Perceptions
New Single: Outcast
Release Date: 18th March 2018

 

Hailing from Newcastle upon Tyne,  a five-piece melodic metalcore band Perceptions released their second single “Outcast” on 18th March following the debut single ‘Wake Up Call’ which was released in October 2017. The band demonstrated their ability to incorporate elements from other sub genres such as hardcore and deathcore within their music and showed no fear of pushing musical boundaries with the debut single.

“Outcast” is a powerful track and proves that the quintet’s songwriting is genuine as well as demonstrating technical improvement in the short time. The sound is heavier than the previous single, though it still has a catchy line with a clean vocal. This is definitely a song that makes you want more. ‘Outcast’ is a message about living a life the way you want to live regardless what people say. For example, it might be your family, a friend or even a stranger, who says negative things and tells how your life should be. This song is celebrating an individual life that is the way you choose to live it, with a big middle finger to those people. I’m sure many listeners would relate to it. Check out the song via links below. The band talked to us in depth recently about themselves, their music and the new single. You can find this interview further below on this page.

For fans of: The Amity Affliction, Beartooth, While She Sleeps, In Hearts Wake, Bring Me The Horizon, Bury Tomorrow

 

Even with very short notice, the band kindly took some time out of their busy schedule to be interviewed by me. Here it is;

Hello, Perceptions! Thanks to talk to us today! Who are we having here?

Hi, we are Perceptions! We’re a five piece metalcore band from Newcastle upon Tyne. We are Jamie (Unclean vocals), Jake (Clean vocals & guitar), Jason (Guitar), Hobbs (Bass) and Ryan (Drums).

Thank you! Could you tell us how you all met up and became a band?

Jamie: The band started off as a fun project with me and a few friends. As a few months went by, some members seemed to drift and it meant we had to look for people to step in and take over.

Jake: I had been working with Jamie at the O2 Academy for just under a year and he told me about this band he was trying to get going. He told me that one of the guitarists was leaving and asked if I wanted to join. Being my first ever band, it was quite a nervous experience at first but I quickly settled and felt comfortable in a band environment

Ryan: My bandmate Ellis in Holding Out (punk rock) was part of Perceptions for a little while and told me they were looking for a drummer. He brought me along for a practise and we all seemed to gel really well from day 1 and since then we’ve never looked back!

Jason: There was a period of a few months where they had lost their guitarist, bassist and vocalist. Jake was learning to sing to take over on clean vocals at the time, and Ryan asked me to come along to a practise. I was also in Holding Out which was how Ryan knew me. So there’s definitely a connection between the two bands through the members that we’ve shared!

Hobbs: I also work at the O2 Academy with Jamie and Jake but in a different department, tech as opposed to bars. We had a mutual friend who told them I was looking for a new band after This Is Divine parted ways, and invited me along to a practise with Jason. We all fit together really well and we’ve been growing ever since.

Great! You have just released the single “Outcast”.  I believe it’s released digitally. Where can we find the song?

Pretty much all digital platforms! Spotify, iTunes, Apple Music, Google Play, YouTube, even Napster for all you oldies.

Okay. So almost certain that everyone can access! How would you describe this song?

Jamie: “Outcast” was one of the songs where I sat down and thought of all the moments in my life where people put me down. Jake and I really thought about how to push this anger into the song and I feel like by doing this we created a raw sound that really helps overcome these feelings. Outcast is heavy, grungy and fast but most importantly the song is meaningful.

Jake: Aggressive I guess, would be the best word to describe it. The song’s about standing up for individuality and not living the way people want you to live. Sometimes you come across people who shun you for acting a certain way, whether that be the way you dress or the music you listen to. Outcast is basically a middle finger to those people, saying we’ll live how we want to, not conform to social norms to try and fit in just to please people.

Ryan: Musically wise, the song is very diverse because it captures many aspects from genres all over the heavy spectrum from melodic metalcore to hardcore and deathcore, and even developing a brief ambient nature in the bridge. When we were writing it we took influences from a large range of bands; Fit For A King, In Hearts Wake, Wage War and Emmure were some big influences behind it.

Okay. How do you normally go about writing your songs?

We tend to start off by writing anything from a riff to a full song ourselves and bring it in to practise. We tend to work best writing things at home and then working on them collaboratively in session, bouncing ideas off each other and eventually coming up with a track we find is really fun to play and fun to listen to. Then, Jamie and Jake work on lyrics together to fit to the song and split up which parts should be sang unclean and which should be clean.

I see. Who are your influences? Does everyone listen to similar music or musicians?

We definitely have a wide range of influences and we like to show them in our music. Certainly our major influences come from metalcore/hardcore – the likes of The Amity Affliction, Beartooth, While She Sleeps, Stick To Your Guns and more recently Counterparts. Jason is more of a classic rock/metal fan and takes inspiration from the likes of Guns n Roses and Bon Jovi, which definitely gives us a more diverse sound when combined with our metalcore roots. It tends to work quite too – taking from the likes of Parkway Drive who definitely have a more classic metal sound incorporated in their new material.

Brilliant! Well, you must be very excited about the release! Did you have a special show for the release? Or Do you have a special one planned? 

We don’t have a release show per se for the single, but we’ve got a busy schedule coming up after the release. We’ve got around 7/8 shows in the next 8 weeks, and we’ll be pushing the new single as much as possible alongside these!

 

 

Good opportunities for you to be exposed a bit more.  What should we gig goers expect from your live shows?

Energy and chaos. We really want to get people involved more during our set, we have members of bands come up and do sections live and we’ve even had most the crowd on stage whilst we performed. But we hope from the new music we are writing we can get the crowd engaged a lot more. We pride ourselves in having a very diverse sound and our set definitely shows that. Going from aggressive powerhouse songs like Outcast to more melodic sing-alongs like Break My Fall, there is definitely something in there for everyone.

Sound awesome! Look forward to coming to your show soon! Are we expecting an EP or album following this single? And what is coming from Perceptions next?

We are definitely working towards an EP. We still have a track or two to write for it before we go in and record, but it’s certainly on the radar for the near future. As for what’s next, we are looking to expand outside of Newcastle and play shows in new places. We’ve got a few things in the works that we are keeping under wraps for now. But if you like our music, get in touch with us and let us know you want us to play your town!

Is there anything else you would like to say?

It sounds cliché, but it’s so important to support local music and new bands. We’re fortunate enough to have a dedicated local fan base that come to as many shows as possible and we’re so grateful to see that grow day by day. If you catch a band’s set at a gig and enjoy them or hear their new single online and dig it, support them! Even if it’s just a follow and a share, it does a world of good and helps them grow at the expense of a few seconds of your time.

Thank you so much for your time! Good luck!

(Teri Morris)

Outcast – Lyrics
I have wasted too many days wiping dirt from the wounds that you left in your wake
All I want is you by my side, no more pain will I feel from this fragile divide
I’ve come undone
It’s begun
To corrode my mind
You never cared
Just compared
My whole life to yours
Too many times I’m ripped apart by the things you say
Can’t help but feel like I’m better off dead with these voices inside my head
But I’ll shout
(Hey, hey) This isn’t over yet
(Hey, hey) Here’s something you’ll regret
(Hey, hey) I’ll push these words so deep inside your head so you’ll never forget
Why did you decide to push me away, taken in by the ones who begged me to stay
So a thank you to them and a fuck you to you, take a second look at the things that you do
I am nothing like you (x4)
Get the fuck out
You are nothing but a sheep in the heard
Your voice is silenced by me so it can never be heard
Take a look at what I’ve become, as you fear for your life
With the wolves at your door
Too many times I’m ripped apart by the things you say
Can’t help but feel like I’m better off dead with these voices inside my head
But I’ll shout
(Hey, hey) This isn’t over yet
(Hey, hey) Here’s something you’ll regret
(Hey, hey) I’ll push these words so deep inside your head so you’ll never forget
It kills me, it haunts me, the way you told me to be, the ways you told me to live
I just can’t escape it, the flame you sparked deep within has burned its way through my skin
I will not live the life you want (x2)
I am nothing like you (x4)

 

 

To find out more about Perceptions, visit their sites using the links below;
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PerceptionsUK/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/perceptions.uk/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/PerceptionsUK
BigCartel: http://perceptionsuk.bigcartel.com/
iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/artist/perceptions/1292401699
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/7jGZMYMntUy5mJ2jnjzdCM?si=ekBpLYp3RqicdnQJsRP5HQ
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0R2eKZngYN5dxWFD2Q3c3A