The Heir Apparition Talk New Single, Music Video And More
Words by Glenn Sargeant
Feature Image Photo Credit: Supplied By San PR
UK Progressive rockers, THE HEIR APPARITION, have dropped their deeply alluring new single, THE OTHERS. This stunning standalone track introduces a brand-new character to the band’s ever-expanding mythos. We chatted to the band:
Who is in The Heir Apparition, how did you meet and what do you play?
The Heir Apparition is a cinematic/progressive rock band with a heavy focus on narrative songwriting, we’re building a whole universe of characters and events with our music right now. We met through various means, Jake and I went to college together so we’ve known each other quite a while. We picked Adam and Chris up later on through pure circumstance, they were the right guys at the right time. I play rhythm/lead guitar and vocals, Adam is lead guitar, Jake plays bass and Chris is our drummer.
What is your earliest musical memory?
When I was really, really young, maybe 3 years old, I used to have this little plastic toy guitar that I would carry with me everywhere. It made absolutely nothing resembling actual musical noises and it had these weird pretend strings on it that didn’t really do anything, but that was probably the earliest indicator of what I’d end up wanting to do.
When did you begin songwriting?
I think somewhere around 2007 or 2008 I began messing with writing my own stuff, but it was awful. Incredibly basic chord progressions and cringe lyrics, I still have an old notebook with lyrics somewhere. I’ll have to dig that out and remind myself what I was up to back then haha.
You have your new single ‘The Others’ which is out now. What was the story/inspiration behind the track?
It’s a very personal song for me, it’s sort of me attempting to be self aware and trying to reflect on mistakes I’ve made in my own life, whilst acknowledging the desire to do better.
Obviously we’ve disguised the real stuff inside our fantasy stuff with the character of Daedalus Grim being a stand-in for me in this instance, he’s a guy that’s done a lot of bad things in a past life, and is in the midst of a sort of reinvention. He wants to be a better man, but the ghosts of his past are still nagging at him. Quite literally in this case.
Where did you record the track and who produced it?
We actually tracked the song at our rehearsal space, a small room in a mill somewhere. It was really an experiment for us to see what we could do, having spent a small fortune on making the first record back in 2024 we had no desire to go bankrupt making the next one, so we used this single as a test to see what sort of result we could get doing it like this. It came out really well! We tracked drums and vocals at the practice room, guitars from home, sent it all off to our producer Mike Lawetto to work his magic, and yeah, it was a pretty successful experiment. We’re very confident we can make an entire album like this.
Do you have any interesting, funny or memorable stories from the recording sessions?
Aside from Chris going full tilt on his drum tracking to the point there was steam coming off of him, I wore a cardigan like a cape whilst recording vocals. Helps get me into character, but not really. I just thought it was funny.
Did you use any particular instruments, microphones, recording equipment to help you get a particular sound/tone for the record?
We didn’t use anything particularly fancy, I recorded all my guitars with my Line 6 Helix, Jake has a whole bunch of nice microphones we used for drums and vocals. Chris actually had just bought a whole new drum kit he was very excited about so that’s on there, though we did use some samples too.
Which of your tracks hear you at your a) happiest, b) angriest and c) most reflective?
Our happiest I think would probably be Child Of Fortune. Its this upbeat, almost pop punk-esque track from Part I. Its been a fan favourite since we released it and its definitely the most playful sounding.
Angriest is trickier, we haven’t released anything angry so far, but there’s a couple of tracks on the next album that I think might fit the bill. I’ll pass on that one for now. Most reflective is The Others, for sure. It’s really putting myself under the microscope and exposing my own flaws as a person in that track, but it came with a catharsis of clearing the air and allowing myself to move forward, having recognised these faults.
Was it a difficult song to write?
It was, but in a weird way. It was written quite a while ago, as far as the instruments go, and it hasn’t really changed all that much aside from adding a new lead section in the chorus. Lyrically it was quite evasive, it took me a long time to get it to a point where I felt like I’d be okay with people hearing it. With it being such a personal song, it was difficult to balance honesty and transparency in the lyrics with the fantasy element of what we do, it kept swinging back and forth between too real and too fake, I had to find that balance.
The single is accompanied by a video. What was the thought process behind the video and who directed it?
Our good friend McKenzie Jones directed the video. It was shot live at a show we played back in February. We didn’t actually intend to make a video initially, he was there to document the full event for social media posts, but when we watched back the footage there was something really interesting about the energy of the performance that we really thought would work for a video. It was really our first live show with this version of the band and we didn’t know what to expect, but what comes through is this sort of nervous yet confident energy, and a genuine chemistry. It’s just four dudes that love what they do, sharing a stage and attempting to tell our stories to people in a fun way.
Where is your hometown and could you please describe it in five words?
Manchester. In five words? England’s strongest underground music scene.
How do you look after your voices?
We don’t, we’re terrible for this.
Do you have any live dates planned in the UK/Europe in 2026?
We have a bunch of stuff this year, with more coming in. We’re going to be playing in Newcastle, Sheffield, Oldham, Bradford, Scotland, Manchester, all over the place. We’ve been really lucky with what we’ve managed to book this year, it can be quite difficult for underground bands to get things outside of their hometown at this level.
What two things do you hope to have achieved once you have left the stage?
We hope to have intrigued people, more than anything. We would like to be known and remembered as the band that told interesting stories, and played their hearts out to make you believe in them.
Do you have any favoured stage instruments, effects, pedals, microphones etc?
I have a couple of Spira guitars I’m really fond of, both telecasters, one of which is a baritone. Adam just got a new PRS which he’s in love with, Jake owns like a billion bass guitars including a couple he built himself, and Chris has a new Shine kit that he’s obsessed with so we’re all fairly attached to our gear haha, it’s quite sentimental.
You are given the opportunity to write the score for a film adaptation of a novel that you enjoy. Which novel is it and why?
It would be incredibly difficult, but probably Dune. Dune was a huge influence for us as far as our story goes, it shares a lot of similarities, so that would be the obvious choice. We’d probably try to turn it into a rock opera or something, which may seem offensive to some haha.
Do you have any further music releases planned for 2026?
We do. We’re hoping to have at least another 2 or 3 singles out this year, we’ll be recording the next one fairly soon. It’s hard to say, we have no shortage of material to pick and choose from right now.
Who are some of your musical influences? Do you have any recommendations?
For me it’s Coheed and The Dear Hunter, their ability to weave complex songwriting with a continuing narrative is fascinating to me and absolutely what I aspire to. As a band, we have a whole bunch of influences. Coheed, Rise Against, Alter Bridge, My Chemical Romance, AFI, Deftones, the list goes on and on.
What makes The Heir Apparition happy and what makes you unhappy?
We’re quite easy to please honestly haha, a good gig booking or a nice review and we’ll ride that high for weeks. The thing that makes us the most unhappy is being perpetually too broke to do half the things we’d like to.
Feature Image Photo Credit: Supplied By San PR
The Heir Apparition’s new single ‘THE OTHERS’ is out now.
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