Evile singer and guitarist Matt Drake recently checked in and spoke to Metal Monthly correspondent  Deb Rao to discuss Evile's current and future touring plans, how the band came into fruition, the debut of "Enter The Grave", and how Thrash is making a huge comeback in 2008. Also Matt has told us that Evile will not be touring with Exodus. It has just been confirmed that Evile will be on Gigantour U.K. 

www.myspace.com/evileuk 

www.myspace.com/evilematt 

Deb Rao: Matt, Thank you so much for checking in.  Evile is currently on tour with Sanctity in the U.K. How is the tour going so far. Any highlights that you would like to share with us?  
 
Matt Drake: "No problem! It's been going brilliantly, this is our first proper tour where we're staying out on the road for every gig so we've been running around like children on speed being excited by everything we see! Sanctity and Romeo Must Die are such an awesome bunch of lads, we've all been getting along really well, it’s been a great way to be introduced to proper touring. Highlights for me so far were playing at the London barfly, it was packed and it was HEAVY, though every night has been a highlight really, thrashing around is always fun! But in contrast I do have a lowlight, me and Jared the singer from Sanctity have decided to make a bet where we both wear the same shirt each night to see who's shirt ends up smelling the worst, its just ended up being horrible and painful and not worth actually doing as I'm almost hurling when putting on the shirt, and I don't dare go talk to anyone after we've played because the shirt makes me smell that bad." 
  
Evile has been together since 2004. Tell us a little bit about the history of the band. How did Evile come into fruition?  
 
Matt Drake: "We used to be a covers band that just played around the local area, playing some of our thrashtastic favorites, we got increasingly bored sponging completely off other peoples hard work, playing their music, so we decided to start writing our own stuff. We got a few songs together, changed our name and started fresh, which was hard, because doing covers you have the comfort of people coming to the gigs knowing exactly what to expect, but in 2004 there were hardly any thrash bands around in the UK, and people had no idea what we were doing, but they soon got into it and its kept spreading and gone from there, turns out there were a few other bands with exactly the same idea as us at exactly the same time, and its all started a decent UK thrash turn out, its amazing Me and Ben went to school together, we've always jammed around since we were about 16, me and Ol are brothers, I met him at home, and  Mike answered an ad I put up in a local guitar shop as a last effort to join a band due to idiots being racist and not wanting a black dude in their band, its ridiculous, can't believe musicians would ever even think that way, music is music, it has NOTHING to do with skin color. But we're sorted, we have the same lineup we've always had, and we plan to keep it that way!"  
 
Deb Rao: Evile has recently released their debut album called, "Enter The Grave". Over how long a time period did it take for the band to write the album?  
 
Matt Drake: "The album began being written when Evile first started! Killer from the deep is the 2nd song we ever wrote, its on our first E.P called "All Hallows Eve" and its been one of our favorite songs to play since we started so we definitely wanted that on there when it came to doing a proper full length release. By the time Earache started putting the album into motion, we began writing loads of new tracks, we had pretty much undecidedly decided that enter the grave, thrasher and we who are about to die, from the hell demo, were going to be on the album so we wrote a whole new bunch of songs, about 14 in total, and we chose the best 6 to work on more and work into the album. For them 14 songs it took about 5 months, so there’s a bunch of songs we've written that people will most likely never hear! We like to take our time with songwriting, so we can try as many things as possible to make sure we have the best arrangements we can, and we only work on one song at a time, and don’t start another until the one before is finished so we can concentrate and focus on the character of one song at a time. Also I'm really annoying with the other guys and question everything we've done to see if it can be made better, because I think you should never settle, especially with something as important as music, as its something that’s going to stay around for a long time, and once its done that’s it, that’s what people are going to hear and learn and know, so it has to be as good as it can be."  
 
Deb Rao: How would you best describe, "Enter The Grave"?  
 
Matt Drake: "It's bloody fast and it’s bloody heavy! We're inspired by the thrash and death metal greats, so if you love metal fast and heavy, but with variety, then this is the album for you, I can't believe its not butter!! And on this album you will not find pointless hatred of people and things or overbearing manly posturing and syrupy harmonized sing along choruses, this is a Metal album, its about life and death, and massive sharks, and more death. With added death."  
 
Deb Rao: How did everyone's influences come into play on "Enter The Grave"?  
 
Matt Drake: "We're all into pretty different stuff and we all write separately as well as writing as a group, so all our personal influences definitely work their way in. Of course we all share our love of thrash, which is why we're the band that we are, but say whereas Ol is really into death metal, power metal, jazz - Ben is more into power metal, and pretty modern stuff, whereas I listen to a bit of death metal, classic rock, classical, blues, film scores, metal wise - nothing much past 1992 really, (laughter) and Mike is just full on metal but likes dance music! We have a bizarre collective taste. Luckily with this we don’t tend to write the same song twice, whereas a lot of modern metal bands suffer from sounding exactly like the other bands that are around them, even to the point where all their songs sound similar, there aren't any bands around at the moment who we sound like, sure we are influenced heavily by 80's thrash so we sound like that, but we don't sound exactly like anyone else, we sound like Evile."  
 
Deb Rao: What was it like working with famed Thrash metal producer Flemming Rasussen, who has produced Metallica and Morbid Angel to name a few?  
 
Matt Drake:  "Simply amazing, it was really laid back, very relaxed, at first we were shitting ourselves but as soon as we got there we were settled in, maybe we got a bit too relaxed as we ended up being a bit pushed for time (laughter) but we got it all done. Flemming is a really nice bloke, he's maybe slightly insane but in a good way, he knows what he’s doing and he has some great ideas! A few people said things like "why are this band getting Flemming he hasn't recorded a metal band in years blah blah" mouthing off about it, but that’s what we wanted, he had been away from metal for quite a while, I personally didn't want a massive trendy metal producer, as most modern metal albums to me sound too perfect, and they have no life, there’s no character in the songs as protools has sucked it all clean. I wanted a very organic, alive, kinetic album sound, and Flemming was perfect, he knew exactly what we were after, the recording method was all about mic placement, move the mic around a few times to get a good sound, press record and GO! It was simple and it was fun, and its helped all the songs individually stand apart, we're proud of what we achieved with Flemming, next time we'll spend more time on it and it'll be 100 times better. It was weird being in the same situation as Metallica though, sitting on the same couches, recording through the exact same desk, even as far as being at Flemmings home with his wife cooking for us, she was telling us that when they were there recording lightning, that she was cooking for them all the time at the Rasmussen house because they couldn’t afford anything else. We were in the exact same situation and it was very surreal, but brilliant!"  
 
Deb Rao: Is there any plans for Evile to tour the United States soon?  
 
Matt Drake: "Yeah there is, we're hoping to get out there in the middle of this year maybe sooner, starting on the east coast heading south, over to the west coast then back to the east, we're going to try and cover the entire outer areas of the states, and I can't bloody wait for it, I’ve always wanted to get to the states, and I know there’s plenty of thrashers out there who need a good lesson in UK thrash! We need to start hitting the states, our album has done pretty well out there for a debut, so we want to go and make sure people know who we are, make sure they enjoy what we do, so they tell 20 mates, next time we go over there will be more thrashers, and so on... our mission is to make the world thrash like they have no choice!"  
 
Deb Rao: Is there a possibility that Evile will open for Exodus on their next tour?  
 
Matt Drake: (Laughter) "According to Metal Hammer we are! But we're not, I think we might have said to a few people we would like to support them, and somehow down the line it got twisted and people ended up saying we are supporting them. (Laughter) We would love to open for Exodus; we have done before in Bradford when Bostaph was drumming for them. They played Pranha, which made a happy bloody man.  If they do announce a tour we will try and get on it though." (Laughter).  
 
Deb Rao: Where does Evile see themselves in the metal scene in the future? The band has accomplished so much in the short time you have been together.  
 
Matt Drake: "I honestly don't know where we will be; I would hope we get enough attention to be able to carry on with what we're doing for another 5 albums! As this is all we want to do, we don’t want normal jobs and normal lives, we want to live in a van, get to visit every country in the world, and launch high speed metal assaults at peoples heads in those countries. We don't give a toss about making money or being celebrities, we're from Yorkshire so we can't be arsed with all that. (Laughter) we just want to be out gigging every night.  As long as we can do that for years to come we'll be happy. Thanks for the questions, the tour is awesome, Sanctity and Romeo Must Die are incredibly cool people! and thanks again, whoever is reading this make sure you come to a show so we can explode your brain with metal. Two weeks!"

Evile is currently taking the U.K. by storm with their vibrant thrash sound. The band has recently released their new album,” Enter The Grave" on Earache Records. Evile has been touring non-stop since their album debut.

Evile are hot off the heels of their recent tour with Sanctity. Guitarist OL Drake checks in to discuss,” Enter The Grave", highlights of their U.K. Tour, and how Evile plan to make their mark in Thrash Metal. 

OL, Thank you so much for checking in.  Evile recently toured with Sanctity in the U.K. Any highlights that you would like to share with us? 
 
OL Drake: Some guy got taken to hospital from being in the pit. Not really a 'highlight' but he survived and is ok, so it was brutal! The tour itself was pretty much the highlight. The Sanctity guys are so friendly and awesome that it was just a constant pleasure to be with them. 
 
  Evile has been touring nonstop since the release of your album,” Enter The Grave". Any favorite shows so far in 2007? 
 
OL Drake: I'd have to say the Academy in Oxford has been my personal favorite. Awesome venue, awesome sound, awesome crowd, friendly people. Was a perfect show! 
 
Evile has been together since 2004. Tell us a little bit about the history of the band. How did Evile come into fruition?  
 
OL Drake: Matt and Ben went to school together and they listened to Metallica etc. Matt had played guitar since little, and Ben had played drums since little. They’d get together and jam old metal songs. Once they did it for long enough I decided to pick up the guitar and join in. After a while we started playing covers, and we needed a bass player. After putting an ad in our local guitar shop (GTR Huddersfield) Mike called us up, and that's pretty much it.  
 
Evile hails from the U.K. How is the Thrash Metal scene in the U.K. these days? Would you say that there is a resurgence of Thrash metal in the U.K.?  
 
OL Drake: Definitely. There are loads of awesome Thrash bands in the UK at the moment. Mutant to name but one. It seems everyone just has the urge for Thrash again over here. It's brilliant!! 
 
How did the band get signed to Earache Records? This is Evile's first debut album, is this correct?  
 
OL Drake:  This is our Debut on Earache. The signing came about after playing the Bloodstock Open Air festival in Derby in 2006. We didn't know but the Earache staff was checking out bands/getting wasted. A few days after the show we got an email from the label boss asking if we'd be interested. After many meetings and discussions we decided to sign. The Earache guys are awesome! They get a lot of bad press though. 
 
 Evile has recently released their debut album for Earache Records called,” Enter The Grave". Over how long a time period did it take for the band to write the album?  
 
OL Drake: The songs on the album are a collection of songs we wrote as we started (Killer from the Deep) up until now. We do spend a lot of time writing though, that's all we'd spend time doing. We weren't writing to 'appeal' to anyone; we just wrote what we liked to hear. If we enjoyed it, we kept it. I'd say it took about a year collectively to write the album. 
 
 How would you best describe,” Enter The Grave"?  
 
OL Drake: 10 tracks of heads down, no nonsense Thrash Metal 
 
 What is your favorite song off of,” Enter The Grave"? Any particular song that has a special meaning to you?  
 
 
OL Drake: I'd say my favorite is "We Who Are About to Die". We put so much into that song. I had the intro as an idea for years (the clean part) and I started playing it one day with the band. From there we just built on it, and it all just came naturally. All our songs have special meaning, as we put a lot of work into the songs and the band. It's basically our lives now. 
 
 How did everyone's influences come into play on,” Enter The Grave"?  
 
OL Drake: Quite oddly. We're all obviously influenced by Thrash, but we have different tastes. For instance I love some Death Metal as well as Thrash, Matt loves a lot of Rock. From all these different views on music, we'd argue over what works and what doesn’t at times. But I think that's a brilliant thing. If you don't explore different avenues, you could have missed out on something special. It never hurts to take suggestions and ideas on board. That's why we all have input in everything. 
 
 Who did the artwork for the cover of "Enter The Grave"?  
 
OL Drake: A guy called Vitaly S Alexius. A really awesome artist! Check him out at http://alexiuss.deviantart.com

 How did the name,” Enter The Grave" transpire?  
 
OL Drake: Not very impressively. We wanted a song about a serial killer. I was just sat about thinking of every single ridiculous possibility. "Death Killer Man" "Murder Person", "Song about a Serial Killer". It just randomly came into my head, that the people he's killing are being put in graves, and what they're doing is entering the Grave. No I didn't steal it from the awesome band Grave. 
 
What was it like working with famed Thrash metal producer Flemming Rasmussen, who has produced Metallica and Morbid Angel to name a few?  
 
OL Drake; It was mind blowing. What made it all the better was that he's such a genuine, nice, friendly guy. He made us feel so at home, even in his own home with his family and friends. He really knows what he's talking about, and was open to any ideas at all. Just don't ask him to make you sound like Metallica. Ever since Puppets, apparently that's all every metal band has said to him. 
 
 OL, growing up in the U.K., who inspired you as a guitarist?  
 
OL Drake: The person who inspired me to really sit down and devote my life to guitar playing is Jeff Waters of Annihilator. I spent about 3 years just learning everything he did. After I spent a lot of time learning Annihilator stuff, Alex Skolnick (Testament) really stuck out for me. Not just his playing, just what he played. Listening to his stuff on the "Souls of Black" album just gave me Goosebumps. 
 
 
 Are there any plans for Evile to tour the United States soon?  
 
OL: Drake: Yes there is! We just don’t know when or with whom exactly! But we will definitely be over in 2008 to THRASH THE USA  

What are you Top 3 favorite choices of albums in 2007?  
 
OL: Drake: I've been so busy it's been hard to listen to anything. The ones I do remember being awesome are Destruction's Thrash Anthems. Loved hearing new version of the old songs, as the old recordings didn't do Destruction justice. They're SUCH an awesome live band. 
 
 OL, Thank you for taking time out of your busy tour schedule to do this interview. Is there anything else that you would like to say about,” Enter The Grave" and the tour?  
 
OL Drake: If you like Thrash Metal in the true sense of the word, check Evile out! 
 
www.myspace.com/evileuk www.myspace.com/oldrake