ABOUT US

 

We Are Sovereign are a British Metalcore synth band from the depths of Derby in the East Midlands.

Life is a crazy and unpredictable journey and they want to take you through every part of it with their music.

Musically they’ve taken a blend of many genres and influences from growing up, mixed the elements together and are bringing back that early 2000 alternative nostalgic feel.

The band are setting out to bring a strong message and vision with every song released having started with Bridges Burnt Lessons Learnt (Betrayal) featuring Ryan Tuck O’Leary from the American band Fit For A King, followed by Nostalgia (Acceptance). Their debut album ‘ Step Out Your Comfort Zone ‘ was released on the 4th September this year and it’s had a great reception so far. 

They want to help people through their music by having written about some of the most defined chapters of life we all go through along the way covering Betrayal, Loss, Heartbreak, Torment, Reflection, Acceptance and Resilience.

It all started in 2019 in a tiny apartment bedroom of vocalist Laura Russell in Chaddesden Derby. After being in bands since they were 15 drumming and screaming, along the way they felt they never got to express their creativity and ideas freely or to their full potential. They felt they were always around the wrong people or people they couldn’t relate to or felt they always fell around people who saw being in a band as more of a hobby than a serious musical career.

They decided to start from the very beginning and take it upon  themselves to get everything written and ready to go along side their childhood friend Arran Bee. Once the music was ready to go it was then the beginning of the hunt of getting members on board who were as passionate and committed to the vision of the band as they were.

Endless amount of late nights, lunch breaks at work, staying inside on sunny days, sacrificing time spent with family went into the making of We Are Sovereign.

After suffering for years with Gender Dysphoria since being a teenager and spending many years battling mental health, Laura had a life changing operation to feel comfortable within their own skin. The emotions of Laura’s experience are where a lot of the inspiration for the music, concepts and lyrics come from. When Laura had recovered from a journey of healing and finding themselves they began to recruit members. After posting ads out on join my band in April 2019 they came across Ash Ho the co vocalist who replied to their ad. After speaking on facebook for a few weeks they met in a rehearsal room in Derby and had musical chemistry straight away. They set to work writing and recording vocal demos over the midi music demos that had been created while still hunting for the rest of the members. Eventually in January 2021 they now had a full lineup and was finally ready to go.

 

The member recruiting process took such a long time and turned out to be gruelling finding people who would stick around or would take it seriously. They found along the way a lot of people refused to invest or couldn’t see past the demo process. The final members had been in bands before so they could see and understand Laura’s vision and final goal. All members can relate to trying several bands and just feeling like they weren’t around the right people who were as serious or invested as themselves. There were a few times Laura wanted to give up or deemed it impossible getting members but then when things started to fall into place it all happened very quickly.

 

After eventually getting members on board the global pandemic hit hard so things were yet again at a standstill, the band decided to put together their plan of action and prepare for some form of normality. The recording process would have happened sooner but had to be set back months due to Laura catching the coronavirus and falling very ill. After recovering from the virus they then had to deal with a diagnosis of an underactive thyroid and being extremely ill while having to slowly be medicated properly and then to top it all off had to endure a cancer scare right before the build up of going into the studio to record vocals for the first single Bridges Burnt Lessons Learnt. The outcome of the band nearly took a different turn.

Things have been a hell of a ride for the band and many things have stopped the band moving sooner than they had wished to but they never gave up.  A few days after getting the results and everything being ok they headed into the studio to record their debut single with Ben Gaines at the Godhand Initiative who at the time was known as Audiomage at Abbey Lane Studios in Derby. They then went on to film their first music video with Loki Films in June 2021 at the Savoy Cinema in Nottingham.

Their debut single Bridges Burnt Lessons Learnt was released as a single and music video on the 20th August 2021 and as described by San PR it was a thunderous debut.

Their second single Nostalgia (Acceptance) followed and came out with a bang premiering on Kerrang! Radio on Johnny Doom’s show on the 6th May 2022 followed by the official release on the 9th May 2022. An official music video for the track which takes you through a rollercoaster of emotions of the early 2000’s growing up with memories such as Scuzz tv, myspace and buying Kerrang! magazine was released on the 17th May 2022 premiering on v13.net.

 

Following the release of their second music video We Are Sovereign was discovered and highly spoken of by Kerrang! magazine publicist Sophie K. Sophie K featured the band in her article of bands you need to hear now in Kerrang! Magazine on June 3rd 2022. In the article alongside posting the music video Sophie K said:

 

“Do you remember that time where no decent band had just one vocalist? Some of my favourite bands were from that era. Two voices that work well together can add so much emotion to a track and that's exactly what we get with We Are Sovereign. When I found this band trawling the internet (so you don't have to), I saw that they have had substantial support from Johnny Doom on Kerrang! Radio. This makes sense as they have such a standout sound and hail from the East Midlands. I loved the fact that at times this song nostalgia reminded me of Killswitch Engage with Howard Jones.”

 

We Are Sovereign spent the following remainder months of 2022 in the studio working on their debut album and preparing behind the scenes rehearsing ready to hit the stage. Alongside working hard We Are Sovereign made guest appearances on numerous press outlets such as Metal Express Radio, Radio Ara in Luxembourg, Metal Devastation Radio to local Notts Rock podcast followed by many more. Their music has since been played across radio stations in the UK all the way to America and worldwide.

The story and journey of the band has played out almost somewhat backwards and has been unusual and definitely not the common order of what you would find in your everyday band starting out.

The way the band was created, finding members, the pandemic, alongside health issues have all been massive parts to play in this. With everything now in place the band are set to conquer 2024 and areare hitting stages across the UK making quite the impression, further planning to hit the festival scene and head overseas in the future.

The band itself stand for resilience and have their own stand of words they want to shout about:

 

WE SPEAK FOR THOSE WHO FEEL GIVING UP

WE SPEAK FOR THOSE WHO FEEL LIKE THEY HAVE LOST THE WAY

WE SPEAK FOR THOSE WHO FEAR THE UNKNOWN

WE ARE SOVEREIGN

 

They believe that no matter what life throws at you, you don’t dare ever give up. Fight for what you believe in and fight for what you believe you were put on this earth to do.

 

We Are Sovereign as individuals would describe themselves as the outcasts growing up and with that they want to really fight for people to stand up to be who they want to be and encourage people to be comfortable within themselves. We are sovereign was created based on Laura finding themselves as a person and being comfortable in their own skin, so as a band they want to stress the importance that everybody deserves to find that peace within. 

Everybody deserves to feel comfortable within their own skin without judgement and they want people to know that. The world is a cruel place and we live amongst so much judgement and cruelty and they’re set to create a family where everybody feels safe and can express who they want to be freely.

They stand with their heads held high and aim to spread that powerful message for people to be themselves. Always be YOU. 

They're all everyday people who work full time jobs to fund the band and music has been each of their passions from a very early age. Through their own personal battles and demons the band describe We Are Sovereign as their escape, their purpose and their way of dealing with life's demons.

The band itself has been a few years in the making and they have had many setbacks they openly talk about and uncontrollable disasters behind closed doors along the way but they’re now ready to set their sights on conquering the music scene. The band is fuelled from what life has had to throw at them and have kept going regardless of the journey they've faced so far. They plan to play as many shows as they can and spread their music and messages far and wide. They believe people are ready for something different and they want to be the ones to bring that.

 

Their long awaited debut album Step Out Your Comfort Zone is out now after being released on the 4th September 2023. 

 

Who is who? 

 

VOCALIST (Screams) - Laura Russell 

 

VOCALIST (Cleans) - Ashley Ho 

 

BASSIST - Sandy Strazzanti

 

DRUMMER - Ed Shiers