The Newcastle metal band Ritualsโ story begins in 2018, when a Trivium, While She Sleeps and Alter Bridge-loving metalhead and his friend were bored. โIt was just me and Ewan [Lee, their guitarist] in college, [and we] just wanted to play riffs, really,โ the bandโs vocalist Lewis MacRae tells Post-Burnout of their humble beginnings. โWe wanted to play in a band and do things. Like, we just wanted to play a couple of gigs and muck about. We didn’t really take anything seriously, did we?โ
โWell, I think we had a similar interest in music, and we were both very bored,โ adds Ewan. โI mean, thatโs what it came down to! So, perfect timing. And, over time, we started taking it a little bit more seriously, until 2020.โ โYeah, when lockdown kind of hit in,โ says Lewis. โWe just put some songs out. But the original formation of the band, there was no real, like, grand motivator, like, โOh, we need to be in a band!โ It was just kind of like, โOh, weโll just do it, โcause it will be fun.โ [Laughs] And then it developed into the biggest stress of our lives! [All laugh]โ
The beginning of the band also served as an education in metal for Lewis. โYou werenโt reallyโฆyou liked Slipknot, but you werenโt really into โmetal,โ as such,โ Ewan says to Lewis, regarding their early days. Lewis responds, โYeah, I was kind of discovering metal at that time, so I was, like, finding out about music. Ewan was just going, โHave you heard of these? Have you heard of these?โ and I was like, โNo! But I love them!โ I was just, like, going through, like, obsession phases. So, like, Ewan introduced me to Limp Bizkit, and I pretty much listened to the Chocolate Starfish album front to back so many times that I think I started to go insane, and I thought all the guitars were going out of tune on the album because I listened to it that much!โ โI remember that!โ laughs Ewan.
As the band grew, they immediately started self-releasing singles and EPs, which showcased their brutal but melodic sound, and began growing an organic fanbase. In 2022, Kerrang! Radio announced the return of their The Deal competition, with the prize for that year being a record deal with Marshall Records and a performance slot at the UKโs largest metal festival, Download. By March 2023, it was announced that Rituals had won the competition by popular vote; thereby, in one victory, setting the next stage of their career for them.
โWe said when we started the band, when we were 18, that we wouldnโt go to Download unless we could play together,โ says Lewis. โWhich I know is a ridiculously ambitious thing to do, but we did it!โ The guys feel that their experience at the festival really showcased their growth and popularity to them. โThereโs no greater way to measure how well the bandโs doing, I suppose, than to play a show in front of 8,500 people and be able to see hundreds of people all singing along [to] songs that have been created in a bedroom in Newcastle to being brought to a stage at Download Festival,โ says Lewis. โI think thatโs a testament to the support we have. To be able to be on stage, and to have that receptionโฆI mean, being the first band on the Avalanche Stage on Saturday. Everyoneโs hungover, everyoneโs tired, thirty degreesโฆโ โI wouldโve stayed in bed!โ interjects Ewan. โI wouldnโt have been up by then,โ continues Lewis, โbut the whole tent was completely packed, like front-to-back; there was no room in it, and it goes to show the support that not only weโre getting, but the metal sceneโs getting at the moment.โ
As a recently-signed act on Marshall Records – a label with an artist roster as varied as Nova Twins, Therapy?, D_Drive, Laurence Jones, and Kid Bookie, to name but just a few โ we asked how they feel they fit at the label. โWe feel completely at home with the whole thing,โ Lewis responds. โWe know that we are a very heavy band, compared to a lot of the artists that they house, but weโve never felt like thatโs been an issue. They just seem stoked on what weโre doing, and they seem to really like working alongside us and we love working alongside them. We were all very wary about working with an actual label, because we never have done before, but the whole process has just been likeโฆI think one of the easiest things about the entire year so far has been working with Marshall, just because theyโre so good, and working with all the different people on the team there. You just feel like itโs people whoโve got your complete best interest at heart, and itโs just an extension of the band. So, it really isโฆitโs class.โ
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Courtesy of Marshall Records
With a label backing them which they feel really understand them and what they were going for, Rituals spent no time whatsoever in releasing their first project with Marshall. At the beginning of August, the band dropped their latest EP, I Found Myself in the Dark. โItโs probably the most weโve had one consistent sound between more than one song,โ laughs Ewan when discussing the EP. โBecause it was intended as three singles, each song was very different. Whereas this one, I think, thereโs a similar sound, but itโs kind of pushed in different directions per song, which is something I think weโre all really happy with, and I think thatโs something weโre going to continue to do.โ
Originally intended as three separate singles before their record deal, it was Marshall who suggested that the band release the three songs as a single EP. Lewis explains, โAt the time, the songs actually did sound a little bit more varied to each other, and I think off the back of it becoming an EP and us listening through all three of them together and then working with everyone we work with, I think thatโs where, like, this more cohesive sound for the EP has come from, really. But everything we ever do, we start off with a plan [Raises his index finger on his left hand to the centre of his face] and, by the time we do it, weโre over here [Extends his right arm far away from the index finger], and the planโs over here [The index finger] [All laugh] So, like, no matter what we plan on doing from day one, itโs never going to be what we end up doing; I think so many things change on the way.โ
Beginning this Thursday, the band will embark on a three-day co-headlining tour of Ireland, with the Belfast hardcore band Archives. This will mark not only the bandโs first time in Ireland but their first time playing international shows. โWeโve never played in a different country before, never travelled that far for a show, so I think we just want to do it now,โ says Lewis. โItโs going to be sick. Itโs going to be nice to be able to travel to a different place. Iโm looking forward to buying a pint in euros! Iโm looking forward to spending euros. That will be good, to play a gig, and be like, โOh, that will be โฌ6,โ which is probably really cheap. Itโs going to be, like, โฌ10 a pint!โ โIโm looking forward to getting a ferry to a gig!โ adds bassist Dom James. โAye, getting a ferry,โ says Lewis. โThatโs something in itself, isnโt it?โ says Ewan. โItโs going to sink!โ responds Lewis. โKnowing our luck!โ laughs Ewan.
Ritualsโ latest EP, I Found Myself in the Dark, is out now and available to stream. You can keep up to date with the band on their website, which has all their social media links, too.
See the band on their co-headlining Irish tour with Archives this week, where theyโll be performing at:
August 24th โ Cork โ Fred Zeppelins [Buy tickets here]
August 25th โ Dublin โ BelloBar [Buy tickets here]
August 26th โ Belfast โ Voodoo [Buy tickets here]
For a more extensive interview with Rituals – where we go into further depth about the topics discussed in this article, as well as the bandโs future plans, the difference between being an unsigned band to being one on a label, which festivals they would love to play, and more โ tune into todayโs episode of POSTBURNOUT.COM Interviewsโฆ at 17:00 (IST) on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts or Amazon Music.
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Aaron Kavanagh is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Post-Burnout. His writing can also be found in the Irish Daily Star, Buzz.ie, Totally Dublin, The GOO,ย Headstuff, New Noise Magazine, XS Noize, DSCVRDย and more.