In case you aren’t aware, Breaking Point are the kings of straight edge hardcore in the Dirty South (of England). They’ve been on the hardcore scene for some time now, inciting some of the most violent moshpits in the land and just generally being brilliant. They are just about to release their debut LP, ‘Set To Burn’, and are currently on tour with hardcore titans Madball. With several of their members juggling other projects (Basement, Brutality Will Prevail etc), we spoke to frontman Louis Gauthier to talk about what’s going down in the BXP camp right now.
You’re releasing your new album, ‘Set To Burn’, this autumn (it’s great and I’ve had it on repeat). What can people expect from it?
Thank you! You can expect an album that has had a lot of time put into it. We put a lot of effort into making sure there’s no filler songs on it and that it isn’t a release that would have been better if it was an EP. There’s some more expansion on that kinda Slayer type riffs and guitar harmonies thing a lot of heavier 90s metalcore bands did. We all love All Out War, Strife, Hatebreed and Pantera but there’s also references to our earlier stuff as well. I feel like for the type of music we do, we try a lot of different things to keep it interesting. And I think it’s awesome!
This is your first full-length. You’ve obviously released EPs before, but what made you want to release a longer record? And how do you think the tracks compare to your previous releases? Do you think your sound has changed at all?
We never really thought we’d ever do an LP. I came back from three months of touring with Brutality Will Prevail and Saker called me and said they had an album written. Like it completely came out of nowhere. And a month later I got sent the rough demos for ten tracks. We kept quiet about it until the whole thing was done. We didn’t wanna be a band that says they’re doing a full length and just never puts one out. We just wanted it to be like: ‘BOOM! We have an album! Suck it!’
Things have been fairly quiet in the Breaking Point camp for a little while, as you all have other commitments. How do you find juggling bands?
There can be moments where it’s frustrating when interests conflict. But it doesn’t happen too often. Everyone is busy with stuff outside of the band. Fisher is doing stuff with Basement but he’s also teaching full time. And everyone one else has jobs/education/label/bands they do as well. We just do stuff whenever it suits us.
You’re about to go on tour with Madball. How are you feeling about the shows?
I can’t wait! Madball are one of my favourite hardcore bands. Even if you don’t like them you cant deny what that band has done for hardcore. Even though we don’t play that many shows, Breaking Point are a band that always seems to be able to make the most fun out of the shows and places we do go to. The last show we played, we flew up to Edinburgh and managed to fit so many cool little things into that day before the show. So I feel like it’s gonna be a good tour.
Do you think you’ll be focusing more on BXP now with the new album out? Is the plan to keep touring or will it be more of a part time thing alongside your other bands?
We do stuff when it suits us. We never want it to be a full time touring band, but we have a lot of fun with it and we will be keeping active.
I wanna shout out to War Charge, Outrage CC, Renounced, Day Of Rights, Insist, Ego Trip, Frustration and Survival. The UK has a lot of awesome bands right now so make the effort to check them out and go to a show. SOUTHERN RISE EMPIRE.
You can pre-order ‘Set To Burn’ here.
LAIS MW