Redtop Meets: Exit Ten

Words by Jasmine Lee

Reading five-piece Exit Ten are back, and, having progressed away from the sounds of their first album with their new release Give Me Infinity, it’s evident that the band has matured. It’s been a tough journey for them; their first release gained much critical acclaim yet due to the liquidation of their distribution company the band weren’t able to meet the demand. Earlier this year, they burst back on to the radar with a fantastic set at Sonisphere festival and now they’re finishing up a huge UK tour. We went to see them play a sold out show at the Barfly in Camden last week, where we caught up with singer Ryan Redman and drummer Chris Steele.

You have played here in Camden before, from what you have seen what are your impressions of the area?

Ryan: Love it! The thing is, it’s definitely got its really good points and its slightly tacky points. It feels like a weird London tourist zone. Even when we were stuck in traffic up on the high street, I’ve never seen it before where people were taking photos of the shops…

Chris: At the same time we only ever really see the same parts, the high street, parts of the Lock and market.

Ryan: I didn’t even realise the Roundhouse was right there, the famous venue I’ve watched on TV!

The Roundhouse encourages young people aged 11 to 25 to get involved in music and creative careers through its studio projects. With the current increase in tuition fees what are your thoughts on higher education/ your experiences in pursuing a career in music?

Ryan: There’s a lot of chance involved, you have to actually, hopefully, be good at writing songs and we sort of just found our way doing that. It’s a very rewarding path because we did this all ourselves, our own path. It’s rewarding spiritually perhaps, but definitely not financially. So perhaps it’s worth the investment even though tuition fees have gone up, there’s no reason why someone shouldn’t consider higher education if they wanted to go for a particular career. You get what you put in, there are lots of musicians that I’ve met who went to music schools and didn’t feel an advance in terms of career. I think you’ve got to be a good people person as well as a good musician.

Any upcoming artists you like to listen to at the moment/ bands you listened to growing up?

Ryan: It’s hard to tell, I don’t think I’ve really got my finger on the pulse. There are some guys out there who have just exploded, really popular and I haven’t heard of them until they are really popular. It sort of tells me I don’t quite know what’s going on.

Chris: I haven’t personally discovered a brand new band I’ve been excited about in a while, you do get bands coming out of nowhere but yeah I think I’m just getting a bit old!

Ryan: We’ve been very focused on our own stuff; it’s been the focus of our whole year getting this album out. Our influences are very wide ranging and we’ve got lots of combined likes, like Tool and Radiohead, Muse, Elbow and a lot of individual tastes.

What’s your highlight of what you have done so far?

Ryan: This gig tonight! To be honest we live in the now you know, when we’re old and we look back on certain things that we have done over the years we'll be like ‘that was amazing’, but right now we're about the new stuff and the reaction tonight has been the best way to end the tour!

Listening to the set tonight, I find that songs from the new album have more of an anthemic rock sound than the heavier sound of their first release. The new singles Suggest A Path and Lion have great reactions from the audience. The new songs have a stadium like quality as the audience sings along, reminiscent of bands such as Muse. Ryan’s vocals blend harmoniously with the guitar riffs and powerful drums to create quite a unique sound.

Exit Ten’s second album Give Me Infinity is out now, and the band are on tour again in the new year. Check out their website for more info.