Formed at the tail-end of 2016 in the South West of the UK, Torqued rapidly built a name for themselves with the metal community. Aided by a wealth of experience from the members’ work in previous bands, Torqued collaborated with renowned artist Andy Pilkington in order to develop a coherent visual identity for the band before unleashing the hook-laden ‘Fully Torqued’ EP (from which the astonishing ‘Hollow Core’ Video can be seen below). Their approach helped them gain a wide audience and next week will see Torqued bring their brutal grooves to the hallowed fields of Bloodstock. We caught up with the band to see how they things have been going in the land of Torqued thus far…
First up, the production on the new EP is absolutely crushing! Can you tell us a little about the recording process and how long it took to get the sound right?
Thank you, that’s very Kind. We actually recorded everything at Marc’s Home. We are lucky enough to have a home studio set up in every member’s house. This makes sharing files and ideas really easy. With the EP it was a case of trying to capture the Live sound we have. We are a bit old school in the way we think and try to reproduce what we do, rather than jazz up something that we are not.
We are very happy with the results.
Right from the start, the band has had a strong visual presence – something that a lot of bands seem to ignore, or develop over time. How did you develop the look of the band and was it, as it seems, in tandem with the music?
Branding is key. Way before we’d even played a note we contacted Andy over at Very Metal Art to handle our artwork, logo and image. We put our trust in his ability to come up with a look and feel that sums us up who we are. He never fails, He’s a bit of a genius.
Although Torqued is new, you all have considerable experience of the music industry – how useful has it been for you to be able to utilise this knowledge in building up Torqued given how rapidly things seem to change in the music world?
It’s been paramount! All we’ve ever done as individuals is be polite and help out anyone who needs it. This scene can be so fractured at times.
The response from the industry as at times been humbling. Way too many people to thank!
But it kinda proves the old saying. “What goes around, comes around”
Bloodstock has made a name for itself as a supporter of the unsigned and independent music scene – it must be exciting to have been included in the line-up this year. What in particular do you hope to gain from the experience and which bands are you particularly looking forward to seeing?
Bloodstock to us is Hallowed ground! We were in a state of shock when we received the offer to perform! *See comment above about Humbling…
All we really want from Bloodstock is for people to get what we are about.
Hopefully we’ll get a few people make their way down to the New Blood Stage on Sunday and we can show them who Torqued are and in turn gain some new fans.
Must see bands for us are ‘Ramage Inc’ ‘Blood Oath’ ‘Ashen Crown’
We Can’t Wait!
In fact “We Are Torqued!”
You are, I believe, working on your debut album. What’s the writing process like in Torqued – is it the three of you working together or does one of you take the lead?
It usually starts with a late night email from Myself or Dave. Containing a riff or a hook and then all three of us build around it. That’s the beauty of having a studio set up in everyone’s home. We can quickly send over each other’s interpretation and build from there…
The level of noise you achieve as a three-piece is truly impressive, are there are any particular aspects gear-wise that you’ve used to craft such a sound and are there any challenges to reproducing the sound of the EP on stage?
It’s all about Tone in Torqued. Dave runs through an Engle Head, I add Fat low end Bass lines and Kurt adds the Foundation with his drumming.
Nothing fancy on effects just us making music.
We’ve been told our live sound is like there’s another 3 people on stage.
As long as I don’t have to feed them then they’re welcome to hang about, lol
2017 has clearly been the year of Torqued, with the EP release gaining near ubiquitous praise – do you have specific ambitions for 2018 beyond the release of the debut album? Are you, for example, keen to play outside of the UK?
2018 is slowly coming together. We’ve a host of Festival slots confirmed and awaiting announcement. The Album will be out etc etc…
Once the Album is out, we’ll have a product we can get out to people.
It’s difficult to gage a response as of yet. But we are not going anywhere!
We would savour the chance to take this abroad. Always open to offers ?
Any final words for your fans and, particularly, for those heading to Bloodstock in a week’s time?
We Are Torqued
We’ll see you out there.
Come and check us out on The New Blood Stage.
Follow us online and be part of this monster as it grows.
Nothing more to add apart from Thank You so Much for believing in what we do.
Marc, Torqued
Needless to say, you should be heading over to the Hobgoblin Stage on Sunday to check out Torqued.
