Interview with Pete Devine of Pete’s Rock News and Views (http://petesrocknewsandviews.com)
PD: How would you describe yourself or your band as an artist?
TL: We are a very energetic four piece melodic metal band, injecting a plethora of genres into our style to create a unique and captivating soundscape that you can’t forget.
PD: Can you tell us briefly about your background – i.e. where you’re from, how you came to make music, etc.
TL: The band is based in Peterborough UK. I started writing songs with a producer in Peterborough who directed me towards musicians with the same desire to create a unique sound, and thus Tori Lamour was born.
PD: Who and what inspires you to make music, both in terms of musical and other influences?
TL: Music drives us, we’ve always felt a connection with the emotion behind each song and so that tailors our influences! We are influenced by bands like Evanescence, I Prevail and Motionless In White to name a few, the feelings, the raw emotion and the intent pushed into every song is something we strive to be able to do!
PD: What do you like to write about in your songs?
TL: We like to write songs about what’s going on with the world, we feel that music is such a strong way to connect to people and such an important way to spread messages, as well as support people… the music we grew up with and love so much has always had a personal meaning, and so our music reflects the trials and tribulations that we ourselves, and a lot of other people suffer and deal with! Talking about bad relationships, abuse, depression, the suffering of the world, the anger that is present in today’s society – these are a few of many messages we try and connect to people with, to let them know they’re not alone in this dark time.
PD: What are your aspirations as an artist?
TL: We as artists aspire to connect with as many people as possible! We have a love for performing and sharing our message, having played in Munich, Germany, we have a burning desire to tour Europe! But we also have grass roots here in the UK, and so our desire to perform on some of the biggest festival stages in the world would be a dream come true, the likes of Download festival and Bloodstock festival to name a couple are where we aspire to perform one day.
PD: What is the proudest moment in your music career so far?
TL: The proudest moment in our music career so far is that our albums have reached over 47 different countries, the
positive feedback we’ve received from people around the world drives us to keep working hard and producing the best music we can! We’ve also amassed over eight hundred thousand views on Youtube, which is still hard to believe!
PD: Promoting one’s music is such a challenge these days, especially with so many new artists emerging from bedrooms in the day of the home studio. How is that going?
TL: You’re right, it’s such a challenge to promote music these days, and to be able to stand out from so many talented musicians is a challenge in itself! We focus a lot of time and effort into the strategy behind how we’re going to release our music! There isn’t much point in putting that much effort and work into an album if people aren’t going to hear it… but it’s a forever changing world and the need for a social presence is overwhelming, the days of being scouted for huge, life-changing record deals seem to have gone, and so we graft the hard work ourselves, keeping as active in every avenue we can!
PD: And how do you book and promote your live shows and tours? Any performances coming up?
TL: Since COVID-19 we’ve had to rethink our entire approach to everything! We’ve done some local shows to shake the dust off, and are currently looking into booking a tour for our newest album Into The Ashes, but our social presence is the main pipeline for promotion at the minute! We are currently in the Nottingham Metal 2 The Masses competition to win the potential to play at the legendary Bloodstock Festival, so all of our focus is currently on doing our best at this! But after that, our aim is to expand and network for the potential to play shows further afield.
PD: What do you think about downloading music online? What about streaming sites like Spotify?
TL: We are in the 21st century, downloading and streaming music is the way to go if you want your music out there. With the right promotion and learning how the platforms work, I think it’s a successful way to get your music heard and they’re fantastic ways to reach a wider fanbase. However, it would be nice if the acts received a bigger percentage from streaming services, as everyone has to earn a living!
PD: What song do you wish you’d written and why?
TL: That’s a very hard question to answer… There are so many songs from so many unbelievably talented artists that everyone wishes they’d written! Of course we could be a little bit cheeky and say “Happy Birthday” as it’s earnt the most amount of money through royalties, or something like “I wanna hold your hand” by The Beatles, which at the time changed the way music was received and enjoyed! Of course, there are so many classic songs everyone still loves today, such as “Bohemian Rhapsody” by Queen, “Sweet Child O’ Mine” by Guns N’ Roses or “All Along The Watchtower” by Jimi Hendrix… but personally, the sheer emotion caught in Evanescence’s “My Immortal” would be our pick, it’s a song that doesn’t have a specific meaning, but is so easy to interpret and mould to whatever you’re feeling at the time of hearing it. The feelings portrayed can be so haunting, but can also be motivating, and it’s such a beautiful song that captures music’s true potential of sharing emotion.
PD: Is there anything you don’t like about the music industry, which you would change if you could?
TL: The judgement of any artists based on image; people shouldn’t be judged for what they feel comfortable looking like. 
There are so many different layers to the person seen performing, there will always be a passing judgement, but it’s unfair to value the person as a person based on a vague opinion!
PD: So, what are you working on at the moment?
TL: We are making the final touches on our third album and crafting music videos for the songs we’re releasing! We are always working on more material and just focusing our efforts for the future progress of the band!
PD: Where can we learn more about you and buy your music/merch online?
TL: We have different platforms of social media such as Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Apple Music, Spotify, TikTok and YouTube that have our music on and personal everyday interactions with our fans. All of our social media can be found on https://linktr.ee/torilamour
Thank you so much for having us!
Tori Lamour links:
Band/Artist location – Peterborough, UK
Website – Facebook – You Tube – Twitter – Instagram –
Apple – Spotify – Amazon – Deezer – LinkTree – Last Fm
Check our page for Tori Lamour
