Band Line Up 2020
Raised By Owls is an extreme metal band spawned from the depths of Derbyshire. Fusing together musical elements from various strains of metal and imbuing the lyrics with a humour moulded by misspent youths lived in rural England, Raised By Owls promises to provide you with a mild sonic disturbance, followed by an immediate apology.
Formed in 2015 by vocalist Sam Fowler, guitarist Alex LeGrice, and drummer Lee Deane, Raised By Owls was originally envisioned as a means of alleviating the boredom inherent to small-town life. After countless weekends spent in Alex’s bedroom crafting music for their own enjoyment, the band decided to focus their efforts on writing and recording a full album. Released free of charge in October 2016, ‘The Great British Grind Off’ showcases the trio’s shared love of heavy music and sardonic humour, picking on the bizarre quirks and cult figures unique to British culture. With a view to performing live, the band was brought to full strength with the addition of guitarist Mark Bainbridge and bassist Tobias Cope. Technically proficient and possessed of the same eccentric humour as the founders, Mark and Toby were viewed as the perfect fit for Raised By Owls.
With influences including Behemoth, Carcass, Napalm Death, and The Black Dahlia Murder, it is obvious as to what to expect from Raised By Owls. Their music is a no holds barred assault intended to pay homage to their influences as much as it is to purvey their own brand of warped comedy: the band strives to create technically challenging music that conveys their irreverent perspective of the world.
The bands newest offering, their second album entitled ‘Dreadful’ is a fifty-two-minute monolithic slab of extreme metal. Following in the footprints of the debut release back in 2016, the band have continued down a path of delivering a warped brand of comedic metal.
The album was written in early 2018 and recorded in the late Autumn/Early winter of that year. Keeping to the bands DIY ethos, the album was recorded, mixed and mastered by guitarist Alex.
The music on Dreadful draws influence from the various realms of heavy metal – seamlessly blending Death Metal, Black Metal, Thrash and Grindcore to forge a truly monstrous force. The songs are more technical, focused, and fully fleshed out. Each member of the band is firing on all cylinders. Lyrically, the album pays homage to traditional death metal subjects. The songs hold a loose concept of Horror, telling short stories of the macabre all whilst managing to inject our twisted brand of British humour into each track. Song titles such as ‘Cult of David Dickinson’, ‘Netflix and Kill’, ‘Yelling Slayer at Your Nan’s Funeral’ and ‘Rob Halford Robs Halfords’ gives an idea of what kind of ridiculous concepts feature on the album.
Before they were in a position to perform live music, Raised By Owls worked to gather a small online following with whom they would share their music. Both self-produced and self-released albums and a charity Christmas single were made available online and saw the band utilise the creative talents of popular artist “Jim’ll Paint It” to create the album covers that perfectly complement the eclectic nature of the lyrical content. The band understood the need to create a strong online presence as a means of expanding and engaging their fanbase and they continue to regularly update their followers. Social media has provided an ideal platform upon which to share the band’s music videos, which take the form of short clips that perfectly communicate the ethos of Raised By Owls; that is, being amusing need not come at the cost of musical quality. The music video for the song ‘Ross Kemp On Gang Bangs’ has garnered more that 30 million collective views, and has been shared by the likes of Metal Hammer, 9gag, ViralThread, LadBible and many more. Over the course of the past three years these videos continue to be a large factor in the band’s expansion.
Raised By Owls main objective has always been to have the audience laughing and head banging in equal measure. The release of ‘Dreadful’ only strengthens this goal. Raised By Owls have sharpened their knives, and they’re going for the jugular... Sorry about that.
We are extremely stoked to be asked to play Bloodstock again in 2020. To play Bloodstock after winning our region of M2TM back in 2017 was a dream come true for the band and a career highlight. To be asked back this year and share the stage with bands that have inspired us is truly an honour.
Each member of the band has been attending BOA over the past 10 years and it is without a doubt one of our favourite weekends of the year. The Thursday night is always a massive party and we’re stoked to be a part of it.
We cannot wait to bring our absurd brand of extreme metal to the fields of Catton Hall once again. We'll see you in August, Bloodstock. Get ready to give your meat a good ol' rub!
