Pupil Slicer

London mathcore triois Kate Davies, Josh Andrews and Luke Booth. Today they release their third studio album, Fleshwork on Prosthetic Records.

Describing Fleshwork as “conceptual” but specifically not a concept album, PUPIL SLICER leans into creating an all-encompassing industrial hellscape; a perfect setting to explore the societal machinations that dehumanize and devalue the poor, disabled, queer, and people of color for political and financial gain. Drawing on personal experience, vocalist and guitarist Kate Davies details the disconnect and discomfort of navigating this life, and the substantial human, day-to-day cost of doing so.

Over the course of the nine songs unfolding, the imagery of the oppressive machinery falls away to leave behind only the personal, human elements. What starts as the smallest of sparks roars into a chthonic inferno, demonstrating the impact of and on one solitary human as the weight of subjection turns to ash. Fleshwork serves as a cathartic conduit for those who are “othered” by a society distinctly lacking in empathy, as PUPIL SLICER champions their own brand of “trans inclusive radical hatred.”

Whilst the band continues to draw influence from the likes of Nine Inch Nails and Oathbreaker, as well as lyrical and tonal inspiration from film, anime and video games (specifically Chainsaw Man, Mouthwashing and NieR among others), on Fleshwork they’ve created a monster entirely of their own design. This beast could only have been formed by the minds and bodies of those who have already walked the treacherous, dystopian path that they are now illuminating for others.

The band comments, “Fleshwork is a deconstruction of what it means to be human, the penchant for personal and society-wide self-destruction and systemic cruelty that seems all but guaranteed to rear its head as long as humans exist. It’s more grounded and emotionally charged than previous work, with a stronger emphasis on the failings of our world to look after those who need it the most and our own ability to look after ourselves. How much pain can you inflict on yourself and others before you cease to be human? There is no limit; all of the worst things to happen to the human race have been caused by its own members. Fleshwork’s new image of PUPIL SLICER is one that’s frayed around the edges, incinerated and burned to the ground; a survivor in a wasteland of loss and decay.”

Fleshwork includes the previously released singles “Heather”, “Black Scrawl”, “Fleshwork” and “Nomad.”Today they also released “Sacrosanct.”

FEMMUSIC was honored to e-mail with Kate Davies about the new album.

FEMMUSIC: What was the biggest challenge making Fleshwork, the album?

KD: Fleshwork was actually the easiest and smoothest process we’ve had writing and recording an album so far but I would say the biggest challenge has just been surviving in general given the current political landscape. The world is a pretty upsetting place right now and it’s hard to stay positive with the rise of fascism around the world.

FEMMUSIC: Tell me about Joe Clayton. How did you meet? What made you decide to have him produce the album? What did he bring to the project?

KD: We’ve known Joe for a while and he has produced music for friends of ours in the past. His work with Mastiff, Underdark, Bossk, Wallowing and so many more great UK bands let us know we were in good hands. We asked him to capture the sound of a band right in front of you as we wanted a really in-your-face and direct sound and he managed to capture that brilliantly.

FEMMUSIC: Tell me about “White Noise” How did that song develop?

KD: ‘White Noise’ is one of my favourite tracks on the album as it is a very personal one about my own insecurities and issues with dissociation and autism. The track actually developed very quickly and was maybe the quickest song on the album to write, I had the main riff and from there expanded it into the whole song in maybe an hour or two and then sent it to Josh, our drummer, whom then wrote drums for the track the same day. Luke then added his bass a few days later and the song was complete.

FEMMUSIC: Tell me about “Cenote.” How did that song develop?

KD: Conversely to ‘White Noise’, ‘Cenote’ was the longest track to write. These longer post-metal tracks that we include in our albums are some of the most fun to write but they take a long time to get flowing correctly and to ensure they hold attention for the entire span. I worked very hard on the lyrics on this track and I’m really proud of what I achieved here. This track is about the ways the world leaves behind disabled and less fortunate people and isn’t built for their survival, that we should try to remember those we lose and cherish their memory, whilst at the same time tying that in with my personal worries about losing my memories.

FEMMUSIC: Fleshwork is your 3rd album. What lessons did you learn making MIrrors & Blossom that helped with this album?

KD: The unhinged and raw aggression of Mirrors and songwriting skills and confidence we gained on Blossom are both big components of this album. We are continually evolving and trying to find new avenues to explore when writing and I don’t think anything we write now would be possible without the things that came before.

FEMUSIC: Can you describe your songwriting technique? How does a song develop within the band?

KD: In the past, typically I would write most, if not all, of a track ahead of time and present that to the rest of the band, with bass and drum parts at varying levels of completion. For the first album I would say that was about 80% of all the tracks, for the second it was more like 60% and on this album it became the minority of the time. Nowadays we understand each other’s writing styles so much that it is a lot more of a collaborative experience, with me and Josh (our drummer) jamming ideas out together when we can to create the best version and flow of the track, which I will then finalize and write down to send to Luke (our bassist) who is free to write whatever he wants along to it. We will then all get together and discuss where we’re at and make any tweaks necessary before locking in the final song, at which point I’ll then demo it and start writing lyrics.

FEMMUSIC: Whom would you most like to tour with or collaborate with?

KD: In a dream world, I would love to tour or collaborate with Nine Inch Nails. Other bands that mean a lot to us would be Converge, The Dillinger Escape Plan, Deafheaven, Knocked Loose, Boris, The Melvins and HEALTH to name but a few.

FEMMUSIC: What one thing would you like to change about the music industry?

KD: I think the structure of the industry is really unhealthy at the moment and has little to no provisions given for the bands in the industry. These days it is almost impossible to make any money at all in a band with the decline in any physical media. The industry structure of 80/20 splits where labels take 80% of your money is still the standard, yet the total amount getting back to the bands continues to shrink as very little of the already small amount of money trickling through streaming services actually reaches them. I’m not sure how I would change it but it seems a shame that even in our position of relative small-time success in the industry, we still don’t make any money personally doing this and it continues to be a very expensive hobby that eats up all of our free time. It leaves people doing a band in a pretty terrible position financially without a great future setup and it isn’t really sustainable. There have been so many bands we’re friends with recently that have broken up or just ‘stopped’ as it isn’t viable to continue. It’s sad to think that in future, if things continue like this, grass roots venues and bands will continue to disappear and the general landscape of music will get more and more dominated by those with deep pockets.

#pupilslicer