Before their set at Reading & Leeds, NME sat down with Bryan Garris of hardcore band Knocked Loose to discuss their viral set at Coachella 2023, increasingly heavy new music and the UK metal band they can’t get enough of.
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MusicTranscript
00:00 (crowd cheering)
00:02 - Hey, I'm Liberty.
00:06 I'm here with NME at Leeds and Reading 2023.
00:09 I'm here with Brian from Not Loose.
00:12 How are you doing?
00:13 - Good, good, yeah.
00:13 - Welcome to Reading.
00:14 How are you feeling?
00:15 - I'm feeling good, yeah.
00:16 I'm excited.
00:17 I'm very happy to be here.
00:18 - I feel like you've had so many shows already
00:21 throughout 2023.
00:22 How are you doing?
00:23 How are you holding up?
00:24 - I don't know.
00:27 I feel like we thrive in this,
00:29 like just staying busy, you know?
00:31 So it feels good to be here.
00:33 We're towards the end of,
00:34 we've been here for probably almost a month now.
00:38 We have today and tomorrow,
00:39 and then we go home for a couple of days,
00:41 but it feels good.
00:43 Excited.
00:44 - Okay, you have to be honest with me.
00:46 What's it like, the crowd in the UK,
00:48 compared to the crowds across the pond?
00:51 How do we bring it differently?
00:52 - Oh, that's an interesting question.
00:56 I think something that I'm starting to notice
00:59 a huge difference is
01:01 like the sing-alongs here feel louder.
01:07 So maybe America's gotta step it up.
01:11 - So of course we can't talk about the reception
01:13 that you get here without of course acknowledging
01:16 the way that the crowd received you at Coachella.
01:18 What was that like for you,
01:19 to have that huge viral moment,
01:21 especially from a crowd that maybe
01:23 isn't your traditional fan base?
01:25 - Yeah, it was awesome.
01:27 It was very exciting.
01:28 We didn't know what to expect going into that.
01:32 We were very excited for it,
01:33 but definitely had the feeling that
01:35 it could have not gone well,
01:39 but we were just excited to be there
01:40 and excited to say that we did it.
01:42 But then on top of that, it went so well.
01:45 And it's kind of been an exciting thing for us.
01:49 We're still riding off that excitement
01:51 for the rest of the year.
01:52 So we're very, very fortunate
01:54 that we were able to be a part of that.
01:57 - What was it like for you being off at Coachella
01:59 and then Bon Irio and Lollapalooza,
02:01 all these huge mainstream gigs,
02:03 especially being the type of band that you are?
02:05 What's it like to now finally
02:07 be sort of talking to that audience?
02:09 'Cause I feel like for a long time,
02:10 metal was a little bit pushed to one side in those regards.
02:13 What's it like for you to have an opportunity
02:16 to play to those crowds?
02:17 - It's awesome.
02:18 It's like, I feel like for us,
02:21 the goal has always been to kind of like
02:23 step outside of our comfort zone
02:25 and put ourselves in an atmosphere
02:27 where we might not fit in the most.
02:30 I feel like you have a lot to gain from that
02:32 and a lot to benefit from that.
02:33 And just like bringing people over to your side
02:37 and being able to play those festivals
02:41 has been a learning experience
02:42 because there's a whole new set of nerves that come with it.
02:46 Because we've been lucky enough to play a lot of festivals.
02:50 And when we do the Metal Fest,
02:53 it's not that you know what to expect,
02:55 but you know what isn't gonna happen.
02:59 You know what I mean?
03:00 So playing festivals like that
03:02 where you truly have no idea it could go either way,
03:05 it comes with a whole new set of nerves.
03:07 - And with you now appealing
03:10 to this more like mainstream audience,
03:12 that by no means means that your music
03:15 is becoming more mainstream or more tamed down.
03:18 If anything, it seems like we're amping it up.
03:20 So with these last two singles that you put out,
03:22 they seem to be some of your most intense work to date.
03:26 Why is it important to you to keep that going now,
03:28 even 10 years down the line?
03:30 - It is very important for us to remain
03:33 an extreme band and a heavy band.
03:35 And I feel like that's the only thing
03:37 that us as individuals have always agreed on.
03:40 It's just that we can't sacrifice the aggression
03:44 and just heaviness because that's what we all love.
03:48 And when it comes to getting these
03:51 mainstream opportunities, it was never a conversation
03:55 of oh, we have to combat that with heaviness
03:59 or we have to combat that with darkness or whatever.
04:04 It's just we kept doing what is natural to us.
04:07 And it's interesting to see our heaviest stuff
04:11 be put in a mainstream light.
04:13 - So what's it been like for you these past few years
04:17 being on tour with such massive names?
04:19 Of course, a lot of people discover you
04:21 through your tour with Gojira, for instance.
04:23 And of course, appearing on stage
04:25 with Jared Leto in 30 Seconds to Mars.
04:28 What's it like for you to interact with these audiences
04:30 and learn from them or take anything from them, if you do?
04:34 - It's been very exciting.
04:36 We've gotten the opportunity to do a lot
04:38 of different touring since touring has kinda came back.
04:42 We got to do Gojira and Bring Me the Horizon
04:45 and we even did Suicide Boys,
04:47 where we were the only band on the entire bill.
04:49 So it's been cool to learn how to communicate
04:54 to those different crowds
04:56 and to navigate those different rooms
04:59 and try to give them their best version of an occlusive.
05:03 They go home talking about us
05:05 and go home thinking about us.
05:06 And I think that in a lot of ways,
05:08 it's really worked and really helped us.
05:10 - It feels like since you formed in 2013,
05:14 it seems like there's been a bit of a resurgence
05:17 in metalcore and a lot more hardcore music.
05:20 What new artists have you noticed at the minute
05:22 who have helped revive the scene
05:23 and helped revive the genre?
05:25 Maybe up and coming artists.
05:27 - I was just talking to a friend about this,
05:31 so they're fresh in my memory,
05:32 but I have to go with Loathe from the UK.
05:36 Big fan of that band.
05:37 Everybody in my band loves that band
05:39 and we've been hoping to cross paths with them
05:43 for a long time.
05:44 So that's in heavy rotation for me lately.
05:47 - And then in terms of just the band generally,
05:50 what kind of influence did you draw upon in recent years?
05:54 Is there any new bands, any new albums particularly
05:57 that you've been digging recently?
05:58 - I think it's, we try to draw inspiration
06:03 from any and everything.
06:04 We try not to keep it under the umbrella of heavy music.
06:08 I feel like within the last couple years,
06:11 I specifically have gotten a lot of influence
06:13 from country music and where I'm from geographically
06:18 and things that I've never really noticed play a part
06:22 in who I am until recently.
06:26 And I think that that's been really interesting to explore.
06:29 - Yeah, how would you say the area that you're from,
06:32 you're from Kentucky, right?
06:33 - Yeah.
06:34 - How would you say that plays a role?
06:35 So did you grow up around that kind of music or?
06:38 - I did, I grew up around a lot of country music,
06:40 but I also was lucky enough to grow up
06:42 around any and all kinds of music.
06:44 I was just surrounded by it with my family.
06:47 I come from a very musical family.
06:49 So I always had that influence.
06:52 I always had that like freedom to explore
06:55 my own kinds of music.
06:57 And I think that looking up to people
07:02 doing it professionally made me want
07:05 to just get out of Kentucky so bad.
07:07 So in a lot of ways, I think that it gave,
07:11 being from Kentucky gave me and the rest of my band
07:14 a very specific drive and attitude to get out there
07:19 and do it and do it as much as we can,
07:20 which is kind of why we're such a busy band.
07:24 - Absolutely, so playing to Reading and Leeds now,
07:27 I feel like it's such a diverse festival.
07:29 There's so many different genres,
07:30 I'm sure that you've come across now.
07:32 Maybe for people who aren't into metal
07:34 or haven't come across many metal genres before,
07:37 why should they go and watch you?
07:38 What is it about your sound that gets
07:40 these massive responses everywhere you go?
07:43 - I think it's an exciting thing to witness
07:46 whether you like it or not.
07:47 I think that it's, the adrenaline in the room
07:51 is very contagious.
07:53 I think that worst case scenario,
07:56 you could just people watch and you still walk away
07:58 with a good story.
07:59 So I think it's just like the energy
08:01 and the adrenaline and the atmosphere
08:03 is very freeing and rewarding.
08:06 And I think that that's why these people
08:08 just walk in by the tent, wanna pop in
08:11 and see what it's about, but then they end up
08:13 finding themselves having fun.
08:14 - Okay, last question I've got for you.
08:16 I feel like this is a little bit selfish on my end to ask.
08:20 So we've only just seen these two new singles, of course.
08:24 Is there any more plans for new music?
08:25 - I can't give too much away, but we are working,
08:29 we are working very hard.
08:31 That's all I can say.
08:32 - Nothing more?
08:35 - Nothing more, yeah.
08:36 - No new genres, no new directions?
08:37 - I can say that whatever comes next will be heavy.
08:42 - Okay, lovely.
08:44 Thank you so much.
08:45 - Thank you.
08:45 [BLANK_AUDIO]