You’re talking to Ben the vocalist from IMPERIUM
Can you tell us about the origin of the band name, a history of the band and a little bit about the various members?
It took us ages to finally choose our name, we wanted something that explained our music on one word and Hardip, our lead guitarist, smashed it when he said IMPERIUM. The other members are Scott, our Rhythm, Jean-Raphael our bassist and James our drummer.
Are you all from the same area? How did you get together as a band?
4 of us went to the same school, all in different years but had a connection through heavy metal. Jean-Raphael moved to the UK from Hong Kong a while ago and just made the band complete in seconds of us watching him play and getting to know him.
Who are your favourite artists/bands and how have they influenced your own sound?
We’re influenced by a lot of music, but mainly pre 2000s thrash metal. Just feels real and timeless…
Did you always have the ambition to be a musician and in a band or did you originally have other plans?
No I didn’t, I knew the two guitarists a long time before they asked me to try vocals, I actually tried to learn guitar from them in the first place! We have such a good connection all of us that when James joined the band as a drummer I said I’d give it a go… I was terrible, but I found my place and sound when we started creating our own music.
What songs or albums are on your current playlist?
The bands I’m banging out at the moment are Exodus, municipal waste, machine head, slayer megadeath… a ton more but yeah I jump about a lot listening to stuff .
Do you sing in the shower?
Haha I don’t sing in the shower, I think In the shower… constantly thinking on the bands next move or one of the other 8000 things I need to do.
Do you have any plans for the band for this year and into next year?
We’ve just played Bloodstock, so looking to see what that can bring, but we’re booking a few show runs, releasing our EP on Spotify in September after our physical release and booking up festivals for next year!
Do you currently have any new songs/albums ready to be released?
We’ve got tons of music lined up so looking at recording early next year!
If you could play at any venue in the world where would you choose?
Well, we wanna play bloodstock again! That festival is amazing! After that, Hellfest would be a big one! And wacken open air!
Do you have a favourite album? If so, what is it?
Weird one but I genuinely listen to killadelphia by lamb of god as an album every now and then… it’s an incredible live album and I don’t really dig live tunes to much… so yeah, not thrash but I’d go with that.
Do you have any guilty pleasure songs/albums?
Nah nothings guilty here… I’ll listen to morbid angel in the same hour as some minimal techno… apart from chart shit I genuinely will listen to most sounds
If you were putting together the greatest show on earth, who would be playing?
Right now, as a fantasy….
Metallica from 1980
Pantera
Exodus
IMPERIUM
Can you remember the first album you bought with your own money? What was it and do you still have it?
The first album I actually purchased was static x I think! The green one!
I don’t have it any more… someone broke into my house and out of all the gear in my room at 15, they stole my CDs man!
As your fans will be reading this, is there any message you would like to send out to them?
To all the people that follow IMPERIUM, simply, thank you. You’re support as we’ve said before is genuinely a power source to us! Big love
Finally, let us know all your social media sites so your fans, old and new, can find and follow/like you!
Check us out here:
Web – www.imperiummetal.com
Spotify – https://open.spotify.com/artist/7ytn24lvOAoMKq8pbszxO1?si=kPAalepBSime-Cs5rZNS6A
Instagram – imperium_uk
Facebook – imperiumsound
Band camp – https://imperiummetal.bandcamp.com
We, at The Metal Asylum, would like to thank you for your time. Is there is anything further that you would like to add?
Thanks very very much for the questions! All the best!
This interview is purely the property of The Metal Asylum