EMQ’s With Foetal Juice
EMQ’s With Foetal Juice
Hi everyone! Welcome to another EMQs interview, this time with UK Deathgrind band, Foetal Juice. Huge thanks to their Drummer, Rob Harris, 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?
Rob Harris – Drums. Foetal Juice was a band formed in 2005 by myself and our Guitarist Ry. We formed mainly because we wanted to write music that we wanted to listen to. We wanted something that bridged the gap between Grind and Death Metal essentially. The name, like most of the best things in life, was a teenage drunken mistake. But now that it’s 18 years old it can legally fuck off.
We have played all over the UK and Europe over the years playing hundreds of shows, tours and festivals such as Bloodstock (main stage and Sophie Stage), Extremefest (DE), OEF (CZ), Berlin DeathFest (DE), Incineration Fest (UK), UK Deathfest (UK) etc.
“Grotesque” will be our third full-length album, which seems less than we should have but we have done many EPs and splits before we joined the full-length album game in 2016. We had to wait until then because we simply couldn’t afford to record an album before that.
How did you come up with your band name?
The name Foetal Juice is obviously a pun on the film Beetlejuice. This band name came from us being very young and very drunk. We wanted a name that stood out in the Death Metal community. Most bands were named after a disease or another band’s song. We didn’t want that for us. Foetal Juice was the first name we came up with which made us all laugh and the first one we agreed on, so we kept it. We use the English spelling of the word “Foetal” because we are English, not American, where they would spell it “Fetal.”
Please don’t ask us “What happens if we say Foetal Juice 3 times” – The answer is we aren’t interested in your interview anymore.
What Country / Region are you from and what is the Metal / Rock scene like there?
We are from Manchester in the UK. The Extreme Metal scene here is booming at the minute, to be honest. There was a point a few years ago when it was all Stoner Doom bands who wanted to sound like Pantera and Down. Loads of “Hell Yeah, Brother” Metal Fans. But now the extreme scene in the UK has really taken off. For some one of the biggest UK metal festivals (Bloodstock Fest) to put a band like Foetal Juice on the main stage just shows how good the underground scene has become.
What is your latest release?
“Grotesque” is our latest release. It’s our third full-length album coming out on 17th November 2023 via Gorehouse Productions. Recorded, Mixed and Mastered by Chris Fielding at Foel Studios. Artwork by Misanthropic Art. It’s an album we are so proud of and cannot wait for people to hear it.
Who have been your greatest influences?
We are influenced by so many different people it’s difficult to nail them down. Musically, I would say: Enya, Ludovico Einaudi, Decide, Cannibal Corpse, Entombed, Vader, Vomitory, Insect Warfare, Napalm Death, Wolfbrigade, Jimi Hendrix, Cream, Motorhead, Immortal plus loads more.
We are heavily influenced by Horror films like The Exorcist, Rosemarys Baby, The Wickerman and The Evil Dead as well as comedies like The League of Gentlemen, Alan Partridge, Brass Eye, Shooting Stars, Me, Myself and Irene, which also comes through in our music, I think.
Humanity’s stupidity is probably our biggest lyrical influence to be honest.
What first got you into music?
I think being around music a lot as a child helps everyone get into music. My parents used to listen to a lot of Black Sabbath, Led Zepplin, The Beatles, Cream, etc. whilst I was growing up, so that had an effect on me. Then I started playing the drums at about 12 and made friends with Ry at High School. We really pushed each other’s music tastes over the years because we are both really difficult to impress which turned into a challenge for us to impress one another, to be honest. We are still the same to this day.
If you could collaborate with a current band or musician who would it be?
I would personally love to collaborate with Abbath. To be honest it would be more about spending time with him and just getting leathered and having a laugh. Then write some Immortal, Sons of Northern Darkness era kind of songs.
If you could play any festival in the world, which would you choose and why?
I would love to play Hellfest in France. It’s a festival I’ve been to many times before and everything about it is amazing. It’s Disneyland for metalheads. The lineups are always great and the sound on the Death Metal stage is always spot on.
What’s the weirdest gift you have ever received from a fan?
I once got offered a kebab from a fan as long as I would eat it from their pussy. Obviously, I was baffled by this, declined, and hid somewhere for the rest of the night ha ha.
If you had one message for your fans, what would it be?
Keep doing what you are doing, don’t follow the trends of shite music all of your friends are into because it’s turned “cool” again. Be honest with yourself and listen to what you want.
If you could bring one rock star back from the dead, who would it be?
David Brockie, Oderus Urungus from Gwar. He was just an incredibly funny guy who has been missed since he has been gone. Also, Lemmy, Chuck Schuldiner and Dimebag would be high up on that list. There are too many, to be honest.
What do you enjoy the most about being a musician? And what do you hate?
I love the freedom to be as creative as possible, it gives me a creative outlet which I wouldn’t have otherwise. All the great people I’ve met along the way who I wouldn’t have met without being a musician. Also, drumming is the only exercise I do, so I would probably be massive without it.
The only thing I really hate about it is trying to schedule it around my full-time job, partner, and child. It’s difficult to do everything you want to do musically when you only have 20 holiday days from work per year.
If you could change one thing about the music industry, what would it be?
Funding in the UK. We are classed as one of the largest Death Metal Bands in the UK at the minute, yet we have never made a single penny through this band for ourselves. All the money we get from fees and merch goes straight to the recordings, artwork, recording and petrol to get to the shows. I’m not sure how this can change but it would mean we could be way more productive and play many more shows all over the world.
Name one of your all-time favourite albums?
Kaamos – “Lucifer Rising”. This is an amazing old Death Metal band from Sweden that has since split up. It’s a brilliant slab of groovy Swedish Death Metal which gets overlooked by most fans. It is up there with the greats in my opinion.
What’s best? Vinyl, Cassettes, CD’s or Downloads?
Personally, I’m a Vinyl fan. I just love having the artwork so big in your hands. Also, it makes you listen to the whole album rather than skipping after 20 seconds like people do with an MP3.
What’s the best gig that you have played to date?
To be fair, every single show we are playing at the minute is absolute carnage. I love all of them. I just love seeing people fighting for our music. A real stand-out show has to be when we played the main stage at Bloodstock Festival. It’s the biggest crowd we have ever played to and I think it has really helped us grow as a band.
If you weren’t a musician, what else would you be doing?
Hopefully, I would be an artist drawing artwork for bands albums and shirt designs. It’s something I would love to get into but I haven’t had the time to get into it properly.
Which five people would you invite to a dinner party?
Dead or alive? Oderus Urungus, Carl Pilkington, Lemmy, Dimebag Darrell & Bob Mortimer.
What’s next for the band?
We are hoping to get onto a load of tours and Festivals off the back of this new album. So next year should be full. Then the year after we will probably start writing a new album again.
What Social Media / Website links do you use to get your music out to people? Please include any links
I think we are on pretty much everything but the main ones for us are:
Facebook.com/GoreHouseProductionsOfficial
Instagram.com/gorehouseproductions
Gorehouseproductions.bandcamp.com
Time for a very British question now. As an alternative to the humble sandwich, is the correct name for a round piece of bread common in the UK either a Bap, a Barm (or Barm Cake), a Batch, a Bun, a Cob, a Muffin, a Roll or a Tea Cake?
It’s a muffin. Obviously.
Thank you for your time. Is there anything else that you would like to add?
Thanks a lot for inviting us to answer these questions for you. Hopefully, we will see everyone at the upcoming shows!!
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