Doomed Confessionary: Becky, James, Kirstie, David & Dan (Cruel Mother)
Formed within the tolling of the Bow Bells in East London, doom metal band Cruel Mother take their lyrical inspiration from English printed broadsides and the folk song corpus, particularly the rich tradition of English murder ballads. The band mixes heavy riffs and crunchy grooves with the melancholic lament of the fiddle, creating a doom concept band unlike any other.
Cruel Mother is made up of Becky Loughead (bass, vocals and main composer), James Chester (guitar and vocals), Kirstie Summers (guitar), David Garner (violin) and Daniel Speight (drums). The five musicians bring an unusual and interesting mix of talent to the melting pot, with a wealth of combined experience spanning classical, metal, punk and ska music.
Blending English folk with stoner doom, this project is most influenced by Skyclad, Green Lung and 70s English folk like Steeleye Span, Fairport Convention, Pentangle (and, of course, Black Sabbath – they are still a doom band).
Cruel Mother’s debut EP »Cut Down For The Earth« was released on April 12th, 2024, available now on all major streaming platforms!
Can you say a few words about your band?
We describe Cruel Mother as a “folk-doom”. We’re coming from a doom metal background, but our lyrics are all drawn from traditional folk songs and broadside ballads – particularly murder ballads – and having a violin also gives it that folkiness musically.
What was the biggest challenge for the band?
Time and availability! We all have full-time jobs and finding time for all things band-related has been a challenge, especially with some of our members in other bands. Our songs tend to be quite long around the 7 minute mark, and recording each part took up multiple evenings over a couple of months.
What can you be most proud of so far?
We’ve been delighted by the positive reviews we’ve had for our debut EP, »Cut Down For The Earth«, which we self-released in April. All the reviewers have noted its originality in the doom scene, which is quite a compliment for a new band. Even if they weren’t initially sure of what to make of it, we seem to have converted them by the end!
What was your biggest regret?
Probably not spending quite as long recording parts of the EP as would have been ideal, for the reasons given in question 2!
What was the best concert/tour so far and why?
We played our first show at the Cart & Horses in Stratford (London), a pub known as the Birthplace of Iron Maiden, on the bill with some excellent doom bands. It’s a pretty big honour to play your first show in a legendary venue!
What was the biggest surprise on the music scene for you?
We’ve always loved the local live music scene and known what a welcoming community it is, but we weren’t expecting people to respond so positively and enthusiastically to our very particular niche, certainly not so early on. We’ve had an amazing response to our first EP, and it doesn’t feel real that we’ll be playing our fourth ever gig in Norway. It’s been absolutely amazing in a way that we never would have anticipated.
What is currently in your heavy musical rotation?
We all have different music tastes and musical backgrounds, including ska, punk, goth, and folk metal, but I think the one band we can all agree on is the Green Lung. We share a lot of thematic similarities with them and love their ‘wyrd Britain’ folklore style and artwork.
What was the best advice you’ve ever been given as a musician?
“There’s no such thing as mistakes just happy accidents” – genuinely the best advice I ever was given was to not obsess over getting things perfect when it comes to recording or performing, as you are your own worst critic.
Some advice we wish we’d had was not to give up playing music, like two of us did for over a decade, because we felt we were inadequate musicians compared to those around us. Playing and composing music has enriched our lives and it’s given us a whole new community, even while we’re still in the early stages and finding our feet.
What are your guilty pleasures?
Eurovision! Our favourite to win this year was Croatia, though Finland, the Netherlands, Norway and Ireland weren’t far behind. It’s a great year for incredibly camp, wacky, joyful entries!
Can you say something more about the music scene in London?
London has a brilliant stoner-doom scene – the London Doom Collective put on some excellent shows. We dig local bands like Old Horn Tooth, Acid Throne, Black Orchids, Mountain Caller and Lowen. We’re also members of the London Metal Coalition who do amazing work supporting the grassrooms metal scene, including putting on free gigs and running regular pub meet-ups for bands and metal fans. It’s a great network to be a part of as a band just starting out getting to know the live circuit.
Where can we see you live this year (concerts/tours)?
If you fancy a trip to the Arctic Circle, you can catch us on June 15th in Tromsø! It’s our first show outside of London and we’re supporting the brilliant Dreamslain for their »Forge of Rebellion« album release show. We’ll be playing a longer set with some new songs that aren’t on the EP. We’re very excited to be bringing our traditional British murder ballads to Norway!
What are your plans for the future as a band?
Play more shows, and hopefully some around other parts of England too. We’d like to record a full-length album now we have more material. We would love to arrange an English-folk themed event combining folk customs – like Morris dancing – with our music, and other neo-Medieval and experimental folk bands out there at the moment.
How can people best support your band?
Our EP is available to purchase as a digital download from our Bandcamp and we’ll soon have some merch available to buy as well. But whether you buy anything from the band or not, we’re very grateful to everyone who listens to our music and follows us on social media, and to anyone who comes out to see us live and supports the unsigned metal scene.
Do you have any message for your listeners?
Hopefully our music encourages our listeners to explore the rich histories and traditions behind the folk ballads we adapt, many of which are centuries old, and that it is possible to re-interpret one genre in a very different way, give it new life and bring it to a new audience.
Bojan Bidovc // music enthusiast, promoter, misanthrop and sometimes a journalist as well