Sikth are a band you can't help hearing about. The band's music has been used to advertise Radio 1, Kerrang and other alternative music corporations, so chances are you've heard a Sikth track at some point in the last two years but you probably weren't aware of it. Hence arises the problem, plenty of people have heard of Sikth, but not so many people have conciously heard their music. As 2004 draws to a close the band and fans are hoping this is all about to change.
With an impressive number of demos and EPs under their belt, Sikth released their full length album "The Trees Are Dead And Dried Out, Wait for Something Wild" in 2003 and are already writing new songs ready to head into recording this Christmas. Last year's album gave music fans something refreshingly new to listen to, with extreme metal tracks being contrasted with some spoken word and classical piano tracks to provide the listener with two types of music from one CD.
"To be honest we see ourselves as more than a metal band," vocalist Justin Hill tells me, "we see ourselves as individual musicians as well, when we come together we want to bring our individual personalities together". This is probably why Sikth's sound is so unique; by blending together each band member's love of a different type of music, whether it be rock, metal or classical, the record produced is definitely going to be something worth listening to.
It is because of Sikth's genuine sound that their music has been frequently used to advertise Radio One and has been played at Kerrang's "Day of Rock", as well as having the animated clip for the narrative "How May I Help You?" played reguarly on MTV2 and Kerrang TV. To some bands, the idea of having their music used in advertisement may be a nightmare and considered to be "selling out", to others it is seen as a perfect way to get their music heard and recognised by the public; just look at Jet.
"It's a great way of getting across to people and we've been really lucky that we've had the opportunity to do these things" Justin says, clearly agreeing with the latter point of view.
"If these opportunities keep coming along we're going to take them because we want to be able to get our music across to as many people as possible" he continues, showing me that not only is the band made up of stylistic musicians, but also of dedicated ones.
Sikth are one of those bands who seem to spend the majority of their lives touring, which makes it suprising that their fan base isn't much larger than it currently is. After touring with the likes of Kittie and The Dillinger Escape Plan as well having their own headlining tour across the UK, Ireland and this year, Japan, the band show no signs of slowing down.
"We'd love to play everywhere to be honest, we'd love to go to every single country. It's always been one of the ambitions of this band, to tour the world relentlessly so we're going to keep pushing until we finally do it." I'm told. It's entirely understandable why Sikth should want to achieve so much as a band, and hopefully the next album will be as successful, if not more so than the previous; thus propelling the band into the music fan's psyche and allowing them to take part in a well deserved global tour. But will the next album be good enough?
"I think all of us are kind of writing more equally right now." Justin begins to explain;
"I was the last person to join this band, I mean they had this big change over where three new members joined, so obviously half the songs were already written, so the new guys didn't really have much opportunity to write stuff. This time round everyone's just mucking in and giving it their all." But will this be enough to ensure an album as impressive as the last? Surely having each member pitch in will result in some creative conflicts?
"We're more mature people, we're more mature musicians and we know each other better as a band," I am assured confidently by Justin, who's own good nature is already apparant from our short phone call. Sikth are already ahead of themselves in the writing process and have played two new tracks which will be featured on the next record, before they have even been recorded. These two tracks have not only been noticably different to tracks from the last album, but also to each other, showing the fans that the band have been working on extreme metal songwriting as well as melodically driven songs as well, and are once again contrasting different styles of music.
Ending the year by beginning to record the new album seems the perfect action for Sikth to take, ensuring that by next summer the public will be able to get their hands on the new material in time for the festival season. Having played Download '03 and attended this year's festival as fans, it seems highly possible that Sikth will be able to show off the new material at Download '05, taking advantage of the enhanced atmosphere and vibe bands get from playing outdoors and definitely gaining them several new fans. It is clear to me Sikth will partake on a global tour at some point in their careers, and I can only see the next album aiding them in their quest to do so.