EMQ’s With MORSROT
EMQ’s With MORSROT
Hi everyone! Welcome to another EMQs interview, this time with Maltese Death Metallers, Morsrot. Huge thanks to them all 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?
Kieran: My name is Kieran Brannon, I sing and play the guitar for Morsrot, a band Gabriel and I started in January of 2021. We used to play in some Thrash band that never really went anywhere, so when it split up me and him decided to start something new. We brought in Jean on bass a month later and went through a shit ton of drummers that never really fit with us, until Alex joined a few months ago, although our demo “Carnal Enslavement” recorded with a drummer named Zain Gauci, who left shortly after. We also played our first gig, the Metal City Festival with him.
How did you come up with your band name?
Gabriel: I came up with it with the scope of making up our own word that sounded cool and meant something interesting but it’s up to you guys to figure it out for yourselves.
What Country/Region are you from and what is the Metal/Rock scene like there?
Jean: We are from Malta and the metal scene here is very tight-knit, everybody knows everybody, but the scene is very small. That fact has its pros and cons. It’s easy to get to know a lot of important people, but the opportunities you have here are limited.
What is your latest release? (Album, EP, Single, Video)
Alex: Our demo “Carnal Enslavement”. Although I didn’t play on it, I can say that it is a great representation of who we are as musicians. Even though the style has evolved the music is still just as raw and brutal while still managing to stay melodic and ambient.
Who have been your greatest influences?
Kieran: We obviously have many Death Metal influences, with bands like Death (who got me into the style), Autopsy, Edge of Sanity and even smaller bands like Eucharist and Impiety. We also listen to fusion stuff like Chick Corea, Guthrie Govan, and John Coltrane to name a few artists. We all listen to a bunch of different stuff and naming everything would take up the whole page.
What first got you into music?
Gab: I have a relatively standard origin story when it comes to music, all credit goes to my dad and uncles listening to the greats like Sabbath and specifically Maiden. I remember falling asleep to that stuff as a kid and it just stuck.
If you could collaborate with a current band or musician, who would it be?
Jean: As a bassist (caveman), I would personally absolutely love to do something with Marcus Miller, he has influenced the way I write my shit. I also absolutely love Steve DiGiorgio’s style of writing basslines with licks and other shit that I also do. I think it would be cool to be able to meet them someday.
If you could play any festival in the world, which would you choose and why?
Gab: If I had to pick one festival, I would probably pick PartySan. Their line-ups are always stacked with amazing bands. It would be great to play in front of such a large audience of people purely there to get drunk and listen to music.
What’s the weirdest gift you have ever received from a fan?
Alex: We haven’t received any weird gifts from fans. Whoever our fans are they gotta step up their game.
If you had one message for your fans, what would it be?
Kieran: Pick up the bass guitar, practice hard enough so you can replace Jean.
If you could bring one rock star back from the dead, who would it be?
Jean: I would bring back Chuck Schuldiner because he was a great songwriter and I love Death.
What do you enjoy the most about being a musician? And what do you hate?
Alex: Putting in time and effort and then seeing the end product is my favourite part about being a musician, seeing hours of work pay off after a good gig or cool demo is the best feeling there is. My least favourite thing about being a musician is locking in with Jean and his shit timing!
If you could change one thing about the music industry, what would it be?
Gab: The emphasis on shitting out as much money as possible and disregarding what music is all about. Music and art have become just another method of becoming filthy rich which I feel removes an element of what makes people so passionate about those things.
Name one of your all-time favourite albums?
Kieran: There are so many to pick from, I love Death’s “Symbolic” as it was the literal first Death Metal album I listened to and still blows me away today. As big as it is, “The Wall” by Pink Floyd is a great listen and almost feels like pure entertainment and storytelling in a musical form. Those types of albums really stick out to me.
What’s best? Vinyl, Cassettes, CDs, or Downloads?
Gab: Everyone in the band loves vinyl, Kieran and I recently started our collections and it’s more than worth it, not only for the audio quality but owning a physical copy of it with the art works, band pictures and lyric sheets is a great hobby to have. Not to mention it gives musicians something to sign.
What’s the best gig that you have played to date?
Jean: We’ve only played two so far, but my favourite has to be our most recent, the anniversary of a bar in Haz Zebbug called The Garage because the other venue was a seated event and we sounded a lot better than the first overall, the crowd also absolutely lost their shit for us, which I appreciate.
If you weren’t a musician, what else would you be doing?
Alex: Living a boring ass life lazing around all day. I honestly couldn’t imagine myself doing anything else, music is the only thing that really interests me.
Which five people would you invite to a dinner party?
Gab: Jesus and Steve-O from Jackass, there’s a conversation to be had there…
What’s next for the band?
Kieran: Well, there are the 2 obvious things, which are writing more material and playing live as much as possible. I love doing both of those things with my time. We’re also planning on recording a 6-track EP.
What Social Media/Website links do you use to get your music out to people?
Jean: Right now we’re only on Facebook and Instagram, but we ‘ re definitely going to be moving to Spotify, Apple Music and all the other streaming services.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/morsrot/
Instagram: https://instagram.com/morsrot/
Jaffa Cakes? Are they a cake or a biscuit?
Gab: Fuck is a Jaffa Cake?
Thank you for your time. Is there anything else that you would like to add?
Alex: Thank you for having us and thank you to everyone reading.
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