No Sin Evades His Gaze are one of the hardest working young bands in the UK today. They blend the rigid rhythmic pulse of Tech Metal with the melodic directness of more mainstream music into a compelling amalgam all of their own.
I was able to catch 10 minutes alone with them to chat about Influences, Quarries, Videos and Time Travel.
CP: I really enjoyed your 'Ages of Sedation' video. I don't know what the budget was, but it looked expensive.
James Denton (Vox): Lots! hahaha. No but it was less than you'd think actually. We managed to get the location for free actually.
CP: What was it? A quarry?
JD: yeah it was a quarry. Yeah and the staff were really nice to us. They drove us around the site. They dug us out a space to film the video.
Dan Thornton (guitar): They flattened the land out for us, as well.
JD: We had walkie talkie contact with them and if we needed anything, we would walkie-talkie them and they'd bring it to us.
DT: At one point we had this dolly track that we had to put down for the camera to roll on and the director was like 'Its not really flat enough for it to go down'. So we called in this massive digger. Which just went BOOM……Thank you, flat space.
CP: Did you have a contact there?I mean does someone tyou know break rocks for a living?
JD: Not really. The director just got in contact with them and they agreed to it. We were like 'Guys this is our first video! How are we going to top this? What are we going to do next? We'll have to go to the moon.'
CP: Yeah, cos when I saw the start of the Video, with the swirling sky and all that stuff, I thought "Who the Fuck is This?"
JD: Literally, there was a camera behnd me with the director going 'James! The sky is swirling! Look angry at the Sky. Shake your fist at the sky. Its a big black hole'
CP: How long did the video take to do?
DT: 2 days. The first day we the crane shots. All the swooping moves, then the next day we adid all the individual stuff and the sky shit. That was such a fun thing to do and an interesting place to be.
JD: I will remember that place for a long time.
CP: Have you had a lot of good responses to the video?
JD: It got 43-000 hits in 3 weeks. Which is pretty damn mad. We have managed to book aload of gigs off the back of it and we also got featured by Dom Lawson in The Guardian (High brow UK National newspaper) that just made our week. We found outt that we were playing TechFest then came home and we were in The Guardian, it was just amazing.
CP: Having such an impactful video, who've got people asking 'what are they going to come out with artistically next?'
DT: I think coming out of the gate so strongly, with such a distinctive image, we've got a lot of work to do keep that momentum going.
JD: We thought because we all came from other bands, the idea was like, "well if you could start again from scratch, taking everything you've learnt from your experiences on the road, which contacts would you go to, what would you do? How would you give your band the best chance of being a success?"
So, we managed to get good management. We've got a whole album done rather than just an EP. We spent a long time on it. Bloody hell, I mean they say when it happens it happens fast and it really has happened fast for us in the last few weeks.
CP: Its funny you say that because one of the questions that I like to ask people is, If you could go back in time to the start of everything and give yourself some advice, knowing what you know now, what advice would you give yourself?
Moat Lowe (bass): I mean for me its just make sure you put yourself in the strongest position possible straight off the bat.
JD: Literally present yourselves as contemporaries for any professional band. Look at head-liners and say that that is the standard that we need to make our stuff be at. There is no break in phase where you go OK, 'it's just our first EP. The production will be a bit dodgy. The pitches are all off.' You have to literally put your heart and soul into something to make sure it looks pristine from the off.
Because if you project that attitude then people will take you as a professional band.
DT: Yeah, don't drip feed stuff. Don't make a Facebook page and then tell people constantly that stuff is coming. Have the whole package ready to go and release it as one unit.
ML: Its easy to get over excited as a young person in a band and put stuff out too soon because you want people to see what you're doing. You have to focus your work as a whole product.
JD: And be prepared to sacrifice stuff. Like a Job…and Your Life….and Your Money…hahaha
Because that is literally what it takes. I mean videos cost loads of money and we're all doing this instead of jobs at the moment. But you've got to put a lot into anything to gain success.
CP: What are your main influences, what do you hear hen you listen to the album?
JD: I don't know if |I hear it. But Whitechapel have been a huge influence on me. I'd love to be ona bill with them one day.
DT: Yeah they're great. I'm a big fan of Red Seas Fire, so its great to be on the bill with them. As Jim was a huge influence on me, when it came to playing 7 and 8 string guitars. I mean they are considered a fairly small band, but I'll still draw influences there as much as I would from Bullet or Lamb of God.
ML: New bands can definitely infuence you as well. Because New bands are the ones pushing the envelope, where big bands often have to play it safe because of record labels and stuff.
JD: Yeah I go around and watch the bands here [at UKTF] and watch the different front-men and take in all the little things that they're doing. Its kind off like having a master-class on how to be a good front-man. You big up tips on crowd interaction and seeing how they work the crowd. I put in loads of those things into our set and they worked.
Observing other bands can teach you loads about how to put on a good stage show. You have to get a crowd really early. And if you get them early then generally you can keep them.
Unless you're terrible, then they'll leave.
N.S.E.H.G are currently in post-production of their new video, Filth. They are close to finishing work on it and it should be released in the next few weeks.
– John Whitmore
