Getting to Know… Next Stop Olympus | Interview 🎤

On our compelling 182^nd Q&A in the Getting to Know… series, we get the inside scoop on Salisbury (England) metalcore band Next Step Olympus.

“We don’t think there are many bands that sound like us or at least we haven’t come across any.” Well, that definitely qualifies as distinct in our book 🎙 Next Stop Olympus! Also, making this Salisbury-based metalcore band – 🎙 Conor, 🎙 Matt, 🎙 Harry, 🎙 Skips, and 🎙 Josh – distinct are their colorful, detailed answers to our burning questions. I mean, it’s not every day you hear about “free pouring whiskey” 🍻 or a The Musical Hype first reference of “how’s your father with a girl” 🍆💦! Of course, ultimately, it’s not about drinks or, um, ‘fun’, but the music itself.  So, why not check out these ‘bloody brilliant’ answers from the band to our burning questions on 🎤 Getting to Know… Next Stop Olympus: Interview No. 182!

Starting things off, for those who may not be familiar with Next Stop Olympus, what would you say makes your band distinct or unique? How do you rock the audience’s socks off?

🎤 We don’t think there are many bands that sound like us or at least we haven’t come across any yet, we can fit on most shows because we can play on very heavy shows but then also play shows that are on the heavier side of pop punk. When it comes to live, we’ve tried to involve audience a bit more because Conor is normally off stage (more so because we don’t all fit on the stage) and I (Matt) walk down into the crowd when we play our cover when the Harry and Skips are doing their solos.

Okay, let’s explore some juicy backstories. How did Never Stop Olympus form and what were some of the goals or the visions you had as a band early on?

🎤 Next Stop Olympus basically started when I first met Josh, I was already trying to start a band and when I found out Josh played drums it all started because drummers are so much harder to find, after that we started trying to find other members, we found Skips online on a musician site and we got along great straight away and I asked Conor to come along after that because Conor and I had talked about starting a band for years prior but never really did much with it. We tried out and spoke to a couple of other people for a second guitarist and they all fell through, then I remembered Harry was back from University so called him because we’d been mates for years and knew he could sing and play guitar, so he was just the perfect fit, and he came along, and we just started working from there.

As for goals and visions, we never really had any other then we did discuss whether to move to America and try tour over there like Asking Alexandria did but that was a very quick conversation and not really mentioned again.

Let’s talk more about goals. Have your goals or your perspectives changed since first starting out? What do your aspirations or goals look like now?

🎤 I think the only goal we’ve got and started with is that we’d all love to get to the point where this is what we do for a living.

Everybody is influenced by somebody else. Who would you consider some of your biggest musical influences and how are they influential?

🎤 Matt: I guess I’d have to say Ryan Neff from Miss May I and Ahren Stringer for The Amity Affliction just because they were two of my favourite bassists that did vocals too when were starting the band.

🎤 Conor: Mine would probably be The Blackout, Yashin, Deaf Havana, The Used, Shadows Chasing Ghosts and all the other bands doing that sort of style in the late 2000’s because I think it’s a style that needs to come back.

Ah, the fun stuff. What’s your craziest tour story or the wackiest thing that’s happened during a performance? Feel free to be creative.

🎤 Matt: I think my favourite thing that’s happened at a show is we played on my birthday and Skips’ birthday is the day before mine. So, we’d planned a night out for after the show. When we’re about to play our last song, we said, “If anyone wants to get us shots for the birthdays that would be great.” Next thing we knew, we had around 6 trays of shots and then, when we started playing the song, the owner ended up free pouring whiskey into my mouth whilst I was playing!

🎤 Conor: After we’d opened up a show, I ended up having a bit of “how’s your father with a girl” on a patch on grass near the venue. Later, as I stood there watching the headline act, Skips pointed out that I had stood there for two bands with semen on my shirt.

Well, ‘da-yum,’ those are some truly crazy stories – particularly the latter 🤯!!! Moving on, up until this point in your career, what would you describe as your favorite song you’ve recorded or performed live? What makes that song special?

🎤 Conor: 🎵 “The Dirt.” It’s a song that always gets a great reaction but mainly it’s my favourite song to play live because we haven’t played any from the new EP yet.

🎤 Matt: Like Conor said, we haven’t really played any songs off the new EP yet, but I’d choose 🎵 “My Affliction” because I love how it came out recorded and it’s one of those songs you know is going to go down well live.

Is there anything else awesome, cool, or left of center the world should know about you? Secret talents or surprising tidbits?

🎤 Conor: I know an incredible around [amount] of useless information!

🎤 Matt: I think the most interesting thing about me is that I’m in this band!

Obviously, we can’t talk for the other guys but some bits we can say is that Harry is an incredible pianist, Skips is a big fan of South Korea, and Josh used to be able to do a back flip, we haven’t witnessed it in a while.

Closing things out, what is the band currently working on, promoting that you can share with us or want us to know about? We love secrets, but there’s no pressure.

🎤 We’ve just released our brand-new EP, 💿 Heart, Mind & Hell on 9th April, we’re incredibly proud of how this EP came out so please do go check it out! And we’re just really looking forward to playing shows with these songs now that covid restrictions are easing.

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Getting to Know… Next Stop Olympus: Interview No. 182 🎤 [📷: Next Stop Olympus, Brent Faulkner, The Musical Hype]