, named Bacon Bandits. They started off performing covers, and then when we changed the name it was me and our guitarist Brad Burtenshaw who started to write originals together. At the time I was really happy with what he was putting out, as we were having the same kind of influences, i.e a lot of 80s thrash metal, and also Pantera in particular, as well as bands like Avenged Sevenfold on my end. We started to get some momentum and we could’ve started doing some pretty cool stuff! But unfortunately after Brad and our singer Rylan did their GCSE’s in 2015, the band just fizzled out, which I think was a shame. 

As Asylum you supported Kaine at several shows back in 2014 and 2015, how did you first discover the band?

I first discovered Kaine in the beginning of 2014, through an ad on Facebook. I saw that it was for fans of Iron Maiden, Judas Priest and Metallica, so therefore I had to check it out. The first song I heard was Iron Lady, and when I first put that on I was blown away. It was fun supporting the band at that time, as a fan of the band. It was pretty cool to befriend the other members aswell. My favourite gig of ours together was when we played the Asylum in Chelmsford, in October 2014. That was our first gig as an original band, and it was also generally a really fun night.  

At the Hunters Bar, Bury St Edmund’s

You were surprised that they were playing the Speakeasy in Epping for their Waystone album launch what do you remember about that gig?

I remember when it was first announced I was confused because I had no clue it had been booked! We played that gig when we were still called Bacon Bandits, sadly no originals at the time. It was still a great gig, and we had a great time and seemed to be well received. At the time Kaine were becoming quite a big deal for me, and I was a real fan of their music, having had the Falling Through Freedom album on rotation for the previous couple of months. That day was amazing not just for that gig, but I also was introduced to the band themselves, aswell as our good friends in Osmium Guillotine. 

*Entropy were originally meant to play the same night, a band which featured Saxon Davids who would go on to join Kaine a few months later.

Liam working hard in the studio

You have played a number of the songs from The Waystone both in the studio and live, what’s it like to be playing those songs now as the drummer in Kaine, have you put your own stamp on them on the upcoming EP?  

It’s exciting! I was a big fan of the original album when it came out, although looking back as a member of the band I could sit back and assess how I would’ve approached the process of the album. Chris has a very different playing style to me. He has much more of a funk influence, whereas I’m much more of a straightforward thrash metal drummer, so it’s been really cool to go through the process of this EP, a chance to revisit the tracks and be able to put my own stamp on them, to play them how I think they should’ve been played. I can’t wait for people to hear it! 

So, after Asylum, what have you done musically since? 

After Asylum, I was a part of another covers band called Ultimatum throughout 2015. I was in that band with the bassist and singer of Asylum, and another guitarist called Aidan. We spent that time basically just playing a load of covers, ranging as far as Green Day to Slipknot, essentially just playing gigs with material that we enjoyed playing together. I left that at the beginning of 2016, and was largely inactive for the rest of that year, and for most of 2017 too. I then got back into the scene by joining a Basildon based band called Scarred By Name, whom I found on an advert. After I got the call to be in Kaine I found that the band never really did anything. It was not just because of that, but also the band had their own families, and our guitarist was suffering from bad back problems too. I then got the call to join Kaine in around March 2018.

You attended the Kaine gig at The Green Room in Welwyn Garden City in February 2018 not long after the release of the A Crisis of Faith album and you were in the band a little over a month later, what was that like? 

That was a cool night actually. It was the first time I’d ventured outside by myself with none of my usual mates. Just jumped on the bus from Harlow to Welwyn and had a great night. A Crisis of Faith is an absolutely fantastic album, so I was glad to see that lineup arguably at their peak, firing on all cylinders. It was good to see Rage, Chris and Saxon again aswell, as I had not seen any of them since around 2014/2015, and hadn’t met Stephen before. I had a great time, banged my head, and got very drunk, can’t complain at all! I had no idea that the following month I’d get the news from Rage that Chris had left the band, and that I’d been asked to join. That whole month was quite a rollercoaster, but it was a great experience.

You jumped in during immediately after the release of A Crisis of Faith and not long after Saxon Davids and Stephen Ellis departed the band, how did that feel, did you think it was the end of Kaine?  

I played a couple of gigs with Saxon and Stephen, and they were really enjoyable, even though my first gig with the band was less than a week after my first rehearsal! Thank god I was a fan and knew the songs anyway! I was really excited for what could’ve been, so I was absolutely gutted when Saxon and Stephen said that they were going to leave. I was genuinely scared for what would come next, I thought it could well be the end. I remember speaking on the phone with Rage that night and I’d never known him to be so unsure of anything. He didn’t know if he could keep the band together, although we both agreed that no matter what we would try. I felt it was the end, but then we were saved when Toby was introduced to us, and Isaac was introduced through him. They truly did save the band.

Kaine…. as serious as ever after playing The Bassment, Chelmsford

The new lineup of yourself, Rage Sadler, Toby Woods and Isaac Healy was formed in a fortnight, was it strange to have joined a band to be playing in an entirely new band almost immediately?

The prospect of playing in a new band wasn’t as strange as the speed with which it was put together. I didn’t even know it was possible to do that, I can’t think of anyone else who has pulled that off, so full credit to Rage for being able to make that happen! I never thought in a million years that the band would be reformed as quickly as that, as we then played our first gig with this lineup much less than a month after Saxon and Stephen announced they would leave. It really was quite a surreal experience, but it worked out so much better than I could have ever imagined, and I am having more fun than I’ve ever had playing music. I cannot wait for what the future brings this lineup, after the release of Reforge The Steel. 

Reforge The Steel was written and rehearsed very quickly during that period, how was the process for you as a new member of the band? 

It was a brilliant experience, my first experience of really writing an album. I had obviously been a part of writing a few originals before, but never really had the pressure of writing an entire album. I was really excited with the material that Rage had written for the album, and I genuinely believed we could be better than any other lineup of the band. The chemistry between all four members throughout the writing process was great, and it felt good for everyone to have a common goal for how the album should sound, something which I feel we will have way into the future. I couldn’t have been happier with the way the album came together, with such quality material in such a short space of time. So again, full credit to Rage for that.

Liam with Kaine fan Wally in 2019

You released the album back in October 2019, just a year after A Crisis of Faith how did it feel to release of the album? What are your favourite songs from the new record?  

It was cool to finally have something properly released with my name in the credits. It felt really good to see the amount of people that listened to it, and the amount of praise the album received, even with comments commending my drumming on the album. I love all the tracks on the album, but I would say my favourite tracks are Black, To All My Love, The Dragon Reborn, and the title track. The album has a lot of twin lead influence, so being a big fan of bands like Wishbone Ash and Thin Lizzy I found it really cool to see the band take that direction with the music.

Reforge The Steel on NWOTHM Playlist
At Kaine X, Colchester Arts Centre

You have played a few big shows with Kaine already, how did it feel to play a packed out Colchester Arts Centre for the Kaine 10 year show, and how did it feel to support ex Iron Maiden singer Blaze Bayley recently at Burr Fest?

The Kaine 10 year show was just something else. None of us expected it to turn out the way it did, and it was my biggest gig to date ever. I remember prior to the show sales had been pretty good, but I did not expect the event to be nearly sold out by the time the night arrived. My best memory was coming out of the backstage area not long after the doors opened, peeking out from behind the stage, and seeing the amount of people that had already arrived. It was rammed before any bands even came on, it was amazing! I didn’t think we could top that until we played Burr Fest this year, which really was a special experience! For me that was this bands best ever performance, and to do it alongside ex-Iron Maiden members, in particular Doug Sampson and Blaze Bayley, was amazing. I had a brief conversation with Doug at the bar not long before Blaze went onstage, and he really is a top bloke! I also managed to get my poster signed by Blaze, which was really cool. The whole experience was just incredible, and I feel so honoured to have been a part of it, and it was an honour to be so well received by the Burr Fest crowd. I hope one day we can be asked back!

Liam playing the Dome, London for Burr Fest 2020

You also play guitar, how long have you been playing? 

I have been playing guitar by myself since early 2014. I have never played guitar in any bands, but I have obviously written my fair share of originals with it, a few of which you may hear on the next Kaine album!

You have written a number of tracks for the new album, do you like having the freedom to write in Kaine?  

I love that I still have creative freedom in this band. I was obviously more than content with my role during the Reforge the Steel cycle, but it’s been really cool to finally bring my ideas to the table. I have three tracks ready for the new album so far, so it’s been cool to record them and send them to the band. It’s also a relief because I have been sat on one particular song since April 2018! The feedback from the guys on my songs has been good as well so that’s exciting.

From the Reforge The Steel photo shoot

All the rehearsal and recording activity has been suspended due to the Corona virus outbreak, are the band still writing and communicating while everything is suspended? 

We are still communicating every day, bouncing ideas back and forth and making sure we check in on each other regularly. I myself have been very busy during the time indoors. I have been furloughed by my day job, so I now have a lot of spare time to put my tracks together properly. It’s definitely kept me sane, because otherwise I feel I’d be bored to death! 

Black from Kaine X

There is a new live album coming soon from the B2 Norwich last year from the Reforge The Steel album, how was that night for you and are you looking forward to releasing another live album? 

That was a fun night actually, and another night that I didn’t expect to be as good as it was turnout wise. It was mired by some technical difficulty, and also tainted when we found out in the car that a close friend of the band had unexpectedly passed away that morning. But we managed to get through it, and both us and Osmium Guillotine played blistering sets, despite the horrible news. I feel we really made a great night of it, despite the circumstances. I’m looking forward to releasing this live album, as it really does sound excellent! 

What can you say about the new record your working on right now with Kaine? 

You thought Reforge the Steel was the best this band has done? Well just wait because this is gonna be the best album ever! It’s heavier, it’s faster, it’s amazing! 

West Ham celebrating earlier this season…

You’re a big fan of West Ham United, how long have you supported the team and what are the highs and lows of following the Hammers? Which was the last game you attended and do you think they will stay up? Favourite players?  

I am indeed a big Hammers fan, born and bred! However there are definitely more lows than highs right now. I feel the last real high was our last season at Upton Park. We played some of the best football I’d seen from a West Ham side, and finished well at the end of the season aswell! Since then however, it has all been downhill! The last game I attended was in November 2019, we lost 3-2 to Newcastle. Although the scoreline was flattering, we were 3-0 down for the longest time and it was easily the worst West Ham performance I had seen to date. Although since then we have definitely played worse, it’s been embarrassing! The only player I can think of that is any good at the moment is Michail Antonio, just because he’s the only one who seems to put any effort in! If this season finishes, I cannot see us staying up! 

To order Reforge the Steel on CD please click here. There are also a limited number of CD’s and DVD’s from Liam’s performance at Kaine X which can be ordered here. You can also pre-order The Waystone EP here. You can also hear the album by clicking the Spotify tab at the top of this page.

Kaine Merch Sale! Merchandise from as low as £2!

We’ve dropped all our merch prices to £10 and below to coincide with Bandcamp dropping their fees for items sold on their site for 1 day only! That means in some cases you can get our merch for anything as low as £2-3! We’re also offering all our digital albums for £1.

There are less than 100 of most of the items here so please feel free to grab them while they are affordable.

  • The Waystone Patch – £2
  • Kaine X Shirts – £3
  • The Waystone + Justice, Injustice CD – £5
  • A Crisis of Faith CD [UK] – £5
  • A Crisis of Faith CD [EU] – £5
  • A Crisis of Faith LIVE CD – £5
  • A Crisis of Faith T-Shirt – £5
  • Reforge The Steel CD – £8
  • A Crisis of Faith Vinyl – £10
  • X Double Live Album CD – £10
  • X Double Live Album DVD – £10

All digital downloads £1
+ One Free Download for anyone currently unwell or in isolation

Order Here – https://kaine.bandcamp.com/merch