Metal madmen Penance are set to release their new album, ‘Dawn of a new (sav)Age’, on March 25th, it’s a follow up to 2011’s debut ‘Last Rites’ and is set to be a monster!
The band, from Surrey, are well known on the scene for their intense and fun live shows and being the country’s biggest Kylie Minogue fans.
This is Penance…
Introduce yourselves? Jon Keane – Vocals, Gaz Lynch – Bass, George Roberts – Drums, Josh Brown – Guitar and Simon Lupton – Guitar. Together we are Penance! We play awesome metal. Nuff said.
Where did the bands name come from? Â Well it means retribution for ones sins, so its pretty apt for us.
How did you get started? Â Well I guess you could say that Penance were born the day that Simon and George found Gaz wrestling a bear whilst drunk on cheap whiskey.
What have you got going on at the moment? Â We’ve got a lot of gigging going on, on top of that we’re writing for a new album, plus promotion and marketing for our upcoming album Dawn of a New (sav) Age due for release on 25th March 2013.
Favourite music and why? Well every member has their own tastes but generally I guess we’d have to say pop, just because Kylie Minogue is a legend!
Favourite book and why? The readers in the band would say The Game of Thrones series of books because they’ve got blood, sex, war and betrayal in them. What more do you need?
Favourite film and why? Â Cockneys vs Zombies. Does exactly what it says on the tin.
Best experience in the business?  The best experience we’ve had so far is playing at Guildfest last year, our first time at a large festival and had a great weekend!
Why should Soundscape readers care?  If you want to listen to some metal that isn’t generic and boring come to Penance. You won’t have ever heard a band like us. Even better, come to a live show and see for yourselves.
Tell our readers an interesting fact about the band? Â George Roberts (drummer) once posed naked for a calander shoot. True story, we’ve got the photos!
What’s the best and worst things about touring? Best things are definitely the drunken, sexy caterpillar and impromptu tattooing. Worst has to be sharing a van/hotel with Simon. He snores like a demon then wakes you up at the crack of dawn cuz he can’t sleep!
Most embarrassing thing to happen to you while in the band?  The most embarassing thing would have to be getting banned by a metal promoter for being too metal… Anyway it was the crowd that smashed the bin up not us! Ha ha
What’s your writing and recording process like? Â When it comes to writing its normally one person will bring an idea to the group and we’ll all sit down and expand the idea and put our own input in til it sounds good, or we’ll all just jam with a Mic in the room and see what happens! We try to do recording ourselves, our ‘Dawn Of A New (sav)Age’ was recorded in a three week session at a studio, but we have since remastered our first album ourselves working out of our practice room, just need a decent interface and decent laptop!
What inspires you?  Anything and everything. It sounds cliché but you can’t pigeonhole where inspiration comes from.
Best thing about coming from or playing in Wales? Â We’re not from Wales but Sheep (Simon) feels at home!
Who are your role models or idols? Â Metallica, Maiden, Slipknot, Machine Head, Opeth, Chuck Norris and Batman. To name but a few…
Hardest thing about the current business?  Getting yourself noticed through all the generic drivel that is already out there.
Favourite Batman actor?  Adam West. But only after he’d gone a bit mental!
