Hey Leanne, I've been good thanks. It was great to finally meet you in Birmingham back in November.

So, I actually started with the band in 2018, filling in for Benny F for a couple of shows. DC and my other band, Furyborn, had been gigging together for a few years by that point and I'd become a fan, so when Ben asked me if I'd be interested in fronting the band for a night I jumped at the chance. I learned a headline set in two weeks, which was tough as DC songs contained more vocals lines and lyrics than I'd ever had to memorise before. I actually had to freestyle "No Man's Land" that first show, totally forgot the lyrics. After Ben left, he gave me his blessing to step in as the new singer, which was a huge deal for me as he's one of the safest dudes out there and a killer vocalist.

Craig came on board in late 2019, just as we were recording The Way to Oblivion, and has been crushing it ever since. With the lack of shows because of the pandemic, Craig was in the band for nearly a year before he performed live with us. His first DC show was on the main stage at Bloodstock, lucky bastard.

That's a difficult one for me to answer! I've been in the band for 3 out of its 15 years, so there's a rich history that came before me that I have nothing but love and respect for. At the same time, DC is firing on all cylinders right now and this group of musicians is laser focused on creating the best music and live experience that we possibly can. For me, as long as O'Toole and Gilmour are driving the band it'll always be what Divine Chaos was meant to be.

I think it definitely helped that we had the right level of experience that DC required at the time. Working the live circuit isn't for anyone who can't dedicate the time or make the necessary sacrifices, and the fact that we knew what we were getting into meant that the band could continue making a name for itself without missing a step. As far as making an impact in the band goes, I've been able to add a different vocal approach which meant we could experiment a little more with melody on the last album, and Craig is pretty much running the tech side of DC these days, as well as being an absolute monster on stage.

Yeah, they've been sitting on that one for a while, funny fuckers. Gilmour and O'Toole are notorious for their pranks, although they've calmed down in recent years. They're only too happy to tell you how much the band used to torture each other on tour, so in a way it's pretty nice to be one of the newer guys now that they're old and toothless (I'll probably pay for that comment). That aside, this lineup has definitely come together as a unit, and everything we do is to elevate Divine Chaos and keep the momentum going. I don't have a favourite, they're all great dudes, but I guess I speak to Gilmour the most.

He reckons he has 3 of the same Slayer shirt, but nobody's ever seen more than one of them in the same place, so the jury's still out.

Thanks, really glad you're digging it! We actually had the record finished before all this shit went down, so the recording process was one of the last really normal things I can remember. A lot of the music for the album was already written when I joined the band, and Chris and I wrote a lot of the lyrics in the build up to recording the vocals, doing rewrites even while I was in the booth. Working with Scott Atkins at Grindstone Studio was a real milestone in my career; Scott's the best at what he does and he taught me more about my own voice and capabilities than I ever thought possible.

We wanted to make a record that felt like a natural progression from "A New Dawn in the Age of War", and infuse it with more space and groove to really fill out the sound and take advantage of the new dynamic in the band. I think "The Way to Oblivion" sits nicely in DC's discography, and forms a solid foundation that we can build the next album from. I definitely consider it the best work I've done so far as a vocalist.

Not being able to play live was hard, especially coming off the back of our Sophie Lancaster Stage set at Bloodstock 2019. It also felt like a shame to have to release the record during lockdown. We were a little concerned that its impact would be lost without being able to tour to support it, but we were committed to our release date and wanted to keep our word to the fan base, especially in such shitty times. Thankfully, we didn't seem to lose any momentum, and we couldn't be more pleased with how "The Way To Oblivion" has been received since we returned to Iive shows.

Other than that, we've been pretty unaffected by the challenges brought by Covid, we rarely rehearse all together anyway, and when we do it's usually right before a show. Case in point, our first full band rehearsal since the November weekender will be the night before the first date of the tour. With us being spread all over the country, regular rehearsal just isn't a practical option for DC.

Yep, we're officially in writing mode. The tracks we have so far really double down on the groove we introduced on TWTO, and we have a huge bank of filthy riffs waiting to be unleashed. Ultimately, it'll have the speed, aggression and depth that we've built our reputation on, while allowing space for further experimentation. We're always gonna be an unapologetic thrash band, and we'll always be obsessed with creating the fullest, tightest sound possible.

There was a long gap between the last two releases, and this time around we want to capitalise on the progress we made with "The Way To Oblivion" and the opportunities we've been given, so we're looking at late 2022, early 2023 for the next one.

The standout has got to be the Ronnie James Dio Stage at Bloodstock. I first saw that stage in 2011 when I played the New Blood Stage with Furyborn, and from that moment I wanted nothing more than to be up there on that hallowed ground, connecting with that amazing Bloodstock crowd. Ten years later, I found myself doing just that and it was a real transformative experience, especially as it was the first show back for DC after almost two years. Now I just want to get back up there for more!

The other highlights for me all revolve around being able to see all the friends we've made on the circuit after so long apart. Headlining Not An Uprising, Rabidfest, the Scruffy's anniversary and the Sophie Lancaster festival was stellar, and it was great to see so many familiar faces and sink a few beers together.

It's gonna be a sick tour! We were asked to join the lineup shortly before Bloodstock, and it's such a privilege to share stages with a band with Evile's stature and back catalogue. Tortured Demon are going to be a devastating opener, too. They're an awesome band and deserve all the recognition that's coming their way right now. Personally, I've been focusing on my vocals, drilling the set over and over, so I'm sure I'll be sick of the material by the time we get out on tour. We'll be using our downtime to continue writing the next album though, so it's all good.

We've been looking forward to this tour for a long time. I had the pleasure of bumping into both OL from Evile and Joe from Tortured Demon at Bloodstock, both really cool guys, and both Evile and Tortured Demon put on masterclasses that weekend. We've all been doing this so long that we don't tend to get nervous before shows, but the excitement is very real. It's going to be great to get back on the road and hit so many awesome cities, and the lineup is just insane.

Ah man, there's so many great metal scenes around the country, and we're hitting a lot of them on this tour! I'd say the midlands in particular are really consistent in putting on incredible live bills, there's a real thirst for metal there and a ton of very talented bands vying for the slots. The south has some extraordinary acts too, and in my own experience, the metal scenes in Bournemouth (my home town), Southampton, Exeter, Weymouth and London have been exceptionally kind to me. Gotta go with the north when it comes to thrash, though.

Gilmour's legendary pout, Mariusz taking a drink at exactly the wrong time during a set, blistering thrash aggression, and a band that's always striving for the perfect performance, even though we'll never know it when it happens.

I reckon the holy grail of lineups for DC would include Metallica, Sepultura, Testament, Exodus, Symphony X and Decapitated.

When I first got into metal, I was a massive Sepultura fan (have been ever since, they're my all-time favourite band), so Max Cavalera was my biggest early influence. Since then, Burton C. Bell, Jon Howard of Threat Signal and Howard Jones have all been massive influences on my vocals. I love me some HoJo, I think he's the best vocalist in metal.

It's probably fair to say that I come across as pretty quiet at first, especially when you meet me alongside the other personalities in the band. I certainly get louder as you get to know me though, although from your fucking hilarious Facebook posts you certainly put me to shame! I don't put on any persona when I walk on stage, that just seems to be where I'm most comfortable.

I respect the fuck out of the pioneering work that Chris Barnes did, but Corpsegrinder is the fucking man. Level 10 metal neck. Scourge of Iron is a banger, and I adore the Serpentine Dominion record.

Right, to round up our chat nicely… the 'let's get weird "Leanne"' question everyone's come to know and love… who
would you invite to your own fantasy celebrity metal tea party? You need to choose someone to cook, someone to chat with, someone to entertain you and someone to party with… be inventive because Joe of Tortured Demon has answered this as has Ol of Evile… I don't want any arguments on tour about the quality of people's metal tea parties!

It's been great to chat, Leanne! For my metal party, I'd have Philip Anselmo cooking, purely because of that old Cooking Hostile series on YouTube. I have no idea if Phil can cook, but that show was hilarious. To chat with, I'd invite Melissa Cross. I'm my own biggest critic when it comes to my voice, so it'd be great to sit and brush up on technique with the best in the business. For entertainment, I'd have Howard Jones bring Light The Torch and Killswitch Engage to do a monster set. That's probably cheating, but fuck it, it's my party! To bring the party I'd have the DC boys along, as well as Simon Hall, and the Bournemouth metal crew. Always carnage.

You can catch Divine Chaos supporting on Evile's "Hell Unleashed" tour (with Tortured Demon opening for the guys), starting from Tuesday 15th February in Glasgow, tickets are available at: