Interview with Jessie Williams from Ankor!
Ankor throws a weekday party performance at Storm Club in Prague!
Interview with Jessie Williams
I remember catching Ankor at the Rock Castle festival last August, and I thought that they were a very livid band. After the show and for the following months my friend and I keep bumping into their name in conversation, she was taken by their music entirely and had put me on a path of listen to their albums to the point that my Spotify got wind of it and started to add them to my daily playlists. After all this I decided to check out their show as my friend and my Spotify playlist keep shoving them down my throat.
With all this in mind and after a hard look into their impact and the way they are making waves in the metal community I wanted to dig a bit deeper, so decided to request a chat with Jessie Williams front-woman of the band to talk about the tour, the album and their influences.
Miguel (Metal Heart Radio): Jessie, welcome to the Czech Republic, I understand you guys were here yesterday exploring the city, How did you like it?
Jessie Williams: Yes, we spend a day off here yesterday and we were out in the center exploring, we also went to the castle and tried some of the local cuisine. A beautiful city.
MHR: Last time and first time I saw you guys was at Rock Castle last summer and I found your set quite interesting. But, how has been this tour so far for Ankor, it’s more of a Market A or B type of tour?
JW: It's a very long tour. It's 30 shows, we started the 7th of February, I think, and we’ll finish the 16th of March.
So, it's a month and a half away from home, quite long, and we're covering a lot of markets, to be honest.
Normally, most of the market is A market, what we're doing now. We're doing 17 countries so, Spain, France, all around, and now we have Norway, Sweden, Finland as well left, and today is show number 20 of the tour so we've done quite a lot already. But yeah, it's a big tour.
MHR: How has been the reception of people with this tour so far?
JW: It's been the best tour that we've ever done, we can see the difference in countries we've played. Whether we've played in festivals, or where we played, for example, with Beyond the Black as well last year. We can see a lot of new people have come to this tour. Because the last tour we did, headlining tour, was 2023, so almost two years ago, and it was already amazing. We had a great time, but this time it's amazing.
MHR: So, it's been like the best tour so far?
JW: Yes.
MHR: What is the most difficult part for you to tour? Because I think, maybe im wrong, you guys live in the same place in Spain, right? And then you're now living in the same bus.
JW: I live with David, because he’s my partner. So, we live together in Spain. A few years ago, we used to live as well with Fito, the other guitar player. We live together, not anymore, but that was a fun experience.
Obviously, all together here on the bus, we get on very well, we really do. I know a lot of bands say it, but we really do get on very well. So it's easy, for me, I find it very easy.
The thing that is most difficult, maybe, on tour, I would say, is I miss my cat. So I miss being at home with my cat, and even more in winter, because he normally sleeps with me. I miss him.
And obviously, for the guys, it's missing their partners, and obviously, we miss our family as well.
But I mean, we have video calls, so I think for me always the worst part is the pets.
Because you can't talk to them when you're on tour, so yeah that would be the worst part for me.
MHR: What do you hate and love about touring?
JW: Hate? Nothing.
MHR: Are you serious?
JW: No, nothing. I love touring. I love it, I love being on tour, I always enjoy it a lot, I have a great time. Maybe the days... I don't know. Sometimes, if you're in the bus for a long time, and if it's a off day, and you're driving somewhere very far away, and you're stuck in the bus for a day. But I'm with my friends still, and for me, I think it's easier as well, because I have my partner in the band. So, there's nothing I hate from touring.
MHR: As a new person who comes to see Ankor for the first time, how would you describe the show to me in three words?
JW: Three words? party, emotions, and connection.
MHR: How has been the response from the people to the new album? Which came out last year, and what has been the response so far from people?
JW: It's been amazing. I think it's been the album we've released that has had the most response, and positive response ever.
Are we talking about numbers or people?
Everything, a lot of people have known us with this new music, with this album. But the fans that we already had as well, I think a lot of them tell us they've really fallen in love with the new album, and I think it's special because we started releasing it... We didn't release the album altogether.
We started releasing it in 2022, in December, and we released all the singles for almost two years, so, we've taken very good care of every song, every video. We wanted to tell a story, so every song has a video for this album, and I think that has helped us connect as well with people. Because it's a very emotional album.
It's about dealing with grief as well, mental issues, so sharing these songs with music videos, that all follow the same story, it's seven videos but it's one story, has helped connect a lot with people, so the response has been very, very good.
MHR: That's great, the album is fantastic.
JW: Thank you.
MHR: Favorite song to play live from this album?
JW: Embers. It's a party.
MHR: The most complex song of the album?
JW: Oblivion
MHR: Oblivion?
JW: Yes, Oblivion. I would say that vocally, it's more challenging. It has higher notes as well. It's emotional as well, so it plays all of it. So yeah, I would say Oblivion.
MHR: How has been the reaction of the Spanish market towards Ankor?
I ask, because growing up with Spanish metal myself, you get used to hear it just in Spanish
But Ankor’s the whole catalogue is in English.
JW: It's good, I think it's getting better now as well, I would say Spain is a tough country for metal music. It doesn't have this metal culture like many others, maybe if you go to Germany, or if you go more to Northern Europe, I think there's more a tradition of live music as well. I think Spain is a lot more about clubbing. It's different. I mean, we do have bands. We have big, big metal bands, like Mago de Oz, for example, so we do have them.
But I think a lot of times, these bands are more successful even in Latin America than they are in Spain. But we have loads of bands in Spain, but I think it's difficult when you start in Spain because it's not a country that helps out a lot to bands.
But once you start touring outside, I think it's when you start feeling more seen in Spain. So, we can feel the difference with this album as well, we've grown in Spain. We did a show in Madrid and Barcelona in this tour, and they're the two biggest shows we've ever done in Madrid and Barcelona. So, it's fantastic.
But yeah, it's growing, and it's good.
MHR: Do you get any influences from the Spanish bands? like the ones you were mentioning. Mago de Oz, Avalanch, Tierra Santa, Saratoga. Or is it more like a British-English influence.
JW: For me, this is a different answer for each person in the band. Because the guys, Fito, David and Julio, the three of them grew up listening to these bands, Saratoga, Mago de Oz. For me, these are bands I discovered later in life when I actually met them. Because I always used to listen to my emo music, like My Chemical Romance, 30 Seconds to Mars, stuff like that. So, for me, those were my major influences.
For the guys, it was these bands. But then with time, it evolved as well, so it's a mix of everything, I would say.
Obviously, Mago de Oz, Saratoga, Avalanche, and all these bands have influenced a lot, and Isra Ramos, he's one of our best friends. We hang out with him all the time.
MHR: He was for a while with Avalanch, right? I remember seeing him with them at Leyendas Del rock.
JW: Exactly.
MHR: But now I don't know where he's at.
JW: Now he's in Amadeus, and he has another band called Grace as well, which is fantastic. You should listen to it if you don't know.
MHR: Five songs on repeat on your Spotify list.
JW: Okay. Bones from Make Them Suffer, I would say, maybe now Black Hole from Architects. Serotonin from Normandy, Pressure from Conquer Divide as well because they're fantastic, and a fifth song. This is tough.
MHR: You can cheat, you can look at it.
JW: Can I look at it? Okay, let me look at my Spotify because it's difficult when... Yes, let me look at my Spotify and I'll tell you one from here, okay, Paralyzed by Memphis Mayfire.
MHR: Now, any plans for the summer of 2025? I mean, you guys finished this tour now in March. Are there any festivals that, for example, that you would like to play that haven't happened yet or that you haven't had the opportunity to play yet?
JW: For us, this year is going to be quite chill. After this tour, we're focusing on writing new music because last year we played so many festivals. We had loads. So, this year is going to be more chill.
We are planning things for the end of the year, which we probably will announce soon, and then we're planning more of a festival season for next year. So this year is going to be a chill one, an easy one, and more based and focused on making new music.
MHR: Then I got to ask, you are a Spanish band, is Latin America by any chance included in your future plans, any plans to get into there?
JW: We really want to. We've wanted to for a very long time, right, and it's actually in the talks. We are talking about it and trying to see what the best way is and what we can do. So, it will happen, but I still don't know when.
MHR: What about North America? Even though that is a tough cookie now because the visa times got extended from 8 months to 10 months and the administrative fees went up as well.
JW: We already started last year the visa process. So, we have that figured out already. That's done, which was the first step as well. So it's one problem less.
Now the thing is going, now we have to go.
MHR: Jessie, thank you so much for the opportunity. We are definitely looking forward to the show tonight and see a longer set from Ankor.
JW: Thank you so much.
