The Indianapolis, Indiana tech-death metal group Fleshbore are our featured Meet The Band artist this week. Their full-length debut album is Embers Gathering. Vocalist Michael O’Hara and bassist Cole Daniels introduce us to their band.
Chad Bowar: Give us a brief history of Fleshbore.
Cole Daniels: Fleshbore released our EP in 2017 and has undergone two lineup changes. We’ve written a lot of music and experimented with a number of different sounds ranging from black metal to death grind but technicality has always been a focus of ours.
Describe the songwriting process for Embers Gathering.
Cole: All the songs for Embers Gathering started with a singular musical idea from one person and then everyone else in the band added onto that musical idea.
Michael O’Hara: Roughly 85% of the lyrics for the album were there when I joined the band. Tyler and Daniels already had most of the stories established, so I got to learn about the stories and then contribute a bit of my own flair.
What will be your strongest memory of the recording of the album?
Cole: My strongest memory of recording that album will just overall be the whole time we were at Jackson’s house tracking. It was a new experience for me tracking an album with a professional like Jackson. It was a very fun time and I have found memories of that time.
How did the pandemic affect the process?
Cole: The pandemic really made us just practice more and prepare more for our album release. If it wasn’t for the pandemic, we would have released the album in 2020. But since the pandemic hit, we took that time to really prepare as much as we can to make our product the best that it can be.
How has the band’s sound evolved from your Malignancy EP?
Cole: Since our Malignancy EP you could almost say that we’ve become a brand new band since then. Our lineup change on drums and vocals has vastly changed our sound. We’ve been really focusing on being as tight and as heavy as we can be. And we haven’t really tried to define ourselves down to a specific sound or subgenre. We just wanna play what we wanna play.
What lyrical topics do you cover on this album?
Michael: About half the lyrics are about individual journeys through life. Everyone has their own trials and tribulations that we either conquer or get submitted by. Cynicism is about being submitted by circumstances while the rest are about conquering/rising to the occasion.
How did you come to sign with Innerstrength Records?
Michael: We reached out to a few labels and came to a favorable agreement with Innerstrength Records, who showed high levels of confidence in what we brought to the table.
What are your goals and expectations for the album?
Cole: Since Embers Gathering is going to be our first full length release backed with label support, we honestly just wanna see how far we can take it. We don’t have any set expectations or anything like that. We just wanna see how far we can go.
What has been your most memorable Fleshbore live show?
Cole: One of our most recent shows in Indianapolis we had the opportunity to open for Carnifex. That show was absolutely packed, and everyone in attendance for the show was super supportive of Fleshbore. It was a really special night.
What are your upcoming show/tour plans?
We have a handful of shows coming up from Michigan to Iowa. We have a 4-day tour scheduled in support of the release of Embers Gathering, from August 12-15. We are playing in Lafayette, Indiana, CITY in Ohio, Peoria, Illinois and Indianapolis, Indiana. Coming out of the pandemic we wanted to take it easy on this release and not fly too close to the sun, too early. In the future we can be expected to be seen on longer tours, and reaching new locations that we have not previously played.
How did you get started in music?
Cole: I’ve always been around music all my life. Both of my parents were avid music listeners and that definitely rubbed off on me. I started pursuing that musical passion at a young age and I grew up learning how to play the guitar. Once I was in high school, I picked up the bass and started focusing more on that instrument, until eventually as a young adult I got the opportunity to join Fleshbore in 2017.
Michael: I played Guitar Hero then Rock Band. Played drums primarily, got pretty good in the video game world and then bought an electronic Roland kit. When my first band didn’t have anyone to make monster noises I took up learning vocals.
Who were your early influences and inspirations?
Cole: I was super into classic rock growing up. Stuff like Led Zeppelin, Rush, The Beatles, etc.
Michael: Whitechapel being my first show was a life changing experience for me. I had recently gotten into heavy music and the first live show had a massive impact on me. Other original favorites include Ingested and Behemoth.
What was the first metal concert you attended?
Cole: My first metal concert was back when I was still in Carmel High School. I drove all the way out to Beech Grove with a bunch of friends on a school night to see Havok perform. That was an amazing night.
How’s the metal scene in Indianapolis?
Cole: Indianapolis has a solid scene. There isn’t a whole lot of death metal around here. It’s mostly thrash, stoner/doom, punk, emo, etc. But there are definitely good shows that pop up around here from time to time.
What’s currently in your heavy musical rotation?
Cole: My heavy rotation is currently consisting of Arkaik, Virvum, Defeated Sanity, and Cynic.
Michael: Extermination Dismemberment, Undeciphered, Facial Fracture.
Anything else you’d like to mention or promote?
Cole: I just wanna say thank you to everyone checking out and supporting Fleshbore. It means more to me than anything else. If you like heavy music, check out my other band Nigh Ungodly.
Michael: My two other bands The Green Leaves and Lucidium, and my upcoming rap debut under the moniker M.O.
(interview published August 14, 2021)
Watch Fleshbore – “Embers Gathering” Video
