Phil and Jola Stiles of immersive Leicester prog quartet Final Coil talk all things Bloodstock and discuss their excellent new album, The World We Inherited, with Paul Castles, the day after their appearance on the New Blood Stage at Catton Park.
How did you get the New Blood Stage booking?
We love Metal 2 The Masses and have entered in the past and made the finals which is great. There’s always such a great sense of community around that event but we couldn’t do it this year as were promoting our third album. Then we saw Simon Hall put out an open call for bands and we sent a letter in. When I got an email back and saw he had invited us to play, my jaw hit the floor!
This was your Bloodstock debut, how did it go?
It was amazing! There were a couple of small technical gremlins, my guitar cut out at the beginning which was mildly terrifying, but we spent a lot of time rehearsing, and we know not to stop but to keep going and I think everything came across really well. We really enjoyed it and it seemed like people were with us.
Were you concerned that you were competing with Hatebreed on the main stage?
We’re so massively different to Hatebreed that the people who came to see us are probably very well aware of what we are and made a conscious choice as an alternative and I quite like that. We really wanted to do a set that was a little bit different. We pitched it like we do our albums with a couple of heavier songs and a slow prog one in the middle. We hoped it would go really well and I think it did but it’s not necessarily the most obvious set choice.
How many of the songs were from your new album, The World We Inherited?
Three of them. We opened with ‘The Last Battle’ from the previous album, then ‘Chemtrails’ from the new album, ‘Failed Light’ and then two more new songs ‘The Growing Shadows’ and ‘Wires’, the second single from new album.
Just share a little of the Final Coil journey so far…
I started it all as a solo project in 2003 and then Richard (Awdry, guitar) joined but then the band got shelved when I moved to Poland for a few years. So, this current configuration of the band started in 2008. Jola joined and she is a talented musician, jazz flutist as well a bassist and has done a lot of stuff with bands in the past. We have had some ups and downs with drummers down the years, always drummers! Barry (French) did an excellent job on the last album but had to leave for personal reasons. We were sorry he had to go but were lucky to find Gee (Neale) who joined in October and he’s had a real baptism of fire, as his first gig was the album launch show in London which we also filmed – so no pressure at all!
Did the approach to The World We Inherited differ much from your previous work?
Not really, we’ve been fairly consistent in our approach. I write the songs and format things so usually what the band get is a pretty complete vision of what I’m after. The second album was written soon after my grandmother passed away, the lyrics were basically like a vignette from her life, and my grandfather’s life, looking back on how the experiences of that generation led to the divisions in society created by things like Trump and Brexit. This album is a continuation of that, same theme but now looking at the future, hence the title… The World We Inherited. It is largely based on an interview I did with Jaz Coleman of Killing Joke. It was a long rambling discussion, Jaz is a very intelligent guy but I agree with some things he says but disagree with others. It’s an interesting starting point, how people can go down this wormhole of conspiracy theories and how they become so alienated and separated from their fellow man. We saw it in the recent riots, people now are almost regressing into giving out simplistic statements rather than through evidence or supporting statements. Final Coil are about empathy and having understanding for other people. Nothing good has ever come from shutting down debates but that’s what people now seem to be doing. Politics is important to bands but I don’t want to tell people what to think, the songs are just about opening up a debate.
How did you enjoy working with producer Russ Russell at Parlour Studios in Kettering?
Musically this album took us to another level. Getting Russ on board was amazing and it actually changed my approach in some ways to writing. I learnt so much in the studio from him and he was a big influence on a couple of songs like ‘End Of History’. The original version was much longer, as we couldn’t find a way to end it. Russ just said ‘this song is really good but it needs to stop here’. That’s an example of a big impact but he also made smaller touches, his knowledge of electronica, him knowing how to place a sample, encouraging us to get a better take, a better performance. We had breakfast and dinner together and he felt like one of the band. He is very creative and definitely brings the best out of us. Production was impacted by Covid and it became a labour of love for him. He was working until midnight some nights so the whole recording eventually took a year. I was just so touched that he thought enough of it that he did that for us.
Any possibility of the band heading across to Europe?
We have recorded albums in Italy but sadly never had a chance to play when we were there. We do now have dates soon in Rouen and Paris so these will be our very first shows in Europe, I’m not sure if two gigs in France constitutes a European tour! Before that, we have a hometown show in Leicester on 9 October with Coma Rossi, an Indian/German prog rock band and The River who I love, they’re absolutely stunning.
And finally, how have you enjoyed the Bloodstock experience as a whole?
It’s been unbelievable, a wonderful stepping stone for us. It’s really been a working weekend, meeting some wonderful journalists, and the benefits are almost incalculable. Appearing at Bloodstock is almost like a seal of approval, an acknowledgement that you’ve reached a point in your career where you’re considered worthy in this community. We’ve always been welcome in the metal community, even though we’re not your typical metal band. Meeting new people and bands here has been such an honour.
Thanks so much for making the time to speak to us. We had an absolute blast playing Bloodstock, and we really appreciate the feature. Cheers!