An Interview with Daniel Ristic of She Must Burn

Interviewed By: George Archibald
Photos By: Andrew Bastion

 London metal act She Must Burn came to Pittsburgh on March 8th along with Carnifex, Lorna Shore, and Rings of Saturn to bring their brand of symphonic cacophony to Club Deisel. The band consists of Joseph Sinclair – Vocals, Aimy Miller – Keys/Vocals, James Threadwell – Guitar, Jonny Davies – Guitar, Frankie Keating – Bass, and Daniel Ristic – Drums. She Must Burn uses elements of black metal, and deathcore, along with keyboards with a mix of clean and harsh vocals. While on this tour stop, I was fortunate to get a few minutes with drummer Daniel Ristic, to discuss the new album release, and how the band is enjoying their time in the United States.

GA: How about we kick things off with a little about the band, and how you came to be in She Must Burn?
DR: I am actually not an original member of the band. I joined the guys about nineteen months ago, their original drummer is a guy named Andrew Petta, he is now drumming for a band called, Belial. He was traveling a long way to be the band’s drummer, and then he had vehicle issues. This left him where he had to make a choice as to where he was going to put his commitments. So, the slot opened up, and I worked my ass off to get it, and well the rest is history.

GA: For the band, how would you describe your sound, many would say symphonic black metal?
DR: I don’t know if we would call ourselves black metal, because it’s quite a heavy thing to call yourself. People are really into black metal, and can quite be sticklers about the use of the tag. They can be quite particular. We are not true black metal, I think we would call ourselves more of a symphonic deathcore band. That’s probably about as close as we can get.

GA: I understand, there are some people out there that are metal elitists. They want to argue, “This type of music is supposed to be this!!” They tend to get pissed over the classifications sometimes.
DR: I think saying we are deathcore sums us up pretty well.

GA: She Must Burn has a brand-new album, Grimoire, which was released on March 3rd. Do you want to tell me a bit about the album?
DR: It has been a fascinating and turbulent process over the last year. The combination of almost a whole new line up in the band, and figuring out how we were going to adjust. We had brand-new songwriters in the band, having to relearn what She Must Burn was; how to take it to a new place, but keeping it akin to what it was before. Yet still feeling like the same project as before. So, we have been working hard over this past year. It has been a basically a massive bonding experience for every member of the band. The amount of effort and team working into this album has been tremendous. We are very happy with the outcome, I also have to give a shout out to our producer on the album, he was a big part of all of that. “Richard if you ever see this, here is your shout out.”

GA: I seen you also have a single with Scott Ian Lewis of Carnifex who is your tour mates on this tour.
DR: We did. After Carnifex was in the UK this past year, we met him while on tour. Joe went over and met with Scott and discussed things with him about possibly doing guest vocals. Most of the guys in the band have been big Carnifex fans for years, so it was a big deal. It was an honor to have him involved on this record. He was more than happy to do it. So, we exchanged the recording with him, and he fit in great with it. From that, it helped lead up to all of this. It built up the relationship for us to be touring with them, it’s really awesome how it all tied together.

GA: How do you like touring the United States?
DR: It’s been a hell of an experience. We all loved America before even coming here. The culture of this place, especially the music has made us so excited to be here, and I don’t think anyone is going to go home disappointed. It has been an incredible time.

GA: Any favorite stops so far?
DR: We had a really good time in Denver, also in Florida. I feel kind of guilty trying to do favorites because it’s almost like I don’t like the other stops. There have been a couple of places that weren’t the greatest places, but I am willing to give them second chance, if they are willing to have us back to perform. We would love to be in America as much as possible. This is a great place for us to be in right now. I think what we are doing fits in with what America has going on in metal right now. We are on an American label (Artery Records) as well, so it makes a lot of sense for us to be out here. We would love to come back, and do it again.

GA: What’s next for She Must Burn after this tour?
DR: It is a little bit up in the air at the minute. We have some plans; but it depends on what our booking agent decides is best for the band, and how our schedules are going to work out. We all have things we must do, like save up money, so we can keep going out as well. We are going to try, and get out on the road as much as possible. Just keep ourselves busy. I wish I could say more, but at this point it is all pretty much up in the air. We will put something out there once a decision has been made though.

GA: This is more a gear oriented question, what all does She Must Burn use live for instruments? Any endorsements please throw them out there.
DR: I think we have a Schecter Guitars endorsement for the guitarists. I personally don’t have any endorsements at this time. I had some offered to me by various companies who offered me some shit deals. Watch out for those guys! There are a lot of companies that will target bands at this level, and try to make them feel special. They will make an offer to give you something, or some sort of artist deal, and when you breakdown what they are giving to you it ends up being bullshit. So, anyone who is in an up and coming band, watch out for these motherfuckers. I’m not going to drop names but they suck, and they are going to try and rip you off. When you find a company, who has never sold a single product at listed retail price, it doesn’t matter what discount they offer you.

GA: I appreciate your time talking with me, do you have anything else you would like to add or plug?
DR: Please check out our new record, Grimoire. We are about at the end of our first week sales, so any help to get us up in those charts, helps the band. We are already on there right now but if you can help push us up further That would be awesome. Anyone out there that is a fan of She Must Burn that can do that, we would love you forever.

You can check out She Must Burn’s new album Grimoire out now at your local retail music shop or through various streaming services. Be sure to check their Facebook page for all updates on the band.

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Ron

Ron has keen eye for new talent, a love for the underground, and a tremendous passion for music of any genera. You’ll probably bump into him at a horror convention or some seedy club checking out the next need-to-know band.

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