DEVIL’S ISLAND featuring Kilonova

DEVIL'S ISLAND featuring Kilonova

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 Kilonova sat on the beach. The island is far from their home, so how did they end up here and how did they 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. 

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?

Joe: Leviathan by Mastodon. Apart from being a flawless album it contains a lot of great advice for pursuing revenge upon the whale I can only assume is responsible for our shipwreck. If there's one lesson in there, it's that revenge against sea life is always a good plan.

Ellen: Creatures by Motionless in White. I could listen to that album on repeat for the rest of my life. Plus it’s great workout/cleaning music which would be handy to have on while cutting firewood.

Steven: Waking the Fallen by Avenged Sevenfold. This album reminds me of being an angsty teenager when life seemed a little simpler. A good album to listen to after a day of gathering/hunting/trying to avoid getting killed. A moment to be reminded of a simpler time would be appreciated when being hunted by wild animals.

Jonny: Ride the Lightning by Metallica. To me this is the greatest metal album of all time. I can listen to it cover to cover (yes even escape, ironic for this situation). I'll never get tired of it.

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?

Joe: V by Havok, I don't really understand what it means but it's a gorgeous cover. Guess I'll have plenty of time to work out what it's about.

Ellen: This Place Will Become Your Tomb by Sleep Token. It will be remind me that we didn’t drown in our shipwreck so will give me something to keep me going as a reminder things could be worse.

Jonny: Raining Blood by Slayer. To this day I can’t remember everything going on in that cover despite the thousands of plays. I’ll have plenty of time on the island to study it

Steven: Rescue and Restore by August Burns Red. It would only be apt to have this on the wall. It signifies hope and rising through it all. Besides, it has a bird on it, if only one could fly off the island.

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?

Joe: The great thing about a margherita is it's delicious and prevents scurvy. It's the only option.

Jonny: Jack Daniels. This doesn’t really need an explanation

Steven: Spending time at sea, despite the dramatic conclusion, gave me a taste for Spiced Rum. Pretending I was a pirate was fun, until we crashed into that massive rock… or was it the leviathan? I don’t know, I was drunk.

Ellen: Coconut water, very hydrating and sweet. Besides I’m a terrible lightweight, I’d properly just smell Steve’s rum and be drunk anyway.

Your suitcases were lost when your ship sank, but you each managed to salvage one item of band merch. What’s the merch and for what band?

Steven: I reckon a Sid Wilson of Slipknot replica spiky mask. Not only would it keep my head warm but it’d give some protection against hostile animals. Yes, I’ve thought this one through.

Ellen: The Iron Maiden Eddie Ice bucket, got to keep those drinks cool somehow.

Jonny: The Ozzy Osborne harmonica. I can’t play the harmonica, but I've ruined many a recording by playing one. This is a selfish choice but I’ll never get bored of messing with the band.

Joe: I can't say I'm a Kiss fan but I reckon I could fashion a workable canoe from an officially licensed Kiss coffin to hunt that whale from. If it doesn't work I guess I end up conveniently buried at sea anyway.

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?

Ellen: The entire F1 2022 grid line up, because this years one misses out Seb and Daniel, which would make me quite sad. I guess Nicholas can come if he has to….

Steven: Probably Bear Grylls. I’m lazy and not well versed in the art of hunting and surviving in the wild. I’d let him make me a nice comfy straw bed whilst he always hunted for me.

Joe: Red Fang seem like a fun bunch based on their videos, and they seem to know how to make the best of some sticky situations. Plus I think at least one of them is a scientist as well as a musician so we’d have some common ground there too.

Jonny: Tom Nook, I've been reliably informed he runs a cult of animals on the island that can offer me shelter and food in exchange for shells.

DEVIL’S ISLAND featuring Kilonova

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?

Steven: Slipknot, Newcastle Arena 2008, All Hope Is Gone tour. This was one of the best line-ups I think I’ll ever have the pleasure of seeing. Slipknot supported by Machine Head and Children of Bodom. The crowd went wild that night. I remember my friend being picked up and crowdsurfing. He came back 30 minutes later, T-Shirt torn, bloodied and bruised but with the biggest smile on his face. That image epitomised the night.

Ellen: Bring Me The Horizon, Brixton 06-11-13. 15 little emo me loved this show so much, my sister and brother in law took me and I will never forget being at the front and my sister being hit in the face with a flying shoe. Think I’ve still got it somewhere in my house!

Jonny: Metallica, Newcastle 03-03-09. My first ever gig. To this day I occasionally have a listen as they release all their shows online. That show set me on the path that got me shipwrecked, may as well live with it.

Joe: For me it has to be Gojira’s Bloodstock headline set in 2018. It was the same day we played the New Blood Stage there. I’m a huge Gojira fan and that was the first festival we ever played; that headline set wrapped up one of the most awesome days I’ve had as a musician.

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?

Joe: I don’t know if Amon Amarth own any functional longboats but I’ll take my chances. They seem like they could row back to civilization if they had to.

Ellen: I’m going to send it to AC/DC, they can afford to bring their own stage to Download. I hope they can afford to come and save our butts!

Jonny: Arnocorps. Only the self-professed greatest band of all time can help us.

Steven: The Police because they have the coast guard on speed dial.

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?

Ellen: As the vegan of the band I’m sitting this one out, finding a tree with some leaves and hoping they don’t find me.

Jonny: They will almost certainly come for me first. This has been discussed previously, believe it or not.

Steven: Being the drummer and most important member of the band (obviously), I fully expect Jonny, Ellen and Joe to sacrifice themselves so I may survive.

Joe: I'm not letting it get that far, the key is to kill your bandmates as soon as they fall asleep so the food lasts longer, they'll never see it coming.

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?

Joe: "If you're gonna do it, do it live onstage or don't do it at all." Sorry Neil Fallon but your balls to the wall Earth Rocker ethos has gotten you stranded on this island. I can only apologize.

Steven: The Rev RIP. What a guy he was. He taught me not every song has to be complicated and to play for the song. I would’ve loved to have a beer with him.

Ellen: Maria Brink, one of my biggest influences and the first female vocalist I heard to use a screamed technique. If it wasn’t for her I don’t know if I’d be doing the vocal style I do now.

Jonny: James Hetfield, not only is he my biggest musical influence but he's hunted in the past. That should be helpful.

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