Kyle Anderson - Brand of Sacrifice 'Anticipating Rowdy Aussie Energy At Knotfest'
Fronting the newest wave of internationally touring Canadian '-core' acts, Brand of Sacrifice have continued to dominate the northern hemisphere with their low-tuned experimental sounds which stretch the bounds of what deathcore can and should be.As they prepare to make their maiden voyage down under for their appearance at Australia's second edition of the world-renowned Knotfest, we grabbed vocalist Kyle Anderson to discuss what he may expect as he steps foot on Australian stages for the first time, dream artists to collaborate with and what the group's future releases might sound like.Kyle, it is a pleasure to chat with you. Thank you for taking the time to talk today. This is Brand of Sacrifice's first time down under. What measures are you taking to ensure that these performances are received well by punters and peers on the lineup?My pleasure. I think we'll just go as hard as possible as that is one thing that constantly seems to translate really well to a crowd full of heavy music fans. One thing that I like to do is encourage a lot of movement and moshing within the crowd, so that's what you can expect from us.I'm intrigued to know what you have been told about Australian metalheads and Australian large-scale festivals. Do you have any expectations for Aussie fans?I have been told that Australians are very rowdy which is something I always love to hear. I'm expecting to see some crazy things from the Australian crowds and I'm hoping they'll deliver.As a country with a flourishing community of headbangers, I hope we can live up to that! At your sideshow sets, you'll be sharing the stage with Lamb of God, which is absolutely mental. Can fans expect much of a difference between your festival slots and these sideshow sets?I think it'll be a pretty similar set, it'll just be a little more up close and personal at the sideshows. Those smaller, more intimate shows are always quite a lot of fun. We always go just as hard, regardless of what venue we are playing at.At the 2023 edition of Knotfest Australia, Jay Weinberg, who is now the former drummer for Slipknot told us that when they and their team decide who they want to play at an edition of Knotfest, they approach it with a "bangers-only mentality". Keeping that in mind, how does it feel knowing that Slipknot, one of the world's biggest bands, are keeping a watchful eye on what you are doing?It's honestly crazy! Leo (lead guitarist and producer) and I grew up listening to Slipknot, which makes being a part of this all that more special. Hopefully one day we get to meet the guys in the band, that would be awesome. I have had the chance to speak with Clown a little bit - that was a cool experience. It's great to know they they have their ears on the ground with what's new in the heavy music scene.Well, you have been lucky enough to be on a few different festival lineups that Corey Taylor has also played, so it shouldn't be too much longer until your paths cross.That would be amazing. I think Corey has even chatted with some of the guys in Slaughter To Prevail. He definitely seems interested in some of the new blood.Taking a moment to look closely at your music, Brand of Sacrifice has collaborated with some notably big artists such as We Came As Romans, Harper, and even Lorna Shore's Will Ramos. What inspired these high quality collaborations?For myself and Leo, we're always interested in things that are outside of the box. It is kind of expected to have two guys within a similar genre to be on the same track, which is always cool. However, with the We Came As Romans song, most bands will reimagine a song and go softer, or acoustic. They almost never go the opposite direction, which is to go heavier. So that was something new and exciting. I loved being able to add my flair to a really catchy tune, which was a great song to begin with.Leo produced, wrote and mixed the instrumentals for the projects with Harper. He's an absolute wizard when it comes to that stuff. He did a great job to bring the best out of Harper. He wrote some great songs for her.
The collaboration with Will (Ramos) was one that just made sense. The 'Lifeblood' single was already very well received, however, the newer version has even more stream counts. Will did a great job on that track. We were able to perform that live together a few times last spring which was really cool to do.
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ahKVF1ZcJc[/embed]Is there a particular artist you aspire to collaborate with on a Brand of Sacrifice track for a potential dream collaboration?I would love to collaborate with Post Malone. That would be a very cool one.That's an interesting answer!Well, I like the idea of bringing things that are way outside of our world into our world. Spiritbox managed to do a collaboration with Megan Thee Stallion which I think is awesome, it reminds me of the Jay-Z and Linkin Park collaboration that the entire world fell in love with. I'd love to continue on that trend.I can't wait for that to come to fruition. On a personal note, I just returned to Australia yesterday after living in Canada for nine months.Oh that's awesome!It was great! I love Canada. I hit up as many shows as I possibly could while I was there and one thing I found impossible to ignore was how much the North American metalcore and deathcore communities are undeniably thriving. How do you find yourself navigating the pressures of being at the forefront of the newest generation of internationally touring deathcore acts coming out of Canada?I just do the best I can to create the music that I would want to hear as a music fan, and music that I can envision myself enjoying performing for years on end. If you focus on that, everything else seems to fall into place naturally. If you direct your attention elsewhere, problems on the outside seem to appear. Continuing to focus on the craft has always been the best way to move forward.Your dedicated focus on your product has definitely shone through, particularly on your most recent EP Between Death and Dreams where you explored emotions other than just anger, which is something quite new for Brand of Sacrifice. In a live setting, how is that being interpreted by fans who are almost always fueled to mosh by your aggressive energy on stage?We did a short tour with Spiritbox in the UK and we played the single 'Between Death and Dreams' and that was pretty sweet to do. Since then we have been focusing on continuing with our usual heavy set. It's going to be useful to have a number of different songs with different vibes depending on who you are playing or touring with.On that tour with Spiritbox, that song was received really well. It has a great breakdown at the end and fans are always into that. I think that any song which has something that people can sing along to always goes down excellently.[embed]https://youtu.be/vyO5ukNpg5c?si=U-VOG_WdIK0mTz1-[/embed]Each of the four tracks on Between Death and Dreams could stand strongly on their own as singles in my opinion. However, a four-track EP seems somewhat like a little tease. Was there a method behind the madness when it came to deciding to release an EP with only four tracks on it, rather than the usual five or six?We had a fifth song for the EP that was fully completed. However, we just didn't feel as if it was strong enough to include. We don't want to just release filler songs simply for the sake of it. We all agreed that the four tracks we have are all strong tracks which showcases that as a band, we have more depth and more in our toolkit than people may have realised. It is also very transitionary to allow for more exploration on the next full-length release. It can be important to ease people into different things we might attempt to do and an EP is a great way to do that.So your next full length could possibly be a continuation of the Between Death and Dreams EP, or even a continuation from your latest single, 'Purge'?'Purge' is a standalone single. There will be elements of that track in future releases but everything you have already heard will exist within our next album but it will also include new elements as we experiment with other genres of music and add them into the mix. It's going to be what you know and love but it will also include a lot of surprises as well.
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Recently you signed with the very well-respected Nuclear Blast Records. What exactly does this mean for the creative direction of Brand of Sacrifice in the future?It just means that things are going to be a lot more organised. There will be more access to things like vinyl and other merch items at a quicker turnaround time. We have a great team behind us with all of that administrative stuff now. We were previously handling everything on our own, at a certain point as the band continues to grow, that becomes quite difficult. This signing will have no effect on our creative control. We will not stop doing things how we want to do them. We still have a very DIY mindset, but we have a lot more support now.Do you have any last thoughts for Australian fans before you arrive for your appearances at Knotfest?I am just super excited to see exactly how rowdy Australians can really be. The reputation of Australian crowds is held in high regards in the eyes of many of my peers so I can't wait to experience it for myself.Let's show Brand Of Sacrifice what we do best at Knotfest Australia and their Lamb of God support slot sideshow.Interview by Adam Rice
For the latest news, keep an eye on our Knotfest Rolling Coverage
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Knotfest
Thursday March 21 | Flemington Racecourse, Melbourne
Saturday March 23 | Centennial Park, Sydney
Sunday March 24 | Showgrounds, Brisbane
Lamb of God - Sideshows
Wednesday 20 March - Northcote Theatre, Melbourne - SOLD OUT
Monday 25 March - Eatons Hill Hotel, Brisbane
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