If you’re looking for an artist that will make you want to go out there and do the dang thing, then look no further than Employed to Serve. The English metalcore band writes songs that will light the fire under you to finish that project, run that extra mile, or drive 100 mph over the speed limit, and that’s what makes them so special. With their latest offering, Fallen Star , the band truly lock in on their sound and offer listeners riffs, scream-alongs, and a few surprises. What is not surprising is that a band that heavy has anime somewhere in their background. To learn a bit more about how anime bleeds into the creative process, I spoke with vocalist Justine Jones, who also co-runs the label Church Road Records with her Employed to Serve bandmate Sammy Urwin, about her love of Dragon Ball Z and finding anime and heavy music at the same time growing up. The album Fallen Star is finally out! How are you feeling? Justine Jones : Yeah, really stoked. We released it and we played a London headline show on the same day, and it was our biggest ever headline show. It was really exciting because we had our friends and family come down, because most of us are sort of from the London area. I live 20 minutes by train out of Central London. We’d never actually played on album release day before, so it was a fun way to celebrate everything. Can you tell me a little bit about the writing and recording process of the album? Jones : We took a little longer on this one. We really wanted to take our time with this one, especially because we struggled putting a set list together, as it is with four albums worth of work, because it’s so hard to choose. We spent about three years in total between our last album and this album. It was really fun because we came off the back of the Gojira tour, and touring with them gets you really motivated and inspired to write the best record we could. We really picked this album apart during the demo process. I literally demoed pretty much the whole album on vocals before we went into the studio. You had some amazing guest features as well. Was it really cool to be able to sing alongside some of those other vocalists? Jones : Oh, dude, yeah, it was crazy. We were so stoked. We wrote those songs with those guest vocals in mind. We don’t necessarily want to always add someone just for the sake of adding them, but when we were writing those tracks we were like this really needs someone else. We were super lucky that Will (Ramos of Lorna Shore), Jesse (Leach of Killswitch Engage) and Serena (Cherry of SVALBARD) were up for it. And it's just really nice that we've got a real good mix. Serena has been our friend for about 10 years now. Will's an incredible vocalist. He's not new, but as of late he’s finally getting his flowers and is revered in the metal world. And then Jesse Leach, also an incredible vocalist, but also someone we followed and been a fan of since we were teenagers. Like Killswitch Engage was on heavy rotation in all of our cd players back then. So yeah, like, it's pretty crazy. It doesn't kind of feel real. Did you get to talk to Will or Jesse at all about anime? Because they’re anime fans as well. Jones : I didn't. Sad. RELATED: Car Bomb's Greg Kubacki: Anime and Heavy Music Resonate With People Looking For Something Genuine How did your anime fandom start? Jones : I've actually been thinking about this. I think it originally started, probably like a lot of other people, with Pokémon . It got me obsessed with Nintendo games and I collected all of the games of every color. And then I very quickly got more obsessed with Dragon Ball Z . So I was lucky enough to have cable when I was younger, and I used to watch Toonami. That’s how I learned about everything. I think the Samurai Jack was on there, but they also had Dragon Ball , and Dragon Ball Z and would have marathons until like 5am. I’d have to catch up on all of the episodes before school because we didn’t really have streaming on the internet yet. I didn’t have much merch or anything, but I went to visit my auntie in America when I was like nine, and the amount of Dragon Ball Z merch they had blew my mind. I’m learning from having these conversations with international bands that so many other places had anime on before school. Jones : It's smart, right? It was either on super early or super late at night. So I'd have to sneak downstairs and watch it on the family TV, because they had Yu-gi-oh! and Beyblade on there and of course I’d want to watch that. And of course some sick like theme music like on it, like Beyblade had shredding guitar and Dragon Ball Z had the two versions of the theme tune, and, like both of them are pretty guitar heavy. It's just metal as hell, isn't it? It almost is the perfect intro to what the concept of being metal is. Jones : Yeah, like, it is very violent. And equally, there's also like, like other anime like Gundam Wing that’s almost quite dystopian yet weirdly ambient. So it wasn't as hyperactive as some of the other shows that were on like Beyblade . It's quite interesting how there are different sort of moods for it or genres. From there I watched all of Dragon Ball Z and Dragon Ball GT . I actually haven't completed OG Dragon Ball . I also got into collecting all the different Beyblades and customising them and trying to make the ultimate one. But unfortunately, our school banned it because everyone kept fighting over them. Were you getting into heavier music about the same time you were learning about anime and getting into anime? Jones : Pretty much! Because I got into Pokémon , I then got into gaming, which led me to the Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater series. The amalgamation of all of those influences were all very much pointing to metal and heavy music. On top of that, I had Kerrang TV and Scuzz TV as well. So I had this reference point guitar music from the anime I was watching, and that helped contextualize the heavier music I was seeing on those channels and helped me like it more and more. What is the fandom for anime and heavy music like in the UK? Is it more open or do people like to showcase what they love? Jones : I think it's super common now. Anime has gone a bit more mainstream now, and because it’s so parallel to metal, it feels like a subculture that has broken out. But at the same time it almost still feels like an underground thing which I feel like is also very metal, so it makes sense that they're both very much entwined. Did you learn anything from anime? Whether it be from the stories or from the screaming or music? Jones : I liked the message of Dragon Ball Z , where it’s teaching you to work hard to reach your goals. As a kid it was really good to see that. I always remember when a civilian plane would get blown up like don't worry. I can see their safety parachutes. I was like, yeah even if something more catastrophic happened with them, we can wish them back with the Dragon Balls. So it's quite nice and like carefree in that way and it makes me feel quite nostalgic talking about it. RELATED: Knosis on Their New Album, GENKNOSIS, and the Effect of Anime Culture in Japanese Metalcore You touched on it a little bit already, but what do you think is the reason that there's such an overlap between fans of anime and heavy music? Jones : I think it's the fantasy aspect of it. Both forms of art are pulling from the same type of mythology and imagery. It helps people escape and it’s a fun way to experience a story. Have you taken anything that you've seen from anime and brought it into your music? Jones : Not directly, but the positiveness of it is something that has bled into my psyche. I was watching these shows as I was developing my personality and goals as a young kid and teenager. I had all these super positive shows that I'd like to watch, and I’d see these kids being passionate about something and just getting really good at it and sticking with stuff. So I feel like it's kind of bled into a bit more of who I am.
