Mallen Interview



1. What or who inspired you to play the genre of music that you play?

We all have a variety of inspirations when it comes to the music we play, this varies from Alter Bridge, Slash, Metallica, Foo Fighters, Thin Lizzy, Don Broco, Bring Me The Horizon, Tonight Alive and many more. We love that we don't have a set direction in sound so we can kind of mash together our influences and see what songs we the end product is. 

2. What's your live set up?

Our live set up consists of 5 member: Vocals, 2 Guitars, Bass and Drums.

3. Is there any places in particular that you'd like to tour?

We would love to tour around the USA, as there are so many Iconic venues in LA, Seattle where bands have etched their names into the history books.  To be able to play the same stages we know our musical icons have over the many years would be a dream come true. Japan would also be amazing as is also supposed as the fans are really dedicated to the bands they love.

4. How did you come up with the band name?

In the early days when we were starting up we found it really difficult to find a name, and for a while we went with "Harlot" but kind of realised this may have given the wrong impression of the band and our music. So we decided to do what every band probably does and that is go around the members last names. We whittled it down to our ex drummers and vocalist's names, Crowfoot and Mallen. After researching the meanings of both we went with Mallen.  

5. What's the best venue that you've performed at?

Tough question, we love shows that are packed with fans and energy and sometimes these can be the smallest lesser classy venues. However if we are going on grand design and sound then definitely Sheffield's O2 Academy when we play Hard Rock Hell's "Highway to Hell".

6. You've released two EPs, how long were you working on them before?

Yes, we have released both "IGNITION" and "THIS DREAM". Ignition we kind of rushed out and probably solidly worked through the material for about 3 months, however at this time we only had one guitarist and most of the tracks were built around that. It took us a week to record it in the studio, (which you can kind of tell). We had a great time with it but we don't mind it getting lost in the back catalogue somewhere. This Dream our most recent EP, we worked on for around 6 months solidly prior to going in the studio. It was a big learning curve for us in the process of writing, hard work but well worth it. 

7. Are you working on an album?

Yes we have recently finished recording our debut album "Polarity". We recorded it over at Red City Recordings with David Radahd-Jones other wise known as the maestro behind Heavens Basement "Johnny Rocker". 

8. Is your new album going to be heavier than your other music?

In some elements of the new material yes and others no. We wanted to bring out all aspects of each members influences into the tracks. We created a mission statement prior to pre production where if we weren't head banging ourselves or buzzing to play the track or riff on stage then it wouldn't make the cut. We haven't hit the realms of death metal etc etc in terms of "heaviness" but there is definitely more of a groove based feel to the tracks with riff driven songs to more anthemic pulled back songs.
 
9. How long have you been working on the new music for?

We have been working on these new songs for about 7-8 months, even when we are busy playing shows we like to just record a random riff whilst warming up and listen back to it months down the line.

10. How did you become a band?

Mallen before being known as Mallen started off with Dann Pritchard (guitarist) and ex-Drummer Tom Crowfoot jamming after being introduced to then non affiliated vocalist Kelly. After writing a couple tracks together for fun kelly decided to record some vocals down to one of them. That there was the birth of Mallen realising there was some real energy and connection in the songs and members. Kelly was approached by a bass player to form a band and it just so happened we needed one. After around 2 years of building a name we got the chance to play an acoustic show at the Genting Arena in Birmingham on Motley Crues farewell tour. So we recruited guitarist Rhys Broomhall for the one off show, and then we couldn't get rid of him. HA! In all honesty he brought a new dimension to our sound and thickened it out allowing for more melodic and rhythm guitar base. A few months later our ex bassist left to start a family and Rhys introduced us to a good friend of his that he used to play in a band with Joe Horton, and that leads you to this day and current Mallen line up! 


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