Heard Design The Skyline? You poor fucker. Agonyst will make it all beter. Frontman Louis Coates gives us the lowdown on the up and coming metal titans.
First of all, who does what in your band?
Zac O'Neil is our drummer, Nathan Weanie plays bass, David Perrin is on guitar and vocals, and I (Louis Coates) do vocals and guitar.
Where are you from?
Our HQ is Norwich, Norfolk where three of us live now, though we have humble origins in Suffolk, Essex and Surrey respectively. We didn't fall far from the tree!
How long you been together?
We have had our current (and most wonderful) line-up for about 8 months. However prior to that we had been playing live since 2007, and even longer still before that we were a 'bedroom band' from 1998 to 2006.
Who are your main inspirations for Agonyst?
The list is way too big to really do justice – I love intense music, and I've been hooked on metal for years so right at the start in the 90s my most important inspirations were probably Meshuggah, Strapping Young Lad, Opeth and Emperor; I really love it when musical structures can feel flowing and arbitrary at the same time, so jazz musicians like Pat Metheny, Lyle Mays and Adam Rogers have also inspired me hugely of late! But as mentioned, the full list is practically endless, and still growing.
How would you describe Agonyst?
To put it as scientifically and unbiased as possible, I would describe Agonyst as very special technical death metal, but especially special and of the best kind! We fill people’s heads with complex musical themes, addictive grooves, atomising intensity and often inconceivable subject matter. We don’t ever do filler tracks or even filler riffs – so every syllable uttered, every beat hit and note played is of huge importance!
What do you think makes Agonyst stand out?
Hundreds of hooks, mofo! Gotta have hooks. It seems to me that the horrid business of manufactured pop has pretty much put off everybody in the metal scene from writing hooky, or heaven forbid “sing-along” parts, because we generally think it is not cool. I think it's only deemed not cool because the sort of people monopolising the use of hooks are on the whole integrity-devoid slimebuckets, who do so to aid the artless job of anticipating the consumeristic whims of X-Factor suckled, idiot children. Agonyst is taking the power back – we're one of the heaviest and standalone weird bands I've ever heard, and people who aren't even into metal still say they like Agonyst, which I think is because of the hooks. Also, our hooks must be really hooky because they only occur twice max in any song, and people still remember them!
How did your previous bands pave the way for Agonyst?
Our previous bands (and current in some cases) are probably hinted at musically in Agonyst's music, but not in a deliberate or prevalent way – it is the combination of our collective styles after all, so our other efforts should bear at least some resemblance! More notably, the bands we were previously in were instrumental in getting each other's attention! David and I have been in bands together since we were kids, and we met Matt (our former guitarist) when he was in Gorerotted and I was in Screamin' Daemon. He knew Zac from their former band Failed Humanity and so he introduced Zac to us (although we already thought Zac was the tits on ENT's 'Being And Nothing'). Finally we met Nathan (a consummate solo, session and band artist) at Bloodstock 2009 when Sower, his band at the time, played alongside Agonyst on the Unsigned Stage where a mutual appreciation began, and over time eventually blossomed into full-blown bumlove. Could you describe the live Agonyst experience?
You know when Johnny 5 from Short Circuit reads really fast? Well, imagine him doing that while spreading rumours about your sexual cleanliness, or Superman taking the time out to teabag you and fart full-blast in your face whilst nimbly saving the world? We all really love to laugh and joke, so whilst the music is as serious as a craft can get, we are totally School of Zappa when it comes to live shows. The closest metaphor I can come up with for the Agonyst live experience is “getting publicly humiliated by someone with a severe learning disability whilst they wow others with an unlikely savant brilliance” – and all of this for a nominal fee of course.
What’s next for Agonyst?
Well, there is talk about an EP between our debut 'Centennial' and the sophomore album we're creating, and some excellent promo video ideas have been storyboarded – though all of this is pretty classified stuff so I can't spoil too much of it – but suffice to say, our music and everything else we do is developing really fast, and we are mental excited about it – if you want to catch it in action, you should come and see us soon!
Finally, is there anyone you want to thank?
First of all we'd like to thank both the Agonyst fans – you two are brilliant! Second, a massive whoop must be made to Danny B from HVR Studios for being a genius producer and a top-class gent, Jason Hicks from Dark Visions for his amazing album art, Lala Roe from Leasepics and John Lyddon for their excellent photo and video ultra-radness, all the promoters, journalists, movers-and-shakers and anyone else who has given us an opportunity to spread our name (even against their better judgement), and finally a massive thank you to our families and friends for putting up with a collective four lifetimes of really strange and obsessive behaviour – it was all worth it, we promise!
Breaking The Waves 
