When we got this one through I was really sure we’d featured Rogue Awakening before, but I can’t find them on the site. Which, when you give them a listen, turns into “why on Earth haven’t we featured them before?!” Well, it’s time to right that wrong…
Simple things first – where are you guys from?
Well we are originally from Horsham, UK but we have spread a bit now with in Brighton and Eastbourne as well!
How did you meet?
The band was a weird product of lockdown! Kimberley and Tom used to live on the same street and it was that dark time when you could talk to people but only at a distance. They started chatting and Kimberley asked Tom what he was doing to stay sane and he said he was getting back into guitar and she said she used to sing in a band and then announced they should start a band! From there we had Ollie who was friends with Nick and brought him along and it just clicked. Our most recent member is James on the drums and he brings a crazy intensity and energy that you can hear on our new tracks.
How long have you been playing as a band?
We started back in 2022 but we were just messing around in a rehearsal room with no idea what kind of music we wanted to play. There has been a definite evolution in both our sound and live shows but it’s taken us a while to settle on the kind of music we want to be making. I’d say in the last year or so we’ve really settled into our groove musically and image wise and we hope our new music reflects that.
Before you get sick of being asked… where does the band name come from?
It’s a funny one as lots of people think it’s a Star Wars reference which wasn’t intentional! I think we liked the idea of a rogue, someone who is likeable but a bit of a wrong ‘un as well as the D & D character class. Then the Awakening part was linked to how the band started in lockdown and how a lot of people had been on this treill of just existing and not really questioning their life choices and if they were happy or not. Then COVID happened and everyone’s normal life stopped and although it was not great in most ways it did allow some people to breathe and maybe change where their life was headed.
What are your influences?
There are so many! All of us have quite different tastes in music all the way from Kate Bush to Cannibal Corpse! But I think this means we get a really interesting mix of ideas and influences in our music. We all take an active part in the creative process which is great as there isn’t a huge pressure on one individual and also means there is a variation to our songs depending on who came up with the original idea. At the moment we are loving the new stuff from Sleep Token and Spiritbox and that has probably been influencing a lot of our newer material.
Describe your music. What makes you unique?
I think we would say it was heavy but melodic. We have the powerful blasting drums coupled with heavy layered guitar riffs and bass but then you have Kimberley’s beautiful clean and soaring vocals on top. We’ve worked hard on developing the theatrics and stage presence of our live shows in the last few months so you can expect lots of energy and a great atmosphere! As to what makes us unique well we have a Dark Goddess as our lead singer!
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Do you have any particular lyrical themes?
It honestly varies a lot between songs. We are a big fan of making our lyrics quite open to interpretation. It’s nice to hear what people think the song is about and how they hear it. Main exception is our new track Remain Untamed which Kimberley wrote as a female rallying cry and all the lyrics are things men have said to her to belittle and put her down.
What’s your live show like? How many shows have you played?
We have worked really hard to make our live show a fully immersive experience! So expect lots of pagan and fantasy themes as well as war paint and crowd participation! We wanted to start making the whole show a performance and try to avoid and quiet bits between songs to keep people fully immersed and engaged. We have done a lot of live shows so not sure of the total!
What’s the wildest thing you’ve seen or done at a live show?
There’s been a few wild ones! We did a great gig in Guildford at this mad little venue The Holyrood Arms which has a barrier in front of the stage. The crowd were going nuts and at one point we had half the band leaning backwards over the rail getting grabbed at by the crowd and covered in beer!
What kit do you use / guitars do you play / etc.?
TC currently uses a ESP LTD Arrow Black Metal, Ollie uses Jackson Guitars. They both have matching Valeton GP200 amp modellers which is great as they sound awesome and don’t weigh a tonne!
What, if anything, are you plugging/promoting at the moment?
We have just release our new single Remain Untamed which we are very excited about! We wrote this a while back and knew we had something special and wanted to make it a big track on the EP that we will be releasing later this year.
Kimberley wrote the lyrics as a rallying cry to everyone who has been told to conform and come in line with society’s norms and expectations. All the lyrics are things that people have actually said to demean and belittle her. It has a super aggressive intro and an epic chorus as well as an intense breakdown so hopefully something for everyone!
Plus the video is wild! We filmed it in Brighton with some amazingly talented pole dancers who even get to whip TC our guitarist at one point so definitely worth a watch!
What are your plans for the next 6 months or so?
We have a busy year ahead! Lots of gigs around the south from Eastbourne, Bournemouth, Portsmouth, Worthing and Brighton as well as festivals like Guilfest.
We are back in the studio next month as well recording another track for our second EP which we are aiming to have out in November.
We would love to do a small tour as well so any promoters from the north/midlands who’d like to book us get in touch!
If you were second on a three-band bill, which band would you love to be ing and which band would you choose to open for you? A chance to plug someone you’ve toured with, or a mate’s band we’ve not heard of before!
We’d would love to open for Spiritbox. They have such a raw powerful sound and are absolutely smashing it at the moment.
We’d love our band besties Sypha to open for us. They are doing really well at the moment and I’m sure they have bigger things in store for them. They are super talented and have a similar sound to us and are really nice bunch as well!
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