DEVIL'S ISLAND featuring I Fight Bears
Welcome to this weeks edition of Devil's Island! Every week we maroon a band or artist on the island and see what they get up to, how they cope with being all alone on a small island in the middle of the ocean. It's not your average desert island and we'll see just how each person copes with the extreme conditions.
This week when we arrived at Devil's Island we find I Fight Bears sat on the beach. The island is far from his home, so how did he end up here and how did he cope with life on Devil's Island?
Find out now...
Welcome to The Razors'e Edge and our somewhat lovely, warm desert island. Don't worry about it's name I'm sure it's not as bad as that would suggest.
So you're marooned here on this island, but before you ended up shipwrecked you chose one album that you couldn't live without. Which album did you each chose and why?
Drew Hamley (Bass/Vocals): So hard to choose but I’ll say Nine Inch Nails - The Fragile. It’s the most complex double album I’ve ever heard which conjures a huge range of emotions in me.
Scott Preece (Drums): Hmmmm…. Probably Of Mice And Men self titled. That album is solely responsible for getting me into metal in the first Place and I still listen to it often.
Chris Treharne (Triangle): Probably Scenes From a Memory. There's enough in there to digest that a few years on an island will seem like nothing.
Marc James (Banjo): It will have to be Parkway Drive - ‘Horizons’ the deluxe edition. Hearing that album just blew my fucking socks off in my younger years and I always find myself coming back to it.
Dan Blackmore (Lead Vocals): Super tough as there are 3 floating about my head currently but I would say Chimaira - The impossibility of reason. That album absolutely floored me when it came out, down again was a radio single but the rest of the album is flawless, and massively underrated, it has one of the best instrumental tracks I’ve ever heard.
Just behind that palm tree is a shack for each of you to stay in, with enough space for you to put up a poster on the wall of one album cover. What album cover do you each chose?
DH: Probably the Tool - Lateralus artwork. That imagery is beautiful
SP: Coheed and Cambria - Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV, Volume Two: No World for Tomorrow, I have to say that as I have two coheed artwork tattoos.
CT: Ziltoid, to confuse the search and rescue crew long after we're dead.
MJ: Our recent press shots, so I can use it as a dart board with Drews bald head as the bulls eye
DB: Really hard to choose again but I remember seeing the In Flames - Come clarity cover and thinking “this is really cool” it gives a slight insight into the theme of the album and Derek Hess is a superb artist and has done some amazing artwork for bands.
There's also a bar on this here island. But alas each of you only get to choose one drink for the entirety of your stay. What's your tipple of choice?
DH: If it’s alcoholic I’d probably say a good Mojito.
SP: Oh that's an easy one, Bumbu spiced rum, neat…. If I'm going out, I'm going out happy.
CT: I watch a lot of Bear Grylls, so I'll be drinking piss.
MJ: Something strong like whiskey that gets me drunk enough to forget where I am and who I’m with.
DB: Probably Barti rum which is a welsh rum but if I had to choose it would probably be Marc’s sweat. The amount he works out I would probably be alright for a few weeks.
Your suitcases were lost when your ship sank, but you managed to salvage one item of band merch. What’s the merch and for what band?
DH: A Florence Black Beanie for me. Got to keep the sun off my bald head!
SP: My Coheed And Cambria Baseball cap!
CT: My trusty Opeth first aid kit and flares.
MJ: I mean, Chris has got a first aid kit and flares.. I’ll stick with him. I’m not drinking piss though.
DB: Would be my Lorna Shore hoodie, as it’s warm and I am not cuddling up to Scott any time soon.
You’re sat on the island thinking “I’m stuck here on this island with my bandmates for eternity”… who would you rather have been shipwrecked with?
DH: Bear Grylls. That dude knows how to survive!
SP: I think I would legit rather be stuck on an island with Ted Bundy than any of my band mates.
CT: Scott’s mum
MJ: Also Scott’s mum
DB: Most probably (and it was a difficult choice, but yeah) it would be Scotts Mum.
There's a walkman in your pocket, on the tape inside is the recording of the one live show that stands out for you. It could be any show, from any band, anywhere in the world. What show is on that walkman?
DH: Pearl Jam 1996 at Wembley Arena. It was my first big live show and still stands as my most favourite for many reasons.
SP: For me that would have to be Parkway drive in Cardiff, that was the first time I had heard them and they blew my mind live
CT: The Ocean in London, sounded better than the recorded CD.
MJ: The soon to be released ‘Scott’s mum and I, one night in heaven’
DB: 100% Metallica’s live show in Birmingham 2017, one of the best live shows I have ever seen.
You're getting desperate, you decide the only course of action is to put a message in a bottle and hope someone finds it. Your message could be to any member of any band, but should be the most suitable for a rescue attempt. Who is it?
DH: Tom DeLonge. That guy is nuts and would probably mount a rescue.
SP: I would have to choose Sting from the band The Police…. Simply because I would be sending a message in a bottle to the guy who wrote 'message in a bottle'.... Bottleception.
CT: Stevie Wonder
MJ: Fontella Bass, she’s been rescued before so she knows what to do.
DB: Bruce Dickinson, he has a plane, and knows people.
You've been stuck here for a while and food supplies are running low. There's only one thing for it... which fellow band member gets sacrificed to help the others survive?
DH: Dan Blackmore. Lots of meat on those bones….
SP: Dan Blackmore…. Even if we weren't hungry, we probably would have killed him by that point anyway.
CT: Dan. This isn’t really a question. He’d be a kebab before the end of the first day
MJ: it wouldn’t be Scott cos the fucker is skinnier than starving Marvin. So yea, Dan… fat fuck.
DB: Well I wouldn’t have a choice. I’d be a sheesh kebab as soon as someone’s tummy rumbled.
Finally, when the ship sank you each managed to save one person from the wreckage. That person is the one musician that has influenced your career the most, shaped your way of thinking and your outlook on life. Who did you save?
DH: Trent Reznor for sure. That man has shaped so much of my musical journey.
SP: Claudio Sanchez. That guy has a brilliant mind and an unreal talent.
CT: Steven Wilson.
MJ: Van fucking Halen
DB: Jesse Leach, that guys views and incredible talent have impacted me beyond any words.
Thanks for chatting with us today, we hope you manage to get home soon!
DH: Thanks for having us!
SP: Thank you!
CT: My socks are wet
MJ: don’t forget to download/stream/buy the upcoming smash hit album ‘Scott’s mum and I, one night in heaven’
DB: Thanks guys!
