Thanks to COVID-19, bands are currently plagued by the uncertainty of when they’ll eventually be able to tour again. Still being able to write and release music to fans feels like a blessing, however, for Bristolian hardcore punk four-piece, Svalbard, this was recently thrown into jeopardy. Founder of their (now ex) record label, Holy Roar, has been accused of rape and sexual assault by multiple women, meaning the band had no choice but to cut all ties and pull the release of third full length ‘When I Die, Will I Get Better?’ Being plunged into freefall when you’re mere weeks away from putting out a new album would shake lesser bands to their foundations, however, refusing to be defeated, Svalbard took swift action and have placed the record in the capable hands of Church Road Records, meaning the album won’t be thrown off course from its original release date. We chatted with Serena Cherry, lead guitarist and one half of the dual vocals behind Svalbard, who is relieved to finally be able to focus on the music. “For a while it felt like the brakes had been slammed on and we were worried we weren’t going to find a home for it”, she explains, “Now I’m just super happy and feeling really good. It feels like just a huge weight off my shoulders, to be honest. Finally, we can just get on with getting the music out there, which is the main thing.”
Church Road Records is a relatively new venture, set up in the midst of lockdown by Sammy Unwin and Justine Jones (ex-Holy Roar employees). The pair were quick to spring into action to help facilitate the release of ‘When I Die, Will I Get Better?’ despite only having released smaller black metal projects prior to this. Also making a productive use of lockdown for new ventures, Serena has be working on her own black metal project, so Church Road is the perfect fit. “It’s called Noctule, which is a type of bat exclusive to the UK, I believe”, Serena tells us, and “That record’s nearly finished. There’s still a few songs that need a bit of work, and some mixing and mastering to do. It will be out next year, which I’m really excited for.” It seems there isn’t a sub-genre of metal that Serena won’t try her hand at, having used 2020’s months of isolation to sharpen up on melo-death riffs and trying to master the art of Cattle Decapitation’s palm muting. “It’s been nice to really focus on playing my instrument and things like that. I mean, my vocals are a bit out of practice because I can’t scream at home”, she laughs, “But it’s been really nice to just have that time, to really work on how I played the songs. And I’ve been learning a lot of other people’s songs as well, which really improves my technique.”
One of the most instantly recognisable aspects of the new album is just how much Svalbard have tightened up their sound; there’s a maturity and a sense of self-assuredness that hasn’t been present on any of their previous releases. It seems the band have not only finally found their sound but become comfortable enough with it to experiment and push the boundaries that their music sits within. “I think for me, it’s the writing in general, the way we’ve managed to weave in more post-rock elements, and weave in more atmospheric elements, and weave in more clean singing, because I’ve always liked doing the clean singing”, reveals Serena, “But previously, I would only use it very, very sparsely on really quiet passages, but now I’ve mixed the two, so there’s a heavy bit where I’m clean singing, for example at the start of ‘Open Wound’. It’s something I’ve always wanted to do, but not really had that sort of confidence to be able to do, in terms of lead writing.” It’s not just the vocals which have undergone a transformation; the riffs are more complex, the percussion flows more evenly, the entire record is polished and wrapped in an air of professionalism without sacrificing their DIY roots. “One thing I’ve really noticed, when I’m playing through the Svalbard songs at home on my own during lockdown, my guitar leads for this new album are way more complicated than on the other albums. So I think I definitely improved a bit technique-wise as a guitarist”, Serena says proudly, “I think there’s a lot of small growths that we’ve made, like Mark’s [Lilley, dums] drumming, it just always gets better and better. I feel that he’s really nailed so many technical aspects on this album. And then I think Liam’s [Phelan, guitars/vocals] really outdone himself with his guitar parts and his vocals.”
One of the aspects of the band where Serena doesn’t share the creative load is the lyrical content, claiming she is “a very selfish creator in that respect”, however, when you consider how impactful the lyrics are and how powerful they are in their delivery, it’s simply testament to her incredible ability as a musician. Spanning everything from gender equality and social injustice to sexual assault and the falsities of celebrity culture, the Svalbard guitarist is never short of ideas and she credits to this to constantly writing down her thoughts. “I just write a lot anyway, every day, about things that I’ll be reacting to, things that will have upset me throughout the day. It’s not premeditated”, she says, “I don’t sit there and go, ‘I’m going to write a song about women’s rights. I’m going to write a song about unpaid interns.’ It’s whatever I’m thinking about, and how I’m reacting to that in the day.” The rest of the band are more than happy for Serena to handle the words that accompany the music – this is born from the trust of knowing they each champion the same values and respect of the creative process for each individual. “I just turn up when we’re in the studio, and show Liam the words, and go, ‘This is what we’re singing about today’”, Serena states, “So, the rest of the guys don’t get much input at all in the lyric writing, but they fully support all the messages that I’ve written about. So that’s all that matters really.”
“I was really suffering with quite a big bout of depression when we wrote this album”, admits Serena, talking about the inspiration behind the poignant title of ‘When I Die, Will I Get Better?’ for the latest opus, “And the feeling of death being a solution to mental illness, like a form of relief. I think the title really encapsulates that. And then the idea that people live their lives in a certain way according to religious beliefs, because they believe they’ll be rewarded in heaven, and therefore get better in heaven.” There is a third facet of meaning to the title also, the idea that celebrities are idolised and placed upon a pedestal in death, despite the horrible acts they committed while alive. “I’m very cautious to name names. There’s a lot of celebrities out there who seem to just get away with things that they’ve done, because they’re no longer with us. As soon as someone dies all their wrongs are righted, and they become a saint again. I’m not saying you should tarnish people’s memories with the bad stuff, but I think people need to be a little bit more balanced in their view of celebrities who have died, and not say that they were perfect when they weren’t.”
Writing on such a personal level, with lyrics that touch upon topics that can be triggering, isn’t without its setbacks and Serena confides that it can be overwhelming at times, however, it’s something she feels compelled to do and is even spurred on by the passion ignited by the sadness and anger reflected in the lyrical content. “It is always overwhelming. And to be completely honest with you, I cried in the recording booth doing the lyrics to this last album for some of the songs, because it was so raw and personal. Once an album comes out with my lyrics, I feel like someone’s basically reading my diary, and sometimes I do get a bit overwhelmed by that, but as I said before, I’m quite a selfish creator in that I can’t stop. I couldn’t do it another way if I tried, I couldn’t step back and write something that was less personal, or more political.” There is an advantage to writing material that resonates on such a personal level though; for Serena it means the performance is more raw and genuine and delivered with a ferocity that wouldn’t be inspired by lyrics she hadn’t penned herself. “We’ve yet to perform any of the new songs live, but I remember a couple of years ago when we released our second album, ‘It’s Hard to Have Hope’, there were a couple of songs on there about some issues that I went through, and when we played them live the first couple of times, I had tears welling up in my eyes, and found it really, really hard”, admits Serena, “And also, you can tell, normally when we play live, I hold my voice back to 90%, all the times in the show, otherwise I’ll lose my voice. But then when I get really taken by lyric, I will properly scream it, and shred my vocal chords. And it’s actually not a good thing to do, but sometimes you just can’t help it.”
From the lyrics and the music, right the way through to the album artwork, every aspect of ‘When I Die Will I Get Better?’ has been crafted to perfectly encapsulate the values and ideas it puts forward. The album art was created by Steven Kingscote, a guy who works at the studio that Svalbard use to rehearse. He has no online presence for his artwork and the band are only aware of his creative ability due to doodles he did of each of the band members as dogs while they were rehearsing. “In terms of representation, to me, it’s because the deer is a creature that’s preyed upon, it’s to reflect that feeling of constant stress, like, ‘what’s going to happen next?!’ I think, that fragility plagues women, in the sense that you feel different walking home late at night in the dark. It’s symbolic to how a deer would feel, walking around on the plains”, Serena describes, “We ended up settling on those autumnal painted hues, because that represents the feeling of change, which I think is a thread throughout the album as well. There’s a feeling of panic and being preyed upon, and alarm at social attacks that keep happening on minorities, and marginalised people. And then also, this feeling of change and hope, which I think comes to fruition on the last track of the album.”
‘When I Die, Will I Get Better?’ will be out on Church Road Records September 25th. Their next planned shows are with The Ocean for January/February 2021, however, the certainty of whether these will go ahead remains to be seen. You can support Svalbard in the meantime by picking up a copy of the latest album, with a portion of all sales made via Church Road going to RapeCrisis England & Wales.
(Interview by Angela Davey)
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