What was the beginning pint for your music career? How did it all start?
It all started back in 2014 when we started making score and sound effects for smaller indie game and film projects. We only really started making music as a band around 2015-16 and essentially we started having a lot of excess ideas which we thought about making into a story based music project of our own, and then took the ideas we had and crafted them into our first album Systematic Decadence. You can probably hear a lot of our old score based influences in that record, and we put a lot of time into the little details surrounding the sound design and the story elements!
Was there any bumps on the road? What kind of challenges did you have to deal with?
The main thing that comes to mind was our original name choice, which was Nova Prospect. Since this is a Half-Life reference and the development company has a reputation for suing for that sort of thing, we made the decision to rebrand under our now current name, Sentinel Complex. Other than that, the only real thing has been dealing with lockdown and having to adapt to working remotely.
What was the most fulfilling and satisfying moment so far?
The release of our first record was a big one for us, since neither of us ever thought we would be able to release anything globally! One other major one for us though was definitely the opportunity to work with a huge influence of ours, which you’ll be able to see some teasers for in the next couple of months!
How would you describe the music that you typically create?
Essentially it can be boiled down to what we like to call “cyberpunk metal for the forward thinking”. Toss in a good amount of horror influences and you have our sound! This can range from heavy riffs and drum beats, dark and industrial synths and lots of film score elements like strings and choirs.
What is your creative process like?
We split the work between the two of us, but the starting idea we feel is the most important part, so if the starting idea makes both of us happy, we’ll develop it. Jamie will then sit down with it and take it as far as it will go, with Josh giving input where needed, and eventually we have a finished track which we are both happy with! We don’t release anything unless both of us are completely happy with it.
If you could change anything about the industry, what would it be?
Probably the fact that artists lose so much ownership of their works once signed to a major label. Artists have the freedom and own all of their masters!
If you were asked to give a piece of advice to upcoming bands, what would that be?
Do whatever the hell you want, and don’t be afraid to do something different from the other hundreds of bands in your genre.
What has been the best performance of your career so far?
Our best performance on a record so far (since we aren’t currently a performing act) is definitely Demise Of The Faithful. This was the first true time we have been fully comfortable doing what we do behind a mic since we started as an instrumental act, and we felt that we got across the most amount of our energy and emotion that we have in one track to date.
If you didn’t become a musician, what would you be doing now?
Jamie: I grew up in a family of musical people and have just always been around it, so I was sure to get into music at some point! It was when I watched a friend of mine play his guitar when I was about 8 that really got me wanting to do music myself though, and since then it has just been a big part of my life. When I started actually studying music though, I found myself deep in the rabbit hole of recording, mixing and learning to play other instruments. Without music though I would have no idea what I would be doing. Before I started doing music more seriously I wanted to be an engineer, so it’s probably something along those lines!
Josh: My earliest memory of music in my life would have to be sitting in my Nan’s living room in oxford with my uncle. He had MTV2 on when Marilyn Manson’s video for Dope Show came on and I was transfixed by the sounds and imagery. I have always seen myself as an artistic type, always playing around with media. I looked up to people like Clown from Slipknot and Manson, and due to following artists like them for years, music became to me like painting time with sound.
What is new with the band at the moment? What are you currently working on and would like to share with the world?
We have a remix coming out this month, and a few people should have an idea what it is! We also have a couple new singles which have been in the works for a while, and one of which is a collaboration with one of our favorite artists so we are very excited to show everyone!
