“Gloom is our home,” says Jamie McLees. It’s the mantra at the heart of everything for Glaswegian metalcore quintet Lotus Eater. In many senses, their sound straightforwardly matches up: a cocktail of anger, aggression, despair, violence and feral rage.
“We’re a gloomy band and Glasgow’s a gloomy place,” explains their singer. “It’s about writing shitey-sounding songs in this shitey place that aren’t actually shite. I’ve been on plenty of nights out where I’ve seen some dark stuff. It lives up to its reputation.”
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“Being from Glasgow, there’s always that underlying aggression and angst,” agrees guitarist Douglas Park. “We are nice people, but when you come from here you need to be streetwise and aware of yourself. You need to know who you are and who you’re talking to. It’s a city with one of the highest crime rates proportional to population. There’s a different aura, a different vibe, to other cities that you can feel.”
Beyond that sonic brutality and nihilistic imagery, however, there is a catharsis.
“There’s a lot of positivity in Lotus Eater,” explains Doug. “We might portray ourselves as dark, sinister and scary, but there’s always light at the end of the tunnel. We started out to be an outlet for people. We wanted to create a place they could go, mentally and musically, where they could express what they thought and felt about themselves and the world. We want them to feel at home with it. If anyone feels anything with Lotus Eater, angry or sad or happy, then we’ve done our job. As long as they’re feeling better after.”
“People say I always look like I want to kill somebody,” deadpans Jamie, “but that’s just my face!”
