“Norfolk is nice and quiet; but it’s the quiet ones you’ve got to look out for”.
There’s not much quiet about raging Thetford five-piece William English. Exploding this year from the English county with a reputation for relaxed, idyllic life, vocalist Shane Miller states that all is not what it seems. “East Anglia has a great metal scene, with some awesome bands: Three Thrones, Telepathy, Jøtnarr, amongst many others. There’s stuff going on everywhere.”
Indeed, with three members of recently-reformed Sludge quintet A Horse Called War in the ranks, William English are steeped in that scene. “Joe (Woodbury, drums) actually started the band some years ago as a Hardcore outfit, WE. There’s about 100 copies of an album called Home sat in Joe’s flat if anyone wants one! Carter (guitars) and I from “…Horse…” got involved after we split, with Dave (Vickers, guitar) joining later, and helped take the sound in a heavier direction.”
Which is evident on debut album Basic Human Error (Grandad). Despite the edgy violence in the William English sound however, there’s a pleasing tendency for tempo-fluctuating variance. Shane is quite matter-of-fact about it: “Do you want an album where you can pre-determine what you’re going to get, or one with individual tracks all creating a different vibe? We like different things and we try to bring all of that together. I wish more bands did it. Too many albums these days aren’t holding my attention for their duration.”
2015 seems to have been a busy one for the band, with the album’s recent release succeeding WETT (Kings Park), a ‘split’ release with Colchester Stoner merchants Three Thrones, earlier in the year. It’s not all sunshine and roses though, as they are no different than many underground bands right now: “We recorded the ‘split’ around two years ago,” Shane confirms, “and due to complications it took a year to get Basic Human Error out there; so we could be more productive. When you have five lads with work commitments and money issues though, it’s hard. We are looking to get more stuff out though: we’re hoping to record another ‘split’ very soon, with a band we really love, so if there are any labels out there interested in assisting its release next year it would help a lot.”
Such pitfalls don’t prevent these guys from moving forward, despite three-fifths of them reforming their original band earlier this year, after a five-year hiatus. For the present, it’s William English in the vanguard, and that new album has met with many positive reviews. Shane’s flaying, unflinching vocal style has, however, divided opinion: “I think that will always be the case. I feel that people will get the bigger picture seeing us live but, and again this is just my personal view: do you want a 100% screamer; someone who roars and bellows all the time; or do you want a bit of variety? Most reviews do seem to like what we’re doing but if they didn’t, it wouldn’t really matter. We play random, heavy music; that’s just what we do.”
Amen to individuality and self-belief. The band’s future intent is comparatively modest, but determined: “We want to record two tracks in November to contribute to that ‘split’ next year, and hopefully get out and play some shows to back up the album. It’s unlikely there’ll be another album, however, unless a label gets involved; just small, fairly frequent releases.”
A band with this much passion, drive, and genuinely exciting, raucous sound, can’t fail to get that label attention soon. William English deserve yours, and now.
PAUL QUINN
