Insurgent: Fresh Blood. Equal Counterparts

INSURGENT are one of brightest bands coming up in the industry at the moment. The four piece from Birmingham have a completely fresh take on modern metal. We caught up with the band about the upcoming EP, the dynamic of the band and the new perspective the pandemic has brought them going forward.

Having played their first gig back just days before we spoke, the band were evidently in a great place. “There were people out there singing out lyrics. It was unreal mate, so amazing. And we heard the crowd over my big mouth,” vocalist Katie Teitge laughs.

INSURGENT played their first Bloodstock show this year off the back of their debut EP Sentient. It’s evident that after re-entering the world of live music, they’re more excited than ever to get out playing. “We’ve put so much effort into Sentient over this lockdown period, I can’t get over it. Over the last two years it’s been such a whirlwind, and we’ve been scratching and itching to get it out there,” Katie smiles about the record.

Having a technical edge that slides into more progressive sounds, the band never compromise on groove and tight rhythm for the sake of pure technicality. On top of that, there’s a dynamic within Katie’s vocals that doesn’t look to overbear on the rest of the instrumentation, but weaves itself into the arrangement. “We all have different tastes,” bassist Jake Brette explains. “Katie’s got a musical theatre background, so that helps so much with her interpretation vocally.”

It’s little things like that that make the dynamic of INSURGENT really worth paying attention to. “Before we went into the studio, I did just think of us as your regular metal band,” drummer Mike Tabone describes. “But the word accessible, that’s quite a key word for us, I think. People like my parents aren’t into metal at all. Now, that might just be bias from them, but I do feel that we can reach out to more people who won’t normally go for metal music. There is something for everyone with us. In my grooves as well, it’s not funk, but it makes you want to move. For me, that probably comes in the writing process when Joe [Rowley, guitarist]’s riffs make me write my parts the way I do. The four of us as a blend, I couldn’t ask for anybody better to work with.”

“Mike’s right in what he says, not to toot our own horn or anything,” Katie agrees. “There’s so many different elements taken from different genres. Maybe not so much physical, but those emotional elements, that’s what goes into our sound. I think that then makes a wider amount of people enjoy listening to it. And we don’t want one person running the whole show, it’s a much more equal effort.”

Given that Katie was the last member to join INSURGENT back when the band came together at Birmingham BIMM, the writing effort is spread out equally between everyone’s tastes. Not only that, but extending into the lyrics, not only is it written through each member’s own lens on the topic, but they keep things open to a listeners own reading. “The lyrics are very critical of society, but still hopeful in a way,” Joe goes on, “I like that people attach their own ideas to the lyrics, it’s really important for us to have people make them their own.”

INSURGENT have so much to offer and are chomping at the bit to show what they’ve got. “The plan is to do a headliner. In theory it should all go ahead, but we want to do some another music video and a Patreon thing to help get fans involved in what we’re doing,” Joe starts.

“It’s all gonna be dramatic as fuck, I can’t wait,” Katie beams, “if there’s another lockdown or something goes wrong again, we’ve got enough content and work ready to keep us tided over until we can re-emerge again. This has been so important but I honestly don’t think we’d even considered before.”

The band have a huge range of influences between them, be it metalcore, hard rock, or even musical theatre, you can hear that this mixture of tastes creates a very distinct sound. “In terms of inspirations, we all really like different stuff,” Joe. “My main inspiration is ALTER BRIDGE, we all really love bands like TRIVIUM, JINJER and SLIPKNOT. They all have that accessibility. Even you don’t like them that much, or that heavier sound, some general rock fans will like some SLIPKNOT you know? It’s not that we’re accessible because we want to reach loads of people, it’s just how we put our heads together. It’s not about getting radio play; it’s making sure that all of our preferences are heard.”

While modern metal has a direction that bands tend to lean into, INSURGENT have unintentionally gone against the grain with their tone and sound. “We really didn’t mean to,” Joe tells us. “There’s a lot of extra textures that get added to modern metal. Those are all great, but what I think is really cool for us is we really play it as fully through our instruments as possible, it’s not filtered through anything. It’s quite raw and true to all of us. The way you hear us on the records is how we sound when we play.”

Sentient is out now via self-release.

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