Liam has been playing, recording and rehearsing for the past several weeks with a trapped sciatic nerve and has since caused further injury to his lower back. Liam has also been funding his own treatment and medication during this period which has put a drain on his finances. In order to give him the best chance to recover, we will be suspending rehearsals. We will however still be playing the remaining gigs for 2022 with an adjusted set where necessary.
We’re celebrating our fourth anniversary tonight at the Smokehouse, Ipswich. We officially came together as this version of Kaine on May 12th, 2018, in what was the most chaotic period in the band’s history.
Since then, we have released an album (Reforge The Steel, 2019), several live albums (Kaine X Live 2019, Reforge The Steel Live 2019, two EPs (The Waystone, 2020 and Kaine, 2021), and have a brand new album (After Extinction) and two new EP’s coming out soon.
Tonight will be our 58th gig together since our formation.
“What a weekend that was. I have been running on fumes all day and had less than a standard night’s sleep in the space of 2 days (probably about 5 hours sleep total), but this weekend was the best one I’ve had since the beginning of 2020, before the world came crashing down! Recording was very smooth, and I managed to get all my stuff done with plenty of time to spare. I feel like I pushed myself way harder than I ever have in any performance, and the new songs that we have are gonna be a bitch to replicate live 😂 but it’s worth it, it’s easily the best album Kaine has ever done and I’m really proud of all the stuff we’ve written.
The gig was definitely needed, my god it felt good to be back on stage again. It was the first time I’ve seen a lot of our crowd of hooligans in well over a year, and it was like we never left! I never thought I could miss the arseache of loading in and packing up, or sweating like a motherfucker on stage! Even the first gig beer tasted better than ever. It was bizarre having everyone sat down, but hopefully that will go away as planned by the time our next one comes around, then it’ll be a true comeback!”
Liam Etheridge finished tracking the drums to the new Kaine album this weekend. The bands 5th album contains 9 brand new songs, a number of which saw their live debut at The Music Room, Ipswich on Saturday. Engineer Wayne Thompson will now be editing the drums in the coming weeks as the band looks forward to the tracking of the guitar and bass as soon as possible.
What was your first gig with the band?
My first gig with Kaine was in April 2018, at The Devonshire Arms in Camden, a tight, sweaty little metal venue with a really cool looking aesthetic. It was barely a week after I’d joined the band, and I’d only had one rehearsal with them prior to this! Good thing I already knew the songs as I was a huge fan of A Crisis of Faith when it came out. We played with Eliminator that night, and they killed it as always. It was a good turnout, and I made way less mistakes than I thought I would. Put it this way, I thought I was gonna turn the thing into a train-wreck, but I somehow made it through with very minimal errors!
Not long after joining the A Crisis of Faith era of the band was over, how was it to be part of in essence a new band?
Well obviously I had no idea that it would be the end of that era and the start of a new band with the Kaine name. I’d been a fan of the band since 2014, with The Waystone line-up, and I was so stoked to be in a band who’s music I already loved, and I thought that A Crisis of Faith was the absolute pinnacle of everything the band ever did. To some extent I still do! I just thought that we’d go on with me on drums instead of Chris and everything would be fine and dandy! But nope, that wasn’t to be, it soon came crashing down. Although in the end I think we proved that it was for the better.
I remember when Rage broke the news that Saxon and Stevo were leaving, and I was pretty shocked. We were on the phone for a good while discussing the next move. We came very close to ending it, but ultimately decided to carry on, and the rest is history. In terms of building the new band it was an awesome experience. I feel lucky in the sense that we all gelled together very well as musicians and people very early on, and now I feel we’re stronger than ever after releasing Reforge the Steel, a comeback album in a sense, and getting the feedback that many people thought it was the best thing we ever did. I think the next album is better though.
What is working with Rage, Toby and Isaac like?
Apart from the occasional tirade, and extremely frequent bullshit, it’s brilliant. Then again I enjoy some of the bullshit as well…
We’re all really good friends, I feel we’re on the same page creatively about 95% of the time, and I feel that together we’re a live force to be reckoned with. When we’re well rehearsed I think we’re unbelievably tight, and playing on a stage with them is always a brilliant thing. I love the songs we’ve written together, and I love the whole experience of playing a gig with them all.
My only gripe is that only sometimes, we will be writing and I seem to be the only one who will ever actually listen to a demo and learn it before coming into rehearsal… then again I have come to realise that that’s just the way the guys learn the songs, which is totally fine. I guess I just prefer to know what I’m playing before I have to go in and rehearse it, but they prefer getting the feel for the song with everyone present!
What have been the best experiences over the past 3 years?
The best experience for me was headlining Colchester Arts Centre in April 2019 and damn near selling the place out. It was an incredible time, and at least on my end nothing went wrong whatsoever. I cannot begin to describe how awesome the feeling was! Other highlights would definitely be playing Burrfest, our final gig of 2020 before the world came crashing down! In terms of other occurrences, on a friendship level, the best was the recording process of Reforge the Steel. I loved the drive up to Bury to do it, I loved the studio, and it was just a really nice atmosphere while we were recording. Seeing how the whole thing came together was really cool.
You have recorded two EP’s and Album with the band as well as two live albums, how has it been working on so many projects since joining?
Fun. Very fun, and the fun will continue with the new album! I really enjoyed recording my parts, and then watching all the layers be built on top of them. Every time we’ve left the studio I feel satisfied with what we’ve all done, and feel like we have done our absolute best.
What was recording Reforge The Steel like so quickly after joining the band?
Honestly, the writing was more surreal than the recording of it. It came together very quickly in the rehearsal rooms, and the recording process on my end ended up going very smoothly. We finished all my parts in 2 days, and I was able to sit back and watch the process of the album coming together as a spectator of sorts. Safe to say I smiled a lot when more and more harmonies were being added!
Your working on yet another album – what have your contributions been to this one so far?
It’s better than Reforge, honestly. The songs are bigger, they’re heavier, they’re faster, and I think as a unit we’ve created a piece of music that could stand up against any release from a bigger band. We’ve all contributed on this one, so it’s a really cool creative effort. I have put forward 2 songs for the album, currently titled Bright and Left Behind, which I wrote structurally and also lyrically myself, and I have also got loads of other songs ready to put on the next album, whenever that may be! I’m proud of not only my songs but the whole album, and I genuinely feel it’s the best thing Kaine has ever done. This is the way the band is going, and you won’t be disappointed with it!
Gigs are finally back on, are you looking forward to being back?
To say I can’t wait is the understatement of the century. I can’t wait to have the whole gig experience again, and I can’t wait for the audience reactions when we return, and I can’t wait to hear what they think of the new songs! We’ve already got some great shows lined up, so the second half of this year is gonna be a damn good one!
What are your objectives with Kaine going forward?
To get the band’s music out to as many people as possible, and to hopefully be able to tour the world, either as a support or headline act. I think we’re capable, just waiting on that break, which I wholeheartedly believe could come from this album. My other objectives with Kaine are to really push my playing style and improve as a drummer. My drumming on this album is already much more complex than the last album, and faster, but I still feel I have a long way to go before I’ll be truly happy with myself as a player.
Liam Etheridge has started to stream his gaming footage on Twitch. So far he’s been playing Cyberpunk 2077 and Call of Duty Black Ops – Cold War. You can follow his channel by clicking here.