Formed last November, the new British metalcore band Fates Messenger boast a strong pedigree, with members like Tony Maddocks (Above All) on vocals, Ron D (Romeo Must Die, Dishonour the Crown) on guitar, Paul Fletcher (Romeo Must Die, Hellblind, This is Menace) on bass, and Will Romain (Above All, Romeo Must Die) on drums.

Today, the band will formally introduce themselves to the world with the release of their debut single, “Scars.” During the week, we caught up with Ron to discuss the song, the band’s formation, the expectations for the band, balancing the project with their day-to-day lives of fatherhood and work, and how the modern-day music scene compares to how it was when he began.

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The first thing I wanted to ask, straight off the bat, is about the formation of Fates Messenger. My understanding is that everyone obviously was seasoned, everyone was experienced, but I believe you guys weren’t living close to each other and it was initially an idea that was formed online and through online communication. Is that correct?

Yeah, pretty much. The drummer and I, and the bass player, go back some years. So, all three of us were in a band called Romeo Must Die together, and Will the drummer’s been on my case for years to do something, and I’ve always batted him off. Like, “Nah, nah. I’m not doing it, mate. I’m done with music. I’m done.” And he kept pestering me and around November time, last year, we were kind of like, “Right, let’s do this.” So, Will was playing drums for Above All with Tony, and they put things on hiatus, just because people couldn’t do things, so both of them were looking to do something, so we were like, “Yeah, let’s go ahead with this.” We got Paul involved. So, Paul was the guitarist in Romeo, and we were like, “Do you fancy playing bass on this?” and he was like, “Yeah, go on. Why not?” So, yeah, we kind of pressed go… I think it was the 12^th of November when we hit go on this. Yeah, we’ve got seven songs recorded, ready to release. I mean, I did have most of them already kind of like…the grounds of it pretty done, so it was literally I sent the tracks over to the guys, they did what they needed to do, sent them back to me, then I mixed and mastered it.

Were the songs written for your other projects or were they just something you were sitting on?

Yeah, so some of them I wrote for my previous band, Dishonour the Crown, so they were ready to go for a second album. So, I’ve been sat on them for a good, I don’t know, five years, maybe. So, “Scars” is a new one which was literally written as soon as we had gotten the thumbs up. I kind of pulled that one out of my backside [Laughs] in a couple of days and sent it over to everyone. And, likewise, we’ve got another couple of tracks that are kind of fresh off the press, as well. So, it’s kind of a balance. I think in total we’ve got nine. So, there’s seven recorded, there’s another two left to do. We’re in the process of writing another one, as well, so we should have about ten tracks in total.

Yeah, “Scars” is the first single that’s going to be released; the first showcase of the band. I was listening to it, and it’s a very good introductory track for fans of the previous bands. Was that something that was a consideration, in terms of choosing the first single, or did you just feel that was the strongest one, so we’re going to go for it?

Nah. I don’t know, it was kind of a bit of a draw out of the hat, really. I think it kind of covers most of what we do, style-wise. We’ve got a kind of breadth, style-wise. Some of them are quite bluesy, Pantera-sounding in elements; obviously, some of them are quite thrashy; there’s a bit of hardcore and stuff like that, and “Scars” was a bit of a mix of everything – it’s got the hardcore beatdowns in it, it’s got a bit of modern tinge of metal in it, it’s got the Fear Factory-esque elements with the choruses and synths and stuff. So, yeah, it was kind of…I don’t know, out of all of them, we sort of…Yeah, it was we kind of drew it out of the hat, but you can kind of see the influence of everything.

Yeah. Actually, one thing I really like about it is, it kind of starts off with a bit of a soundscape that seems kind of metallic or almost industrial. I don’t know, I was envisioning a helicopter or something when I was listening to it. [Both laugh] Yeah, I was wondering, is the EP that you guys are currently working on, is that going to be a factor – beyond the music, the kind of sounds that are being incorporated – or is that just an isolated case?

No, there’s a few elements of it throughout the tracks, but especially with me, with the writing process, I don’t really think about what I’m doing; I’ll just sit there, start riffing, and if it goes together well, it goes together well. I’ll get to the end of the track, and I’ll be like, “Right, OK, so where can the synths sit in these? Where can the samples go?” and start building off that. Once there’s a core of a tune there, Tony will write some lyrics. I’ve never worked with a vocalist that can write lyrics and record vocals in the speed that man can do it. Normally, vocalists are, like, slack as anything; they take ages. Yeah, insane. So, yeah, the synths and stuff are kind of the afterthought of it, but, like I said, there’s no real thought process in it; it’s if it sounds good and it flows and it hooks, it’s good to go.

Yeah, actually, from the production standpoint, do you enjoy messing around and kind of…? Because, in a way, I think production is the final bit of songwriting…It’s kind of like the last ingredient, you know?

Yeah.

Yeah….obviously,  I imagine the songs expand just from working with other people – because you have these songs that you said were sat on for five years – and then, you know, when you bring it to the group of people, they’re going to add their bits, and it’s going to expand and it’s going to become something new. How much do you feel the songs have differed from the final project compared to what they were when you first conceptualised them?

Yeah, a fair amount, to be honest. So, Will the drummer has quite a lot of input in the structure. So, I’ll come up with the core of the structure – the kind of verses, the choruses, the bridge, and stuff like that – and Will will kind of just put something more interesting in there. So, the verse in “Scars,” when it drops out to the bass and the drums locked in together with a little bit of the guitar there, that was his piece. I sent over the files, he chopped it all up and sent it back, and went, “Do that!” I said, “Yeah, all right. I’ll give that a blast. Why not?” But, likewise, for Will, when I’ve sent things over to him for preproduction, I’ve programmed drums, as the initial idea. I send it over to him, he tries a few things out, and he comes back and he’s like, “Do you know what? What you’ve done on that actually sounds really good, so I’m going to play that, anyway.” So, like, the guitarist writing drum parts and the drummer writing guitar parts. Hey, mate, if it works, it works, innit? Do you know what I mean?

Yeah. And, actually, if I’m correct, you guys haven’t actually played live yet. Is that right?

No. So, we had our first…So, obviously, all of this has been done online, so all the recording, everything, sending it, learning it, all of that. We were in the studio last week; Monday and Tuesday was our first couple of days in the studio. Smashed it, it was awesome. Like, literally, ten ‘till five, both days. Relentlessly ran through the songs. It sounds really good, it sounds really good. You know, we’re looking forward to playing live, now. I think we’ve got a few final touches to do; we’re getting an in-ear monitor rig sorted out, just so we can have a little bit more of a close listen to what we’re playing while we’re playing it. Once that’s up and running, yeah, we’re good to go.

Do you think it’s beneficial to have the music out beforehand, so maybe you can garner a bit of a fanbase that way, or do you think playing live and then releasing music is the way to go? How do you kind of feel about that, I guess, chronology? [Laughs]

I think, back in the day – I think this is where I’m showing my age here [Both laugh] – but, when I was younger and there wasn’t social media and stuff like that, then 100%, gig first of all because that’s how you’d get yourself out and about – you’d go out, you’d flyer, you’d walk the streets at night chucking flyers out at people in the hope that they’d turn up at the show, and then you’d grow your popularity like that. But nowadays, with social media and stuff like that, 100%, you can do the music side of it first, as long as you can back it up with live shows afterwards. Like, a lot of bands can put out some immaculate music, and then you go to see them live, you’re like, “Tssshh…nah!” [Both laugh] So, yeah, it’s backing it up. As long as we can pull it off live, which we can, that’s the thing. And I think, from the social media side, we haven’t even released any tracks yet; it’s all been sort of teasers and clips, and it’s sad to kind of look at this, but with Instagram, we’ve kind of only started posting on that at the beginning of January – just little clips – and we’ve grown that to just shy of 1,000 people in, like, three months. So, I think having that starting point, so when we release the track next Friday [at the time of recording], there’s a handful of people ready to go, ready to listen to this music.

Yeah. And, actually, one thing I wanted to ask about, the situation in terms of actually playing live. I know everyone in the band has their own logistical things, like everyone has a family, everyone has work, and things they have to do. The attitude that I’ve heard from Fates Messenger, compared to other bands, is that with those bands the kind of goal was to really make it and to consistently tour and to consistently have output, whereas it seems with this one, you’re kind of taking it at your own pace, you don’t have that expectation of being like the biggest thing ever. So, in a way, is that more relaxing or is it just the way it is? How do you view it after being in the music industry for so long?

Yeah, I think that’s the thing: We’ve been there, we’ve done it, we’ve chased the dream of wanting to get signed and make it big. You know, Tony with Above All played some amazing shows with some massive bands, like Korn and stuff like that. With Romeo, we toured a lot and played a lot of different countries and played some amazing shows in front of a lot of people. I think now we’re all a lot older – like, Will’s the youngest member in the band, and he’s 36. We kind of range up to 50 – so, I think we’re at a point where we’re doing this for the fun of it. It is a hobby to us – an expensive hobby! [Laughs] – but it’s something that’s ingrained in us, it’s part of what we love doing, and I don’t think you ever lose that kind of thing. So, yeah, it’s just more for the fun of it now. Like, we want to play some shows, we want to go out and play some decent shows obviously, and we’ll be selective about the shows we play because we’ve got to juggle it around [life] and stuff like that, and if something decent did come up then you make it work. But I think as you get older, you learn balance in life or you try to learn balance in life.

Actually, are you guys based around each other or are you kind of all around the place?

[Laughs] No! So, I’m Somerset way. The drummer’s kind of, like, Basingstoke way, I think. And then the other two are Essex. So, it’s a good three-and-a-half, four-hour drive for me to get to Essex. They say, “What’s the point of having it local, where you can actually practice every week, when you can be miles apart?” But it works, do you know what I mean? You make it work.

Yeah, actually, I think that’s a…I don’t know, an advantage of…because Above All have been around for, I think about thirty years now, right? It’s been about that long. [Editor’s Note: I couldn’t find a date for their formation, but their debut album came out in 1996] And Romeo Must Die has been…I think about twenty, right? [Editor’s Note: Anywhere from 2006 to 2008, depending on your source; although 2007 is the most common year cited] So, it’s been a while since the bands have been around, and in a lot of ways, it feels like this new project couldn’t even really exist back then, but now I guess with the advantages in…sorry, the advances in technology, it’s a much more doable thing.

Yeah.

I don’t know if you feel that this is…that Fates Messenger could only kind of exist today, or how do you feel about that?

No, I think it could’ve existed back then. I mean, back then, when I was in Romeo, I was living Essex way anyway, and Will the drummer was kind of Brighton way, so it wasn’t as bad, logistically, to start off with. So, yeah, it would’ve been doable back then, but I think musicianship-wise, definitely myself and Will, compared to what we were like back then, are a million miles better. Like, we’ve always been good musicians, without, like, trying to blow my trumpet, but we’ve got a lot of years experience of playing. So, even though we haven’t played in bands for a while, we’ve still been militant with our playing and stuff like that, and that shines through with these tracks.

Yeah, and once you get back in the swing of things – I don’t know how long it’s been since you’ve played live and stuff – but I guess, for some people, it can be quite intimidating to get back into that situation, but it seems like…I don’t know, is that something you’re looking forward to getting back into, or how do you feel about it, I guess?

100%. I’m not looking forward to the sitting around and the driving hundreds of miles in the back of the van…

Sure! [Laughs]

Em…[Laughs] But, yeah, I’m buzzing for it. I’m really looking forward to getting back on stage and giving myself self-inflicted whiplash because it’s amazing. Em…[Laughs] But, I do miss that. I miss the buzz. It is like a drug, do you know what I mean? Like, when you’re on stage and…a decent show when you’ve got a lot of people watching, the adrenaline and everything. And it is no different to, like, taking a drug, because – when you’re on stage – you’re high, you’ve got that buzz from it, and post-gig comedown feels like absolute crap, because the next day it’s like, “Oh, crap. I’m back in normality again.” Unless you’re on tour. But, yeah, I’m looking forward to it. Can’t wait to get back on stage again.

Perfect. I guess the last thing I’ll ask is, from your perspective, how do you feel that Fates Messenger kind of differs from other projects you’ve been in, and also – you know, we have the EP coming up – but, generally, what does 2024 kind of look like, in terms of a roadmap?

So, roadmap-wise, the plan is…So, the original plan was to drop an EP, but I think what we’re going to do is we’re going to space it out a little bit. So, like I said, we’ve got quite a lot of tracks done, so I think what we might do is drop a couple more in about six weeks after releasing this one. Although we’re impatient, so probably about four weeks. [Both laugh] And then just do it like that, and then collectively put them together as the EP in the end, so at least there’s a constant flow coming out. And the thing is, we’ve got that luxury as well, that as we write ‘em, we can put them out for release as quickly as we do it, you know what I mean? So, the core and the template’s there, so as long as we’re happy and we’ve got something we’re good to go with, we’ll just put it out straight away. And then, gig-wise, just try and get as many decent shows as we can but, like I said, balancing it around everything else that’s going on in life.

Yeah. Actually, the turnaround rate’s been really quick. Like, you said you only really just started doing the social media in the New Year and already it seems like it’s kind of hit the ground running. Do you find…? Again, it’s that kind of thing about making music in the modern day, the quickness compared to before, when you’d have to sit around and send demos and record demos and send them around and stuff.

Yeah.

Do you feel now it’s just kind of cut out that…? I don’t know. That latency, I guess?

I think that’s just the way life works now, isn’t it? Everything’s a quick fix, it’s fast. It’s kind of fast, done, out. And I think that’s kind of the reason we decided to kind of do a couple of the tracks released at a time, because the reality is, I know myself, if a band releases an album, unless it’s a band that I absolutely love – like Sylosis, for example. I listened to their new album from start to finish, just because it’s incredible – but another band releases an album, I’ll probably listen to a couple of tracks from it, and then I’ll listen to something else. And that’s how people’s brains work nowadays – they don’t want ten, twelve tracks on an album to listen to; they want a couple of tracks that they can listen to, and then, later on, another couple of tracks that they can add to a playlist or something like that, you know what I mean? So, having that ability to drop quick[ly] in smaller amounts I think is how life works with most things, like, it can be YouTube, flicking through videos. And I think that’s what we’ve done with our Instagram profile, is trying to have short video clips to go with our posts, and instead of it being kind of stagnant images, just thirty seconds worth of video with a bit of lyrics on [them] is more enticing, you know?

Yeah, and I actually think it perpetuates what you’re doing too, because, again, if you drop an album, it’s like, “Well, that’s it then for, like, another six months or so.” Whereas, if you’re constantly releasing stuff throughout the year in drips and drabs, it’s keeping you in people’s minds; you get a notification and stuff if they follow you. So, love it or hate it, I do think that’s just how it is now, you know?

Yeah. And I think, hopefully, off the back of these first two tracks, we’ll get them out, and then that gives us a position to kind of say, “Right, this is our music. This is what we sound like.” Start booking the gigs off the back of that. Hopefully, build a following a bit more, then put out another couple of tracks. And the next two tracks will kind of be showcasing a bit of a different side of us. One of them, “World Collapsed,” is very thrashy and stuff, but it’s got a big mid-section, a massive drop in it and stuff. And then, what’s the one we’re…? “Carved in Stone,” I think, is the other one, and that’s proper, like…epic. In fact, the working title for it was “Epic,” just because it is an epic track. So, you can make out from that, like, the synths and backing and stuff like that. But that just kind of showcases that kind of side of it, as well. So, even though all the tracks have got a slightly different sound, you can tell it’s us because they sound the same in the actual sound, if that makes sense, but just the styles that feed into it. And it’s just a lot of the inspiration [from] bands we listened to, growing up, over the years. So, yeah…

Perfect, man. I think I’ve asked everything I have to ask. Is there anything you’d like to add before we wrap up, or…?

No, I’m good. Other than when this comes out, help promote us. Push it out as far as you can, and we just hope that people will enjoy it. But I think the way we see this is, we’re writing music that we like listening to, and if people don’t like it, people don’t like it. We’re having fun with it. I’m quite happy listening to these tracks, back-to-back. Like, I’ve written them, but it is music that I’d listen to if someone else released it, and I think that’s the thing, as long as we walk away happy with what we’ve done, then everything else is a win.

Fates Messenger’s debut single, “Scars,” releases today. You can keep up with the band here.