For many of us 2007 seems like a lifetime ago, and the world was a pretty different place. Although lurking in the shadows of the UK’s underground, Devil Sold His Soul were getting ready to unleash their influential debut album that quickly propelled them to the forefront of the British heavy music scene. ‘A Fragile Hope’ was met with a string of positive reviews and inspired a new wave of post-metal and hardcore. Fast forward a decade later and this monolithic slab of sound celebrates its tenth birthday with its first release on vinyl, to coincide with this year’s Record Store Day, as well as a UK tour playing the album in its entirety each night.
“This is something we have wanted to do for a long time and have been asked about by fans if it was ever going to happen,” explains guitarist Jonny Renshaw, who produced, mixed and engineered the album at his own Bandit studios. “Luckily for us Basick are super cool and we got it sorted! With the ten-year anniversary and the tour coming up, it was obviously the right time to do it.”
Remixing or re-working a record seems to have become a popular trait when it comes to re-releasing an album these days but Renshaw explains that’s not the case for ‘A Fragile Hope’. “We thought about it a lot but decided it was best to leave it alone. I think people can grow attached to the way something sounds or looks and trying to improve something doesn’t necessarily make it better. You risk losing the feeling that you’re used to and know so well.”
Having written and recorded the album a decade ago, it seems that the lasting effect it had was a complete surprise. DSHS hadn’t set out with the intention of creating a ‘game-changer’ but were merely “just having fun and trying to create something that we would want to hear. The fact that it means a lot to so many people is still a hard concept to grasp and we are massively grateful and appreciate it so much.”
With so much time having passed since ‘A Fragile Hope’ was released there could be the concern that these songs may not still hold the same importance or conviction they did at the point of being written. “I would say they do yes. It was an important album for us and the moment we started playing the songs at band practice it was like we were right back in that moment again. ‘AFH’ was definitely pretty dark and aggressive but I guess sometimes, as bands get older they chill out a bit more and lose that edge. I think we still have that element in our music. Our most recent track ‘The Reckoning’ is probably the heaviest we’ve done so the older stuff still ties in.”
As part of the anniversary celebration, Devil Sold His Soul are taking to the road to perform ‘A Fragile Hope’ in its entirety on a string of UK tour dates. It would be too much to ask of a band to remember how to play every song they wrote a decade ago note for note perfect first time round but Renshaw recalls the process of having to re-learn the album tracks after all this time. “The first practice was just instrumental and by the end we did manage a full run through which we were pretty surprised about. It does get embedded in your mind and we played a lot of shows when we only had that album and the EP out, so most of the tracks have been played live a lot. It’s definitely harder for Ed and Paul as they have to remember where all the splits are.”
The anniversary tour will include an appearance from the band’s original vocalist Ed Gibbs alongside current singer Paul Green. As well as having to go over the album tracks, both vocalists will be sharing vocal duties on the upcoming tour. “They both came round to my flat with printouts of the lyrics and highlighter pens. We went through the tracks one by one and they decided who would do what bits. It’s pretty much a straight 50/50 split going back and forth between them but it also means that we can do the layers that are on the record, so it’s pretty awesome. First time hearing it at band practice was so good! Their voices complement each other really well, there are parts that overlap, harmonies and parts where they both scream so it works really well.”
The excitement for the anniversary tour hasn’t gone unnoticed, with multiple dates selling out as well as a venue upgrade due to high demand for the London show, DSHS have been taken aback by the reaction to the tour. “We always hoped that people would be excited about it but having been around so long and not being in the public eye all the time, it’s really hard to tell sometimes. The response has been amazing though and we couldn’t have asked for more, especially with the venue upgrade! We were all really excited about that as I don’t think that’s ever happened for us before. We just can’t wait to get out there and play now.”
Despite the excitement surrounding the anniversary and the upcoming tour, over a decade later DSHS are still going strong in their own right. “It’s pretty surprising in all honesty! It definitely hasn’t been easy to keep it going and there have been many hurdles over the years, but I think we just all love the music so much that it keeps us going.” Renshaw reminisces. “I always feel that if a band can keep their essence as well as re-invent themselves with each album, then that’s the most ideal situation. I think we have achieved that for the most part. We never really set out to do anything specifically, we just do whatever feels and sounds good to us at the time. People change as time goes on and that gets reflected in the music. Hopefully we still sound like the same band.”
Reflecting on where the band started out their journey in comparison to where they are now Jonny also describes how overall the band’s ultimate aims haven’t really changed too much over time. “I don’t think our influences have changed really as we’ve been around for quite a while now. We know what we do and we try and do it to the best of our abilities. Goals are a funny one though as you can be forever chasing them and end up missing the ride completely. I think we just try to have fun and write the best music we can. We never take for granted the fact that we can still officially release music after all this time but for now, we are just focusing on these shows and the festivals that we have coming up. No stress, just fun. Let’s do this!”
‘A Fragile Hope’ gets a vinyl release for Record Store Day via Basick Records on April 22nd