Since 2014, LOATHE have maintained an exciting presence within the British underground heavy music scene. Hailing from Liverpool, the four-piece have been responsible for three studio albums that prove their talents as instrumentalists and as curators of soundscape.
Their sound, an emotive and ambitious blend of influences spanning metalcore, nu-metal, and industrial tones, meet lashes of shoegaze and prog with precision.
As a live outfit, LOATHE are intense and captivating. With frontman Kadeem France leading the charge, heart-led and visceral in delivery, seeing LOATHE provides a first-time crowd member that spark of exclusivity – you leave their show knowing you’ve experienced something primal, something special.
There were undoubtedly many first-timers in the mix with longtime LOATHE fans at Good Things 2024 – the summer East Coast tour giving the band the opportunity to open things up at each date, setting the standard high for the day ahead in each city.
When Rolling Stone AU/NZ meets with France and guitarist/vocalist Erik Bickerstaffe, the band had only just finished their performance in Melbourne, the first date of the tour.
Coming off the back of supporting Korn in Adelaide earlier that week, the vibes were already high for LOATHE heading into an Australian summer festival. “It was so sick, absolutely incredible,” both agree. If the Korn support slot was a warm up, then Good Things was the main event the band was hungry for.
The structure of the band’s live experience reflects the versatility of the LOATHE catalogue.
2020’s I Let It In and It Took Everything is a masterclass of playing with dark textures and tone, pushing boundaries of heavy music with their own unique songwriting perspectives firmly at the fore.
The more rhythmic elements of their latest album, The Things They Believe (the band’s first instrumental album), speak to the maturity of chemistry shared between LOATHE’s members; noir-esque music that prompts Reznor/Ross like moments.
Speaking to how their sound has evolved in recent years, and how it’s inspiring them as they navigate their next chapter of music, France and Bickerstaffe are proud of how far LOATHE have expanded.
“I was listening to our older music, listening to the last stuff we put out, [hearing] how we’ve grown and managed to blend more of our mature influences into the music. I’m really proud of that.” France says.
Exploring sound in an atmospheric way with LOATHE speaks to the members’ love for building soundtracks; taking inspiration from the worlds of film and even gaming, bringing them into their songwriting process.
“Video game soundtracks, movie soundtracks, that’s always been the unique selling point kind of thing that we wanted to add into the music,” Bickerstaffe adds. “It’s always been a big thing for us.”
Though the next LOATHE entry is still to be written, the ideas are swirling when it comes to where they’re heading next. Their formula has already proven one that thrives within unpredictable and fluid sonic structures and as France mentions, building music around a “baseline of interests” before incorporating their own individualism is what makes LOATHE unique.
As part of a wave of heavy metal and rock music that is bold in its fusion of genre and sound (i.e. Sleep Token, Knocked Loose, Spiritbox, Holding Absence), LOATHE are excited for what’s coming next out of this truly global community of artists and music lovers.
“There’s a lot of new music that is unafraid of boundaries, that is really exciting,” Bickerstaffe says. “I think part of the reason we write music for ourselves and the way we do, is because we feel like we are filling in that void of what we want.
“Now that I guess we have a bit of an influence on newer bands and stuff, it’s really amazing and humbling to be a part of it as well and to see new stuff. New stuff is always good. I think people want to be pushed in different directions without realising.”
