More than a decade on from their last album of original material, SOiL are back with a brand new record that, in their own words, is done, ready to go, and built to stand alongside their best. Add a 15-date UK tour, their longest run on these shores yet.
We caught up with the band to talk new music, road stories and why the UK keeps calling them home.
The wait for fresh material, they insist, came down to getting it right rather than simply getting it done. “We found the right team and the right frame of mind to do it,” they tell us. “There’s no point in a band of our age doing new material unless it meets or exceeds our best stuff.”
So what does it sound like? For anyone who first fell for the band through Scars, the promise is that the DNA is intact but the edges are sharper. “It’s gonna blow your minds,” they say. “It’s heavy, modern, and has the classic SOiL sound.”
A first single had been lined up to land before the end of the year, with the album to follow, though the schedule is being kept loose for now. “The plan may have changed at this point. Not sure exactly when everything will launch,” they admit. “But rest assured, it’s done and ready to go.”
The UK run, meanwhile, has ballooned. What started as a smaller announcement has stretched to a full 15 dates, and the reason was “Our agent kept getting offers in and we kept saying yes,” they laugh.
It helps that Britain has always been a stronghold. The 2024 All Scars run sold out, and the band clearly relish the connection. “For whatever reason, SOiL has always connected with the UK,” they say. “They just always understood us and got what we were trying to do. We love the UK!”
Two decades on, SOiL remain best known for ‘Halo’, ‘Unreal’ and ‘The Lesser Man’, and there’s no bitterness about being defined by them. “They are great songs and we still enjoy playing them,” they say, before turning the question towards the future. “Let’s hope the new material will make the cut. Only the fans will decide if that happens.”
If there’s one thing that visibly gets the band going, it’s the suggestion that this is a comeback riding the early-2000s nostalgia wave. They aren’t having it.
“Nope. We never went away,” they fire back. “It’s pretty lame that all these bands from the era that broke up are coming back now that they see interest and money offers. We NEVER stopped. Never took a break, never broke up. SOiL has always been here. We take great pride in that.”
Over that unbroken run there have, understandably, been a few stories. The one the band reach for first is a spring break marathon in Miami, Florida, back in 2006, which went about as well as you’d expect for a heavy band in front of a preppy college crowd. “The venue was packed and they were turning people away at the door,” they recall. “But this was a college spring break. With preppy college kids. They were expecting Dave Matthews and we gave them Slayer. After the first song, ‘Breaking Me Down’, we cleared out 700 people and only 50 remained. I guess that’s what we get for agreeing to play a spring break marathon in Miami.”
At the other end of the scale sits the moment that’s stayed with them most: their first arena tour, opening for Ozzy Osbourne and Rob Zombie on the Merry Mayhem tour in 2001. “That was our first arena tour and they treated us so great,” they remember. “It was the most amazing time of our lives.”
With a finished album waiting in the wings and 15 UK dates on the way, SOiL‘s next chapter is already written. The rest is down to the fans.
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