Some interviews you can tell within a minute are going to be fun. Headwreck, all the way over from Australia, turned up to theirs mid-banter about the British habit of calling Wellington boots wellies, and barely came up for air. We sat down with Jamo Benadie (guitar and vocals) and Colby Horton (drums), and they had plenty to be giddy about. This was a weekend of firsts: first time in the UK, first Download, and, as the first metal band signed to hip-hop label Empire, a milestone for the whole genre. “There are so many firsts right now. It’s overwhelming, but it’s almost a dream come true,” Colby tells us. “Download, touring internationally, signing to a label. Lots of bucket list moments getting ticked off.”
They had already played by the time we sat down, and Jamo was still buzzing about opening the Dogtooth stage as the very first band on. “I didn’t know what to expect, and it was very full. People were enjoying it, a fair amount knew the words.” For Colby, the surprise was the support this far from home. “Lots of Headwreck jerseys.” And the Download crowd did what it always does. “They instantly started opening it up, jumping around.” You can rely on a Download field to show up early and mosh, and it impressed them.
The UK weather, mind, left more of a mark. Colby has taken to describing it as “negative twenty saturation on everything,” the colour just drained out of the world. Someone had christened it greyscale depression, a label the band loved. Arriving on the tail of the recent heatwave, though, they were unbothered. A bit of heat, they shrugged, while the locals melted. Now they understand the national weather complaint.
Being the first metal band on Empire is the story they keep circling back to. The label’s roster, with names like 50 Cent and Snoop Dogg, was the part that made it real for the people back home. “When I told my parents I was on a label with Snoop Dogg, they could finally comprehend it,” Colby says. “Same with Download, when they saw we were on the same festival as Guns N’ Roses.” Beyond the famous names, it’s the freedom that excites them. “It’s very cool to be part of a team that feels so established but lets us pioneer something different. Being the first metal band on the label gives us a chance to breathe fresh air into the metal scene, cross genres, experiment, and break the rules a little.”
That arrives at a good moment, with nu metal visibly back. Why now? Jamo’s theory is nostalgia. “Everyone reaches an age, maybe their twenties, where they rediscover what they loved as a kid. A lot of our themes and influences are from when we were children. Music, games, good old PlayStation 2.” In a world of nonsense shoved in your face, he reckons, reconnecting with your inner child is a relief. And the audience has widened. With Spineshank on the Sunday bill and the likes of Limp Bizkit and Deftones bigger now than at their early 2000s peak, the genre is pulling in the original crowd and a younger one discovering it fresh. Colby counts himself in the latter camp, finally getting to see it all live. As we put it to them, the mix of ages all rocking out together is the real magic of a place like Download.
Their album Attitude Adjustment shares its name with John Cena’s finishing move, so it was probably inevitable that, asked to picture the record as a room, they landed on a WWE ring, the big SmackDown fist punching through the wall, Cena himself frying a full English in the corner. “A full English from Mr Cena would be sublime in a boxing ring.” Breakfast, it turns out, is a recurring theme. So is refusing to take any of it too seriously, which doubles as their philosophy. Asked what people should stop doing, Colby answers fast. “Stop acting tough. You don’t need to wear a big hoodie and pretend. Some people feel pressured when they play heavy music to be tough. You don’t have to be. Just have fun with it.”
The fun runs into the rest of their advice. Jamo’s bugbear is more domestic: stop assigning foods to set times of day. “If I want eggs for dinner, I’ll have eggs for dinner.” When we mentioned the bloke we’d spotted ordering a kebab at seven that morning on the campsite, the response was pure solidarity. “I’ve had many a kebab for breakfast. Why not? It’s a festival. You can do what you want.”
On what people should start doing, they neatly split the workload, Colby taking art and Jamo taking life. “When it comes to art and self-expression, don’t overthink it, just put yourself on your sleeve,” Colby offers. Jamo goes bigger. “Everyone needs to stop caring what other people think. Just be yourself. If I could truly let go of what other people think, that would be ultimate freedom.” He admits he is still getting there.
Next comes a breather, three more shows then three weeks off, their first in six months. After that, a bigger body of music is taking shape, with more touring wherever they can reach. “We’re just going to keep doing us, keep experimenting, push the envelope, and expand our little world.” A UK return is the hope, fingers crossed within the year, maybe the next festival circuit. And those label collabs they keep daydreaming about? Snoop Dogg, they grin. Time will tell.
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