Please list all of your band members and their roles in the band.

Gon - Vocals
Jonny - Guitars
Rich - Bass
Jimmy - Drums

For starters, what bands were you guys a part of prior to Down In One? How long has the band been around?

So me (Gon) and Jimmy used to play in a band together years and years ago, back when we were fresh faced 15 year olds! I've been in a fair few bands over the years on guitar and later as a singer, I've loved each of 'em but Down In One feels the most right, the four of us make a fantastic team!

We formed properly back in December 2014, I met Jonny a few months before that and we realised we both had a mutual passion for loud metal and drinking. We did some jamming and realised we were on to something so we started looking for a bassist and drummer to fill the massive void in the rhythm section!

What’s the origin of that name and have you changed the band’s name before?

Funnily enough we got the name Down In One from drinking while we were in the pub! We were really struggling to think of a name at the start and we were mulling it over one day in our local haunt when Jonny suddenly goes "I've got it! Down In One, because y'know, drinking!"
We haven't wanted to change it since!

Who writes your songs? What are the main themes or topics for most of your songs and do you think these topics will change over time?

We usually write our songs as a band at practises off of riffs or ideas we bring in. So maybe one week Jonny's come up with a new riff on guitar and we'll start jamming it out, adding new things to it and slowly we build up a song. When we've got a basic structure down I'll go away and start writing lyrics.

Lyrically I like to tell a story and usually it's something close to me like a personal experience or something I'm interested in. I find I sing the best when the lyrics mean something to me. Topics wise, I wrote a lot of the lyrics for the stuff we've released so far when I'd just got out from a really shitty patch of my life so a lot of it is around recovery and getting back up from being knocked down. There's also a couple of songs based on stories I've read, so The Call is based on The Call of Cthulhu by H. P. Lovecraft. I'm a huge fan of Lovecraft!

The topics will probably change as I think of more things I want to sing about, but the theme will never change because for me the theme is always going to be singing from passion.

What bands are currently inspiring the music that you’re making?

One of the things I love most about this band is that we have a huge variety of musical inspirations between us. It's no exaggeration when I say I'll listen to anything, I love everything from electronica to hip hop to 1920's jazz and I try to take inspiration from whatever I'm a big fan of at the moment. I've been listening to a lot of indie hip hop at the moment, stuff like Doomtree and Aesop Rock. One of the things I love about hip hop is the word play and focus on lyrical delivery, so I've been trying to incorporate a bit of that in my new writing.

Jonny: I have a fair few bands I like to listen to whilst writing and that I use for inspiration. I find that quite often listening to non-metal music can work very well. I'll sit and listen to all the artists that influenced me growing up such as ZZ Top, Clapton, Knopfler as well as the heavier stuff. I'd say my clearest influences at the moment are probably Down/Pantera and Sabbath in terms of riffage and sound. I've always tried to keep things fairly eclectic though!

Was there a particular band/artist or concert that inspired you to start a band?

Oh man, it'd have to be Machine Head! Machine Head was what got me into playing guitar back when I was 14 and then when I was a bit older it got me into vocals as well. Robb Flynn was my hero back in the day, Imperium was my favourite track for years! Metal did something for me back when I was that age, it's kinda like I discovered a calling!

Jonny: I think I've sort of always thought I'd end up in a band, from being a kid and emptying boxes of stuff to play drums on with chopsticks in the living room to singing along to my walkman like an idiot on long car journeys. Music's just been something that has always stirred something in me and I couldn't be without it. That said there are a few a bands who I've seen and thought "Fuck yeah I want me some of that!" not just because of the music they put out but by how much of a good time they have whilst doing it! Motorhead are pretty much the definition of Rock n Roll as we all know and I was lucky enough to catch them at The Bulldog Bash back in I think 2009 and my god it was a thing to behold. Although my memory is a little hazy as I spent most of the night in the pit with a litre bottle of JD that me and a mate split into a couple of camping flasks... I remember going back to the tent for more booze after the show and then all of a sudden I was waking up on my face the next morning to the sound of bikes screaming up the dragstrip. Good times. So yeah...Motorhead!

What do you do to prepare for a show? Any flexing, exercises, ect …

This'll sound extremely crude, but you can't go wrong with a pre-gig shit. Seriously! There's nothing worse than feeling like you need the toilet while on stage, it's horrific! So yeah, empty out before hand!

But other than that we like to just chill out and have a few beers. I try and save all my energy for the stage. As soon as I get on that stage it's time to go fucking crazy!

What has been the biggest highlight of the band’s career so far?

It's gotta be my two favourite gigs so far. The first gig was the first time we played London, Jonny's mate Mags invited us to support his band Cairo Son at the Big Red. Rich's uncle took us down in his badass Chevy V8 van and we spent the day getting drunk in the sun in Camden. Then we played the gig to a huge crowd who went crazy, it was such a good day! And then we partied all the way back to our home of course.

The second gig was at Rock And Bike Fest 2015. It was our first festival gig and we were all feeling the pressure a little, but that just made me want to play harder! We'd never played such a big stage before, but the crowd was again amazing and welcoming and we had such a good time. Then we got absolutely plastered for the whole weekend, it was a great weekend!

If you could tour with any bands, past or present, who would they be and why?

Haha damn, where do I begin? Well definitely Black Label Society, I would love to have a drinking competition with Zakk Wylde, even though I'm sure I'd lose pretty badly! Black Sabbath too, I'm a huge fan of them and they're a big influence.

Is there anything else you would like to add?

Sure thing, drink liberally, turn your music up, fuck authority and support your local scene!