Interview: Conjurer
I think emotionally, this is the most vulnerable we've ever been, the most willing to open up and tackle real stuff.
UK metal heroes Conjurer have returned with a formidable new album Unself, and it sees the band continue their ascent to the upper echelons of extreme music. This stunning collection of songs that demonstrates exactly why Conjurer are that band on the rise and sees the band deliver their most epic, but also most personal record to date. Ahead of the release of the new album, Gavin Brown caught up with Conjurer vocalist/guitarist Brady Deeprose to get an insight into Unself as well as discussing Conjurer’s upcoming headline tour, festival highlights, collaborations, albums of the year and Peep Show.
E&D: You new album Unself is coming out very soon. How does it feel to be back back with this album?
Brady: It’s nice. I think for us, this kind of feels like a bit of a reset and a bit of a fresh start. This is the first record with this lineup and it has been a whole different process of making the album, a whole different approach. We are very different people in very different places in our lives to where we were with the last one. So I think for me, October 24 when the record comes out, is going to be like a bit of a line in the sand, for people that have been following us, or for people that are trying to jump on to what the band is doing, this is the next thing. This feels like a step in a new direction.
E&D: Does it feel the band are refreshed with the new lineup and on this album?
Brady: Yeah, for sure. Its not that we were getting stale at all, but I do feel like for the first time, we’re a lot more unified in what we want to do and what we want the band to be, and have a bit more of a singular vision in terms of, I guess, everything, Dani and I have been on the exact same page from jump on this record of exactly what we want it to be and the kind of directions we want it to take, and everyone has just really come together to make that happen. So yeah, it’s nice everything feels good at the minute.
E&D: Would you say it’s the most emotional but also focussed album that Conjurer have made to date?
Brady: Yeah, for sure, you might think we’re a band that have never really got personal with our music. That’s not true, but all of the personal stuff on previous records has been really insular and kind of like walled off, inward, focussed I guess. And this is the first time that we have looked outwards and addressed some things in the real world that aren’t just inside our own heads. I think emotionally, this is the most vulnerable we’ve ever been, the most willing to open up and tackle real stuff, which, I think has required a wholly different approach and a wholly different headspace to be in when you’re making music that isn’t just veiled in metaphor. One of the hallmarks of what this band is, is the approach to lyricism, but it’s just a little bit more direct and a little bit more raw and a little bit more vulnerable, and I think that that comes across in the record.
E&D: What have been the biggest influences on the album?
Brady: It’s funny, the four of us, as with every Conjurer lineup, have pretty differing tastes musically and as with every kind of record, I don’t think there are any single direct influences that we’re trying to emulate, but throughout the process, were referencing bands like Agriculture and Sumac and Foxing. There’s a lot more talk about trying to take ideas or elements or genre tropes, but really do them in our own way. So I feel like, for me, this is the record that sounds the most like us or what I always imagined Conjurer could sound like. I think through our own experience and naivety, we took some missteps on all the previous records, or it never quite added up to where we wanted it to be. That’s no disrespect to anyone that worked on those records, but it was us not being able to express what we wanted, or having the vocabulary to understand, oh, this sound will sound like this in the finished product. So I think for us, just that level of maturity of okay, we’ve done this a few times now. We have learned from our missteps, and now we’re just in a position to make a record that we’re really happy with and proud of, and I think that is what we have done.
E&D:Are you looking forward to taking the songs from Unself to a live setting on your forthcoming European and UK dates?
Brady: Absolutely, yeah, it feels like we haven’t played headline shows in forever, so getting to have our own setup, on our own timeline, with bands that we want to play with, and a room full of people that are receptive to what we’re what we’re doing, is amazing. I feel like we’ve done a lot of shows playing to not our audience, and you really notice how quiet some of the quiet bits are if people aren’t paying attention. So to be back with people that actually want to engage with the art, I think will be really nice. For us, this record is about that. It’s about connection. It is about reaching out to other people and trying to connect over what we feel are really universal issues and really universal feelings that a lot of people feel, so to be able to bring that to the live setting, and to play these songs and to share those moments with people is so special and something that we will never take for granted.
E&D: Are you also looking forward to playing it this year’s Damnation Festival on the main stage?
Brady: Yeah, that was something that we didn’t really expect. We had originally agreed to a slot on the second stage, and Gavin came to us and was like, I would really love to for you guys to play the main stage and to take that step up and have bigger production. We cannot thank him enough for his belief in us as a band. Back in the day, we first played in 2017 something like that, and we were fucking terrible, and he has continued to keep booking us. So yeah, I am so thrilled to be a part of what is one of the absolute institutions of extreme music in the UK. What a privilege.
E&D: You have got a history with the festival. What have been some of the highlights from the previous times that you’ve played?
Grady: Jan’s last show with us was the last time we played in 2021, so that was obviously quite an emotional moment for us. But then also, I’ve been going to Damnation as a fan for years, me and Dani, I actually took a photo of Dani with Dave Davidson from Revocation, who was clearly just trying to queue up and get a sandwich and did not want to be bothered in maybe 2014, and then, five years later, we were on tour in America with Revocation, and I remember showing Dave that photo, and I was like, Oh yeah, you didn’t want to chat. And he was like, man, I was just so fucking hungry! Going from being a fan, just there for the love of it to being asked to come back and play again. I keep using the word privilege, but that’s how it feels like. To be part of something that is so special and so invigorating for the UK scene is is amazing, to have a festival grow to this size across multiple venues, with the same team working on it, it is a real beautiful thing that we have in the UK that I think people take for granted a little bit. The ability to go and see bands like Amenra on a main stage in a 5000 cap room in that kind of environment is awesome. To get to see bands of a bigger statue on the smaller stages. Damnation is the best, and to be a part of it is something I hope we can keep doing for many years to come.
E&D: Who are you looking forward to checking out on the bill at this year’s festival?
Brady: I have Amenra up there. I haven’t seen them for years at this point, so that is very, very exciting. Deafheaven, obviously, their new record is unreal. Nordic Giants are one of my favourite bands. I saw them in 2012 or 13 in an art gallery in Nottingham, and it absolutely blew me away. I’ve only had a few chances to see them since then, but unreal live band, Devastator, Dani and Conor used to be in a band with their singer. They’re from our hometown, so we don’t often get to play with bands from back home, so that’ll be really nice. Portrayal Of Guilt. Last time I saw them, they supported Thou at the Underworld in London. Absolutely unbelievable. They were fucking incredible, and that was kind of a big moment for me where I really understood the band for the first time. I don’t think I really got them from just on record, and it absolutely blew open the doors of perception. So to see them again will be a real treat.
E&D: What other festival appearances have been memorable for Conjurer over the years?
Brady: We’ve been really lucky to play a lot of the major festivals. 2000 Trees on the new stage, and clashing with Creeper and being sure that no one was going to come and see a little metal band that had only put one record out, and having an absolutely packed tent, that was a real kind of mind blowing moment for us. We opened the main stage at Download Festival at the pilot event in just after Covid, and that was our first show back after Covid, and again, it was a bit of a shock to the system, playing to 10,000 people! It really was a special thing that a band like us should never have. We shouldn’t even be in the same postcode as the Download main stage! That was really cool. And then, truthfully, every time we play ArcTanGent. First of all, it feels like home to us. It’s been so good to us. It is always somewhere that we would be, even if we weren’t playing. We’ve been going for years. Playing the main stage a couple of years ago, breaking down twice on the way there, thinking we weren’t going to make it, getting out, absolutely pissed off as fuck, and playing that set was awesome. I remember very viscerally seeing Gav from Damnation crowd surfing during that set, and it just being absolute pandemonium. Growing up going to Download Festival and Damnation and ArcTanGent and all of the top festivals in the UK, for me, it’s been so cool to actually get to go and play them and meet the people behind it and and just understand what it takes to put together some of these events, and how hard people work just for the love of live music, It is awesome and we have a beautiful history with festivals, especially in the UK, and I hope they keep booking us.
E&D: Have you got live plans going into next year?
Brady: We’re working on loads of stuff, hopefully going to the US, going to Australia, some more stuff in the UK and Europe. It is all a work in progress at the moment. For us, we’re just focussing on getting the record out, and just really excited to get back in the saddle and get playing shows.
E&D: Was making the Curse These Metal Hands album with Pijn a cool experience, and have you talked about another collaboration at all?
Brady: That was so special, again, influenced by ArcTanGent, really, they commissioned that collaboration, and we never intended to even record. It was just going to be a one off live thing, but we had so much fun doing it that it became something. We’ve played it live a few times. We are working on new Curse These Metal Hands material. There’s a new song that is half recorded, it’s finding the time to do it with the band’s separate schedules and real life getting in the way, but yeah, it’s something that we are keen to follow up on. In terms of other collaborations, we have also got a few irons in the fire, it’s something that is so fun, but so much effort and so costly, and all of the boring stuff of real life gets in the way. But yeah, it is stuff that we’re open to and stuff that we are working on.
E&D: Would that include live shows as well?
Brady: Yeah, I imagine we’ll definitely do Curse These Metal Hands live again, but not until we have something new to play, because I think the same set five times in a row is probably taking the piss at this point.
E&D: Curse These Metal Hands is obviously a reference from Peep Show. Are you still big fans of the show and who are your favourite characters?
Brady: I think with most people in our age group, Peep Show has been a formative experience growing up. I mean, to the point where, when we were in the studio in March, Dani had just started a re watch of Peep Show so that was how we ended every night was, with Peep Show on in the background for the entire month. So it definitely became a part of this new record as well. I hate every character in Peep Show! I feel like they’re specifically designed to be the worst people on earth. I guess Dolby is all right, but yeah, thinking about the reality of those characters makes me so depressed, because we know that those people exist as well, deeply upsetting to be honest!
E&D: Talking about collaborations, who else would you love to collaborate with on an album or a musical project in the future?
Brady: I think that collaborations are tough because we have our particular way of working, and it is, I think, a little unorthodox, or, I guess, way more traditionalist than than most these days, but I think that we would look for the right personalities of people to work with, as opposed to specifically the music, someone that we’re speaking to about working with at the minute musically, it’s not like it’s within the same realm. They’re not a band that people might expect us to want to work with. I think we’re open to creativity, however, that shows its face, but it’s got to be with the right people, and we were just so lucky with Pijn, Joe especially, has now produced three out of the five releases we’ve put out as a band, so really is a part of who we are, musically has been a part of that journey. Pijn took us on our first European tour, so we’ve been so close with them for so long that it felt really natural. Anyone we work with, it’s just got to be someone we feel comfortable and natural with and like that. It probably wouldn’t be Slipknot, for example. We’re open to anything, but it’s just got to feel right.
E&D; What have been some of your albums of the year so far?
Brady: I have been trying to keep up with new releases, but it is tough. I really liked the new Biffy Clyro record. I really liked the new Clipse album, Pusha T and Malice, Let God Sort Em Out. That was great. If people are into hip hop at all.
E&D: Yeah, thats a phenomenal album!
Brady: It’s like the first rap album I’ve had in a while that has that old school feel to it, but without having intentionally shitty production, I feel when rappers come through and they’ve got that old school feel, it’s like, you’ve just ripped off a 90s record with really live production, whereas this is using those modern kind of production elements but it feels classic, classic energy, and is so exciting. Void Quest by Trudger, that record has been great. Came out on Floodlit Recordings a few months ago, and it’s like early Mastodon kind of riffing, great band, really, really cool. The new Death Goals record, Survival Is An Act Of Defiance. Death Goals are opening for us on the UK dates of the headline tour at the end of the year, and they put out this new record, and it is fucking great. It’s so heavy, it is uncompromising, morally, politically and musically, which is a really potent force, and it’s only 10 minutes long, so you can just blast through it if you don’t want to commit an hour to listening to a record. I really like the new Deafheaven album as well. When we were in the studio, I was listening to that a lot when I was running or hanging out. So much comes out now, with everyone having so much access to decent quality recordings, and there is so much more music coming out every year that I would love, that I will not get around to, I feel like I have to really prioritise my own music more than anything else? So, for me, the album I’m most excited about is the new Conjurer record, because it is what I have devoted the last couple of years to, and I’m incredibly fucking proud of it. However, I probably can’t put that as my album of the year, because that feels like a cop out! I’ll say the Deafheaven record is probably top for now but any of those that I mentioned I would happily put my name to.
