Bury Tomorrow: A New Era with DEA†H Records

British metalcore monsters Bury Tomorrow are returning to Australia for a monumental headline tour this September with support from Alabama anarchists Gideon and Brisbane nu-metallers Headwreck. 

The band also just wrapped up a scorching European summer tour. They played at some of the biggest alternative music festivals in the world such as Rock am Ring, Slam Dunk Festival and Graspop Metal Meeting. Their on-stage pyro was hot, but the European heatwave - hitting 43 degrees - was worse. Thankfully they’ll be coming to Australia in September for a much cooler spring. 

Following four albums with their label Sony Music, the band have launched a new era of Bury Tomorrow with the release of new single 'Sx' alongside the announcement of their own independent imprint, DEA†H Records. Refreshingly, there’s no bad blood here or story of the chains being unshackled; Bury Tomorrow were just ready to start their own chapter and do things their own way. 

"When people say that they're on a major [label], everyone expects this hooded and cloaked kind of vibe of like 'you will write music like that, and you will do it' and cracking the whip," Bury Tomorrow vocalist Dani Winter-Bates explains from his home in Southampton, England. 

"It's not like that, or certainly wasn't like that for us, which we're really thankful for. [Being independent] just makes a whole load of other decisions really easy because it doesn't have to go through a pipeline of decision making. Sony Music and Music For Nations would be the first to say there is a pipeline of decision making that has to happen.

Obviously they're pushing for us to try and do what we wanted to do and be creative, but I was doing a redub album, I was doing some acoustic songs and trying different things. I was working with other artists and remixing it. All of those things would take time, if being able to do them at all. Now we're kind of going, 'well, we can do whatever we want then', and we can - like 'Sx - just release a single, just put it out and see how people enjoy it." 

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When asked how far they want to go with DEA†H Records, Winter-Bates says "the sky’s the limit." He would love to work with younger bands in the future, but the immediate plan is to focus on Bury Tomorrow music and see how successful that can be first. 

"But if something crops up as we go, there's no no’s, I don't think. I think it's got to be done right. Because what I don't want to do is grab a load of bands into it, just for the credibility of being like 'we're a label that puts out music’ and then those bands have a hard time or don't enjoy it. That'll be like the worst case scenario for me. I don't want to be that to another band. I think we gotta play it safe. I'd love to do re-releases or presses of stuff because I love that when there's an anniversary of [a record] but it's out of rights and someone puts it out. Maybe do some of the old metalcore bands that don't get enough attention anymore. [That] would be really cool as well. So there's lots of talks about that kind of vibe as well."

This new era is heralded in by 'Sx', which Winter-Bates shares is already on track to be one of Bury Tomorrow’s biggest songs, and Australia is going to be the first ever place to hear it live. In terms of upcoming new music, Winter-Bates remains secretive, but he’s the head of his own label now, so who's going to tell him off if he gives out an exclusive? 

"But it's not on its own, is what I'll say," Winter-Bates teases. "It's definitely a standing single; it's not on an album. Whether it is in the future or not, there's pros and cons; I think sometimes fans want it to be on a physical release. Other fans are like, 'oh, that's a cop-out because that's a song we've heard'. So you can't really win, to be fair, about putting singles that you've got out. I like it when bands do standalones and then they might press something together, like we did 'DEATH (Ever Colder)' and 'LIFE (Paradise Denied)' previously, which was a similar model to what we're doing now.

"There will be another song that will come out. That's an exclusive, never said that out loud before, but whatever. I own my own label, I can do what I want!" he laughs. "I'll regret it."

"Then yeah, we are jumping into the studio, so we're not taking a break essentially," he explains. "We will be diving in and getting stuff sorted because we've got some big tours as well that we want to push out new music for. From now until next year, people will see a regular amount of new music come out of us, which is cool because I think that's what people want."

Before their European summer tour, Winter-Bates was personally summoned to a venue he’s never been to before, Buckingham Palace. Yeah, that one. Although it wasn't in a Bury Tomorrow capacity, Winter-Bates still brought metal to the royals, in attire at least. 

"The vampire went home to his castle," Winter-Bates jokes, referencing a picture of him standing outside the palace.

"I got invited to go to this garden party and if I ever thought I was famous, I was checked right at the door, because I was like, 'there is a disgusting amount of fame in that room'. People like Idris Elba were there, and Helen Mirren was there and Fearne Cotton [English TV host] and Harry Redknapp [footballer]... I walked into Helen Mirren and Damian Lewis." 

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Winter-Bates was there for his work alongside the King’s Trust, a National Charity getting young people into employment. It aims to increase the employment prospects for people with disabilities and those from lower-economic backgrounds. This is done through various avenues, including music, arts, health and social care, which Winter-Bates is extremely familiar with. After all, he worked at the National Health Service (NHS) in England for two decades. 

"I've done a lot in health and social care and still champion them now. I work on a voluntary basis at the moment, which is interesting to continue to help the King's Trust get outcomes for young people. I'll go and talk to young people as well about health and social care and alternative lifestyles. Because what I want to say to a lot of young people is [healthcare] might not be their preferred profession, but many of them will fall in love with it if they do it. Many of them can also do things like I've done and have dual lifestyles where you can serve a purpose and get energy from something to then put energy into something else."

For most of his life, Winter-Bates was juggling his music career in Bury Tomorrow alongside a successful career in the NHS, rising up to the rank of Head of Inclusion and Sustainability. Due to his commitment to doing both jobs to the best of his ability, it resulted in six-week tours with no days off and then regular 18-hour days. However, at the time of this call, Winter-Bates has just taken a voluntary redundancy and is now able to focus on Bury Tomorrow one-hundred percent. 

"It's a bit of a kick in the teeth, because I put in a lot of effort there. But equally, it spurred me on to kind of do my own thing and definitely put more of my brain into the band, which has been fun - 'Sx' is a product of that - as well as moving more into blending my worlds a bit. I want to do more in music when it comes to cultural improvement, working with labels and artists about their own kind of coaching journey and that kind of stuff. So it's kind of opened up that; it’s big and scary and my brain is incredibly active. So, it basically is like I'll go through an existential crisis within hours of then being confident about stuff. I'm gonna have to kind of curb that and make sure I'm on a straight and narrow. The band really helps that."

Catch Bury Tomorrow performing at The Gov on Thursday 10 September. Tickets on sale at thegov.com.au