1. How did the band get together?

We formed from the ashes of our old band Gorerotted. Basically, we were in the studio writing for the album we were gonna be recording in a couple of months time, and after re-writing all the old material to make it all sound perfect we realised how much we’d changed and how much we really weren’t Gorerotted anymore, so we decided to go from being Gorerotted to being The Rotted.

2. Where do you all come from?

Wilson’s from Glasgow, Tim’s from East London, Gian’s from London, I’ve lived in pretty much the same area of South London all my life and Nate’s from Israel; he moved over to the UK to play drums

3. What bands were your greatest influences?

I dunno really, we never consciously take pointers from individual artists, but I guess the music you create is driven by the passion for what you’ve grown up with, so I’d say Extreme Metal, 80’s UK Punk & Hardcore, and general rock music

4. When did you start playing an instrument and what was it?

I tried the guitar when I was 12, then switched to bass at 14 cos there were less bassist around and my guitar skills sure as hell weren’t gonna get me noticed! But I decided to move to vocals when I turned 17, and a year later in 1999 I was playing my first ever show with Gorerotted in Holland. All seems to have worked out fine

5. What was the bands most memorable gig to date?

Well, as The Rotted we’ ve only done one show! But if you want to include Gorerotted, I’d say maybe Brutal Assault Open Air in Czech or Waldrock festival in Holland last year, but purely for selfish reasons; I got to share the stage with some of my favourite bands and I had a real blast at both. But every year’s more eventful than the last, and we’re playing Wacken this year, the year that Maiden are headlining so that’s something we’re really psyched for!

6. What do you do to relax on tour?

Sleep? When we’re not asleep it’s pure chaos, absolute bedlam so relaxation doesn’t come into it. Checking out whichever town we’re in is always nice though, and we tend to get through a lot of herbal remedies too.

7. tell us about your current album, how long did it take to record?

I think it took about a month? I could be way off, but it was split between drums with Russ Russell, then tracking guitars, bass and vocals with James Dunkley, then back to Russ’ for any additional stuff before mixing and mastering. I’m really happy with how it’s turned out, they’ve done a great job in bringing out the aggression and intensity of this record and it’s something we’re all hugely proud of

8. Who writes the songs?

All of us, the fellas come up with the music, I do the lyrics, we all add our ideas to each other, so it’s a combined effort. A lot of quality control too, we got no problem scrapping something if it’s going nowhere

9. Have you any plans for the rest of the year?

Yeah of course! The album’s out in a couple of days so we’re booking shows and tours as we speak, doing all the promo stuff, and basically trying to get our music to the people.

10. What is your favourite song of all time?

That’s a real hard one, but I’d probably say Jizzlobber by Faith No More, when I was a kid it was the most sinister and dark thing I’d ever heard! Today it still stands as an incredible piece of work, proper intense.

11. What is the bands ideal goal?

Just to get out there and take our music to as many people as possible, this won’t last forever so we’re gonna do everything we can to get the best out of it, then in a few years I can bore the crap out of my kids with **** stories from the road, that’ll probably get better every time I tell them too!

12. What equipment (manufacturer) does each band member currently use?

As a band we got endorsements from Warwick basses, Cookes drums, Peavey amplification, eDrum, In Tune Guitar Pics, Elites strings and AccueGroove cabs. Wilson gets hand built, beautiful basses sent to him and they sound incredible! Tim and Gian both use Gibsons, can’t beat that classic Gibson sound. Nate? I dunno entirely, drums aren’t my thing. I use Shure Mics at the moment, which are pretty much the industry standard

13. Who has the worst habit?

Haha, I do ****ing weird **** in my sleep, when we’re put in hotels, if someone has to share a double bed with me they get pretty pissed off with me hardcore dancing in my sleep, or attacking them, dry humping them or sitting up sharply and screaming at someone who isn’t there! I actually got dirty great cuts down my face right now that I woke up with yesterday morning, no recollection of how they got there, it’s proper night-terrors, pretty brutal. Other than that I dunno, no one really does anything gross that the rest of us can’t stand.

Ben McCrow - Vocals
Wilson - Bass
Tim Carley - Guitar
Gian Pyres - Guitar
Nate Gould - Drums