It's been a while

Gary writes:

Where to begin? As the title of this post says, it's been a while since our last post here, but we've been very very busy.

In October we played our first show in Manchester as part of the Beat:Cancer live events, sharing the stage with MEMMAKER, Cease2Xist, Tapewyrm and Nature Of Wires. The gig was a great success, and we had some great singalong moments, particularly during a cheeky cover version of Bodyrockers "I Like The Way You Move". The important thing - the fundraising - was also very successful, raising around £1500 on the night. Massive thanks to Mark Haigh and all the folks at Beat:Cancer who went above and beyond as always.

Before and after the Beat:Cancer show we've been working on our new album. Entitled "Rise", the 8 track album will be released on 14th April. As at the time of writing this, the album has been sent out for review and has had tracks played on radio shows as far afield as Australia.

The album will be available as a physical CD and a digital download from our Bandcamp store, as well as digitally via iTunes, Amazon, et al.

We're hopeful that you'll like the album, and that we can secure some live shows to show off the new material.

Until next time....

How Time Flies

Gary writes:

It's been almost year since my last post here (slaps wrists), but despite this we've been busy boys...

After the release of "You Know What You Are" in May 2015, we played at the last Cybersonik festival in London, where we had an unintentional glitch-inspired set, thanks to a temperamental laptop. The upshot of the technical issues means we've got an amended live rig, and we're now laptop-free live.

Following that show, we played at the Beat:Cancer / Club Recall Halloween Ball in October, be-decked in facepaint as "the un-dead with Swag". This was the acid test for the new live rig, and I was very happy with how flawlessly everything worked.

2016 has seen us mostly in "writing mode" with gigs very thin on the ground, and right now we have only one show planned for this year, doing our bit for Beat:Cancer and playing at the Manchester show with Memmaker, Cease2Xist, Tapewyrm and Nature of Wires.

While we've yet to determine our set for this upcoming show, plans are underway.

The bulk of our time at the moment is being taken up with work on our next release, and we've got some really good songs in the pipeline (even if we say so ourselves). Vocals are all tracked and we're currently in the production and mixing phases. At present we have nine tracks, and the plan is for an album with those nine tracks.

Until next time...

#YKWYA - A New EP (And Other News)

Gary writes:

Our most recent EP, entitled "You Know What You Are" was finally released on 22nd May, and as I alluded to in my previous post, due to no label interest at the time, we decided to self-release the EP once we had garnered additional remixes of selected tracks from our talented peers Cease2Xist, Ruinizer, Paresis and X-KiN. X-KiN's remix of "Twist" took the song in a whole different direction, having Anthony's performance mostly replaced with the soulful jazzy vocals of Veronick. Shaken and not stirred, if you will.

The EP had a brief, yet successful pre-order period which saw it being eagerly snapped up as well as getting several glowing reviews as well. Here's a sampling of what some the reviews had to say:

"The band are reaching their potential and cranking out some great songs that will appeal to the current climate." - Intravenous Magazine

"Goodbye is an example why I feel that Defeat are true industrial magicians" Wicked Spins Radio

"There is still that expected and inescapable catchiness, each track whipping up vivacious energies and anthemic temptation but equally they devour the most imposing and darkest corners of emotion and life." - Ringmaster Review

Following the EP release, we played at this year's Cybersonik festival in London, returning to the stage at Slimelight once again. Although the set was beset with a recalcitrant laptop that skipped the backing track randomly, we were very well received by those who had ventured out to see us. A highlight for me was hearing the crowd singing along with us, particularly on "Resist", a track from YKWYA with a somewhat anthemic chorus. It was a real "goosebumps" moment.

As I write this, we've taken delivery of some new kit which means no more laptop live, so no skipping hard disks at future shows. We will be venturing out live with this set-up soon - details of which will be revealed soon.

Until next time....

Gary

A Lot Can Happen In A Few Months

Gary writes:

It's been a while since I've posted here, and a lot has happened in the intervening weeks.

First of all, we've completed the new tracks for the new EP, and these have been mixed and mastered. I have to say I'm very happy with how the tracks have turned out, and I'd go so far to say that the six tracks we've done are the best work we have done to date. We're currently in the process of gathering remixes for the EP, and are currently looking at self-releasing the EP in the new year.

The choice to self-release the EP became an obvious one after the closure of Juggernaut Music Group, who we were in discussions with up until the label's demise a few months ago. Going to other labels in the scene with the begging bowl is not our style, and as we've not had any approaches from any other labels (Juggernaut being the only ones to show any interest in working with us), we've decided to do our own thing and self release as it does seem to be the most logical way forward for us at present. We're not a so-called "name" band in the scene, and I suspect that the labels out there either simply don't know we exist or are just not as passionate about our music as we are.

On the flip side of any perceived EP release-related woes, Anthony and I played arguably our best gig ever opening the proceedings at the first Beat:Cancer LIVE festival. Being first on the bill is always tough, as crowd numbers are usually low for the opening bands. However, this proved to be the exception for this gig and hearing the crowd roar after finishing the opening track spurred both of us on to give a great performance, and the show become one big party. It was an experience I will never forget, and I'm eternally grateful to Beat:Cancer supremo Mark Haigh for inviting Defeat to be part of proceedings. We had a blast tearing up the stage with Biomechanimal, Ruinizer, Cease2Xist, Dirty K, and ESA: Electronic Substance Abuse, and it seemed that the new tracks we performed (which will be on the EP) went down very well.

With the festive season soon upon us, we're taking things easy at the moment, gearing up for the EP release, which we'll be announcing the date for soon.

Until next time...

An Apology And More EP News

Gary writes:

I'd like to start this update with an apology.

As those who follow and know us may know, we had secured the opening slot for last month's Cybersonik Festival after The .Invalid was unable to appear. However, illness on my part prevented us from playing the show. I'd like to extend my apologies to those who wanted to see us play, but also to promoters Synchrotrax and the other bands on the bill, particularly good friends Ruinizer and Machine Rox.

However on a more positive note, work on the EP has continued unabated and as of today, we have 5 of the 6 tracks now mixed and mastered, as well have having a storming remix come in from Cease2Xist. We hope to have the final sixth track mixed and mastered very soon and our hope is that with the EP we can grab the attention and release the EP via a label - fingers very much crossed on that one.

On the mastering front, I'm working with erstwhile labelmates Ghost In The Static on mastering their next EP, with steady progress being made. I don't wish to steal the guys' thunder, but the songs I've worked on so far are belters and this new release promises to be a brilliant follow up to "Fallout".

Until next time...

New EP news / Cybersonik 2014

Gary writes:

Since our last update, we've been busy getting our next E.P. ready, and we have tracked the vocals for the E.P. We're currently in the mixing stage, having mixed one of the six tracks already, with good progress being made on the remaining five tracks. We're still on the look out for a label following SDR's closure at the start of the 2014, and we're hopeful the E.P. will garner the right kind of attention and get us signed up again, as being a part of a label "family" is something that we've missed since SDR closed.

On the live front, we have stepped into the breach and will be opening Cybersonik again this year (having opened last year's event).  We're looking forward to playing in London again and will be previewing a new song from the upcoming EP. The show promises to be a belter with good friends Ruinizer and Machine Rox also on the bill. The full lineup for Cybersonik is on the Facebook event page here:

https://www.facebook.com/events/1438240139757022

Hopefully we'll see some of you who read this at Cybersonik.

Until next time...

What A Difference Three Months Makes

Gary writes:

Well, it certainly has been an eventful few months since I last wrote here.

Autumn saw the bombshell that Static Distortion Records, the label we came to see as extended family, was to close it's doors as a conventional label at the end of 2013. The SDR artists remain a unit in the form of an artists collective, but it was very much the end of an era. Our thanks go to Steve Fearon for welcoming us into the fold and kicking arse for us during our time with SDR. We have forged new friendships, which I hope will remain for years to come.

In terms of the releases I've already alluded to in previous posts, the video and single for Coffin was released, and we're exceptionally thankful for those who submitted remixes for the single. Special mention must go to Jay Ruin, whose Ruinizer remix of the track features as the lead track on the single and also is used for the video soundtrack. Our most recent release is RE:LAPSE, which is a track for track remix version of [seek help], which is packed with storming remixes and well worth checking out, especially given that it's a free download!

The last month has seen me mastering tracks for Cease2Xist - an artist I have the greatest admirition and respect for. I'm currently mastering the upcoming EP/album "WIYGN?", and I can safely say this is the best mastering work I have done to date. You'll get to hear "WIYGN?" soon, and I promise it'll be worth it. Dayve Yates has put together a belter of a release, which also features a Defeat remix of the title track.

As far as the future is concerned, the coming months see us returning to Welwyn Garden City to play support for good friends Nine Day Decline (March 7th at The Green Room) and recording some new songs for a new EP.

Until the next time...