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Saturday 16 May 2020

The Spotlight: Interview With Eulogy By Paul Hutchings

Eulogy Interview

One of the rising bands on the South Wales hard rock scene, Eulogy are a three-piece comprising Mike Williams – guitar, Neil Thomas – bass/vocals and Darran Goodwin – Drums. I caught up with the guys via Skype on 6th May for a chat and to see how things were in these strange times.

We started our conversation as is the norm these days. Unsurprisingly, the band are, like most of us, fed up with the lockdown and the restrictions. One member of the band is furloughed whilst the other two are working from home. That presents its own challenges as Neil described: “Yeah, we can do everything from home, that’s not a problem, in fact I’m probably doing more work now than I normally do. Your day doesn’t finish, it just goes on and on”.

For those readers who don’t know much about the band, it’s always useful to get a bit of history and Neil, Darran and Mike were happy to provide a potted history of Eulogy. Mike started the story. “We’d all played in bands before, in fact we’d played together before, years and years ago, and our paths had crossed many times. Anyway, I’d emigrated to Australia but it didn’t work out and when I came back I got in touch with Neil to see if fancied doing something and we got together to jam on a Saturday night”. “It was just a bit of fun to start” added Neil. “It was just that, a couple of beers, a catch up” continued Mike, “but sometimes these things flourish into something else, and before we knew it we had some tidy songs, but our drummer wasn’t really into it and he was getting less and less enthusiastic”.

Neil explained that they would be driving to the venues for gigs only to see their drummer driving the other way, away from the venue!” Mike and Neil got Darran on board, and as anyone who has the trio play will know, the chemistry is “fantastic”. Darran had been playing for Dirty Minds, a covers band who were well known on the club circuit in South Wales. Ironically, Darran had stopped playing due to his health. “Diabetes, and two or three gigs a weekend was just too much” Darran explained. “Neil got in touch and asked if I fancied going down to have a play and a jam; it won’t be every weekend! And the rest is history. Within three months we were recording You’ll Die Alone.” The irony about that, as Mike pointed out, is that if it wasn’t for the pandemic, Eulogy would be gigging at least twice a week.

Like so many bands, Eulogy have lost a shed load of bookings because of Covid -19. “We had a whole list of gigs ready and waiting for this year” Neil explains but of course they have lost all of them now. This included the Drunken Monkey Festival where Eulogy have been rebooked and pushed up the 2021 bill. We paused to reflect that many bands won’t make it to 2021. Darran continued “the momentum we had, it was going so well and then it has all stopped”. “This is the thing” Neil continues, “It was terrible timing. The EP (Memento Mori) was released on 23rd February and we had gigs lined up to back that up and go straight into it, almost an EP mini tour but everything has died down now. We’ve had some really good reviews for the EP, but we haven’t been able to promote it.” One of the biggest frustrations for the band is that their mini tour to support the EP would have seen them travel and gig in other parts of the country. Darran explained that the band had gigs across the country.

The reviews for the EP continue to be posted on the band’s Facebook page and are universally positive. It made sense to explore the reaction to the EP a bit more. “It’s been overwhelmingly positive” Neil said. “Some really good, positive reviews there. Part of the reason that the reviews are still coming in is down to us signing to One Eyed Toad Records in November and they have been doing a great job of promoting the EP”. It sounds like One Eyed Toad have been doing a grand job as Mike explained. “The latest review was from the Czech Republic. It’s fantastic, extending beyond our shores”. But that isn’t the furthest that the band have reached with Memento Mori, with Mike doing a magazine review of the album with a contact in Columbia, whilst they have also been noted in Canada and Australia.

“We were really chuffed with the review in Hard Rock Hell Radio, who made us their EP of the week” adds Neil “and we had some exposure on the radio station so that was good”. If you haven’t heard the EP, then make sure you check it out. It’ available on all good streaming services but also direct from the band on their Facebook page which would be even better.

Astonishingly, given the stupidity of people, no-one had misunderstood the song Corvid for Covid. At least not that we know about. “To be honest with you” Mike starts, “we’ve got two songs. Corvid, and You’ll Die Alone. It’s a really bad time for these songs!” Darran adds, I got some response when I put the live recording of our gig from Fuel on my Facebook page!”. “A guy from one of the rock radio stations contacted me last week and wanted to play something off the EP, so he gave it a spin and said to me, “I don’t know what’s going on here, have you directly written about this?” and I had to explain that obviously we hadn’t as the EP had come out in February. Unless I’m psychic or something then obviously not! So, he said well I can only play Blood Red Skies or Cross to Bare, I’m not chancing the other two.” “We wrote it in June or July last year” adds Darran who is correct as the band put it out as a single last year and then remixed it for the EP.

Eulogy recently did a ‘take-over’ on Norwegian radio show Metal Express. This needed further exploration, much to the amusement of the band. “One Eyed Toad put us on to the station, and they contacted us” explained Neil “and we recorded a whole hour slot for their show, with tracks that had influenced us over the years. The problem is, we missed the bloody show when it was broadcast!” Cue much laughter from Darran, Mike and me. “We have a beer on a Friday night and a chat over the web” adds Mike, “and we were there saying, something is going on tonight? And we realised it was the radio show and we were scrambling around to find it, but they don’t do a podcast or anything, so we missed it!” “We were listening to all these shitty songs on their playlist going when are we on, only to find we’d missed it!” Neil adds. “It did at least start out regular Friday night chats” Darran continues.

If you’ve seen the band’s Facebook page, you might have seen that both Mike and Neil have done some on-line ‘tutorials’. It turns out that there is a story behind it. Mike explained. “Nearly every gig I do, I get asked about my guitar set up. I’ve got this Park amp, no one has seen, its circa 1970, it’s a Marshall essentially, and if guitarists see us, they always ask about it. I’ve had a few emails from people, so I thought, rather than do a tutorial I’ll just talk about my set-up and people seem to have engaged with it”. Neil’s position is slightly different. “We were so keen to get something out there because we were noticing that the following and hits were dropping slightly so it was a good opportunity for people to get to know the band a bit more outside of our songs. My job normally is tutoring and lecturing and that’s why I put the vocal masterclass on there. Just some basic warm-ups and things like that really. And some good positive comments as a result too”. What I really wanted to know was when Darran’s drum masterclass was coming but with no room in his flat and no will to annoy the neighbours, we’ll have to wait. Suggesting the South Wales Hello Kitty drum-off provoked much mirth though, and I think the suggestion to transport a HK kit across the region filing drummers (from the socially acceptable distance of course) is a winner!

We moved on to the timely subject of social media. The band have an active Facebook page, and I wondered how the band embraced the whole social media movement. “It’s peaks and troughs for me” said Mike. “We’ve all got personal accounts, and Twitter and Instagram for the band which I look after, but the normal platform for us if Facebook which Neil does a lot of. It is a necessity for us, and for all bands. It’s promotion, exposure, which we don’t have to pay for if you like. Back in our day, we’d be paying for all this”. Neil adds “It’s quite enjoyable, you get to know people, we’ve made some good links with bands, radio stations. I tend to use the different groups and I think it’s been very useful”.

For a little while, Eulogy expanded to a four-piece. Are the band still looking for that second guitarist? Neil explained. “Yes, we are. After Darren decided, for his own reasons, to leave, we had lots of gigs lined up and he couldn’t commit to them. We are still friends with him. We did get used to having that bigger sound with the extra guitar, so we are determined to get a second guitarist, but it must be the right person. We have a good dynamic and we don’t want an Yngwie Malmsteen player who is a right arse (Paul – I think you might find that YM is both!), so it has to be the right person but we are determined to get another guitarist”. The band has held some auditions, but it is important that with a band as established as Eulogy, with musicians who have solid technical skills, that the person is right. As Mike points out “it may not sound difficult but there are some tricky chords structures within our songs”.

Eulogy are still hoping that one of their festivals makes it through this year. Ilfracombe Rocks is planned for November 2020, with a whole host of mainly tribute acts. It’s no secret that overall, I dislike this type of band, taking valuable space for developing original artists although you can’t avoid the revenue that they bring into venues that are currently in desperate times. “It’s a tribute band festival” explained Neil. “There’s ourselves and The Autumn Killers who are opening and then it’s all tribute bands. It’ll be a good day; we are on early and then we can get drunk!” But what about the band’s view of tribute bands? “I’m with you” said Mike. “I’ve always played and wrote original music. The irony is that if one of the local bands made it big there would be a tribute band of them! There is no support for grass roots music for bands like us. But you are right, they keep the venues open and give us a platform to launch from”. Neil adds “We’ve done a few gigs with Metallica Reloaded, and they do drag the crowds in, but we get exposure”. Apparently, there was a vote for tracks from new bands which were put in for the Ilfracombe Rocks and Blood Red Skies was nominated and that’s how Eulogy got on the bill”.

One of the challenges at the end of the lockdown will be getting gigs at all, as every band will be desperate to get gigs. “It should be a win-win” Mike said. “If the venues are full, then the band’s will be happy to be playing, but there will be venues that won’t make it through this, they will fall by the wayside which is a real shame”.

To conclude the interview, we moved on to a couple of lockdown questions.

MoM: What is the one album that you would have tucked away with you that you’d never tire of listening to?

Mike: Metallica – Ride the Lightning

Darran: Rainbow – Rising

Neil: Ha! There was an album back in the day which was absolutely awful, no, I mean awesome (cue laughter from the rest of us), an album (Diving for Pearls) by a band called Diving For Pearls, I don’t know if anyone has heard of that (blank looks) but it’s a classic but at the moment I’d add in H.E.A.T’s latest album (H.E.A.T. II)

MoM: And what one song do you never tire of hearing?

Darran: Wild Side by Motley Crüe.

Mike: I’m going off piste a little and I’m going to pick Wuthering Heights by Kate Bush (cue admiration all round)

Neil: I think I’d pick Enter Sandman by Metallica.

MoM: If you had to name one book that you could read during lockdown, what would it be?

Mike: One of my favourite authors is Iain Banks and I’ve read all his books, but I keep going back to The Wasp Factory.

Darran: I’m not a great reader, but I got into Brian Lumley and I’ve just got back into his catalogue, so I’ll pick Necroscope.

Neil: I’m not a reader, unfortunately. Unless I’m researching for a song, I don’t tend to read.

MoM: If you could watch one live show that you’d seen, what would that be?

Darran: That would have to be the second gig I ever went to, Motley Crüe at St. David’s Hall in Cardiff in 1985, Theatre of Pain tour with Cheap Trick supporting.

Mike: It’s tricky, but I’ll go with Metallica and Anthrax the year after on the Damage Inc tour in 1986. I saw Sunn O))) recently in London, they were mind blowing but I’ll stick with Metallica.

Neil: Newport Centre, 1991, Operation Mindcrime tour, Queensryche. I can’t remember the support, but it might have been Lynch Mob.

MoM: And one drink (water is a given). What would the drink of choice be? I’ll give you one alcoholic and one non-alcoholic option?

Mike: It’s Gin and Tonic. I can drink at the same time with no guilt! Haha!

Darran: Soda Water and Lime. I’ll have a Bud or a Coors for the alcoholic.

Neil: A cold San Miguel and soft drink a Diet Pepsi (Cue hysterical laughter from his band mates).

Like all bands, everything is in limbo. “We were doing a couple of gigs supporting the 501’s and Black Rose but those have been cancelled” Neil explained. Apart from the festivals that have been knocked back a year, we are just having to wait. I think the whole hospitality sector will be last to reopen. Restaurants, pubs, the whole thing. As soon as you release people into those environments, we may have another spread”.

Massive thanks to the boys from Eulogy for their time. Do check out their EPs because they are both superb pieces of crafted hard rock.

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