SPILL FEATURE: HEAVY METAL UNITY – A CONVERSATION WITH JUSTINE JONES OF EMPLOYED TO SERVE

HEAVY METAL UNITY

A CONVERSATION WITH JUSTINE JONES OF EMPLOYED TO SERVE

When vocalist Justine Jones and guitarist/co-vocalist Sammy Urwin embarked on their musical journey as enthusiastic teenagers, they were propelled by a deep passion for metal traditions and an insatiable desire to transcend genre boundaries. Employed To Serve, in a remarkably brief period, has showcased its creative prowess, consistently delivering a distinctively heavy sound. With the dynamic interplay of two powerful vocalists, their music features an imposing wall of aggressive guitars and thunderous drums that seamlessly coalesce into an engaging and visceral experience. Each track becomes a captivating exploration of intensity and emotion, inviting listeners into their electrifying world, and with their upcoming release, Fallen Star, a new sense of confidence and identity has arisen for the UK act. From their humble beginnings of playing local shows, they didn’t anticipate that their career would surpass their own neck of the woods.

“When we started this out, we really didn’t really have sort of high expectations for it at all. We just wanted to play a couple of live shows, wanted to get signed to a record label that would press our EP or album on vinyl. Because we always wanted our music to have a vinyl and we collected them at the time, still do,” Jones laughs. “That was pretty much it, and play with a couple of local bands that we really admired like Palm Reader and Svalbard. We really quickly achieved all of that and we are very lucky to sort of have achieved all of this the first year of being a band. From then on, we were focused on upping our game a bit, setting more goals, and things like that. We often think, ‘What is the next step?”

Jones continues, “From there, we have played some incredible festivals. We have been lucky enough to support Gojira, and loads of other incredible bands, so yeah it’s been really fun. We want to achieve as much as we can as a band, while enjoying the fruits of that labour, if that makes sense,” she smiles.

Although the band has achieved remarkable progress in the early stages of their career, their album Fallen Star serves as a pivotal landmark that solidifies their accomplishments both vocally and instrumentally. This work masterfully weaves together the raw energy of old-school influences with the urgent edge of nu-metal, while also incorporating experimental elements that expand their soundscape. For inspiration, they looked back to the moods of their second record.

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“This record is sort of like a throwback to our second record, The Warmth of A Dying Sun, it’s even got similar artwork. We wanted to bring that back on this album. On The Warmth of the Dying Sun, we were quite angry. We were in our early 20’s. We didn’t know what we wanted from life,” Jones reminisces. “We were struggling to work jobs that we absolutely hated. We just had this band that we really enjoyed, and I worked in retail. I felt like my soul was slowly dying, haha. It’s a hard graft, its good for rudimentary small talk, apart from that it’s not good for much else. We just felt a bit lost in what to do. It was really hard to make money off a band, but all we wanted to do was be in one. So yeah, it was quite an angsty record. You have to work this job you hate just to get by. Fast forward now into our early 30s, we are creating music that we really love. We have managed to make the band work and the career work. Because we all still work full-time. We are just a lot happier. When you get into your 30s, you have this wonderful thing called hindsight, all the bad stuff that happens, you do get through it. You do sometimes come out from the other side better. This is a bit more of an optimistic record that comes with the comfort of being older. We quite enjoyed it.”

As the band continues to find a harmonious balance in their music, personal growth, and professional lives, Employed To Serve has transformed through their journey. They have emerged not only with a newfound confidence in the music they create but also in a place where passion and career can elegantly intertwine. This evolution reflects their commitment to crafting meaningful art while navigating the complexities of the music industry, proving that it’s possible to pursue one’s dreams while building a sustainable career.

“I felt weirdly more confident on this record, the last one was our fourth this is our fifth. I think it’s maybe because I had more time with this album,” says Jones. “We took longer writing it and demoing it, and things like that. But I feel like I enjoyed writing this one more than the last one, that probably has to do with the time the last one was written now that I am thinking about it,” she laughs. “But yeah, this process was definitely more enjoyable for all of us.”

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Photo Credit: Bethan Miller