We had an opportunity to catch up with lead vocalist Harvey Freeman from GRAPHIC NATURE before their electrifying performance on the Sneak Energy Stage at the RADAR Festival. Freeman shared insights about their expectations for the set, reflecting on their incredibly busy year marked by the release of their new album ‘Who Are You When No One Is Watching?‘ and their prominent feature on the front cover of KERRANG! Magazine.

So, how’s it going? How are you?

Harvey: I’m good. I’m very tired. My voice kind of hurts a little. But, other than that, yeah, all good.

Brilliant. Are you looking forward to this set today, then?

H: Yeah, for sure. Um, it’s busy already, so I’m super excited to see what it’s like.

Do you have any expectations for your band on the stage or?

H: No, I think that’s the best part. When you have no expectations, you can never be disappointed. 

No, exactly, because sometimes, when you go in with an idea, it doesn’t happen how you want it to.

H: I think it’s cool because nothing’s planned with us. We don’t plan like, ah, this is the most part, this is the clean part, like, if the product wants to do it, you know, go for it.

No, it sounds like a very spontaneous sort of way.

H: Yeah, for sure.

You guys have had such a busy year. You’ve been featured on the front cover of KERRANG Magazine. You’ve been touring the UK, so have you been finding that then? Those kinds of experiences.  

H: Yeah. Overwhelming, I think. If anything, it’s so cool to have, like, that was like childhood dream stuff for us. It used to be like covering KERRANG! front page and like playing download, all these cool stuff, and then suddenly it happens all at once, and you’re like, oh, I thought I’d feel different, but this is like cool as hell, like, you don’t know how to process it. 

No, I can easily, like, you get overly overwhelmed sometimes, and then sometimes when you’re in that moment, you don’t take everything in. Then afterwards, you think back on that and go. You may see things differently.

H: Yeah, yeah, yeah. It’s cool. 

So with the new album, Who Are You When No One Is Watching, what was the process like for you guys?  

H: Writing process, I think Pete was writing as he normally does in his room. He writes all the time, and for me, it was more like whenever I felt a certain emotion, I would write it down and then create this song based on what I was feeling. Usually, about three in the morning.

So you think more about, like, the lyrics of the songs first then, rather than sound, because I know some bands have a sound that they want to do, and then the lyrics come after.

H: Yeah, I always write down a paragraph first of what I want the song to be about and then carry on from there, and then I just fit it into the music afterwards.

You always talk about mental health. Do you find it quite therapeutic when you’re writing your music?

 H: Yeah, I think if anything, it’s an outlet for myself, so I think if it helps me, it’s got to help someone else. So, yeah, I think so.

So your sound, you’ve got the metal kind of sound, but you’ve also got electronic in your sound. Are there any band influences that influence you guys in that genre of music?

H: So, with the electronic stuff, that would be, Pete would know everything about that. But on the metal side of, like, the influences are so obvious, like, we love Slipknot, we love Korn, we grew up with, like, Deftones, Limp Bizkit, all of that kind of stuff. We’re 90s boys, so, yeah, we just wanted to play stuff that we like, and, you know, to be influenced by that genre of music that was hated for the longest time, and now people are loving it again, it’s nice.

Yeah, did you see that video on social media of Gojira in France opening up for the Olympics? And that’s like the first metal band to ever do something like that.

H: We’re coming, we’re changing shit.

I know metalcore is such a big genre. Then there are so many sub-genres, so you have, like, progressive metal, you have, like, the more, like, electronic side of metal and kind of things like that. So, how do you think metal will progress in the future, do you think it will?

H: I think we’ll go back to, like, how the 90s was. Not to sound nostalgic, but when that era of music was out, in, like, every film, you would have a metal song as the soundtrack. That has really been a thing for a long time now, and I think, you know, with a band like that, like, those guys opening the Paris Olympics. That is quite insane, isn’t it. That’s a milestone for metal as a whole. Like, it’s up there with Metallica playing, like, Russia, like, it’s insane.

Do you guys have any pre-show rituals? Do you do anything to warm up?

H: I usually warm up before soundcheck because I find that if I push myself in soundcheck, the rest of the show, I’m just gonna suck. We just like to sit down because we’re in our 30s now. We just wait, and then I’ll wet my hair with the conditioner in, good to go.

Yeah, so I remember talking to you guys previously when you were playing at District, and you spoke about all the games that you play. How’s that all going. Do you guys still manage to play games while you’re on tour and things like that?

H: Yeah, so we got really into Beyblades this tour. So, we bought a whole stadium, and we bought all this, so we’ve been playing that a lot. Um, and then, like, me and Charlie have our game, like, Switches and stuff, so I’ve just been playing some of Mario.

Because, obviously, you’ve been on a tour and stuff, it can be quite intense, so you’ve always got to make sure that, especially with mental health, you’ve got to find that time for yourself, even though it’s, like, really difficult.

H: Yeah, I think the good thing is, like, we all know when someone’s having an off day. But luckily, this tour’s been cool. Like, it’s been stressful, but no one’s been sad, so that’s why I say it.

No, I always see things like that as a part of an adventure. Sometimes, if things don’t go right, you remember those things, don’t you, when you’re looking back.  

H: Yeah, yeah, yeah. 

So, a bit more of a fun question. In a zombie apocalypse, who do you think in the band would hide their bite if they’re all bitten by a zombie?

H: Uh, who would hide the bite? I want to say Charlie because Charlie’s got a tattoo of a bite on his leg. He’s a massive Walking Dead fan. I think it would be Char. Char would be good at it, but I think he’d hide it.

Yeah. I asked Nicolai from VOLA this question yesterday. So, if you could collab with anyone on the radar lineup, who would you collab with?

H: I’d collab with Ithaca. Um, it’s not even a dream thing because it could happen. I know it could happen. Yeah, that would be it. Just because, like, I like Djamila’s vocals, and I like Ithaca a lot. So, that would be cool.