May I introduce you to Sam, Alex, Mark, Tobias and Lee, five guys, all come from the deepest depths of Derbyshire who together make Raised by Owls. Raised by Owls are among the latest rock greats who fuse rock, metal, thrash-energy, sharp vocals with full-on screamo backing. And a passion for Mary Berry and The Great British Bake-Off (I’m as confused as you). For further listening check out The Great British Grind Off, Off to The Pub, Rot Stewart and The Almighty Sunday Roast. Derby, you’ve done us proud with these metal greats.

“I have a lot of respect for bands that are willing to experiment and try something different”

Who are you guys?
Hi! Raised by Owls is:
Sam Fowler – Vocals.
Alex LeGrice – Guitar & backing vocals.
Mark Bainbridge – Guitar
Tobias Cope – Bass
Lee Deane – Drums

And how did you all get together?
Me (Sam) and Alex just started messing around in Alex’s old bedroom at his parents’ house. We started ripping off bands that we really liked, and I would put ridiculous lyrics over the top of the songs. Shortly after we got our good friend Lee involved and started making daft internet music videos.
Once the videos started to take off online, we wanted to start making live appearances. That’s when we inducted Mark and Tobias to complete the line-up.
The five of us all grew up in a rural town in Derbyshire called Ashbourne. It’s a bit like Royston Vasey off ‘The League of Gentlemen’ which probably explains why our music is so odd.

What are your music influences?
Mainly extreme metal. However, I have a lot of respect for bands that are willing to experiment and try something different.
Some of our favourite bands are Carcass, Cannibal Corpse, Pig Destroyer, Napalm Death, At the Gates, The Black Dahlia Murder, Behemoth, Aborted, Revocation, Every Time I Die, Mastodon. The list goes on.

On a scale of 1-10 how rock would you say you are?
We’re probably minus 10. We’re not a very cool band.

Story behind band’s name?
We can’t remember, which is embarrassing. I think it was during recording in Alex’s bedroom, I vaguely remember that we wanted to take a name that would normally sound metal, like ‘Raised by Wolves’ and replace with a less brutal animal, like an owl.

You released an album, The Great British Grind Off, wouldn’t be a reference to a certain cookery show?
ALL HAIL MARY BERRY, THE ONE TRUE QUEEN OF BAKING!

It’s a whooping 24 tracks long, how long did it take to work on the whole album?
It started as just a laugh. We never intended to release it to the public in the beginning. Then we started making daft videos for the songs and people online responded, so we decided to put it out.
We started recording it around September 2015 and finished around September 2016. We weren’t working solidly. We’d just mess around every few weekends and see what came out. The recording of the next release will probably be a lot more focused as we have a handful of people who actually care about our musical output now ha-ha.
Have you played in Nottingham before?
Yes sir, many times, It’s always a good laugh. it’s our home from home… as it’s only up the road, and we love Taco Bell.
Derby needs a Taco Bell!

And are you looking forward to Macmillan Fest this weekend?
Very much so. Our last show was Truck Festival back in July, so we’ve had a bit over a month off. I’ve been itching to get back on stage.
Looking forward to checking out some awesome bands and hanging with some cool dudes and dudettes that we haven’t seen in ages. It’s going to be good clean fun.

You’ve been together since 2015 and have an album as well as numerous gigs under you belt such as Bloodstock and Truck Festival, what can we expect from you next?
A few more gigs spotted about to see the year out. Then we’re planning to release another record in the first part of 2019. The last few months have been spent hiding away and writing, and now we’re just starting to record.
Next year there will be a new record, new daft videos, more gigs and hopefully some festival appearances! It’s all looking very exciting.

And finally, were can fans hear more of your music?
Go and download our debut EP ‘The Great British Grind Off’ for FREE on bandcamp here: https://raisedbyowls.bandcamp.com/
Like us on Facebook here: http://www.facebook.com/RaisedByOwls/
And watch us here: http://www.youtube.com/raisedbyowls