The rumours are true, former Alexisonfire guitarist Wade MacNeil is officially the new singer for UK hardcore kids Gallows.
Following last week's announcement that Alexisonfire had broken up, the rumour mill started churning over the idea that the six-stringer would be stepping in to fill ex-Gallows frontman Frank Carter's shoes. A new interview with MacNeil confirms that he's already in England working on some new tunes with the group.
"I showed up, flew over here and got here in the morning two days ago," MacNeil told Alternative Press. "I wasn't really sure what the guys wanted to do, if they wanted to run the old stuff. I said, 'Let's just jump into some new stuff,' and they played me some tracks. We arranged stuff a little differently, and I told them some ideas where I wanted to go with stuff. The first day, we wrote something that I think is the most brutal thing the band has ever written. It's just the harshest, heaviest song that's, like, thirty-five seconds long. I think that's going to be the first thing the band puts out."
MacNeil further explains that there's not much of a story behind how he joined Gallows. He spoke with old pal and Gallows guitarist Steph Carter about the situation briefly and decided to hop on a plane shortly thereafter.
Obviously adding MacNeil to the lineup will affect their sound, but as a Canadian joining a very British band, the new configuration may forcibly change the tone of the act too.
"I have a very, very different voice than Frank," MacNeil said, "and I mean aside from yelling, I think just the tone of my voice is going to be the one thing that's really, really different. Even though I've spent a lot of the last ten years touring England in various bands, I don't have a British perspective for everything, so whereas the last record [2009's Grey Britain] was definitely focused on Britain specifically, I think everything we're going to do in the future will definitely have more of a worldview."
While there's no set timeline on when we'll be hearing new music from Gallows, MacNeil knows it will shock some fans, and perhaps even offend the diehards. For the record, MacNeil is okay with that.
"Whenever you hear something changing, your immediate reaction is that it's the end of the world. It hurts, because you identify with their music and there's something about it that's really personal, right? So with a change like that, it's going to upset some people. But at the end of the day, we just have to almost selfishly write music that we are happy with and we're passionate about, and push forward the only way we really can."
Following last week's announcement that Alexisonfire had broken up, the rumour mill started churning over the idea that the six-stringer would be stepping in to fill ex-Gallows frontman Frank Carter's shoes. A new interview with MacNeil confirms that he's already in England working on some new tunes with the group.
"I showed up, flew over here and got here in the morning two days ago," MacNeil told Alternative Press. "I wasn't really sure what the guys wanted to do, if they wanted to run the old stuff. I said, 'Let's just jump into some new stuff,' and they played me some tracks. We arranged stuff a little differently, and I told them some ideas where I wanted to go with stuff. The first day, we wrote something that I think is the most brutal thing the band has ever written. It's just the harshest, heaviest song that's, like, thirty-five seconds long. I think that's going to be the first thing the band puts out."
MacNeil further explains that there's not much of a story behind how he joined Gallows. He spoke with old pal and Gallows guitarist Steph Carter about the situation briefly and decided to hop on a plane shortly thereafter.
Obviously adding MacNeil to the lineup will affect their sound, but as a Canadian joining a very British band, the new configuration may forcibly change the tone of the act too.
"I have a very, very different voice than Frank," MacNeil said, "and I mean aside from yelling, I think just the tone of my voice is going to be the one thing that's really, really different. Even though I've spent a lot of the last ten years touring England in various bands, I don't have a British perspective for everything, so whereas the last record [2009's Grey Britain] was definitely focused on Britain specifically, I think everything we're going to do in the future will definitely have more of a worldview."
While there's no set timeline on when we'll be hearing new music from Gallows, MacNeil knows it will shock some fans, and perhaps even offend the diehards. For the record, MacNeil is okay with that.
"Whenever you hear something changing, your immediate reaction is that it's the end of the world. It hurts, because you identify with their music and there's something about it that's really personal, right? So with a change like that, it's going to upset some people. But at the end of the day, we just have to almost selfishly write music that we are happy with and we're passionate about, and push forward the only way we really can."