ABSOLVA – AN INTERVIEW WITH CHRIS APPLETON

A decade since Absolva’s inception, I speak to the Manchester-based Metal band’s frontman Chris Appleton about their latest album and discuss the band’s ongoing collaboration with former Iron Maiden singer Blaze Bayley. We delve into Chris’s early musical influences, the family business, future tour plans, and find out why performing in Iceland would be a dream come true…

[ANNE] Congratulations on your latest album, Fire in The Sky, which dropped on 18 th February! What topics do the songs explore and how does this record differ from your previous releases?

[CHRIS] Fire in The Sky is Absolva’s 6th studio album. It also celebrates the 10th Anniversary of the band. For this reason, we wanted to write a special album. The topics of the songs are perhaps a little darker than what we have done in the past. Of course, every song has the Absolva signature stamp all over it, but I was interested in exploring new subjects. Here are some of the highlights…

“Demon Tormentor”, the opening track, is based loosely on a fictional character influenced heavily by Sauron from Lord of the Rings. “Addiction” tells the story of how people who recover from alcohol, smoking or drug addiction still continue to battle their demons every day. “What Does God Know?”, which is proving to be a big fan favourite already, tells the story of a father and his two sons, wanting them to do well in life but facing many obstacles. “Fire in the Sky”, the title track, is more of a traditional Absolva song, sending the message that you are in charge of your own destiny. You have to get up and grab it! “Galloglaigh” is influenced heavily by Thin Lizzy. The Galloglaigh warriors were Irish and Scottish soldiers in the 1500s, compared to being the Irish answer to the Samurai Warriors. “Historic Year” tells our Absolva story of the beginning of the pandemic; when we started 2020 with a tour of Brazil and South America in January, it was going great. We had a great year of live shows and a new album planned, but by the time we got to play our last show of 2020 at Burrfest, London, the talks of lockdown were already looming. “Refuse to Die” (finally I managed to get “Manchester” in a lyrics, haha!) tells the story of us performing in our great hometown of Manchester. And after playing all over the world, there is always a special feeling about playing in your hometown.

[ANNE] Absolva toured with former Iron Maiden frontman Blaze Bayley in 2021 and also doubled up as Blaze’s backing band. How did your long-standing collaboration with Blaze originally come about?

[CHRIS] I’ve known Blaze now for many years. My previous band Fury UK opened up for Blaze back in the days of Jilly’s RockWorld in Manchester. We got on with Blaze great. He invited Fury UK to be the support band across the UK, Switzerland and Greece back in 2008. Fury UK also got the UK tour with Saxon, where we saw Blaze again with Wolfsbane.

We kept in contact for a long time and then back in 2012/2013 I was still working as a sound engineer and promoter in Manchester, and I booked Blaze for an acoustic show. Blaze had no band at this point but it was at this show when we started to discuss working together. In 2014 we made it happen and Absolva from then on performs as Blaze’s exclusive backing band. Blaze releases all his own music on his own record label, but we also began to take on Blaze’s management and bookings within our own organisation team, Rocksector. I have now been working with Blaze for over eight years – appeared, written and produced four studio albums and three live albums/DVDs and been booking his world tours. It keeps me busy!

[ANNE] Your recent tour went ahead nearly unscathed, with one or two setbacks along the way… Can you tell us a bit about what happened and how you dealt with adversity?

[CHRIS] Absolva touring with Blaze Bayley in affect was a “Covid-19” kind of thing. Because a lot of bands were trying to stay in their own “bubbles”, we thought it would be safe to have Absolva and Blaze on the same bill. The promoters still get the full evening of live music and the fans get to see Absolva and Blaze Bayley. The most difficult thing about the 2021 tour was not doing the “Meet & Greet” with the fans after each show. I hold a very strong connection with our fans. I like them to feel that the band is accessible for photos, signing and a chat after the show. So, it was tough not doing that. But now 2022 looks a lot more promising for things to come as close as possible back to normal. I think we only lost one show, which was Planet Rockstock, because Blaze caught Covid just on the run up. But both Blaze and Absolva have now been confirmed for their 2022 lineup.

[ANNE] What was it like co-producing Blaze’s successful 2021 album, War Within Me?

[CHRIS] Challenging, haha! Like all great song-writing teams, Lennon/McCartney, Tyler/Perry, there are heated discussions and arguments during the process. There has to be! The positive thing to come out of those times is that it proves that both people involved are really passionate and dedicated and really care about the outcome. It was the 4th studio album I have put together with Blaze and produced. But War Within Me was the first album where I took over the duties of engineer and recording from start to finish.  The only element of the audio I did not handle was the mastering. The process was great. I am really happy with War Within Me and it’s had a fantastic response from the fans. And Blaze sang great on this album. We were both very comfortable with our approach
to the writing and recording.

[ANNE] What UK shows and festivals have you got coming up this year?

[CHRIS] Absolva and Blaze Bayley are both extremely hard working when it comes to touring. We like to be busy! 2022 is looking like a great year. We are trying to reach all the towns and places we did not get an opportunity to get to in 2021. Absolva have a big 10th Anniversary show headlining the Saturday at SOS Festival, Manchester, which marks the 10th Anniversary of our debut show which was at SOS festival 2012. So to headline ten years later is going to be really special. We’ve got Planet Rockstock, Trecco Bay; Rockin’ The Bowl Festival, Sheffield; and Winterstorm Festival, Troon, Scotland – as well as a long string of headline shows featuring the double-bill. Very exciting.

[ANNE] You’ve got a European tour booked this Spring – where will you be performing and where are you most looking forward to playing?

[CHRIS] Finally we return to our beloved Europe. Absolva spent a lot of time touring Europe pre-lockdown. So, it’s going to be great to return. In the Spring we will be heading to France, Belgium, Spain and Switzerland, with two unplugged shows in Germany and The Netherlands. We have many European festivals booked in, including new festivals and rescheduled festivals from the past two years. Again, in Germany, Austria, Denmark, Finland, Italy and Switzerland. And then part two of the headline European tour dates continue in late August, where we will mainly be in Germany, plus The Netherlands and France. It is hard to pick out one country that I look forward to the most. I have performed in all these countries so much over the years and I love a variety of different things about them and their culture. And it’s not over either… I am still booking more shows 😉

[ANNE] Absolva is signed to Rocksector Records, which we’ve briefly touched upon – can you tell us a bit about the label?

[CHRIS] Rocksector Records is a label we set up ourselves. The original reason was funny to be honest. We found in the very early days when we were applying to play festivals in the early 2000s, they wouldn’t book the band if it was unsigned. You had to be signed. So, we created our own record label and signed ourselves. We still struggled, so we ended up establishing our festival, SOS Festival, but that’s another story.

Now that we had our record label with distribution, we had a platform to release our music. At that time not many bands were doing this. It was still a time before Facebook, YouTube, Spotify and crowdfunding took off to be as big as it is now. It’s been great to be honest. Having your own record label gives you control of the outcome. You quality control everything and the fans love the fact they are buying the product directly from the artist rather than a big corporation. They know when they buy the CD, vinyl, or T-shirt, that they are directly supporting Absolva.

And of course, it is family run – by myself, my brother Luke and my parents. My Mum and Dad have always been involved in the music business. My father Mark is in music management, tour management and is incredibly good with the back-office figures and accounts. My mother Lynne has worked in PR, artist development and is a booking agent. Luke and myself have been in bands all our lives and it’s great to have him with me now in Absolva and Blaze Bayley.

[ANNE] With both yourself and your brother Luke playing in the band, is it safe to assume you had a musical upbringing? Tell us a bit about your childhood, your early musical influences and how your love of Metal developed.

[CHRIS] Music has always been a big part of my life. My first BIG moment for discovering music was AC/DC. I adored this band and I still do to this day. It was the Highway to Hell album. I loved the sound of Angus’s guitar. And what the hell is this voice?! I couldn’t believe it. As a kid I did get a little bit obsessed. I started buying all their albums from the local music shop. I bought posters and drew my own posters. All my books at school were covered in AC/DC graffiti and to this day, I still believe they are one of the best bands that ever walked the earth. Nobody can quite sound like them. And man, they are a tight band! It’s not complicated music, but not everyone can do it. It takes a hell of a lot of discipline to play that tight. Wonderful band. Of course, from AC/DC I began discovering other music. I was really into Gary Moore and Thin Lizzy. Gary Moore is still a massive influence on my
guitar playing. I discovered Dio era Black Sabbath – Heaven & Hell is still one of the best albums ever made.

So it’s all very classic. I was this classic Rock kid with a patch jacket and curly hair at a time in the late 90s/early 2000s where the school was completely into boy bands, girl bands or Gangster Rap. I did get bullied a lot for what I listened to and how I dressed. But I was very stubborn and determined. My music teacher liked me, which was good, haha. When I left school I went full-time work at my local guitar shop where I was already working Saturdays and half terms. It was there that I really started to develop my guitar playing and discovered more new music. And playing in bands, and cover bands in biker pubs, and small places in and around the North West. Looking back on those early days is quite nice to be honest. I had great support from my family. My parents were very supportive of what I wanted to do in life. It was all I knew.

[ANNE] What’s next for Absolva? And for you personally?

[CHRIS] TAKE OVER THE WORLD!!! Haha! I want to step up the touring, step up the festivals, release more albums. I would really like to expand our country list for touring and return to North America and South America of course. But I would really like to get over to Japan and Australia. That might be a bit of a longer wait. I’ve always fancied doing a show in Iceland. I’ve always liked the adventure and performing somewhere where everyone else doesn’t play.

We played a show in a small venue in the Black Forest in Germany years ago. It was a small town but had this incredible Rock club. As we were setting up, we got to know the husband- and-wife team who owned the club, and they told us how excited everyone was for having Absolva there. “This is the first time a British band has played at this club or in this town!” I was shocked, but also very excited. We continued to return to this club over the years. Every time, the shows were SOLD-OUT – Brilliant! So, if we can find more places like that… I think this is another of advantage of in-house bookings – we really can work these extra shows into our schedule.

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

[CHRIS] I would like people to start valuing music again. Some people don’t think twice about buying a posh drink for over £10 or buying a T-shirt for £30-40. I don’t like the fact that the actual music has become de-valued. Music is created by someone… consider all the time it takes to write a song, record a song, pay for the studio, manufacturing, artwork, promotion, etc. I think this mentality is returning though. Value the artists’ music first, and the welcome return of vinyl. We still sell a lot of physical products. I think that is great and I don’t think it will go away. Music fans like the artwork, the product, the case, the box, the track order. A bit like the ten-year old Chris Appleton, who bought his first AC/DC albums and listened to them in track order and read the booklet whilst listening…

Lineup:
Chris Appleton – Lead Vocals / Lead Guitar
Luke Appleton – Rhythm Guitar / Backing Vocals
Karl Schramm – Bass / Backing Vocals
Martin Mcnee – Drums

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