Holy Violence - Sound In The Signals Interview
I recently had the opportunity to interview Peyton Stewart of Holy Violence. We discussed how he became in interested in pursuing music, musical influences, lyrical inspiration, upcoming releases, and more. Check it out below.
First, thanks for the interview.
Thank you guys so much for taking the time to talk to me.
Can you tell us a bit about your musical background and how you first became interested in music and pursuing it yourself?
I have always said it’s like I learned music as a second language. My grandpa played guitar at church so instruments were always around. I got my first guitar at around 3 and have played ever since. It is my first love and I have always been hyper obsessed with it. The past 4 years or so I have been playing guitar in a variety of bands and occasionally touring in addition to playing on the worship team at my church here in London, KY. Guitar is my first instrument but I’ve always considered myself a musician first and a guitarist second. So we started up Holy Violence at the beginning of this year and I started learning to do vocals and it’s become one of my favorite tools in my musical tool belt. Having only been in a guitarist’s position for so long, it’s been really refreshing/challenging to be using my voice as the instrument.
What were your biggest influences when you approached this band?
The biggest influence for Holy Violence hands down has got to be Holyname. If you’re familiar with Sleeping Giant, Holyname is the band Tommy Green is doing currently. In addition to them, August Burns Red, Hands, War of Ages and Wolves at the Gate are a few that come to mind. We listen to a lot of Facedown and Rise Records bands. The idea behind Holy Violence musically was to try and combine the melodic elements of bands like Hands and Holyname with the more metalcore stylings of August Burns Red and Currents. I don’t know how good we are at capturing that, but that’s the idea haha.
You released your song “From Heaven” earlier this year. Can you tell us about your lyrical inspiration and what you hope listeners take away from the song?
“From Heaven” is about the concept of the biblical fall of man, but it’s also a metaphor for the overall communication breakdown in our society. I was looking at the social unrest in the world and trying to pour that frustration into this song. I kept asking myself “why is the world the way it is?” and the lyrics to the song just kinda came to me. The reason we live in a flawed world is because we are flawed human beings in need of a savior and that is basically the gospel in a nutshell. I hope our listeners view the lyrics as a call to something more. Higher purpose is found in loving one another and being loved.
You’re set to release another single this year. What can you tell us about it so far?
We will be releasing our next single “Leave This World Behind” on December 13th. It picks up right where “From Heaven” left off and we are so excited to release it.
You’re also set to release an EP in early 2025. Can you tell us more about the writing and recording process?
For this EP, we have been working with Jack Daniels from Sicktones Studios and War of Ages and he’s been a pleasure to work with and nailed every mix so far. The band will trade ideas back and forth until we have a really solid demo and that we send everything off to Jack to be mixed.
Is there a song that you’re most excited for people to check out? Why?
I’m most excited for people to hear the next single “Leave This World Behind.” I think the arrangement for that one is really cool, it has a few musical left turns that I think are really fun for the listener. I think my bandmates Justin and JB would probably say they are most excited for people to hear “Redemption” off of the EP. It has a really filthy breakdown and is probably the heaviest song we’ve written so far.
Thanks for answering the questions. Is there anything else that you want to add?
I am so grateful to be doing Holy Violence and to have this group of people behind me in the band. We hope that you will check out our next release “Leave This World Behind” on all streaming platforms December 13th. Follow us on socials @holyviolence777, we love to interact with people!
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