An Interview with
Jake McCabe (Bassist) of
who play 'Mountains Of Metal'
on Saturday July 20th @ Record Junkee, Sheffield
Tell us all about how your band came to be and what roles you all have?
Jake: I am Jake McCabe, main Vocalist / Bassist of Dire Thorns. I've been trying to start this project up since I was in year 4 / 5 so our line-up has been hectic. Our drummer, Joe, joined us in February 2022 after being recommended by a local drum teacher. Many changes later, we got France, our current Lead Guitarist around July 2023, hired the same day, he and I had first met at an open event at my college, Grimsby Institute.
After I had decided to move onto bass to allow for more Korn / Primus elements in our music, I hired Rhythm Guitarist, Connor after knowing him for a while through college in November 2023. Finally, I completed the line-up with the addition of Ethan on samples and backing vocals last December. Being two years younger than the rest of the band, I met him through a mutual friend who knew him at their school. My response here may feel jumbled, although that's mainly because our history of line-ups is exactly that.
Where did your name initially come from?
Jake: This goes back to late 2017 when I was in Year 8; the first time I started getting a decent sum of band members. One of our two drummers at the time (context: Dire Thorns was a two drummer band for a long time) had presented us with a list of about 7 possible names, most of which I forget, but I know for certain that the first was 'Feast of Slaughter' and last was 'Dire Thorns' which, as you can probably infer, eventually won. I don't know where these titles came from though, probably a random online generator or something. The title means nothing other than to sound catchy and be conveniently searchable, both of which it fortunately is.
Who would you say have been your main inspirations and influences and why either individually or as a band unit?
Jake: Although I write 90% of the music, this is often influenced by the line-up of people around me. Personally, I don't really listen to music much unless there's something that interests me about it on an emotional or technological scale. I got into Slipknot at age 10 and have always wanted to make a masked band by proxy and getting into Korn opened my mind to how intriguing a role the bass guitar can take on in a composition.
Otherwise, I tend to just base songs off of something interesting I heard and morph it into my personal style. Linking back to what I said at the start of this paragraph, I have had bandmates into many different genres that have influenced our songs. Joe (Drummer) adds progressive elements, Will (ex-Bassist) encouraged us to do more guitar solos and co-wrote a more ambient Black Metal style song with me (Feed Me To The Inferno), France and Connor (current Guitarists) are way into hardcore stuff like Knocked Loose, which is currently working it's way into our future material. I could go on for ages.
How would you describe your band to somebody who had never heard you before that will be seeing you live on Saturday July 20th?
Jake: A Young, Masked Nu-Death Metal band based all around Lincolnshire with main influences of Slipknot, Korn and Knocked Loose with a harsh priority towards live energy.
What Songs / Albums are you most proud of that you have released so far and for what reasons?
Jake: Our last EP "State of Sikosis" is definitely my favourite of our releases to date. It was written over 2021 - 23, unlike our previous releases that I wrote in year 7. The production required work, but you'll see the fruits of that labour once we put out what we have lined up next.
What would you say have been the most stand-out moments/highlights in the bands career so far and why?
Jake: Co-Headlining a UK Tour. We organised this alongside Mcintosh Bookings and the support we've been getting is wild, not to mention how we will be travelling with a band like Secreum. The best is definitely yet to come, and I feel like I know how to get there.
What have been the funniest, most Spinal Tap moments in the band?
Jake: At a Grimsby gig a woman around her fifties called our bassist at the time over and whispered in their ear, "I can be your slutty mummy" which is, to this day, one of the funniest situations that've happened at a performance.
What revs you up and gets you going before getting on stage?
Jake: The need to be better than everyone and the urge to show people how fantastic I am.
What would you most like to fulfil as a band when it comes to the bucket-list?
Jake: I REALLY want to Tour countries that speak languages I study. As unlikely as it is (especially right now) it would be my dream to play countries like Russia and Egypt. In the meantime, my eyes are probably set on Latvia, mostly Russian speaking, not at war and (most importantly) very cheap.
What does it mean to you to play the 'Mountains Of Metal' All-Dayer alongside the other bands on the bill?
Jake: It's such a cool experience to have been offered an all Dayer slot due to our m2tm performance, especially since we lost that heat, and it's been a wonderful experience getting to help with organising and making media for the event. It means I'm making progress, making friends, making contacts, I'm on the right track.
What special message do you have to the folk who are coming to the show?
Jake: Throw down when Dire Thorns comes on stage, we go hard I promise I'm not just a narcissist. Thank you.
Feel Free to check out the links below:
Mountains Of Metal Events Page:
Mountains Of Metal Events Ticket Link: https://www.fatsoma.com/e/grh6rcz2/mountains-of-metal
