Leeds' Mishkin are an eclectic up-and-coming young bunch who are grabbing ears with full-throttle force via their brilliant new EP 'Row Away From The Rocks', a four-track effort, produced by none other than tech-metal icons Sikth's Justin Hill, that blends the colossal riffs of Every Time I Die, the soaring melody of Thrice and the experimentalism of Faith No More and Tool to a highly intriguing effect. Single 'Good Day To Die' fuses bending riffage with a huge chorus while 'On Your Sleeve' takes the band's sound elsewhere with its progressive use of melody and atmospherics. Having just played at Kent's Hevy Fest the songs stand up well alongside the band's infectious enthusiasm and energy. We caught up with the band to learn more about them and their EP and what the future holds.
R13: First off, could you tell us about the EP?
M: It's called 'Row Away From The Rocks' and was produced by Justin Hill of Sikth up at Fortress studios in London. The artwork was done by Ralph Steadman [legendary illustrator] who did a lot of Hunter S Thompson's stuff which we're massive fans of, everyone knows that Hunter S Thompson is cool (laughs).
R13: I can hear a lot of influence in there, 'A Good Day To Die' has an Every Time I Die feel but it's also got a really big chorus that's very Thrice, similarly 'On Your Sleeve' even has a slight hint of Tool.
M: We all love all sorts of different music so it's interesting to see what we come up with together, it's like a big mix of different styles.
R13: How was working at Fortress Studios with Justin from Sikth?
M : It was great, we're all massive fans of Sikth so the fact that he let us record with him is awesome , he was really into it after we sent him the demos and he's one of Ben's[Davy, vocalist] idols too, he was fantastic to work with. We'd recommend watching the studio blogs on youtube as well, our descent into madness (laughs).
R13: What have you guys got planned for the near future, any plans for a full-length?
M: Yeah we're writing at the moment alongside a lot of touring, we'll hopefully be recording around New Year time.
R13: Did you enjoy your set at Hevy? You were really getting people going in the rain.
M: Yeah it was absolutely awesome, it's a pleasure to be here, the crowd stayed around for us and it was a laugh experiencing some slippy moments on stage! We'll definitely be checking out Dillinger and Architects, everyone should check out Marmozets as well, they're really great.
R13: Finally what would you describes yourselves as to someone who hadn't checked you guys out before?
R13: We like using 'alloy metal', we're a mixture of metals, because of our influences we're a mix of everything from Sikth to Faith No More to Thrice to even bits of Iron Maiden thanks to Dave [Jackson, bass], there's bits of everything in there but it's definitely a sort of metal.
Cheers to the guys for taking the time out to chat and make sure to check out the fantastic 'Row Away From The Rocks'. Look out for the band live over the coming months and if they're coming to your town, get down the front!