Exit Ten interview
- By Julija Kaselyte -
- Jun 29, 2012
Whether you’ve heard Exit Ten or not, their name isn’t new in the game. Ahead of their third release, Exit Ten’s ambitious and charismatic drummer Chris Steele, stops by for a minute to offer a few insights into the band…
Red Room: Chris, say whatever comes to your mind now about the music you’re into.
Chris: Real bands playing real music!
Red Room: Speaking about your own band, what’s your guys’ vision?
Chris: We just set out to make the best music we can. We just want to write songs people can connect to and hopefully sing back to us at a live show.
Red Room: What’s the story behind the name Exit Ten?
Chris: The band's name is very old since we started it as kids. It's just a reference to the motorway junction for Reading, where we live, basically.
Red Room: What was the first tune you played together? When did it happen?
Chris: Before Ryan (Redman, vocals) we played covers and wrote songs but as Exit Ten as people know it, our first song was on our first EP, called Sold Out. It was the first time we put all the elements that make up the band together, heavy music and melodic vocals, it was pretty exciting!
Red Room: How do you go about song writing?
Chris: Usually it will stem from a part or two from one of the guitarists and we'll develop it together. Sometimes they'll bring whole songs and structures and other times a song might develop from a jam at a rehearsal. Ryan will always add his lyrics last but will sometimes play with melodies while we jam it out.
Red Room: You have two studio albums under your belt – Remember The Day and Give Me Infinity. How do they differ one from each other?
Chris: The most obvious one really is Remember The Day is heavier. It has more metal moments in it, whereas Give Me Infinity has more scale and is probably a little more dynamic.
Red Room: What was the hardest thing for you to tell in the recent record Give Me Infinity?
Chris: Speaking on Ryan's behalf, I think some of the lyrics talk quite open and honestly about some of the troubles we went through as a band but not delivering it in a negative way.
A lot of it is about overcoming adversity and trying to be positive.
Red Room: What’s your favourite song from this album?
Chris: I have 2, is that ok? I'm very proud of a song called 'Lion' which was one of the songs that started out as a jam. We structured and crafted it so well and it's got such a strong message. The other one is 'Mountain' as it just kicks a lot of arse!
Red Room: Did you do a lot of gigs to promote Give Me Infinity?
Chris: We have toured it, yes. It's gone down very well. Fans were desperate for some new material and they've shown that at the gigs! We toured all over the UK lots and did a European tour earlier in the year. The response was great all round.
Red Room: What makes you different from other bands in the genre?
Chris: Well, there are so many bands around these days it's hard to stand out from the crowd but I think we have a unique style. I'd like to think we don't sound like anyone else.
We're a rock band that puts the music first, and Ryan's voice is very much his own.
Red Room: So what’s next for Exit Ten?
Chris: Firstly some festival appearances then we plan to write a new album. Too much time elapsed between the last two so we want to put that right this time!
By Julija Kaselyte. Tweets at @julijaka
