The Spectre Beneath Interview 24/07/2026

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MM: Tell us about your band .. your influences and what took you down this genre of music

We began as a spark of an idea in 2018. Pete Worrall, guitarist for thrashers, Plague and the Decay,
and his long-time collaborator, Katy Lennon, got together and wrote several songs which were a bit
more melodic, incorporating influences such as the thematics of Savatage, the melodies of
Queensryche and the riffing of Megadeth. Pete dragged across the drummer from Plague and the
Decay and then we found L.L from an online demo. Metal wasn’t her first genre, so we were
amazed she said yes. She had the perfect voice for Pete and Katy’s vision and she didn’t approach it
with that rubber stamp approach, which can be jarring at first but it makes her unique in metal.
MM: Are there any themes or messages you aim to convey through your music?
We don’t tend to have messages, we like our stories, our flash fiction, tales of Zombies and disease,
or premature burial or love affairs across time and space. We’re not very good at the whole
messaging thing so we tend to avoid it, and, instead, go down a more cinematic and theatrical route.
 

MM: What can fans expect from you in the near future—new music, tours, collaborations?
Our new album has been too long in the making so we’re really excited to get it out there, also,
we’re hoping it’ll give us the momentum to get recording straight away. Due to circumstances,
we’re in different parts of the world at the moment. Thanks to the internet, we’re passing ideas back
and forth and we already have a blueprint for another album, so, until those circumstances change,
that’s what we’ll be focusing on in the short term and we already have some cool ideas.
MM: Are there any dream venues or festivals you’d love to play?
Because we live near Manchester, we go there for gigs very regularly. Manchester is brilliant for
live music and most bands tend to stop by if they’re touring the UK. Our favourite venue is the Ritz
because it’s not too big and has a sprung floor so when the crowd starts bouncing, you also start
bouncing.
 

MM: What’s been your most memorable live performance so far, and why?
The band was booked to play a pub. We’d brought along quite a contingent of fans and the place
was rocking. However, half way through, the owner of the pub, who was hiding upstairs, got a
message to us stating she didn’t realise we were a metal band and wanted us to stop. Our bass
player got on the mic and asked if the audience wanted us to stop to a resounding, NO!! So, we
blasted out another half an hour before the owner called the Police. We signed many autographs that
evening for some reason.
 

MM: How do you prepare for a show, both mentally and physically?
The best way to cope and prepare from a mental point of view is to keep busy, so warm ups and
practicing harmonies and choruses keeps the nerves in check.
 

MM: What emotions do you hope to evoke in fans when they watch your band live
Enjoyment mostly. We hope they are entertained by our music and hope its metal enough and has
enough energy to get them pumped. We feel we have our own small niche of very melodic vocals
with thrashing riffs all wrapped up in a dark atmosphere without any growling or harsh vocals, as
we’ve learned they’re not to everyone’s taste. We hope the listeners can appreciate what we’re
trying to achieve.
 

MM: Do you have any favourite pre-show rituals?
A cup of tea. We’re very British.
 

MM: How do you handle criticism or comparisons to other bands in the scene?
We learned very early on that people like and dislike our music for EXACTLY the same reasons.
Some love it because it has very melodic vocals and melody lines, whereas others hate it because it

has very melodic vocals and doesn’t contain any harsh vocals. The music can be very fast and
thrashy at times and I think some listeners are expecting something else. One of our fans said it
best, “it’s very refreshing these days to have all clean vocals over a band which has such blistering
riffs and pace.” Eventually, you get to learn which criticism is worth your time and which is people
bellyaching by people who would never like your music in the first place. You can learn a lot from
listening to the right people, even the ones whose opinion initially irks you. Because of this, I think
we handle criticism in the right way, and it comes with the territory. As far as being compared to
others, it’s inevitable, it’s neither here nor there for us.
 

MM: What’s been the biggest challenge you’ve faced as a band, and how did you overcome it?
Losing singers. Losing L.L after our second album due to health issues was a huge blow for us as
she was our unique selling point and one we never thought we’d get over it. We were on the verge
of shelving the band before we stumbled upon an online demo of Nicole Garza, what a set of pipes
she has. She agreed to sing on our third album but couldn’t commit any further than that leaving us
singer-less a second time. Trying to find the right singer is a soul-destroying exercise but in both
instances, the faith in the songs and we were trying to achieve kept us looking, and we got lucky
when L.L got back in touch saying she was fit and healthy and wanting to record again. Thank
goodness we hadn’t hung up our instruments before that point.
 

MM: Where do you see the band in five years, and what’s the ultimate goal for your music?
Pete says he has at least two more albums worth of material so we’d love to get them completed
within the next five years at least. The ultimate goal for our music is to entertain; that’s the bottom
line. We get so much creative joy from it and we hope others get a similar vibe when they listen to
our tunes.
 

MM: Last song you listened to?
There’s only one way to rock by Sammy Hager because Pete’s been on a Sammy Hagar fix ever
since he went to see him at the Manchester Apollo the other day.

MM: Tell us why we should check out your band
We were coined Power/Prog metal in the first ever review and it’s a fair summing up. If you like
power metal and progressive metal but don’t want to go too far in either direction, The Spectre
Beneath maybe for you. All clean vocals to allow the melodies to shine and allow for big harmony
choruses. Pete, who writes most of the music, is a big fan of bands like Overkill, Forbidden,
Testament and Annihilator, so there are always elements of thrash about it all. We definitely don’t
have layers of keyboards either, apart from some piano and a few atmospheric drones. We try and
keep the music riff and vocal focused.

MM: Final Words for your fans our readers
We hope you enjoy our new album, The Devil’s Whisper. Hopefully, it won’t take us three years to
follow it up. In the meantime, stay happy, safe and healthy.
 

Please add your social media links!!
https://www.facebook.com/TheSpectreBeneath
https://thespectrebeneath.bandcamp.com
https://www.youtube.com/@thespectrebeneath3812
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https://open.spotify.com/artist/5cIAETngzd6JmnTxG3EtAi