Birmingham’s Fangs Out on Not Sounding Like Slipknot, Creativity and Fave Albums

If you’re expecting Birmingham band Fangs Out to sound like Linkin Park or Slipknot, then be prepared for the shock of your lives. The sound of the West Midlands hardcore quartet couldn’t be further from that, as you can hear on recent singles “Get Grim” and “Doomed Anyway.”

Having spent the back end of 2021 and most of 2022 gigging their collective arses off, the band is primed and ready to record new music in 2023 before taking their raucous live show out on the road again. As the band prepared to head into the studio, we sat down and chatted with them about their creative process, their new singles, and the one thing they are most trying to figure out.

How would you describe your own music?

Mikey White: “Well, when I try and describe it to people at my job who ask but don’t listen to heavy music, it always ends up being… ‘Have you heard of Linkin Park or Slipknot?… Yeah… We’re like them.’ Unfortunately, we’re fucking nothing like them. But if you’re reading this and haven’t heard us yet, I’d say we’re a hardcore band with screamy bits and some singy bits; now go check us out immediately.”

How would you describe your creative process?

“For us, songs will always start out with a guitar riff, and then we’ll build from there. A lot of the time, for me, cadences and melodies come at the same time as the riffs, but sometimes they’ll come once the bulk of the instrumental song is fleshed out. Lyrically I’m always writing stuff into my phone notes that I think is cool. Currently, I have 1,982 notes… but I’d say a good chunk of that is the unusable scribblings of a madman and shopping lists.”

Tell us about your most recent release: what was your experience of making it? What went on behind the scenes?

“We’ve just dropped 2 singles in the last 2 months, ‘Get Grim’ and ‘Doomed Anyway.’ I think both songs were written towards the end of 2021, but we finished them in early ’22. I remember that they came together really quickly in the room, and it was a lot of fun. I think they’ve both opened up another avenue of songwriting for us, which is exciting. Recording them was a blast as well as this was the first time since the pandemic we could all actually be in the studio at the same time whilst recording. Considering the titles and lyrics are quite bleak, they’re really fun tunes.”

Any notable moments that stand out?

“These songs were the first songs with Jay being part of the band, so it was awesome bringing him into the fold and finishing them together and then being in the studio with him smashing out his bass parts. He’s also super savvy on the techy side of recording etc., so we managed to demo the songs properly and listen to them before we went into the record with our producer, which changed the game completely.”

Fangs Out “Get Grim” single artwork

Which act would you want to tour with?

“Dream bands for us to tour with would be the likes of Thrice, Cancer Bats, The Bronx, Gallows, Mastodon. I know all these bands are reading this, so yeah… let’s make it happen, guys!?”

What are you still trying to figure out?

“We’re still trying to figure out how best to get our band to as many people’s ears as possible. There are so many bands out there trying to do the same, so it’s easy to get lost in the shuffle. I fucking hate social media, but unfortunately, it’s pretty important to get your band out there; luckily, Jay is a wiz at that shit, so we leave it to him.

We’re also still figuring out ourselves as a band. We’re always trying to better the last thing we did, and we have so many ideas that we haven’t even tried yet, so it’s exciting to think what might be coming next.”

Do you have anything you’d like to tell any fans reading right now?

“Thank you for being fucking awesome, and there will be new music very soon… keep ya ears peeled!”

What’s next for you?

“We will be back in the studio in March working on our next release, and we’ll be playing as many shows as possible in as many places as possible throughout the rest of the year, so keep an eye on our socials.”

When you write, do you do so with the live setting in mind, or do you write a song just for the song’s sake?

“I’d like to act cool and say no, but I think realistically, you do! When we play, we want to see people’s heads bobbing or having a mosh, so when you’re writing a riff or a part, you do have that in the back of your head. Each to their own, but We don’t want people to have to get calculators out and work out the time signature of a part we’re playing midway through a show.”

Along those same lines, do you take advantage of technology and email riffs and parts back and forth, or do you get together in a room in a more traditional sense and write together?

“Yeah, we’re a bit of both! usually, a song will start as a crude demo on someone’s computer, and then we’ll take it to the rehearsal room and hash it out together. Sometimes things happen in the room together that won’t on a computer in someone’s spare room, so it’s important we do both.”

What is the music scene like where you’re based?

“Birmingham has a sick scene! Especially in the last couple of years, it seems to have exploded with some awesome bands and promotors. Go check out: Creature, Johanna Rey and Brookhorse.”

If you were stranded on a deserted island and could only take 3 CDs with you for eternity (assuming there was a solar-powered CD player), what would they be?

“Thrice – Vheissu
Every Time I Die – Low Teens
Queen – Greatest Hits”