Doomed Confessionary: Phil Stiles (Final Coil)

Photo credits: Ester Segarra

Hailing from Leicester, UK, Final Coil have developed a potent mix of alternative, post-metal and progressive rock, drawing upon a diverse range of artists such as Tool, Alice In Chains, Pink Floyd, Massive Attack, Katatonia and The Ocean.

Over the last eight years, Final Coil have released a titanic conceptual trilogy of albums – »Persistence Of Memory« (2017), »The World We Left Behind For Others« (2019) and »The World We Inherited« (2024). Each one of these albums was an incredible, visionary piece of work, garnering critical acclaim from across the world and, with each release, Final Coil’s stature has grown. The band’s new four-track EP »1994« will be released on March 27th, 2026 through Nyctophobic Records.

Founded in 2008, Final Coil currently consists of Phil Stiles (lead vocals, guitar), Richard Awdry (guitar, vocals) and Jola Stiles (bass).

Can you please say a few words about your band?
Hi, this is Phil (lead singer and rhythm guitarist) from Final Coil. We are a three-piece post-metal/prog band hailing from Leicester in the UK. We’ve been active since 2008 and, since then, we have released five EPs and three acclaimed full-length albums – the Persistence Trilogy. The most recent of these, »The World We Inherited«, took us both to Bloodstock Festival, and on our first ever EU tour, where we played three dates in Belgium and France.

Right now, we’re just about to release our sixth EP, the »1994« EP, which is a nod to our early years recorded with former Therapy? drummer Graham Hopkins; and we’re heading into the studio to record our fourth album (also with a special guest drummer) in June.

We’re pretty eclectic but, broadly, our influences include Tool, Alice In Chains, Pink Floyd, Paradise Lost, Manic Street Preachers, Killing Joke, NIN, and Katatonia. Not always all at once 😉

What was the biggest challenge for the band?
It’s hard to pick out one specific challenge. Certainly, as a band, we’ve had more bad luck than most when it comes to drummers. We’ve lost count as to how many we’ve had, but there always seem to be issues. Happily, this is now resolved, which may explain just how much activity is going on with the band right now.

Otherwise, we face the same challenges as every band in this era of streaming – how to reach an audience, how to stand out, how to focus on your art when the industry increasingly requires you to be a marketer – these problems are not unique to us, but they are significant challenges that have been, and are being, raised by fellow artists around the world.

Honestly, I don’t know what the answer is, except to keep doing what we do. All too often, we see bands filing down the edges of their sound in order to meet whatever metric is being shovelled their way. For us, the journey will always be more important than the result, and so we focus on making the music that moves us and hope that people come along for the ride.

What can you be most proud of so far?
Whenever I’m asked this, it’s pretty much always going to be our most recent release. I’m very proud of all the music we have made together (and I guess, if I’m honest, I have my favourites) but it’s also essential for me as an artist to keep moving. So, whatever the latest release is (in this instance the »1994« EP), I guess that’s top of the list!

However, in terms of live performance, I would like to note the amazing show we did in Paris. Promoted by Below the Sun, we got to share the stage with Homecoming and Vestige (both amazing bands and friendly people). It was a sold-out show, absolutely packed, and incredibly intense. We’ve never had a night quite like it and, if you look carefully, you’ll see a couple of tiny clips from the show in our latest video (for »Narcissist«). That was a truly awesome night and easily the best show we’ve played.

I’d also like to mention Bloodstock. The festival is basically the pinnacle of metal festivals in the UK and for us, having the opportunity to play on the New Blood Stage, was a dream come true. It’s moments like those that stand out in the memory and give us a certain impetus.

What was your biggest regret?
Generally, I don’t have too many regrets with Final Coil because we always do what feels right to us at the time. Obviously, the benefit of hindsight means there are always things you could have done differently, but there’s little point in revisiting what you can’t change.

That said, the biggest (I guess obvious) mistake we made was not to film the Paris show. We had an offer from a local company and, to be quite honest, we had blown so much money on the tour, we simply couldn’t afford to take that extra step. Had we known just how immense the show was going to be, we’d have sold a kidney, or a drummer, or something.

Ah well…

What was the best concert/tour so far and why?
The series of mini tours we did in the wake of our last album, »The World We Inherited«, were amazing. We took a very different approach where we booked all the shows ourselves (with the exception of two shows out in France and Belgium) – no promoters. It meant we were in charge of the whole thing. We were able to keep door prices low for the fans, but still brings some money to cover all our costs; we were able to choose the line ups, which meant we played with amazing bands, friendly people, who fit with us musically; and we were able to make sure that each night was the best it could possibly be. Along the way, we also got to play France, Belgium, Bloodstock, and Fusion Festival. It was a really cool series of dates, we met a lot of great people, played a lot of new stages, and it set the wheels in motion for a bigger tour of Europe in 2027.

What was the biggest surprise on the music scene for you?
That’s a really tricky question. Like any community, the music scene has its positives and negatives; its cliques and its open-minded exponents; its supporters and detractors.

I think I’d highlight the people on the scene who are open to everyone. The cliques I find to be childish and antagonistic, but you can essentially do without them. But the people who exist within the scene who are open to everyone and offer their support, guidance, and friendship (even if the music you make is not necessarily to their taste) – these people are amazing and there are far more of them than you might think.

So, yes, over the years, the most amazing thing about the scene (and I guess you could call it a surprise) is the sheer number of amazing, open, helpful, loving people who have supported us in what we do.

I’m talking about the promoter in France who opened a flat to us, so we’d have somewhere to stay; the journalist in Belgium who helped to find us a gig and opened his home to us; the writers around the world who go beyond the press release and really listen to the music in order to write their reviews; the press guy who has never worked with the band, but whom I know, who sent me a gig opportunity he thought would fit; the bands that took on the risk of touring with us, or who opened a slot up for us; the photographer in Belgium who graciously gave us a whole load of professional photos we could use, free of charge; the festival promoter who took a chance on us and let us play a much in-demand stage; the writer who sent us a whole load of cool questions, even though they’re super busy; the drummer who agreed to work with us despite having world-class credentials enabling him to work with anyone; the world-class producer who took us on, despite being in similar demand to the drummer; the friends who took time off work to help with our video… the list goes on.

These people are everywhere and, providing you try to pay it forward where you can, they will come out to bat for you. That’s not just surprising, it’s amazing, and I feel incredibly grateful to have worked with the people that we have.

What is currently in your heavy musical rotation?
Ah man, this year has been so cool for new albums. I think I’ve been buying stuff pretty much on a weekly basis! Anyhow, currently burning up the stereo (and in no particular order): Mayhem, »Liturgy Of Death«; Jarboe, »Sightings«; The Orb, »Buddhist Hipsters«; Joe Bonamassa, »The BB King Blues Summit 100«; Epimetheus, »Perseus 9«; Puscifer, »Normal Isn’t«; Alice In Chains, »Alice In Chains (30th Anniversary reissue)«; Zu, »Ferrum Sidereum«…

I don’t know, there’s just so much great music out there – anyone who thinks that [adopts hectoring tone] “music was so much better in xxxx decade” has simply lost the passion for exploring.

I guess I could agree that good music was easier to find in previous decades – certainly the charts in the 90s, for all of the dross they would serve up, also had the likes of Nirvana, Radiohead, Placebo, Smashing Pumpkins, Manic Street Preachers, Apollo 440, Wildhearts, Levellers, etc. etc. occasionally making an appearance – but, still, if you’re willing to scratch just below the surface, there are amazing musicians out there making truly original music, despite the fact that it seems to be more of a struggle to actually get heard these days.

What was the best advice you’ve ever been given as a musician?
I think probably the most important piece of advice is never to second guess your passion for the music you make. There will be people out there who will tell you what you need to do. They’ll have advice about production, song length, guitar tone, lyrics, look and, more often than not, it’s delivered from the perspective of making you more accessible or attractive to an audience.

The problem is, you will never know what an audience will get behind. I could write twenty 3-minute pop songs, which get to the hook in 20 seconds, and which have a repetitive sing-along chorus, and a radio-friendly tone and still not get a single listener – largely because anyone who heard it would know that it was not authentic. So, I’d have sold my soul and gotten no benefit. More to the point, perhaps, even if I did get instant fame, I’d hate what I had become in order to achieve it.

So, you have to believe in what you do, regardless of the advice you’re given or the reviews that you get, because then you will have produced something of which you are proud. Anything beyond that is truly outside of your control, but if it does bring you listeners, then it will be a genuine, authentic, artistic interaction. And that’s really all that matters.

Er, yeah, that’s a really long way of saying “be true to yourself”!

What are your guilty pleasures?
I don’t know if I do guilty pleasures. I mean, I’m a terrible geek, so I take pleasure in a lot of things that would be deemed deeply uncool, but I’m not sure I do it guiltily, hahaha.

I guess, maybe, there’s the fact that both Jola and I love Kiss, and that always seems to bring us disapproving looks, but honestly, they’re so much fun. They’re like a comic book come to life and, whether you dig them or not, they built their empire on some really great music. I mean, the first three albums were recorded in, like, thirteen months – that’s amazing! Their work ethic was insane, and their shows were just the embodiment of excess. So, yeah, it’s probably career suicide to talk about Kiss, but they’re just a lot of fun.

Also, I feel compelled to note that Kiss influenced pretty much all the artists we love – Alice In Chains, Nirvana, Sonic Youth, Soundgarden, The Melvins… fuck it. Kiss. No guilt 😉

Can you say something more about the current music scene in Leicester?
Well, we’re very lucky because we are based in Leicester, in the East Midlands, which means we not only have the local music scene (on which, more in a moment), but we also have more or less direct access to Nottingham, Birmingham, Northampton, London, and Sheffield. There’s always cool stuff happening.

But yeah, the East Midlands has a great reputation, particularly for metal. It helps that we have Download (Donnington) Festival just twenty minutes up the road from us, and Bloodstock not much further. Both are leading metal festivals and offer great opportunities for bands. For us, playing Bloodstock in 2024 was one of the highlights of our career, and we’re all regular attendees, as the line ups are just insane.

Then, there’s Bearded Theory, which is more punk, post-punk, and alternative music. It’s in the same place as Bloodstock and it’s also amazing. We have yet to play there, but we attend regularly and we’re just waiting for them to succumb to our charms. More locally, there’s Uprising festival in Leicester, which has a growing reputation as a leading metal festival in its own right. We played the inaugural edition, and it was a very cool gathering of predominantly local talent, with some great headliners to close the day out.

In terms of venues, Leicester is a little unsung these days, but it has far more great places to play than people realise, most notably Firebug, Duffy’s, The Metal Monocle, The SoundHouse, The International, The O2, De Montfort Hall. We’re proud to have played many of these venues and they always have a lot of great shows going on throughout the year.

And, last but by no means least, Leicester has some fantastic bands – notably Wollow, Mage, Monachopsis, Matt Steady, Foul Body Autopsy, Mouse Teeth, Teiger (I don’t know how much they count as a Leicester band, but still), Siobahn Mazzei, and I don’t know how many more. They cover a broad spectrum in terms of genre, and a number of them are doing well not just in the city, but nationally and even internationally. There is some incredible talent in the city.

Where can we see you live this year (concerts/tours)?
We’re currently looking to book dates in the latter half of the year, and we’re also booking a number of dates in Europe for early 2027. For now, we’re concentrating on album four, which we’re recording in June/July – so nothing just yet.

What are your plans for the future as a band?
Well, with the »1994« EP done, we’re already one foot into the studio to record album number four. I’m so excited, we’ve got an ace guest drummer on board (more on that soon), and we’re reuniting with Russ Russell (Dimmu Borgir, Napalm Death, Wildhearts), which is just such a pleasure because he’s an amazing human being and an amazing presence in the studio. So, we know we’ll have a blast, and we know he’ll get the very best out of us.

We’re also setting up live dates later in the year and early in 2027, and I’ve finished writing album number five, so I’m hoping there won’t be such a gap between studio albums this time around. There may even be time for another EP in between 😉

This is the main thing for Final Coil – we love to create and, after a challenging period, it seems like we’re on a bit of a roll.

How can people best support your band?
There are so many different ways, and we appreciate them all. At the simplest level, every like, share, or comment on our socials helps us to reach a bigger audience and it’s very much appreciated. More so now than ever, we know that there are literally hundreds (if not thousands) of bands competing for people’s attention every single day. So, if someone takes a moment to hit like or make a comment, it really does help us to reach more people. I can honestly say that we try to reply to everything and we never take it for granted.

Obviously, the next level is buying merch from us. As with the social media, we take it incredibly seriously. Up to now, we’ve handwritten notes to go with every order, just as our way of saying thank you, and we’re always trying to find new little gifts to drop in alongside whatever’s been ordered – post cards, plectrums, stickers. What can I say? Every order helps us to do something bigger, better, and more imaginative the next time out, so it really helps and we appreciate it.

Do you have any message for your listeners?
Thank you. We genuinely love making the music that we make, and we’d be making it in one form or another even if there was not a single listener out there for us – we just enjoy the creative process so much, it’s hard to imagine not doing it. That said, we are so, so grateful to the people who take time out of their lives to join us on this journey. So, if you’ve checked out an album, shared a post, watched a video, or caught us at a show, please know that it means the world to us.

Links:
Website | Facebook | Instagram | Bandcamp | Spotify | YouTube

Bojan Bidovc // music enthusiast, promoter, misanthrop and sometimes a journalist as well