New Music

Bryan Garris - Knocked Loose 'Different Shades of Metal'

Aug 23, 2019

7 min read

Knocked Loose have just released their sophomore album, A Different Shade of Blue, which is a massive step up in their hardcore and metal paradigm from their last record and sees the band progressing their style in heavier ways (our review here). We had the chance to sit down with frontman Bryan Garris where he told us about his cathartic writing process for the record, the band's friendship with Every Time I Die's Keith Buckley and what they hope their next visit to our shores will be like.

Your current single ‘...And I Still Wonder South’ touches on the idea of going back through old habits. After you wrote this song, did you finally get closure on those habits?

Yes and no. I guess it depends on how you want to interpret it. It touches base on a lot of things, but the song specifically pertains to writer’s block. Going into this record I was having a hard time figuring out what I wanted to talk about, things I wanted to say. So that’s what the song is about specifically and I kinda found my closure in that (in writing this song).

So to help you overcome that writer’s block, where did your songwriting influences come from?

I kinda just got an opportunity to really focus on myself, and it was a very therapeutic process for me. I tried to pull from personal experiences, I can’t really pinpoint anything that specifically inspired me.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u84ky2dZsA8&w=640&h=360]

Which song on the new album resonates closest to you?

The song ‘Guided By The Moon’. It’s one of my favourite songs I’ve ever written lyrically, it’s a very personal song to me, and one of my favourite songs we’ve ever written as a band.

You guys also got to work with Keith Buckley from Every Time I Die on this new record. Did he teach you any valuable lessons?

Yeah, we got really close to Every Time I Die because we toured with them like all year (2017). Over time we became really good friends with Keith. Working with him on the record was very laidback, because now that we're friends we just reached out to him and asked if he wanted to work on this song. He was like "yeah of course", and he got it done and he crushed it!

You guys have remained constantly heavy throughout your time as a band. Will we see Knocked Loose head down a more melodic path as you progress your music?

I don’t see any drastic changes ahead. We like being heavy, and I think that’s what we’ll always be. I could never see us going soft. I think there’s the beauty of what we do and, in my opinion we’re not really confined to a specific genre. We have a little bit of a hardcore element, a little death metal, and I think within that, it gives us the freedom to do whatever we want. That doesn’t mean that we would ever put clean singing on one of our songs, because we probably won’t. I think there’s a lot of things that we’re able to try within what our sound consists of so that it doesn’t get boring.

You guys were here last in 2018 with Four Year Strong. When will we be seeing you grace our shores next?

Hopefully not too long. In a perfect world, I’d like to visit once a year because we love playing Australia! We’re definitely working on it though.

Australian audiences always give 110% at shows. Would you be looking to do a festival like UNIFY, or your own headline tour?

I’d love to do a headliner in Australia, in smaller venues, no barricades, just really personal, crazy shows, I don’t think we’ve got to do that yet, but it’s been talked about for sure.

An Aussie headliner would be mental indeed. Stay heavy, Bryan!

Interview by Tamara May (@citylightsTAM)

A Different Shade of Blue is out now through Pure Noise Records.
Grab a copy here!

Knocked Loose – A Different Shade of Blue tracklisting:

1. Belleville
2. Trapped in the Grasp of a Memory
3. A Serpent’s Touch (feat. Emma Boster)
4. By The Grave
5. In the Walls
6. Guided by the Moon
7. Mistakes Like Fractures
8. Forget Your Name (Feat. Keith Buckley)
9. Road 23
10. …And I Still Wander South
11. Denied By Fate
12. Misguided Son