Malevolence: Thriving In Madness
The longer MALEVOLENCE‘s hot streak through hardcore continues, the more they become a fascinating case study. Less focused on the idea of blowing up, more concerned about crafting their own tale as an independent outfit: the steel city metallers feel like one of the very few bands in modern music that you could drop into the classic 1980’s New York hardcore scene and not need to airlift them out 10 minutes later.
Despite the musical stylistic differences being quite stark between the band and, let’s say, AGNOSTIC FRONT – the MALEVOLENCE ‘we’ll do it out way cause we can’ ethos has made them become an outfit that’s interchangeable with the times. Vocalist Alex Taylor often talks openly how the make up for the band is exactly how they want it, it’s not that they’re openly avoiding mainstream metal success, but the current scale of operations allows MALEVOLENCE to control, well, everything exactly as they see fit.
“We’re like a disorganised society [laughs] I don’t know if there’s many bands that do, or could work our way. We all have our own input in different ways, and that runs across the board in MALEVOLENCE. So when it comes to the creative side/writing music, that will predominantly be Josh [Baines, guitarist] slaving away writing riffs for hours and hours, in his bedroom. Then Charlie [Thorpe, drummer] and me will come in with some ideas, our bassist Wilkie [Robinson] will add in some lyrics, but also be putting shifts in on designing merch, and Konan [Hall, guitarist] will write as well as looking after the technical stuff for the band from guitar rigs to converting our van into something we can tour in with bunk beds etc.”
Sometimes it takes Alex breaking down how the cogs turn in the camp to make you realise just how ‘boots on the ground’ MALEVOLENCE actually are. Even new EP The Other Side is being released through the bands own MLVLTD label, a choice he claims was the obvious one to make. “We talked for quite a while about it [releasing on their own label] but in the end it was just the obvious road to go down, especially because it’s just an EP. We funded everything from music videos to studio time ourselves, literally EVERYTHING about this EP has been under our control, and I’m really proud of what we’ve been able to accomplish with just doing it off our own backs.”
It’s these kind of masterstrokes that have allowed the band to stand the test of time as a flagship for solitude. As the MALEVOLENCE community grows stronger, and more committed to the cause, they can take great pride in knowing that it’s in fact the fans who have funded The Other Side – Alex and co have merely been the uber talented, aggressive vessel to deliver the music from point A to B. And there’s few bands who are as self-aware about the importance of their fan base as MALEVOLENCE are.
Timing can be everything in music, and in today’s content riddled culture, sometimes the idea of trying to strike while the iron is hot overrides any form of planning or structure. Not for MALEVOLENCE though – their sparse offering of two full length LPs in seven years isn’t because they cower from the studio, it’s because they want you to yearn for something new. In a world where the general consensus seems to suggest bands should be hitting us with new material every two years – MALEVOLENCE take pride in diverting from expectations.
Alex talks proudly about the birth of The Other Side, and how it’s handy for them at the moment to not have label executives calling them and asking them when they can expect a new campaign to start. “It was about half way through [writing The Other Side] that we realised: we don’t necessarily HAVE to do an album” he claims “This is one of the things that I really like about us – when you’re doing it by yourselves independently you haven’t got a label on your back saying: ‘I need another two albums in four years’. And I just feel like we put so much effort into these three songs, and they’re each so different, and I think that’s down to the confidence we have in ourselves, and not feeling pressured to churn out an album. But by no means does that mean that a new record has been put on the back burner, we’re still writing, still grafting away.”
Arguably the most surprising facet of the MALEVOLENCE mantra though is that a majority of the band still have day jobs. Despite the tour success, the queues for the merch stand usually snaking around the venue, and the anticipation that comes with new music – this is just a part of their lives as opposed to being their sole purpose. So, what’s stopping them from taking the leap? As it turns out: with the current state of the world, MALEVOLENCE has become the bands solitary income by default, but Alex believes that right now, having the band as an extra part of his life is what works best for him.
“Personally I love the work ethic of having a job, I work in security and I really love it, I get to take my experience of being in the band into my career, which is a lot of fun. I like having the balance of work and band, personally I don’t think i could ever be one of these guys that you see on the road 11 months out of the year. I like being able to come home, have a bit of a break and then go back out, not having to over-saturate band life is better for me, and my mental health [laughs].”
The way he describes his approach to touring is like the build up to a UFC fight – it’s the absence of violence that makes the eventual fight so entertaining. And that’s why MALEVOLENCE still adore being on stage so much… it still feels like a treat to them. “It makes you appreciate the opportunities you’re getting a lot more as well, I don’t think I could ever be one of these guys you see on the bigger tour packages, who are like 40 years old, sat on the tour bus and they’re miserable. You’re always looking forward to a tour a hell of a lot more when you haven’t been out for two/three months.”
If you’re a fan of MALEVOLENCE, you’re the reason they’re still standing, and you’re part of the reason why their story doesn’t have a ghost writer in sight. And even though it does feel like a matter of time until the bands moniker grows so large that a serious decision will be forced upon them: for the time being these steel city savages are making hardcore their own, they’re unbeaten, they’re MALEVOLENCE.
The Other Side is out now via MLVLTD Music.
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