Whilst some would question the South West metal scene at the moment, I for one still remain confident in the fact that we have a lot to offer. Despite so many bands popping up like weeds and consisting of floppy black haired fashion core ‘scenesters’, Plymouth’s Brotherhood of the Lake are a true-to-self, no nonsense outfit that have a genuine passion for what they do.
Casting aside the shackles of the current grind/death scene, Brotherhood manage to pull off an intelligent, innovative sound that doesn’t sacrifice talent for gore. Rusty and Grant’s sporadic guitars, Adam’s floor shaking bass lines and Lee’s highly technical drums, are all complimented fully by the raw, passionate and gut wrenching vocals of their lead singer Rob.

Having been thrown in at the deep end very early on supporting Arizona legends The Bled on their tour with Johnny Truant, and since gracing the stage with top metal and hardcore bands such as Misery Signals, Terror, Devil Sold His Soul, Protest the Hero and many more, Brotherhood have certainly taken their experiences on board and learnt every step of the way.

After chopping and changing the line-up recently, BOTL have finally found the perfect mix to bring out the bands full potential. Drawing talent from other heavyweight Plymouth Bands such as Castor:Troy, Youth Gone Wrong and Death of Lola Rose, Brotherhood have laid the foundations on which to build a solid outfit that, in my opinion, is unmovable.

You need only to attend any one of the bands numerous shows across the country to see what I mean here. Whether it is hanging off the ceiling rails or jumping around the stage drenched in sweat, Brotherhood's stage presence is an art that has been mastered, and their skills honed through constant touring and live performance.

Headlining large shows and touring themselves, this is definitely a band that is to be experienced live. Stage presence, technical ability and a genuine appreciation and passion for the music make this band what it is! Fresh back from a headlining tour with Brace For A Fall, BOTL are determined to get their name out there and will stop at nothing to ensure that they are noticed - quite rightly so.

NOIZE: When and how did you all get together?

Russell: I was living in Wiltshire at the time and I was about to move back to Plymouth so I put the feelers out on a Plymouth Music Forum looking for a vocalist and Rob replied. So we basically wrote an entire set over MSN. I wrote and recorded the music in my spare room, sent it down to Rob and he put the vocals on and sent it back for me to mix. When I finally moved down to Plymouth we filled in the gaps in the line up with a couple of guys Rob knew (Robin and James).

NOIZE: Describe your sound.

Russell: Well the idea is to sound like a band in a room not so much a digital sound but more organic. I like to think we are kind of a massively heavy rock band but it’s blatantly metal.

NOIZE: Let’s get to know you all, Give the best and worst points of each band member.

Russell: Rob - We are pretty close being the founder members of the band he's pretty easy going with a really annoying sense of humor. Adam-Mellow chap, completely in love with the old school Black Flag, Vans shoes and Calculator watches! Lee- Loves playing, loves music, Panics a lot, Hairiest arms ever - Awesome dude though. Grant- He's a catch! We've been looking for the right second guitarist since we started we needed someone who could play really well, but not a widdler who over plays everything, a massive knowledge of music in general and we found him! Awesome!

NOIZE: Who is Mr. sensible and the first to bed?

Russell: Lee blatantly he's got his drums in the car and the merch off the wall before we've packed up!

NOIZE: Who is the party animal?

Russell: It’s a Grant/Adam split they take it to a new level!

NOIZE: Best gig so far and why?

Russell: We did one at Maker festival in Cornwall that was Awesome but I think it was Bournemouth Opera House with The Bled and Johnny Truant. We had an awesome night with the Bled drinking and ended up at a Foam Party dancing to techno with them, I've never seen someone laugh as much as James Munoz (vocalist with the bled) Making foam afros on everyone! It ruled

NOIZE: Worst gig or event that your band have been involved in and why?

Russell: We played a festival in Bristol where the promoter put in a lot of work to make it happen and get people in, but it was just one of those things! I think we played to 9 people and a fuse went in my amp? Brilliant!

NOIZE: Why should people check you out?

Russell: Because we mean it! Plain and simple! We want to make the best music we can, not the best music in a genre we can, It happens to be metal be that’s what comes out of us! I know it’s a cliché to say but it’s not about fads and haircuts it’s about the hairs standing up on the back of your neck when you're playing. It's already changing and developing from this EP the new material different and more musical, it’s still monstrously heavy - just in a different way. We want to be around for a while and to do that it needs to have substance not just the guitar stunts and million MPH kick drums!

NOIZE: Who do you most commonly get compared to? Do you agree with the comparisons?

Russell: Olly Mitchell (Johnny Truant) once said Norma Jean\Slayer I'm happy with that. But we don't really get much in the way of comparisons.

NOIZE: Which one of your songs would you want someone to hear first and why?

Russell: "50 Owls in one house" it’s why we put it on the EP first, I think it's got Hooks, melody and a massive outro, Awesome!

NOIZE: You were on tour with The Bled and Johnny Truant as your first tour. Was it intimidating playing with well established bands so early on?

Russell: Yes on that first date in Portsmouth when we loaded the gear in and The Bled were sound checking we we're like "HOLY SHIT! We are out of our depth here!" It was cool with the truants because we we're fiends with them way before the tour, But it turned out that The Bled are the nicest and most down to earth dudes ever so we had a load of beers with them on the first night and we got on like a house on fire so it was all cool from then on, and they made a point of bigging us up every night on stage so that was more than we could ever ask for.

NOIZE: What did you learn and would you like to take these experiences back and do it again as the band you are now?

Russell: We learned that if you are nice and respectful to people you'll get the same back. There’s always bitchiness in any scene and it sucks! I still can't believe people have a problem with other people because they play/like a style of music that they don’t? It's bizarre to me. Everyone has little niggles with music but don't fall out about it! It's not worth it. We wouldn't do anything different though, it ruled!!

NOIZE: Dream venue or festival you’d love to play?

Russell: Vans Warped tour USA, Download, Reading!

NOIZE: How do you keep tour life fresh and fun?

Russell: Really annoying in jokes that only we find funny? But I think that would be the same answer for every band. Oh Gaffa Tape Spa (Basically removing hair with gaffa tape). And 2 Dabs (Bite the top off of a flying saucer and remove the sherbert contents with only 2 dabs of your tongue! (Scooping is frowned upon.)

NOIZE: Dream gig Line-up?

Russell: Mastodon, The Chariot, The Bled, Brotherhood of the lake.

NOIZE: What is your band’s motto or ethos?

Russell: KISF (Keep It Super Friendly) it's the way forward!

NOIZE: What would you like people to say about your band?

Russell: Awesome band, sound a bit different from the norm. Really nice dudes!

NOIZE: What are the best and worst things you’ve heard said about your band?

Russell: One of the reviews recently said "Let Brotherhood of the lake into your life and let them reshape it!" Holy shit that’s mental! But another review said we sounded like "A slowed down Cradle of Filth with a 15 year old singing" Which when I think about it would sound awesome hahaha!

NOIZE: Any message to your fans?

Russell: Come and say hello

NOIZE: What are your next goals as a band?

Russell: Tour and Festivals through the summer, fingers crossed. We are writing at the mo for a full length Album and the plan is to record in November and hopefully get it put out as soon as we can.

NOIZE: Plug your album, EP, tour!

Russell: We are touring in April and May come out and see us and come and say hello!
The EP is in stores now and on iTunes. Go buy it so we can afford to carry on making and recording music for you!

You can buy Brotherhood of the Lake’s debut EP which is released on Glasstone Records in HMV stores across the country, and download tracks on iTunes. Keep a lookout for the excellent split EP with Castor:Troy available alongside official merchandise from all shows.

By Dave Kendall

www.myspace.com/brotherhoodofthelake