Sean Leonard talks to Teesside's emerging metal band Exitbyname.

EXITBYNAME front man Phil Saunders and bass guitarist Jason Robson are not exactly similar when it comes to personality. On one hand Phil is the typical energetic, opinionated front man who speaks passionately about his bands music, whilst Jason (Jay) chooses the laid back cool approach to life.

Both are members of four-piece Stockton metal outfit Exitbyname, who have just released their debut album, The Disillusion is Real, on Revolver.

Over the past three years Exitbyname have been building a strong reputation as one of the most promising metal acts in the country, with their heavy mix of sweeping chords and ferocious hooks.

All four members, including David Anderson (guitar) and Craig Ward (drums), have been involved with music for many years, and the formation of Exitbyname came somewhat out of the blue.

"We were all in different bands at first," says Jay, " but we all disbanded for certain reasons, so Craig, David and myself started playing together, but didn't have a singer, or a name.

"We had one practice then asked Phil to come and sing, and in that practice we wrote a song which we still play at our gigs today."

Collectively the band has some peculiar influences that one wouldn't usually associate with that of a metal band.

Phil says: "When we were all younger we were listening to similar music, even though none of us knew each other back then.

"Bands like Metallica and Green Day influenced us, but then as we all got older we moved into different things. Jay is into R&B, and Craig is into Hip-Hop.

"Dave is still heavily into metal bands like Vision of Disorder and Project 86. I'm quite into punk, not nice traditional British punk, just the sad American effects type rubbish."

Obtaining any sort of deal in the recording industry today is extremely difficult; especially when there is lack of funding.

Bands have started to resort to new tactics such as music videos and eye-catching CD covers to grab a label representative's attention, but Exitbyname found success in a more traditional way.

Phil says: "Despite everyone's advice, I used to burn our tracks onto CDs and send them out to every record company address I could lay my hands on.

"Everyone would tell us that we were wasting our time sending CDs off, and that we wouldn't get any replies, but we did get quite a lot.

"It is quite difficult when you're in the North-East, because you get labels from London wanting to hear you live, and that can be very expensive for a band like us due to travel expenses.

"One of the replies came from Revolver, who wanted to hear more of our stuff. We had a gig in Derby, which was quite close to their base in Birmingham."

Pete Black, ex-Gold Blade guitarist and Revolver representative, came to see the band perform, and immediately offered the band a one-album deal.

Due to a tight budget, Exitbyname struggled to find a producer who they felt could help them reproduce their stunning live sound into an album.

"We went to the Georgian Theatre in Stockton to see a band called Eighties Matchbook Disaster," says Jay, "and the sound guy turned out to be Harvey Burrell, a guy who Phil had worked with in the past, and he seemed well up for it."

The Disillusion is Real project took three days to record at Southern studios, London. Producer Harvey mixed the album for an extra four days, two of which he didn't charge for.

Harvey was so good to the band that he put them up in his own house after they fell short of funds for expensive London accommodation.

When asked about the reaction to the album so far, Jay said: "It's all about finding your ground with the first album.

"The reaction has been really good, nine out of ten reviews have been spot on, and the better reviews have come from the smaller magazines like Logo, Organ and Core.

"We are a little band, on a little label, who have made a big album."

Exitbyname are embarking on a tour which will take them from Aberdeen to Bournemouth, starting tonight in Peterborough.

Such a tour is not easy to come by, and is imperative that the gigs are in place when it comes to album sales nation-wide.

"We called a guy from a tour agency called Smell the Noise, and he was putting a tour together in association with Logo magazine," says Phil.

"As well as being our album tour, he was looking for four new bands for touring who were on the verge on success, and we tied in nicely."

* Check out Exitbyname, who are playing The Georgian Theatre, Stockton, tonight. Tickets are available on (01325) 505269

Published: 05/02/2004