PLEASE INTRODUCE YOURSELF FOR US WHO ARE NOT FAMILIAR WITH YOU AND YOUR MUSIC AND TELL US A BIT ABOUT YOURSELF.
We are 2/5 of Next Stop Olympus, Conor (Vocals) and Matt (Bass).
Conor: We are a metalcore/post-hardcore/rock ’n’ roll band from Salisbury and we are trying to get the style of music we enjoy playing to as many ears as possible!
TELL US A LITTLE BIT ABOUT YOUR NEW ALBUM OR SINGLE?
Our new EP ‘Heart, Mind & Hell’ came out on 9th April, it has 5 tracks on which as a whole tell a story of someones downfall, from betrayal then anger to turning to alcohol and despair about the situation to finally just giving up.
WHAT INSPIRED THE ALBUM OR SINGLE?
All the lyrics are based on different situations we’ve been through personally and it wasn’t until we had written some of the songs that it comes together as a story so we chose the song order based on that.
CAN YOU SUM UP THE ALBUM IN A FEW WORDS?
It’s a very personal EP which all we poured a lot of ourselves into in a way we haven’t before and it’s a nice blend on heavy metal core / post hardcore with big rock ’n’ roll chorus’.
WHAT RECORD CHANGED YOUR LIFE AND WHY?
Matt: Asking Alexandria - Reckless and relentless just because after hearing that album was where I became really passionate about music.
Conor: The City Sleeps In Flames by the band Scary Kids Scaring Kids, they were the first band with screaming vocals that I really enjoyed. It’s not too far a stretch to say that without that album I probably wouldn’t have gone down the route of pursuing harsher vocals in music.
DO YOU HAVE A FAVOURITE MUSIC VIDEO FILMED BY YOUR BAND OR ANOTHER ARTIST?
Matt: For our own music probably The Dirt off of our first EP because the song is about a night out with your mates and we got hammered while filming it so that was pretty fun!
Conor: My Affliction from our new EP ‘Heart, Mind & Hell’. This is for one very simple reason, at one moment Matt and I clash heads, we both misjudged the situation and just head butted each other…the sound was great!
WHAT WOULD WE FIND YOU DOING WHEN YOU’RE NOT MAKING MUSIC?
Matt: Normally just planning out the next move for our music!
Conor: I spend most of my time reading fantasy novels or playing on the playstation…or watching movies/tv…then I jump to it once Matt has decided our next musical move.
DO YOU GET NERVOUS PERFORMING LIVE, IF SO HOW DO YOU DEAL WITH THAT?
Matt: I do if we haven’t played for a while, if we’re playing a lot of shows then not really anymore but our first show back after covid I know I will be and I deal with it just by powering through the first song then I’m always alright.
Conor: I wouldn’t say I ever get nervous about performing, I have a lot of trust that the guys will smash it and this brings me a lot of confidence when we’re on stage.
HOW DID YOU FORM THE BAND?
Matt: Conor and I had discussed being in a band years before NSO actually came about and nothing ever really came from it, fast forward a few years and I first met Josh and found out that he played drums and that’s when Next Stop first really started going, Myself and josh started working on finding new members. I had asked Conor to join the band as well as also finding Skips on an online site for musicians, after we all hitting it off well and still looking for a second guitarist we started working our debut single ‘Home’ during this time we tried out some people and then I realised Harry was back from university and asked him to come along for a chat, I knew Harry could sing as well as play guitar it was a perfect fit so then we had our official line up.
HOW DO YOU WRITE? - DO YOU HAVE A KEY SONGWRITER, OR DO YOU ALL WORK TOGETHER?
We all write or are involved in the process, normally someone will bring a skeleton of a song, lyrics or even just an idea and then we build it together from there.
WHAT INSPIRES YOU?
Matt: Anything can really, the mood I’m in, wanting to write lyrics about a situation or even just hearing a song with a lot of passion or emotion in can do it.
Conor: Mainly it’s my main form of catharsis, I don’t really open up too much about what I have going on emotionally/mentally and writing lyrics has been a very good way of getting things off my chest, as cliche as that may seem.
WHAT IS NEXT?
Now we can start to look at playing shows again with covid restrictions easing, we just want to get these new songs out there as much as we can and play as much as we can and carry on writing whatever’s next while we do that.
PLEASE TELL US ANY SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS SO WE CAN SHARE.
All of our social media links are on our link tree.