Dead Flesh talk about Chewing Glass, The Thing and Sweeney Todd!

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For someone who’s never heard Dead Flesh before, which song would you recommend they start with — and why?

Chris - Our new song, Chewing Glass. It's an all-encompassing Dead Flesh song with a bit of everything we do. Blastbeats, chunky breakdowns, violent riffs, eerie leads and super aggressive vocals

How did Dead Flesh first form, and what was the spark or vision that brought you together as a band?

Nelly - We formed during the lockdown period during Covid, when all our collective bands weren’t really active, but we were all looking to do something different. We’ve all known each other for years in our local scene, and this managed to provide us with the perfect time to go ‘hang on, we haven’t worked with each other yet!’ 

Over the years, how has your sound or songwriting approach evolved?

Nelly - Dead Flesh has a totally different approach to our previous bands. It’s basically back to the old school approach of getting in the room and making noise and seeing what sticks. A lot of our previous bands had ‘songs’ that someone would write, whereas this is more like a collection of ideas that are moulded and built on organically in the moment. It can take more time than just letting someone write a song the everyone learns, but we’re a lot happier with what we’re putting together 

Are there any particular themes, ideas, or messages you aim to explore through your music and lyrics?

Richard - A lot of the themes are pretty personal to me. Much of what I write comes from dealing with pressure, mental health struggles, and other personal experiences that I find I'm able to express through music. It’s a real outlet for me, and that comes through in the lyrics.

At the same time, not everything is strictly personal—I’ve also written songs that are more politically charged, including meat grinder which was a pro vegan track and bodies which was a note politically charged one. So while the music often reflects my own inner world, it also branches out into broader themes that I feel strongly about.

Walk us through your usual songwriting process — do songs tend to start with riffs, lyrics, atmosphere, or something else?

Nelly - They normally start with Chris warming up, and someone in the room deciding that warm up was a great riff idea, and we should throw practice out the window for the day and start writing, while Chris is trying to explain he doesn’t remember what he did, he was just warming up! From there it just builds

Chris - Our songs usually start with an idea for a riff or 2 that we will then build on in a fun jam session and just see where the song takes us. We will be constantly changing and tweaking things, bringing new ideas into the song right up to the point we've recorded it 

How do you handle collaboration, whether within the band or with external producers? Any memorable moments or challenges?

Nelly - We absolutely love working with Justin Paul Hill (SiKth) who really helps us all through the recording process. He’ll throw his ideas for songs when he has any, but he’ll also provide us with time to just be more creative with what we turned up with. It’s been incredibly beneficial having someone outside our circle who can come in to inject another layer of passion, but also get the vision of what we’re trying to do.

What role do production, mixing, and mastering play in achieving your ideal sound? Do you have any go-to engineers or studios? 

Nelly - Boring answer here, but it’s Justin again for all of the above! He just gets it 

Looking at your discography, which track do you feel most connected to, and why?

Chris - For me, its Sick. It was one of, if not the, very first song we wrote together and probably my favourite one to play live because of the range of styles of riffs

What’s your favorite kind of venue or setting to perform in, and what makes it special for you?

Nelly - We all have a mixture of the type of venues that we all like, from smaller shows to the big shows, but the main thing we love is anyone who’s up for having a good time with us. Whether it’s nodding along to the songs, getting in a pit or engaging with us after the show, we really appreciate anyone who takes the time to check us out.

Do you have any particularly memorable gigs — good or bad — that shaped how you approach live shows today?

Chris - There's no specific gigs that stand out in that regard, but we're constantly learning from every show we play, what does and doesn't work, what we can improve on etc. Be it my wireless dying on stage and not having any spare cables with me at an early show, or setlists consisting of 8 blastbeat heavy songs with no breaks between on the hottest day of the year that causes Nelly to almost pass out 

Do you have any funny tour or gig stories you can share with us?

Troy - Our version of funny is that we like to spend the time during our tour gradually wearing down the sanity of each other with repeating jokes. For example, after our bassist Adam McGuiness decided to get a photo next to a Guinesss sign during our Ireland tour. We then demanded to get another photo every-time we walked past a frequent Guinness sign/pub in Ireland. We would stop at each one which resulted in McGuiness drinking so much Guinness, our drummer Nelly had to carry him back into the van, which you can see the video on our tour diaries on YouTube.

What’s next for Dead Flesh — any upcoming projects, musical directions, or goals you’re excited about?

Nelly - I've decided to take this question a bit too far and will be in a musical in an October, as he’s been cast as The Beadle in Sweeney Todd at The Sandpit Theatre in St Albans. We wouldn’t say that this’ll change our approach to music in future, but who knows!

If Dead Flesh were a horror movie monster, which one would you be (Feel free to make one up) — and who would get eaten first?

Chris - The Thing because it's disgusting and relentless, deadly and unavoidable and it's one of my favourite horror films.

Between injuries, obliviousness and short attention spans, I think we'd all be pretty equally screwed 

What’s the weirdest thing that’s ever happened at a Dead Flesh gig?

Nelly - The only gig one I can think of is Troy at the final, just sitting on someone's shoulders in the crowd waiting for the song to start, forgetting that Rich was gonna talk.

Chris - Not weird, but we played a show in Dublin, went out for dinner beforehand then had a few drinks thinking we had a few hours before our stage time. Instead, the combination of super spicy Indian food and multiple jagerbombs was instantly met with "your set starts in 10 minutes". We found this out on the way to the toilet, all looking at each other like, "am i about to shit myself on stage?" 

If you could cover any song that’s completely outside your genre (pop, disco, children’s TV theme, etc.), what would you pick?

Chris - So much to pick from! Every other day I think of another song I think it would be cool to cover, but Girls Aloud - Sound Of The Underground is one I've been meaning to turn into something heavy for years 

Who in the band has the worst guilty-pleasure music taste — and do they defend it or deny it?

Nelly - Based on our cover choice, I think it’s safe to say we all listen to a wide range of music choices, and they’re not even remotely guilty pleasures! 80s synth pop is in there, 90s boy bands and even the latest pop music can turn up on any of our playlists

Chris - its Nelly. On the way to a gig once he proudly told me he'd spent the weekend listening to sea shanties