This feature is part of the B:Music Meets series: shining a spotlight on local artists and supporting live music from across the globe and around the corner.

Introducing: Fury

'I want to be a Rockstar. In 20 years that has never changed.' JJ

If you’re into Download and Bloodstock you’ll know Fury, if not, they’re probably the best metal band you’ve never heard of. The Birmingham (mainly) based band perform original music ranging from soft rock to heavy metal with catchy lyrics, banging beats, powerful vocals and insanely good guitar riffs.

Last year Fury supported Motorhead guitarist Phil Campbell and his band, the Bastard Sons, on tour in mainland Europe, a crazy ride in every way with 13 hour drives across countries in an old van between performances, sold out shows and passionate converts to their unique sound.

It’s tempting to ‘do a Spice Girls’. Each member of Fury has a role, but rather than being a caricature it’s how their friendship works. JJ is the driver, always looking to the next song, the next album, writing lyrics and recording demos. He is rightfully proud of his creation, enjoys talking about it. Nyah is energetic and chatty offering stories and explanations. Tom sits back quietly, occasionally interjecting with a funny line or thoughtful statement. Aki, the newest addition to the line up plays to the dour, dry man of the North image, gently teasing the rest of the group and keeping his feet firmly on the ground while Becky keeps everything organised, professional and slick.

Albums

The Lightning Dream (2014)

Lost In Space (2016)

The Grand Prize (2020)

Born to Sin (2022)

Tom is a Brummie born and bred, Nyah and JJ have been together around seven years and live together in Birmingham (JJ is keen to point out he’s originally from Worcester) Becky has recently moved to the city from Bristol and Aki is based in Manchester.

Not gonna lie, I’ve been a fan for a while. My son has music lessons at the studios where some of the band members work around gigs as tutors and where you often see the band members coming in to rehearse and record. On a very personal level I admire the way they work with young children and wannabe stars, the way they give back to the grassroots network of development and support they themselves came through.

I came to them as a band when they released their video ‘Burnout’ in early March 2020. I was struck by how rare it is to see music videos anymore, and how much time, thought and talent had gone into producing this 5 minute visual. And the fact it’s a banging tune helped, I was humming ‘Breakdown Breakdown’ for days, quite apt for the times in which we lived!

The line up has changed over the years, JJ, Tom and Becky remain, Nyah has moved from occasional backing vocals to co-lead singer and Aki has joined on guitar. The additional vocals have deepened their sound, adding harmonies and conversations while the talent of the individual musicians is allowed to shine through sharp rhythms and space for solos. If this wasn’t enough they are performers through and through. They have fun on stage, interacting with the audience and each other with their signature red weaving through their trad metal black leather looks.

We met them in Birmingham ahead of their gig at The Flapper to find out more about them, their music and the music industry.

My bad, when we sent the invite I forgot Symphony Hall was hosting graduations, so instead of a nice relaxing chat in B:Eats we’ve dodged the gown hire, queues and excited families in their best outfits to huddle in what was once a champagne gallery and luckily still has old sofas if sadly, no champagne.

JJ and Becky chat the most, JJ is open and loves to talk about his music. Becky is slightly more guarded, careful that she’s understood, clarifying points – then turns to bicker with Aki like siblings. Tom watches, Nyah never stops smiling, always positive, always supportive.

When Fury leave to do some shopping before their gig I’m left exhausted from their energy and more than a little pleased that they’re as nice in person as they appear. And that they genuinely like and hold a lot of affection for each other. I’m surprised by how thoughtful and reflective they are, how important it is to them to be taken seriously as artists in a genre that is often dismissed. They’re fun, funny, but also passionate, determined and focused.

They work hard and make it look effortless, it’s not. They are all top of their game in their instrumental and vocal ability.

Their fifth studio album is dropping soon, give it a listen: rocking guitars, powerful vocals and a beat to get you on your feet. I promise ear worms for days in the best possible way.

Fury: In Conversation.

On touring with Phil Campbell

JJ: You have to take the opportunities when they come because if you turn that down you don't know when the next one's gonna come along

Nyah: I said ‘dash the job just dash it just if I quit, I quit. Let's go’

JJ: It was great but it’s a lot as well. I can see why some people wouldn't be cut out for it, just the amount of time spent that close to other people in that proximity, I mean even us!

Nyah: We got home and spent a day at opposite ends of the flat, just ‘Ohhhhhh. Space’.

On Nyah joining the band

Nyah: I slowly snuck in, I was just his girlfriend. I was in my own band.

But then there was a gig that needed additional backing vocals and Nyah was selling merch and agreed to jump on stage and fill in, and it was fun so she did that a a few more times. JJ started adding more harmonies to songs and when the band streamed acoustic sets during lockdown Nyah joined in.

Nyah: We were recording and realise there were so many harmonies, I'm on every song but one. I don't think it was necessarily an intentional decision, just sort of happened. Then we started playing live and I joined the tour and there was a gig that I couldn't get to, and I got definitive feedback, ‘Yeah, you need to though.’ And I was like, I think I'm in the band!

JJ: It just felt right. By the time we said ‘Do you wanna just join full time?‘ It didn't feel like a massive change even though I guess it might look like that from the outside. ’Ohh you've got another singer?’ It felt very organic, very natural. It felt like, ‘Oh, yeah, this works!’ And it's what we needed. And it's really exciting going forward.

On Aki joining the band

Fury invited Aki to cover when their guitarist moved on. 2023 was meant to be a quiet year with just a few shows, they wanted to take their time to find the right person.

Aki: I had a random message off Julian basically like ‘Have you got a minute to have a chat’ I was like, oh, no, what have I said about you now? What have I done wrong!

Aki is a total wind-up merchant who never leaves a line hanging.

A quiet year suddenly turned when they were invited to tour with Phil Campbell, 18 gigs in 3 weeks across mainland Europe, and Aki cancelled his holiday to be there. But was he going to join the line-up permanently?

Aki: I had a call, ‘We've had a bit of a chat between the rest of the band, how do you feel about joining full time?’ And I said ‘No’ and the call went silent for a good 10 seconds before I said ‘not really, go on!'

'I had a random message off Julian basically like ‘Have you got a minute to have a chat’ I was like, oh, no, what have I said about you now? What have I done wrong!'

On supporting employment

One of the hardest things about being in a band that’s starting out is supporting yourself while trying to grab every opportunity you can. Fury all work day jobs through retail, hospitality and teaching. It’s tough, especially in the early days when employers want full commitment but the band is your priority.

Surprisingly this is one of the areas where the group have felt a marked improvement since covid.

JJ: Employers have actually been a bit more flexible since lockdown. People went back to their regular jobs after having time to work on their art or music and knowing the value, so I do think employers are more willing to be flexible. It’s not perfect, they can still get better. Definitely. But that's definitely been a thing.

And as the band get noticed JJ notes he feels more empowered to go to interviews and say ‘I'm gonna need time off. Probably more than the allocated holiday. It's up to you but it’s not negotiable.’ And because they can see the band appearing in festivals and bouncing round Europe they’re actually like ‘oh this is cool, ok’.

On keeping going

Success is slow and hard won. They dream of not worrying about day jobs and touring comfortably rather than Era style stadium tours.

Becky: It’s the fan response, the tours keep getting better and just when we're starting to think ‘man it's so frustrating being an unsigned band, why is the industry not really giving us the attention we feel like we deserve, this is the last time we bloody try this’. We'll have a great show and there’ll be something on the horizon, a great tour, a cool song, there's always a carrot at the end of the stick. And, you know, we like spending time together!’

JJ: If we can basically make a living of doing this, I think that is incredible. For an original hard rock/heavy metal band in this day and age. That will be a testament to the work we’ve put in.

Aki: I just want to look forward to waking up on a Monday.

JJ: If you were in any doubt, you'd go off and do something else.

Nyah: Go and get a job that's stable!

On women in music

I ask about Rock Lives In Your Soul, a song about sexism with guest singer Kim Jennet, how did that come about?

Nyah: Rock Lives In Your Soul is a massive feminist opera. But it's not something that gets spoken about in metal very much, or if it does it’s a vague sort of shout of ‘Girl Power’, a feeling without any specifics. Which is nice, but doesn't address anything. We all know the issues we have in our scene, there’s a lot of sexist crap.

JJ: When we called out for experiences for the video we didn’t even ask ‘have you experienced it?’ it was more ‘could you tell us WHAT you’ve experienced’ We were sadly overwhelmed with accounts of abuse. The really sad thing is everyone we reached out to had multiple experiences. And it was just so, so many.

Nyah: We put those quotes into the video. Some quotes are my own, I had six or seven different things that I could write about just off the top of my head, like there's loads.

Becky: Watching the video, it's like a checklist, ‘Yeah. Experienced that. Yeah. Comment like that’.

Nyah: The worst bingo.

Becky: The industry needs to normalise women being in music, make people accept us, treat us like humans and understand us as equals and that we have a part in this. Places like B:Music can help by having a more diverse line up and including more women.

Nyah: Diverse venue staff can help as well, because some of the comments can come from staff. Sometimes you walk in carrying some gear and they're like ‘No girlfriends in before the gig starts’.

Becky: Yeah, just having women present, can help to neutralise the hostility and helps the women coming through playing feel safe, and also in the audience to make gigs safer for women. I do hope women see us and get more into the culture, see more and are inspired to do it themselves.

Tom: Download STILL haven't had a female headliner.

On the difference between touring in the UK and mainland Europe

Having toured extensively Becky tells me there is much better funding in mainland Europe which means bands are paid better and more venues are able to provide accommodation and book more diverse acts, whereas in the UK venues are getting squeezed, getting little government support and turning to crowdfunding to stay open.

JJ: The singer from Budgie said something like ‘in Europe you get treated like a rockstar, limousines here and there, then you come back to the UK and get the 21 bus home.’ In a weird way, that attitude almost helps. Because it's tough to rise to the top you’re left with the cream of the crop.

Becky: There's so many great bands, it's hard to push through because there isn't the support here. The ones that do manage to keep going long enough that they manage to get over to Europe, then they've got to be good because they've had to fight for that attention’.

Aki: What can venues do better? Food.

Tom: What can B:Music do? Symphony Hall wouldn’t work, all seated, but Town Hall, I’ve never set foot in it, didn’t even know you did standing gigs till today.

JJ: I’d love to perform with an orchestra…

(Note to programme – Fury, Town Hall Stage, Organ in background, CBSO arrangement?)

Tom: What can B:Music do? Symphony Hall wouldn’t work, all seated, but Town Hall, I’ve never set foot in it, didn’t even know you did standing gigs till today.

JJ: I’d love to perform with an orchestra…

On professionalisation

I’ve mentioned their videos which are one aspect of Fury's slick feeling machine, their artwork, their merch. There’s a high level of attention to detail unusual in unsigned bands.

Tom: We grew up watching music videos on things like MTV, those channels don’t exist in the same way any more

Becky: We started to take ourselves more seriously. Here’s the album, an extensive tour, professional music videos. We didn’t know how hard this was for a small band so we just did it. It feels like we're kind of in our stride.

JJ: The videos are good marketing tools. You get a much better feel for the band if you watch their video rather than just listen on Spotify, it gets across the message of the song or the vibe of the song, it's more immersive, more visual. And as we're still a small band who've only played in a handful of countries, the best way for us to get discovered is to show our faces online.

Becky: It was a big turning point.

JJ: But what Becky fails to say is a lot this happened because of Becky, she saw the potential, had experience and was just like ‘let's really mould this into something’.

Aki: (impersonating Becky) I have to make a spreadsheet!

On lockdown

Nyah: We went to release the album, that was when the first lockdown happened. Tour cancelled. Everything cancelled. Everyone shut inside

JJ: We were due to release the album and we’d refreshed our sound, then there was lockdown right before we released and went on tour. And obviously it was very disheartening because we’d done all this work. But then we decided to go forward with the album release anyway and in a strange way it kind of worked for us because there’s a lot to shout about online with a new album. Whereas if we were at the end of an album cycle, that would have been not good. We were able to get online and do play throughs and live stream. I think a lot of people tuned in to us during that period.

'We went to release the album, that was when the first lockdown happened. Tour cancelled. Everything cancelled. Everyone shut inside' Nyah

'It wasn't a good thing. And then it was everything.' JJ

Nyah: Would I be as heavily involved in the band if not for COVID and the way it went down? We were stuck in the house together while JJ was writing the new album and so he was ‘Come sing on this, sing on this, just something on this, just…’

Becky: If lockdown hadn't happened, you might have been busy doing other things.

Nyah: That's it. I might have been busy. You might have just written the album without me physically being there for every step of it.

JJ: It wasn't a good thing. And then it was everything.

On the writing process

JJ: I generally come up with the vocal melodies, chord progressions, riffs and structures, I'll demo it. I'll send it to these guys. They won't listen to it for like 12 months…

Becky: You write a demo directly after we've just released the album before and everyone goes. What do you mean, we’ve just done one!

On what they’re proudest of

Tom: I’m most proud of Lost In Space

Nyah: Tom's love affair with Lost In Space has been going since before he was ever in the band. He just loved the song before he ever played with us.

Becky: Burnout, and Road Warrior, the way that came to be. I remember where I was when I heard vocals that you had done with Nyah. I knew that Road Warrior would be a very special song.

On how you can support the band

Becky: Go on our socials and buy merch!

Nyah: Come to shows and have fun. Yeah, that's what I want people to do. We're really fun. We don't just stand there and play our instrument and expect applause for that. We prance around the stage. We occasionally fall over on the stage. We interact with the crowd!

So this is Fury. Fun, thoughtful, passionate and a whole lot of awesome.

Download a song, go to a gig, watch a video, follow the socials and discover: Fury.

Website:furyofficial.co.uk

Instagram:@furyoffic1al

Spotify: Fury

TikTok:@furyoffic1al

YouTube:@furyofficialband

See them live: Dec 07 2024 | Billesley Rock Club | Birmingham

Words: Eva Phillips

Pictures: Ibi Keita