EMQ’s with FOOTPRINTS IN THE CUSTARD

EMQ’s with FOOTPRINTS IN THE CUSTARD

Hi everyone! Welcome to our new EMQ’s interview with Manchester, UK based Tutu/Mankini wearing Party Metal weirdos Footprints In The Custard. Huge thanks to vocalist Russ Custard for taking part.

What is your name, what do you play, and can you tell us a little bit about the history of the band?

My name’s Russ Custard, I’m currently playing The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt but have taken a quick break to poop but as it’s 11pm I’m worried about my bowel clock.

Uhm. Footprints In The Custard have been a band for a long ass while. We play Party Metal, which in our instance is kinda thrashy catchy metal. If you were to imagine a beast that had hundreds and hundreds of cheeks and Geralt of Rivia turned up and pierced its heart with his silver sword, claimed that it was Footprints In The Custard, and left… Upon inspecting the beast’s bloated corpse, you would discover that in each of the many cheeks there was a tongue.

How did you come up with your band name?

It’s the punchline of a shit joke, which we think sums us up pretty well. How do you know when an elephant has been in your fridge?

What Country/Region are you from and what is the Metal/Rock scene like there?

We’re from the North West and based in Manchester. I honestly think we have the strongest metal scene in the UK. You might think I’m biased but I’ve not seen a better one!

What is your latest release? (Album, EP, Single, Video)

Our latest album is “A New Low”, which came out last year. We’ve recently released a new video for the song Space Force! from that album, where we completely ripped off Feeder and had our fans submit videos of themselves along to the tune. And then I edited it together. It’s really cool actually, and it didn’t cost us anything. Feeder are on to something.

Who have been your greatest influences?

This is a weird one for us because we’ve all got separate influences and we’ve tried to cross all different aspects of metal sub-genres where we can. We started off being influenced by CKY, The Wildhearts, Lamb of God and In Flames. We draw from all sorts of things really, everything and anything we’re in to can be an influence. I’m not sure who we sound like though, that’s a question for someone else.

What first got you into music?

My Dad I suppose. We used to listen to his vinyl on his sound system set up. He first got me into metal with Deep Purple and Black Sabbath, but he was more into classic rock stuff. I remember Jeff Wayne’s War Of The Worlds having a massive impact on me as a kid.

If you could collaborate with a current band or musician who would it be?

I’m struggling to say anything but Devin Townsend. Who wouldn’t want to collaborate with Dev?

If you could play any festival in the world, which would you choose and why?

There are so many! Like Hellfest, Metal Days, Wacken etc etc. But I guess 70000 Tons of Metal would have to top it because it’s a cruise to the Caribbean with metal on the cruise ship. It sounds mental!

What’s the weirdest gift you have ever received from a fan?

Syphilis? Oh! No one gave me this weird little fleshy penis thing with eyes that they’d made.

If you had one message for your fans, what would it be?

Stop worrying about everything so much and let yourself have a good time.

If you could bring one rock star back from the dead, who would it be?

I could absolutely overthink this question. Like, would they even want to be brought back? Should I just pick people that I know personally that we’ve lost? But…without overthinking it, I’d have loved to hang out with Freddy Mercury I reckon. Bet he was a card.

What do you enjoy the most about being a musician? And what do you hate?

Playing live, travelling, meeting people, that feeling you get when you’ve made something that people enjoy, meeting fans. It’s all pretty amazing! What do I hate? It’s very time-consuming. It’s a full time job but doesn’t pay like one, we’ve got to do another full time job alongside it so we can pay the bills.

If you could change one thing about the music industry, what would it be?

Probably the balance of it all. I’ve seen so many talented musicians that will never get the chance at being big, so many great venues closed, successful promoters give up… It’s just really difficult sometimes and I think if more people (up top) recognised the importance of the music industry beyond the big pop stars then we could make this underground scene boom.

Name one of your all-time favourite albums?

Opeth – “Blackwater Park”

What’s best? Vinyl, Cassettes, CD’s or Downloads?

Vinyl’s obviously the best for the art. Whoever says cassettes are best are wrong. CD’s are nice for collecting physical and easily utilisable media. Downloads are fine. I think realistically streaming will be the future though and the industry needs to look at how to adapt to that without the streaming services taking all the money from the artists.

What’s the best gig that you have played to date?

Another difficult question! Bloodstock 2019 was the biggest gig we’ve done so I’ll probably go with that. It was unreal!

If you weren’t a musician, what else would you be doing?

I’d probably have more time to sleep. Oh, I seem to have given up reading books at some point as well? I’d probably write a novel.

Which five people would you invite to a dinner party?

Right now, the other four guys in Footprints (I miss them) and Devin Townsend. Devin would be so uncomfortable though.

What’s next for the band?

We’ve got a few gigs lined up which we’re hoping will go ahead this year! I think we’re announcing something soon or maybe we already have (depending on when this goes out). We’re supporting Lawnmower Deth with our buddies Raised By Owls in December. Hoping to get a couple new songs out at some point over the next year too.

What Social Media/Website links do you use to get your music out to people?

www.footprintsinthecustard.bandcamp.com
www.facebook.com/footprintsinthecustard

Jaffa Cakes? Are they a cake or a biscuit?

Blatantly a cake. It’s in the name, stupid.

Thank you for your time. Is there anything else that you would like to add?

No, I need to get back to The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. Got a cheeky beast to slay.

Disclaimer: This interview is solely the property of Ever Metal. It is strictly forbidden to copy any part of this interview, unless you have the strict permission of said party. Failure to adhere to this will be treated as plagiarism and will be reported to the relevant authorities.