Interview: Kaine (UK)
11 minutes
The Nwothm
Kaine have been keeping the flame of heavy metal alive since 2009. Rooted in East Anglia’s thriving scene, the band blend Sabbath, Priest, Maiden, and thrash influences into a sound that’s fast, heavy, and defiantly DIY. Sixteen years on, they remain one of the UK’s most enduring heavy metal acts, with a catalogue that charts their resilience and evolution. In this interview with TheNwothm, Kaine reflect on their journey and share what’s next.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tuGaWfGYHo
Interview
TheNwothm: For those who might be discovering Kaine for the first time, how would you introduce yourselves and where you’re from?
Kaine: We’re Kaine, we are from East Anglia in England. We’re probably one of the heavier NWOTHM bands, and we’ve been at this for 16 years now. We’re very much a DIY band and not a lot of people know we exist! Our influences are essentially Sabbath, Priest, NWOBHM, and the early Thrash movement in the States. We’re often referred to as a Speed Metal band, as that’s one of the closest approximations people can make to us!
TheNwothm: How did the band form back in 2009?
Kaine: You could say we were one of the original British NWOTHM bands to emerge around that time, along with Osmium Guillotine. Hamerex were around a few years before us, and not long after we formed, you had bands like Amulet, Neverworld, and Toledo Steel emerging, Culloden, Midnight Force, Seven Sisters, Heathen Kings, and up until more recently, Tailgunner, who are the first British NWOTHM band to break into the mainstream.
In Ireland, you had a band called Celtic Legacy, which was very much in the vein of what we now call NWOTHM, too. When we started in 2009, it was a reaction to the Emo and Metalcore scene that dominated the UK underground at the time. There were no straight-up Metal bands playing, and if you went to a gig, it would be a something-core band playing to a handful of school friends, and the venues were empty. People who liked old school Metal were put off and stayed home, so we decided to do our own band playing music influenced by the likes of Sabbath, Priest, Maiden, and the wider NWOBHM movement, as well as the American bands that were influenced by that same movement. We turn 17 in January, so we have been around longer than the NWOBHM movement ran back in the day!
TheNwothm: Colchester isn’t always the first place people think of when it comes to heavy metal. How has being based there shaped your identity as a band?
Kaine: That’s surprising because Colchester, along with Ipswich, probably has two of the best, if not the best, alternative music scenes in the country. This area has always been a hotbed for Metal music. If you look at an act like Cradle of Filth, over the years, they have recruited heavily from the scene here. There are still plenty of venues, promoters, and bands playing great live music across the Rock and Metal sphere in this area, and we’re very lucky to have such a thriving scene. We’re local to the area and are very much proud of it. Norwich also has a thriving Metal scene. I’d argue East Anglia as a whole has one of the best Metal scenes in the country.
TheNwothm: When you’ve toured across Britain and Ireland, have you noticed differences in how audiences respond compared to back home in Colchester?
Kaine: We have only played two gigs in Ireland, which were supporting Mordred on tour back in 2014. As for Britain, audiences have always been receptive wherever we have gone. We have always had a loyal following in Scotland, so we try to visit as often as we can afford to, but really, we have enjoyed great responses over the years up and down the country. We enjoy getting out there and playing everywhere we can.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_Nh2GlG-t4
TheNwothm: Growing up, did you have a particular metal hero whose posters were on your wall?
Kaine: We all have a range of heroes and influences, everyone from Priest, Maiden, AC/DC, Sabbath, Metallica, Megadeth, in fact, Toby has a Marty Friedman tattoo, he is that much of a fan of him, and Liam has an Ozzy tattoo now too! We have looked up to and been inspired by a lot of bands collectively.
TheNwothm: If you could cover one classic track from your influences like Sabbath or Maiden, which would it be?
Kaine: We recently did a Sabbath tribute set in honour of Ozzy Osbourne, which included Paranoid, War Pigs, Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath, and The Straightener. It would be difficult to choose a single track from our influences to be a definitive “one”, but at a push, Painkiller by Judas Priest would probably be one we could do justice to.
The Nwothm: Your debut “Falling Through Freedom” (2012) was the first full-length release. Looking back, what was the biggest challenge in getting that record out?
Kaine: Aside from being young, having no label support, and frankly not really knowing what the f*#k we were doing at the time, the biggest issue was a mixture of budget and personnel changes that happened during the writing and recording of that record. We did our best with it, and in hindsight we should have held off doing a record until we had a more stable line-up and played the songs live a lot more to hone them, but as previously stated, we didn’t have any management or a label to really guide us, we just had a go at putting a record together and in all fairness a few people still love songs from that album, despite it being a totally unpolished DIY effort.
The Nwothm: “The Waystone” (2014) saw you touring extensively, even alongside Monument and Mordred. What memories stand out most from that era?
Kaine: We were meant to release that album under MGR Records, which was Monument’s label at the time. We had to write, record, and release it to their schedule, which meant we probably didn’t spend as much time on the record as we should have. We had a big disagreement with MGR Records during that tour; they were using our bassist at the time to cover for Chris Dale, unpaid, and not only tried to steal him from our band but were totally unprofessional in how they dealt with the band in general. On the last date of the tour, we fired them and put the record out ourselves.
This album, however, did launch the band, and we got a lot of good shows booked, and a festival appearance (Wildfire) off the back of that record. It sold over a thousand copies on CD, so for us it was a successful record. Our tour with Mordred was a much more positive experience. We replaced Furyon last minute and had less than a day to prepare for the tour before we were off on a ferry to Ireland. Touring with Mordred was an amazing experience and one of the highlights of our career. The Waystone was a bit of a missed opportunity for us, I think. Had we had a label more interested in making us a success and had a little more time to finish it, it would have been more successful, but we made the best of a bad situation.
TheNwothm: “A Crisis of Faith” (2018) marked a turning point before the current line-up came together. How did that album reflect the band’s state at the time?
Kaine: A Crisis of Faith was a very carefully written record. We started putting it together at the end of 2015 and fleshed the tracks out on the road. Most people think it should have been a bigger success than it was, but sadly, the line-up that put it together had to part almost immediately after its release. We did get to play the main stage of HRH Metal at a sold-out o2 Academy in Birmingham, which is probably the most people we ever played to. Most people expected the band to die when the three other members left, but we had spent a small fortune on studio time and printing the release, so it couldn’t simply be left for scrap. We had a few weeks to recruit a new line-up to continue the gigging schedule we had at the time, which we did, and it turned out to be the right thing for the band.
The Nwothm: “Reforge the Steel” (2019) has a title that feels defiant. What was the driving force behind that record?
Kaine: Reforge The Steel is as close to a “Rage Sadler” solo record as you will ever get. These songs were written solely by Rage while the new line-up was learning the A Crisis of Faith material. The band then started learning the new tracks and playing them live alongside the Crisis material, and by the end of 2018, we were back in the studio again to put together this record. It often ends up at the top of fans’ lists of favourite Kaine records, so we must have done something right with this one. The record was a marker to show that we were not dead, the band would continue, and that there was a lot more to Kaine going forward. The title literally refers to the reformation of the band from near extinction.
The Nwothm: “After Extinction” (2022) is your latest album! How do you think it compares to your previous works, and do you each have a favourite track from the record?
Kaine: It’s our heaviest record since our debut album, and it’s the only record we’ve ever done that hit the mainstream charts; it actually reached number 85 on the top 100 in the UK. The lead single A Slave to the Grind seems to be the track everyone loves from that album. It was a different experience from Reforge the Steel, as this record was a collaborative effort. We love all the tracks on the album, but staples of the current set are Second Coming, Protesting for Profit, and A Slave to the Grind.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndhF-pe-Gl0
TheNwothm: Are there any hints you can share about new material in the works?
Kaine: Extinctions End is a redo of the Covid-era album and EP. We had to record those releases between several studios and in a very disrupted fashion due to the pandemic, so we have re-recorded a selection of songs that complement each other from both releases, in a different format and style from the original. I think the release will surprise a few people, especially those who still think we’re a Poundland-Maiden knockoff!
TheNwothm: Do you see yourselves experimenting with different sounds or sticking firmly to the classic heavy metal roots?
Kaine: We have a new EP we’re writing at the moment, which is a pure love letter to NWOBHM, and we’re working on a new album, which has heavier material than we have done before.
TheNwothm: Where would you most love to take Kaine next, if you could choose anywhere in the world?
Kaine: We’ve never played in Europe, so that would be amazing, America, Japan, also, but we’re realistic. Many of the promoters there have been aware of us for years, but have never asked us to play, so we’re not optimistic that it will change in the future! If we can just make our UK gigs sustainable, we will be happy. We’re not rock stars, we’re just four regular blokes that happen to be mates and play in a Metal band together. That’s really what we’re about more than anything.
TheNwothm: If you could design your dream tour line-up with Kaine plus three other bands, who would you pick?
Kaine: Oddly, we have found in the past that the Death Metal audience has been far more receptive to us than most! So a tour with Obituary, Carcass, and Kaine would be a dream line-up as it would be riffs galore and full of raw energy. However, I doubt we could ever afford to buy onto a tour like that! That’s the nature of the music business. But if they ever needed a support, we’d be more than up for it!
TheNwothm: What gigs do you have coming up for the rest of 2025 and 2026
Kaine: We have just one gig, which is on May 17th at Club85 in Hitchin. Nobody else wants us at the moment! Joking aside, there will hopefully be more dates announced in the future.
TheNwothm: How can our readers buy your music and merch?
Kaine: We have CDs, vinyl, shirts, and hoodies for sale on Bandcamp:, and we also do exclusive merch and CDs over at Patreon starting at just £1 a month: https://patreon.com/kaine_metal?utm_medium=unknown&utm_source=join_link&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=copyLink
TheNwothm: Where can fans follow you online?
Kaine:
Facebook
Instagram
YouTube channel
TheNwothm: Anything else you would like to mention?
Kaine: We’ve recently relaunched our YouTube channel, so we would invite people to check that out first!
#aCrisisOfFaith #afterExtinction #fallingThroughFreedom #heavyMetal #kaine #kaineColchester #kaineUk #newEp #nwothm #theWaystone #thenwothm #thenwothmCom
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