INTERVIEW: Mark Byrne – The Five Hundred

Since their formation in late 2014, THE FIVE HUNDRED have been gaining some serious momentum. Thanks to their seamless blend of crushing eight-string breakdowns, whirlwind riffing and soaring vocal melodies, this band are forging a wicked sound that is free from the constraints of genre. If 2015’s Mirrors EP gave a glimpse into the promise of this young outfit, then their forthcoming debut full-length, Bleed Red, will surely boot down the door and set the band well on the way to dominating UK metal. We spoke to guitarist Mark Byrne to lift the lid on everything to do with Bleed Red, from its genre-blending sonics to its poignant and hard-hitting lyrical content, as well as discussing how THE FIVE HUNDRED have arrived on the UK metal climate at the perfect time and what future steps need to be made in the campaign for mental health awareness in the music industry.

So your debut album Bleed Red is coming out very soon, for those who are unfamiliar with THE FIVE HUNDRED, what can people expect from this record?

Mark: Well this debut has been about a year and a half in the making. We recorded it with Justin Hill who we know from his work with SIKTH and HEART OF A COWARD, he’s a guy we respect a lot so we’re over the moon that he decided to work with us. Some people have described it as MESHUGGAH meets metalcore. It’s heavy, we use eight string guitars, it has got that groove but it’s also catchy and has those hooks you’d expect from a metalcore band. I always get worried when I describe our music. When you’ve created something for so long and it is your baby, it’s hard to get yourself out of the box and describe what it sounds like so it’s always a pleasant surprise when you get journalists describing our band!

THE FIVE HUNDRED’s musical style is quite difficult to pigeon-hole into one particular style or genre. So, do you feel by doing that it’s allowing you to appeal to a broader range of people?

Mark: Well I’m glad you said that! When we get asked to describe our music, one of our first reactions is that it’s hard to put into one genre. Most journalists don’t like that, they say “well every band doesn’t want to be pigeon-holed into a genre.” No one likes to be called metalcore because metalcore has almost become a dirty word, I guess it’s the same for every genre. Nu-metal in its day became a dirty word because you had a flood of nu-metal bands and the same goes today for djent, the djent movement. You get two or three bands who are unique in their style of approach and then the rest of them get branded with this generic tag that no one likes. I’m glad that people say that we don’t fit to a particular genre and that we can appeal to a variety of fans, that’s been the thing we’ve always gone for. The bands that I love to listen to are bands that you wouldn’t be able to place into one particular genre, lately I’ve been listening to a lot of bands like VOLA, LEPROUS, AGENT FRESCO, bands like that you can’t pin down to one style as it wouldn’t give them justice. I hope that is what people get with us as well.

I guess by having that mentality it helps you stand out from the crowd and not be seen as just another generic band?

Mark: Yeah, that’s what we hope for. First and foremost we write music that we love, I guess part of the writing process has got to do with that. It’s never just one of us that writes the whole thing, it’s done by the band. So Andy [Crawford, bass] will write a big chunk and then throw it to me to put my spin on it and then Paul [Doughty, guitars] does the same. Johnathan‘s [Woods-Eley, vocals] vocals are very much rooted in the 90s grunge era so you lay that on top of something that sounds I guess like eight string metalcore, you get that contrast of flavours and it sounds quite unique.

With all of you in THE FIVE HUNDRED taking a hands-on role in the writing process for Bleed Red, how difficult was the writing process for this record?

Mark: Not at all. The way we wrote this album was very different to what we’ve done in the past and I guess a lot of bands do that. A lot of bands, ourselves included, would write a load of songs over a long period of time and then you think you’re ready to go into the studio and away you go. We did things quite differently this time. We booked ourselves into some studio time, like ten/twelve months in advance, and we hadn’t written a single song. It forced ourselves to get into that creative space. We did it that way as that’s what bands do inbetween album cycles, they release an album on average every two years as the label wants them to release material so it kind of forces you to. We did it that way with that intention to lock ourselves away for a few months and not do anything but write music and it actually really helped us. Before long we were writing a track every couple of weeks which is not something we’ve ever done before. That’s how we’re doing it this time around as we’re already writing material for the next album even though the first one isn’t out yet.

So do you think this will be a practise you will take for every record?

Mark: I think it will be the approach we will take. The sad reality is that these days is that people’s attentions are quite fleeting. Everyone is now used to social media, streaming, everyone wants that hear and now, if they want something they want it straight away. Being a relatively new band, we have to keep releasing material to stay relevant. If you are talking about a band like MESHUGGAH who are huge and established, they can get away with releasing an album every five years because everyone will be waiting for it. If we wait around five years, sadly, people will forget about us. So we have to release something very quickly after Bleed Red. We are aiming to release the next one in like 18 months.

The landscape for new and emerging bands is probably the most difficult it has ever been, so what sort of hardships and adversities have you faced maintaining a following in this current climate?

Mark: I guess the main thing to do is just keep playing live. That’s the most important thing I’d recommend to any band just to stay relevant. The more you get in people’s faces and getting your music out there, that will keep you relevant. These days it’s so easy to record something in your bedroom to a reasonable enough standard, even mix it yourself, and getting it out there through all the digital streaming platforms. It’s very easy for people to do that, you wouldn’t be able to do that 30 years ago. It’s really good for creativity but the flipside of that is that there is loads of noise out there. There is just so much music out there and it’s so hard to keep up with all of it, which is a great problem to have as a listener. It’s a lot easier to get your music out there but a lot harder to make your stuff stand out. So I’d say just keep releasing stuff that is memorable and unique to stay relevant.

You’ve mentioned about the live front which is pretty much the lifeblood for any band. In the build up for the release of Bleed Red, THE FIVE HUNDRED performed at this year’s UK Tech-Fest, how was that performance and do you feel it has built momentum for this upcoming release?

Mark: Yeah and that’s Tech-Fest for you! Tech-Fest is always a highlight on the calendar for us, as both music fans and as musicians, it’s always one of the festivals we look forward to. The others, the classic one being Download, Tech-Fest, ArcTanGent, festivals like that. That show at Tech-Fest, I regard that as one of the best shows we’ve played all year. We had various people filming us on the day and releasing videos of our performance, we look back at them and we’re like “I don’t think there is more we could do to be better than we were on that day.”

The lyrical topics that are explored on this record are deeply personal for you and the rest of THE FIVE HUNDRED. Was it always the intent to address these topics?

Mark: No, it wasn’t the intent at all. I personally write a lot of the lyrics, we’re quite a weird band in that musically our bass player writes a lot of the guitar riffs, I’m the guitarist and yet I write most of the lyrics so I guess we are a bit of an odd band in that way. I never really planned to sit down and write lyrics, I always have a little pocket notebook on me and I find myself walking around and start feeling a certain way so I just sit down and start scribbling away once it comes to you. The lyrics were all written in the space of two-three months and I guess there is a common theme there. I like that about our song-writing on this album because it was all condensed into a small amount of time, the songs all have a particular feel to them and the lyrics all have a particular theme to them. It all came naturally and that is the right way to go, the moment you sit yourself down and force yourself to be creative, it just doesn’t happen does it?

So by addressing these personal and hard-hitting topics, did you experience a cathartic release by penning this onto an album?

Mark: Absolutely! I think that is pretty much my only release, or probably my only healthy release, getting stuff off your chest through creating music is definitely a cathartic experience. That’s the thing that got me into metal I guess, and gets a lot of people into metal, you do have that cathartic element to it. Heavy metal fans, you look around us and amongst us, we are the freaks, weirdos and misfits and that is what heavy metal does. It gives you that release that society might not give you naturally.

There’s been quite an increase in the awareness on mental health issues within the music industry following the tragic passings of Chester Bennington and Chris Cornell last year. In your opinion, do you feel that there is still a lot more to be done?

Mark: There is a lot of work to be done. It seems like it’s almost a weekly occurrence where somebody in the community has sadly taken his or her own life. It’s hugely positive that we are talking about it now, the very fact that people can speak out about it on social media, rightly or wrongly, and use that as a release I think that is positive. It’s hugely positive that we’re all talking about it. 20 years ago you’d have people taking the stiff upper lip approach and just grin and bear it, these days it’s okay not to be okay, a lot of people are talking about mental health and it’s becoming hugely accepted. That said, we still have a long way to go. One of the ones that hit me the hardest, aside from the obvious ones like Chris Cornell and Chester Bennington which obviously hit everyone hard as they were hugely iconic people, but when the guitarist from SHIELDS, George Christie, sadly took his own life. When you go back and listen to their music and listen to their lyrics and it’s someone screaming at you, this guy was screaming at you. But, the good thing is that we’re talking about it now and the stigma is slowly being worn away, it’s still there, but it’s slowly being worn away.

Do you feel by talking about these topics on this record that it can connect to people who are struggling?

Mark: Definitely. I write lyrics for myself and my band, it’s my release and our release, but, if it reaches out to people and they connect with it, that’s huge for me. That’s quite humbling. I never set out to almost become a frontman for this sort of movement, and I guess no one does, you write for your own demons, you write for your own way of coping with this shit. But if anyone listens to it and connects with it on their journey, that’s amazing.

With Bleed Red, THE FIVE HUNDRED are arriving on a scene where UK metal is probably at the strongest it has ever been, where we’re experiencing the biggest wave of creative exploration. So, do you feel you’re arriving at the perfect time?

Mark: I think so. Despite what some people may say, I think heavy metal is in its healthiest state it ever has been. In terms of creativity, certainly, in terms of how much stuff is being put out and the quality of stuff that is being put out. We can talk all day about the state of the music industry and how hard it is for bands to survive and that is true. The fact that people don’t buy music as much anymore and the fact that musicians are financially crippled in a way they never have been in the past as there is just no revenue coming from it. It is sad yeah but in terms of the amount of music that is coming out and how many amazing bands are coming out of the UK, I don’t think we’ve ever been in a healthy position like we are in today.

And from that, do you feel the health of the UK scene almost motivates you to write the best riffs you can and make the best record you can?

Mark: Definitely, it’s like a healthy competition. You hear what your peers are releasing, like the latest VALIS ABLAZE album. I listen to that and think “shit, this is amazing!” In a healthy kind of way I listen to that and I want to write something that I feel is even better than this, it inspires you to do better. There is so much good stuff out there and you want to be in amongst it all.

Well Mark, thank you very much for taking the time to talk to me today. I wish you all the best for the album release and the future of THE FIVE HUNDRED.

Mark: Thanks a lot man!

Bleed Red is set for release on August 17th via Long Branch Records.

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