It's hard to believe that I've been doing Outlaws Of The Sun for ten years when I started the blog back in 2015. Time has flown. I was going to keep this very low-key as I'm not really big on celebrating big landmarks anymore. However, Andy Martin (Drums/Vocals) from the mighty Sludge/Stoner Metallers CLAMFIGHT asked if he could interview me for the blog.
And I was highly intrigued by that idea. It's been a while since I was interviewed. So I agreed. Andy had complete control with this interview and it was quite refreshing being the actual subject matter for a change. Anyway, read what I have to say about everything Outlaws Of The Sun.
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Hi Steve! Thanks for taking the time to do this interview and happy ten years of Outlaws of the Sun! You’ve been a huge supporter of Clamfight and a ton of other bands and I want to say that we all really appreciate you and all your hard work. Now’s let finally hear a little about the man behind the riff-curtain!
Can you give a brief history of how Outlaws of the Sun came about and where it is today.
Hi Andy. Thanks for having me and for doing this interview. Outlaws Of The Sun came about quite quickly as I left The Sludgelord blog that I created back in 2011. As I felt that site was moving further away that I wanted to achieve with focusing upon bands within the underground scene.
The original plan back in July 2015 was to have a long break and see if I wanted to come back. As I was burnt out by this time. However, some folks contacted me saying if I ever decided to come back that they would love a review from me. So with that amazing support I started the blog.
Ten years later I’m still here. Didn’t expect this to last. I’m still featuring the usual mix of news, reviews, interviews and premieres. I’ve had a few breaks due to personal issues but I always come running back.
What’s your earliest musical memory?
My earliest musical memory is seeing a Pop Concert back in 1983/84 which was like a Radio Roadshow featuring the best upcoming artists of the time. The only band I can remember was seeing Musical Youth (Yes, the dudes who released Pass The Duchie).
Then mostly listening to Pop-Music when I was younger and perhaps getting into Dance/Rave music for a while back in my early teens. Nothing exciting to report with my earliest musical memory. Was kind of a late bloomer to all things LOUD and HEAVY.
Where did you grow up? How has that shaped your taste in music and art?
I grew up in a place called Wallsend, Newcastle upon Tyne based in the North East Of England. Well, we do have a certain musical pedigree where I’m from. STING is from Wallsend, Bryan Johnson from AC/DC is from Newcastle upon Tyne.
We also provided the world with VENOM and SKYCLAD. Two different kinds of HEAVY METAL were formed right here. We’ve had a few other famous musicians from this area.
Growing up where I lived was a working class area where the main areas of industry was to do with Shipbuilding and that did install a sense of grittiness and realism that I like my music with.
My brother moved me over to the areas of Hard Rock and Heavy Metal when I was about 18/19 years old. As I said previously I was a massive Dance / Rave fan. Though, I have to thank Soundgarden’s BLACK HOLE SUN which warped my fragile little brain with it’s brilliant video and groundbreaking sounds.
Is there a record, movie, or any other piece of art that’s important to you today as it was when you were a teenager?
SOUNDGARDEN - Superunknown. The album that started my love affair with HEAVY ROCK music and opened the door to many other bands though I was a huge fan of THE WHO and THIN LIZZY in my formative younger years. But this record changed my whole outlook. Redefined my whole world with Black Hole Sun, Fell On Black Days, Spoonman and The Day I Tried To Live.
HARD BOILED - Another big hobby of mine is movies and Hard Boiled blew my mind when I watched back in 1994. As I was kind of bored with Hollywood action movies and to a certain extent Hong Kong movies. However, this John Woo / Chow Yun Fat masterpiece came to may attention and I loved its tone, execution and overall story of how it played. Perhaps the greatest action movie ever made. Yeah, this riffs on DIE HARD big time but this is GUN-FU and HEROIC BLOODSHED of the highest order.
NEUROMANCER - William GIbson. This book came out in 1985 but I didn’t read it until 1993 when I was bored at home and bought a copy for £1. Such a groundbreaking book which still confuses and delights me to this very day. The whole CYBERPUNK movement wouldn’t be around if it wasn’t for NEUROMANCER and films such as THE MATRIX either.
Outlaws of the Sun traffics in bands that are certainly more on the underground side of things. What was your gateway band or record to the underground?
Well, before I started covering Doom, Sludge and Stoner bands I used to cover the more extreme stuff along with Thrash Metal for a while for different webzines. I grew disillusioned with the Doom and Stoner scenes though I still loved Mastodon greatly around that time.
However, around 2008 I heard a record that took me back into the scene as it completely blew my mind. That record was MEANDERTHAL by TORCHE. I loved it’s mix of Punk, Psych, Fuzz, Sludge and Stoner grooves wrapped around Pop based movement. The song Grenades just showed me a side I hadn’t heard before. It felt fresh and that reignited my passion for the Stoner Metal scene. Then I started discovering other great bands and listening to records of bands I loved years ago that I missed the first time round.
How’s the local scene where you live? Any local favorite bands or venues we should all know about?
The local scene isn’t as popular where I live in Newcastle Upon Tyne. We have some bands from the Doom, Sludge and Stoner scenes that visit amongst the superb local venues we have.
There’s a very good Rock / Metal scene for places such as Trillians Rockbar, The Cluny, The Grove, Little Buildings, Think Tank and The Lubber Fiend are some very cool venues that I enjoy.
We have some very cool Stoner Rock/Metal bands with PIGS PIGS PIGS PIGS PIGS PIGS PIGS PIGS being the most well known. DUNES are from here and fastly making a name for themselves.
Cult Drone/Doom Metallers BONG are from the area as well. So we do have some great pedigree within the underground scene.
Can you name three bands you think more people should know about and why?
This is a tough one. And apologies to the bands who I’ve missed out.
MOON DESTROYS - An amazing band featuring Juan Montoya and Evan Diprima in their ranks. A stunning mix of Doom, Shoegaze, Psych, Grunge and Alt Metal vibes makes their debut album She Walks By Midnight such a standout. They’ve just signed to Blues Funeral Recordings who will be re-releasing their debut album and another record is being planned for next year.
https://bluesfuneralrecordings.bandcamp.com/album/she-walks-by-moonlight
TORSO - A one-man wrecking crew by Graham Bywater. On their new album Annihilation Day blends Doom, Sludge, Stoner, Grind, Thrash, Noise Rock and Black Metal to devastating effect. TORSO fuses classic horror styles from John Carpenter, Italian Horror Movies and American Horror Stories are the main influence for the storylines but maybe some Italian seediness comes into play as well. TORSO adds brutally funny storylines into their music. The music is quite ELECTRONICA obsessed with a grindcore style of Doom, Sludge and Stoner Metal developing at full throttle.
https://hereliestorso.bandcamp.com/album/brain-cells
ALPHAWHORES - You can Come Out Now. A brilliant band that blends Alt Rock, Shoegaze, Psych, Fuzz, Sludge, Grunge and Stoner melodies to great effect. They have a deep love and respect for the 90’s scene but also incorporate modern day elements. This is their second full length record with members Massiel Pinzón (Drums/Vox) and Juan Carlos García de Paredes (Guitar/Vox) both adding their own distinctive vocal delivery which is quite commercial at times but never takes away from the superb enjoyment of the whole album.
https://alphawhores.bandcamp.com/album/you-can-come-out-now-album
Hmm. I don’t know how to answer this one. I think the only one I can think of is that I’ll try to feature as many bands and artists that I possibly can. If I missed your original request then please contact me again and I’ll do my best to get back to you. However, I only have so much time in the day.
The other one is that I do this in my spare time and there maybe moments where I don’t get everything right the first time so please be patient. I also have my job and personal life to focus upon as well.
Apologies if that seems like I'm complaining but I’m not. I love doing the blog and promoting the underground scene. I still need some time away to recharge my batteries.
What’s the wrong way to reach out to you for an interview or review?
Email is my preferred choice but I’m happy to be contacted by Facebook Messenger but not on a constant basis or across different Social Media platforms.
What’s the worst interview you’ve had?
Worst interview I ever had was with a UK Progressive Sludge Metal band who shall remain nameless. They were performing locally in my home town and I just wanted to go to the venue and see them perform. However, they convinced me to do the interview which I did. However, it was a complete fucking shit show as the band were drunk and just not interested in answering my questions. So I managed to get about 5 mins from a 30 mins discussion. I put the interview together but the band wanted the final say on what I put together.
They wouldn’t let me publish the interview as they felt it put them in a bad light. I sent the interview off to their PR Rep who agreed with me. They apologised and asked me not to publish the interview which I agreed to. That whole experience put me off that band full stop. Never listened or featured them on the blog since then.
The best?
The best. I have to say John Garcia back in 2017. As he was so down to earth, warm hearted and such a lovely guy to discuss things with. He’s brilliantly funny and gives truthful answers.
https://outlawsofthesun.blogspot.com/2017/01/speaking-in-tongues-interview-with-john.html
Brant Bjork. One of my all time favourite artists. I’ve interviewed him about 10 times over the last decade or so and every time is such a different experience than the last time. However, this was my all-time favourite as we chatted about so much that I left out a great deal of the conversation. I wish I did a two part interview but folks tell me this is the best one I’ve done with Brant Bjork so who am I to argue or disagree with…
https://outlawsofthesun.blogspot.com/2016/08/music-for-people-interview-with-brant.html
What keeps you and Outlaws going? We live in an age of constant distraction and are subject to a steady stream of bad news. How do you tune that all out and write about music?
Outlaws keeps my mind completely sane. I have a stressful job and music helps to keep me grounded. I manage to do two reviews a day which is a great help to me for my mental heatlh and all round well being. I completely zone out of the news as I’m not political as much now. I’m getting old and I still care about the horrible shit currently going on around the world.
When I’m not reviewing music I like to listen to old albums I haven’t heard in years. Watch movies and TV Shows. Hanging out with my friends and supporting my beloved Football team Newcastle United.
We occasionally chat about movies or tv over social media and that’s got me wondering, what’s a movie that is as important to you now as when you were a kid?
Damn. That’s a great question. I could have easily put Star Wars but I’m going to say Enter The Dragon. As that was the whole gateway into the Martial Arts world and Action Cinema in general. That led me to discover Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung, Yuen Biao, Jet Li and Donnie Yen.
This also led to my love affair with Asian Action Cinema.
If I had a second choice then I will definitely say Star Wars. I’m not too keen on the recent Sequel Trilogy but I did love some of the recent Disney+ TV shows such as Andor (Amazing Show) and The Mandalorian (Well S3 was bit of a shit show).
What’s the best movie you’ve seen recently?
I’m going to say SINNERS. I adored that film. Love the mix of Horror, Thriller, Action and Crime Thriller set against a brilliant backdrop of Blues Music, Soul, Hip-Hop and even Rock music.
This is followed closely by SUPERMAN. Huge James Gunn fan and he brilliantly delivered this great movie.
2025 is almost through. If someone demanded your favorite albums, movies, tv shows of the year what would they be?
Top 5 Movies
SINNERS
Superman
F1
The Gorge
Warfare
Top 5 Albums
Slomatics - Atomicult
BREATH - BRAHMAN
Museum Of Light - Diviner
Pelican - Flickering Resonance
KAL-EL - Astral Voyager Vol 1
TV Shows
Andor Seeson 2
Daredevil Born Again
SMOKE
The Pitt
Dept Q
Thanks again for all you do, and for taking the time for this interview. Again, I hope all your music-writing compatriots are to all of us in the scene. Any parting words of wisdom for your readers?
Thanks for allowing me to do this interview. I had a great time doing this.
My only passing words of wisdom - Take care of yourselves out there. Look after your family and friends. Don’t take nothing for granted. Thanks to everyone for their awesome support for the last ten years or so. Here’s to the next ten!
