Interview with Pete Devine of Pete’s Rock News and Views (https://petesrocknewsandviews.com)
PD: How would you describe yourself or your band as an artist?
C: We are a groove-centric metal band that mixes big swaggering hard rock riffs with elements of funk.
PD: Can you tell us briefly about your background – i.e. where you’re from, how you came to make music, etc.
C: We’re from a one-horse market town in the fens of Cambridgeshire, UK, where we met in high school. We both got into music around the same time, but went in very different directions with it. Fast-forward 20 years and we mashed those two things together to get Crowborn!
PD: Who and what inspires you to make music, both in terms of musical and other influences? What do you like to write about in your songs?
C: I like groove, period. If it doesn’t make you want to tap your foot and bob your head, then what is the point? Music is meant to move you, and if it doesn’t make you move then I’m not very driven by it. I’ve always been inspired by those who can write heavy riffs but still make them groove hard, as though they were a blues/funk/soul song. Nuno Bettencourt (Extreme), Dimebag Darrell (Pantera/Damageplan), Rich Ward (Stuck Mojo), guys of that nature.
PD: What are your aspirations as an artist?
C: Make enough money to fund the next one! I feel like the big world-dominating, globe-trotting rock god aspirations of my teen years have dwindled somewhat these days. If it happens it happens, but for now it’s just a case of making music when we can, as good as we can.
PD: What is the proudest moment in your music career so far?
C: As trite as it sounds, I’d say that releasing this EP is it. I’ve been in bands before that sort of went somewhere but not really, and even then, it was just bands that I was merely a member of. This is the first venture where I’ve been the auteur from the get-go and it’s nice to have it heard on the radio, played over 2,000 times on Spotify, seeing it in high street magazines, and watching people share it.
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?
C: The promo for this was an absolute afterthought. There was absolutely zero promo leading up to it, no hype, nothing. I hadn’t even finished making all the socials for it! Definitely a lesson learned for the next release, but personally it was more about the notion of actually releasing something. Getting that body of work over the line.
PD: And how do you book and promote your live shows and tours? Any performances coming up?
C: In a word, no. Thus far this is only a studio project, with aspirations to take it live if it gains enough traction. I think we need this next EP out of our system before we can venture into that territory, honestly.
PD: What do you think about downloading music online? What about streaming sites like Spotify?
C: We’re of an age where we grew up buying tapes and CD’s, so just like the rest of these dusty old geezers who wax lyrical about the good ol’ days of physical media, I do miss the romanticised notion of holding a freshly bought CD and flicking through the album sleeve whilst putting it on for the first time.
Having said that, there’s no way in hell we’d have had our music heard by so many people so far around the world so easily if it weren’t for downloading and streaming. We’re absolute nobodies making really niche rock music in the middle of nowhere in rural England. So there’s a double-edged sword of having no “music industry” filtering the wheat from the chaff, it allows people of our stature to have a chance and be heard.
The death of the golden age of music has been here for nearly 20 years now. Gotta roll with it.
PD: What song do you wish you’d written and why?
C: Schism by Tool. It’s practically perfect. I aspire to write music that complex and deep, but it comes out as jaunty derivative 90’s nostalgia toss! Woops!
PD: Is there anything you don’t like about the music industry, which you would change if you could?
C: I don’t enjoy how we’ve got to a place where we have “tour buy-ons”, where a small band can buy their way on to a big band’s tour. It seems a little perverse that the industry can no longer provide the revenue for bands from the fans alone, and are now funding 
tours out of the pockets of the smaller bands on the bill. I understand how we got here, I just wish we hadn’t.
PD: So, what are you working on at the moment?
C: The next EP! We’re demoing at the moment but it’s going strong, at least 5 tracks on this one. Just passing ideas back and forth but they’re beyond their larval stage already. Compared to the previous release it’s a little heavier in places and a little darker maybe, but it’s still along the same lines of groove-soaked big riffs.
PD: Where can we learn more about you and buy your music/merch online?
C: You can find all relevant links and info here!
https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/crowborn/it-just-is
Crowborn links:
Band/Artist location – Cambridgeshire, UK
Facebook – You Tube – Soundcloud – Bandcamp – Reverbnation –
Instagram – Apple – Spotify – Amazon – Deezer – DistroKid –
Check our page for Crowborn
