More about: Loathe

“I used to wear a mask on stage. I had this latex thing that was just pure melting on my face. We were literally in the middle of a desert playing this show...” Frontman of Loathe Kadeem France is reminiscing about some of his band’s more notable live experiences as we discuss their journey from Liverpool start-ups to the country’s hottest new metal band. 

No more rocking the mask façade (it’s a thing of the past for them, too), let me introduce you to Loathe: propelling through the industry with their colossal lockdown sophomore I Let It In and It Took Everything, Loathe have since become an imperative new metal band to have your eyes on. Following the success of their 2020 release, this February the group leaked a smaller project, The Things They Believe, an ambient instrumental project featuring twelve euphoric tracks. “The Things They Believe kind of continues expanding the sonic identity and reaffirming the space that I Let It In lives in,” the band’s co-vocalist and guitarist Erik Bickerstaffe confirms. “I wouldn’t really class The Things They Believe as its own standalone thing: it definitely accompanies I Let It In. We’d wanted to do something like this for so long. In a way it was like a decompression, from having spent so much time on the minute details of the album to then creating something more free-flowing and ambient—it was nice to have fun with it. I’m not saying I Let It In wasn’t fun, but it was definitely different.”

If you already thought the group had excelled your expectations with The Things They Believe then you’d be amazed to find another follow-up to I Let It In: the release of their next sonic offering I Let It In and It Took Everything (Instrumental). An eight-month follow-up to the album, this instrumental release has worked as an impressive power move from the group, as it still yields total perfection—even without Kadeem’s vocals. Discussing this project Erik details: “For us, we don’t like to take away from the record in any way. Having it speak for itself is the most important thing, and that’s not to say removing the vocals is always the correct answer. We had the opportunity to remaster it [and] we had that second chance to allow people to hear all the small details.” Releasing this project enabled the group to offer their fans the ability to see further into Loathe’s mission: with and without vocals, their powerful discography is unmatched within the metal scene right now. 

2021 has been nothing but a journey of ascendancy for the band. From being nominated for Best UK Band at this year’s Heavy Metal Awards, to performing at the infamous Download Pilot Festival, it goes without saying that despite last year’s pitfalls, Loathe are using 2021 as an opportunity to prosper. Kadeem and Erik are almost blushing with modesty as they try to put into words how they’re feeling now (no pun intended). 

Finally, they’re able to reflect on their recent weeks spent on their While She Sleeps tour: “It was such a sick opportunity and we’re very grateful for it. As you know, While She Sleeps have a very strong fanbase so for them to bring us out on tour…it was amazing.” Kadeem continues: “I feel like we gained a lot of new fans because of that. It was really cool especially because I literally grew up listening to that band, so it was great to be on tour and be on a level with them.”

Despite some of the difficulties Loathe faced across the While She Sleeps tour—from technical blips to the departure of long-time guitarist Connor Sweeney—the band managed to pull through with a great set of shows. “I think my favourite out of all of the shows was Bristol—that was insane. When we played ‘Two-Way Mirror’ the entire crowd was singing, to the point I could still hear them all singing through my inner ears,” says Kadeem. 

Now gearing themselves up for the debut headline tour of I Let It In and It Took Everything this December, the group couldn’t be more psyched—and neither could we. For the first time, fans will get to see Loathe finally unleash their massive 2020 album live and in full. “We’ve been waiting to play these songs for so long,” Kadeem enthuses. “It’s actually crazy to me to think there’s songs on this album that came out in February 2020 that we still haven’t played live yet.” Excitedly discussing their tour, Erik begins to detail what tracks he’s most excited to play off the album: “For me the first one that comes to mind is ‘Heavy Is The Head That Falls With The Weight of A Thousand Thoughts.’” Kadeem agrees: “I was going to say that one. And ‘Is it Really You?’.”

With their London show already completely sold out, it goes without saying that energies are high, and nerves are somewhere in-between. Fans are itching to see Loathe to their fullest and this December they finally will. “Selling it out two months in advance is crazy to us, because we’ve always had walk-up sell-outs. It’s so far from home as well, so to have that…it’s so good.” Adding to the discussion Kadeem says: “I feel like London have always had so much love for us. Even on the While She Sleeps tour, when we played there the show was insane. Kind of like Manchester as well, London is proper like home anytime we play there—I can’t wait for December.”

Joining their adventures are shoegaze four-piece Slow Crush and post-hardcore offering Modern Error as support acts. Discussing how the group came to finalising who’d they’d bring along on their tour Erik expands: “Every time we do something where we have a headline, we always try our best to pick artists who we’re really into, or artists who reflect some section of our own music. It’s definitely been important to us to bring out artists who we’re into and that we really enjoy the music of. 

“We’ve worked with Zak [of Modern Error] on pretty much every single one of our music videos. We’ve been friends for years now, and so to bring the band out is great. Slow Crush: we’ve played together at Burn it Down festival in Torquay. They have a really great vibe and shoegaze that really matches our vibe.” 

Amid their debut tour in December, Loathe were also scheduled for a major tour with Architects: to be one of their biggest achievements (amongst many) so far. Now, the tour has been postponed and Loathe will not be on the rescheduled dates. Erik drops the details on why this is: “I think it was just conflicting plans, everything fell into place perfectly before the Sleeps tour. We had everything planned up: we had the Sleeps tour, the Architects show, our tour in December.” He continues: “Throughout 2022 we have quite a bit planned and so I think it’s just a case of unfortunately it doesn’t quite line up with their [plans]. But I’m sure at some point we will go on tour with Architects because the idea has been tossed about so much…it’s kind of inevitable at this point.”

Whilst Loathe have had a notable amount of successes across the last few years already, there are some that stick out. Reflecting on some of their biggest moments, Kadeem and Erik narrow it down to their first ever Download Festival in 2018. “I’d say playing Download Festival for the first time was a big one. Kadeem and I had always said it was one of our goals to not go to many festivals until we had played them, and that’s one of those we didn’t go to until we were asked to play.” Erik agrees: “It was just a bit of a flex really, setting that goal. I think for me when I was younger, I’d see people spend hundreds of pounds on festival tickets, and I knew I couldn’t do that because it was a lot of money for me. Then the question was: ‘how can we get into these festivals? We play them’.”

“To add to that, I’d say when we sold out OMEARA in London…I remember when the show finished, Erik and I were stood outside the venue looking at each other nearly in tears, thinking ‘what has just happened?’.” Kadeem continues: “We were both proper emotional after the grind of getting everything done and all the stresses we had on that tour, on the whole production side of things. We just looked at each other as if to say: ‘we did it’. Even now with London selling out so far ahead of the show…even that’s a milestone for me, we’re one of those bands now and it feels crazy.”

Along their path, Loathe have played a string of acclaimed events, ranging from Reading and Leeds, to Download,to Knotfest (to list a few). What started out as a hopeful vision of the band they could be has knocked even their own expectations. Continuing on the topic of success, Kadeem adds his perspective: “It’s so over-played now but manifestation has always been a thing for us. The number of things Erik and I had said to each other growing up, and because we had constantly said it to each other and worked towards it they ended up happening. For example, talking about milestones: I remember ages ago when we talked about wanting our first show in America to be with Slipknot. In 2016 we played our first show in America, and it was Knotfest [alongside headliners Slipknot]. It’s little victories like that that make us have that positive attitude to making our goals happen.”

After touching upon some of their biggest moments, Kadeem and Erik take a moment before briefly reflecting on some of the concerns surrounding the departure of long-time guitarist Connor Sweeney, who quit the band during the While She Sleeps tour. It goes without saying that the group are still in a very tender position about this. Filling us in with what they can without tearing up, Erik tells us: “We continued as a four-piece for the rest of the tour, it was too close to get someone else in and teach them all our songs after Connor had left. I mean, it takes ages for us to learn them anyway, so we didn’t want to give someone that duty. We just couldn’t make it happen in time, so we had to make do with the four of us.” 

There are no plans to replace Connor, as of yet. “I think for how we’re feeling right now, we’re just happy as we are. Learning [with] a new person is a lot. If in the future there was someone who could fit in perfectly and it made sense then that would be fine—we aren’t against it. But for right now, we’re staying as a four piece.” 

Their fans, the boys tell us, have been an imperative drive for the continuation of the group. As Kadeem tells it, “they gave us the space that we needed. I felt like people knew about it, but one of the things for me, when it happened, is that I thought, with the shows coming up: ‘is this going to be us?’ ‘Are people just going to be asking us about it?’ But no one really did.” Continuing, he addresses why it’s so imperative for Loathe to have the closeness they currently do with their fans: “I almost feel like our fans are on the journey with us and in tune with everything we want to do.”

Despite changes to their line-up, Kadeem remains positive. “The show must go on no matter what: that is the music industry. No matter how many steps back we take we just have to keep moving forward. Even before Loathe was Loathe, when we used to be called Our Imbalance, we had setbacks with band members. At the time it felt like that was it for us, but obviously we pushed on, rebranded ourselves and became Loathe. Having that mentality, especially in this business where anything can happen…you’ve just got to remind yourself to keep going.”

Loathe have an incredible fandom surrounding them right now, but that’s not the only thing keeping them afloat. This year the group made a mark in history as they took to the Main Stage for the first time ever at Download Festival, a Pilot event that took place in June 2021. Reminiscing on the surrealness of the Download Pilot weekend, Kadeem tells us that “it was one of them where it didn’t really sink in until I heard the backing track in my ear, and it was like: ‘oh, this is happening’. Especially being the first show back after the pandemic, that was insane! Honestly, that whole day felt like a dream, seeing so many friends after so long.” 

Erik expands, remembering the momentary technical difficulties that threatened their set: “We saw our friends talking about us making history and I don’t really think it properly sunk in because we were so caught up on making sure the show went right—and it didn’t. I took it really badly. Kadeem handled it really well, but there was just so much preparation and a lot of work to then, on that Main Stage, it go wrong. When it happened I looked at everyone and started laughing because it was so unreal.” Download Pilot was the first official large-scale music festival to go live after a year spent in lockdown, and two since the last summer festival pre-Coivid. It was a moment that can only be described as one for the most monumental of music history books, and not only were Loathe there—but Loathe took their sound to the Main Stage.

“It was a special moment after [the sound problems] though, singing ‘Two-Way Mirror’ acapella with everyone,” Kadeem reminisces. “That was a proper mad moment: it was one of them where I didn’t realise how mad it was until later in the evening.” 

Next year, the group will be making a return to Download Festival, as well as playing live dates in Australia in association with While She Sleeps again. “Australia has been a place for years that I’ve always wanted to play,” Kadeem tells, continuing, “the scene out there is just another level, I feel like any band that comes out of Australia is insane. I’ve heard from so many people that there’s a load of fans out there waiting for us to play.” With them buddying up with While She Sleeps so much across the last few months, and confirmed as special guest for their 2022 tour again, is it wishful thinking to imagine that a collaboration could be down the line for the groups? “That could happen, it would be sick. You’ve put the idea there,” Kadeem says.

Whilst the group have their own set of inspirations, their fanbase is forever growing and their sound is proving to be in high demand across many corners of the world: “It’s fantastic but it’s stupid, it’s mad to think about it.” 

Just moments away from their debut tour of I Let it In and It Took Everything, we’re still basking in the release of The Things they Believe, which has proven to be a small gesture of what to expect in the future, while I Let It In and It Took Everything (Instrumental) demonstrates that even with the lyrics stripped, Loathe are an impenetrable force to be reckoned with. Is there new music to expect next year, and can we hope for an official new studio album as the follow-up to an already incredible introduction?

There’s silence, then laughter, as Kadeem finally spills what he can: “We’re always writing…I think we’re at the stage of trying to form the idea of what’s next and capturing that moment. For I Let It In, there was a long time of talking about it and then it was like: ‘ok we’re in album mode now’.”

To put it simply, Loathe are a boastfully big metal band who are leaving some indelible dents within the community. Their sound, image and general energy is unmatched and the masks are long forgotten. Whatever 2022 has in store for the group, no doubt it will mean nothing but further success.

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More about: Loathe