Metal Anarchy

I was recently given the opportunity to interview Wounded Touch’s Nick Holland about “Traumatic Entanglement,” the band’s new split EP with FallFiftyFeet. You can check out that chat below and purchase the EP HERE.

METAL ANARCHY: First of all, can you tell me little bit more about your band for those who may be unfamiliar with your work?

HOLLAND: Yeah, I guess you could say we’re a metalcore band (we’ve been called post-hardcore, skramz, and mathcore alongside that dirty word of a genre every step of the way) from Michigan. We’re kind of all over the state, from the metro Detroit area, to Lansing and Flint. All of us have been jamming in different bands together for some time, but something clicked emotionally for this one when we wrote our first EP in 2018 and we’ve just been moving the goalpost every year, doing more and more than we ever expected possible.

METAL ANARCHY: You and FallFiftyFeet just released a new split EP, titled “Traumatic Entanglement.” What can you tell readers about that effort?

HOLLAND: It’s two songs from each band, both of us sitting on some material in between records that we chose to put together and make into a singular release. It’s came out on August 23rd digitally through Smartpunk Records and it will be available on CD exclusively through DS//FP Records.

METAL ANARCHY: What led to the decision to go for a split release instead of an individual release?

HOLLAND: We’d both been wanting to do stuff together for several years but we’ve just never been able to get our schedules to line up to do a tour together. Dave from FFF and I had just been chatting back and forth and when we realized both bands were sitting on some unreleased/unrecorded songs, we talked about how it would be cool to just combine the two and get a small little unique release out of it.

METAL ANARCHY: What was it like working on the EP with Matt Marquez (Norma Jean) at his studio?

HOLLAND: Matt is a hell of a producer. He seemed to know what we were capable of more than we did and didn’t allow us to pull any punches or get lazy with anything while recording. He is the nicest guy imaginable, and yet he will not let you phone something in while inside the booth. We learned a lot about pre-production and preparation based on this session and it’s really affected how we practice together, which is something we needed. Incredibly professional guy who is great at what he does and we can’t recommend him enough.

METAL ANARCHY: How did Arif Suhaimi (Wormrot) become involved in creating the cover art?

HOLLAND: He does amazing work and I just happened to already be following him on Instagram because of loving Wormrot. I’ll occasionally see something he’s working on that really grabs me and something about this image of these two women he’d sketched together just grabbed me enough that I showed it to everyone in both bands and we all felt it was a striking image that would make an impact for the release’s cover.

METAL ANARCHY: What are some of the themes that you are exploring in the new material?

HOLLAND: In these two songs from this split, the first is something we’ve touched on before, which is the artist’s relationship with the audience. We put ourselves through hell as bands just to play in front of crowds in the hopes that someone will enjoy it. The first single is about that desperation coming to the point of physical self-harm, like someone in an abusive and toxic relationship, just to feel their love and approval. There’s a lot of that concept explored in our newest material, the artist’s co-dependency with the audience.

METAL ANARCHY: The EP’s first single, “Submitted for (Dis)Approval,” is a banger! How has the fan response been to that track?

HOLLAND: It’s been wild. Seeing it put into editorial playlists on streaming platforms, added into TikTok reels, and seeing people share what was “just a 90-second song” to us is still mind-blowing. I hope people react the same to the follow-up single next week which, to us, is the real meat and potatoes of the release.

METAL ANARCHY: Lastly, are you planning any shows in support of the EP?

HOLLAND: Yes, we have a few things in the Midwest planned with a small run of shows on the East Coast planned for November as well. Hopefully we’ll be announcing those soon enough.