When we were invited by Maltese metallers, Loathe, to play two gigs in their homeland we had our reservations. Would there be a scene out there? Would we be too extreme? Would Kimbo be able to get a vegan sandwich? On arrival we wondered why the hell we’d even slightly worried. Both gigs were well publicised and were at reputable venues. The level of  musicianship was staggering from the bands supporting us (check out ItEM, Cypher and Insurgence) – we already knew Loathe were sh*t hot – which meant we had no room for error; and most importantly both gigs were packed. Beast, Mark, Budgie, Karl and Kurt had busted their balls to make our experience a truly memorable one and we were treated like kings. We even ended-up in the Malta Sunday Times!!

So I was quite shocked whilst trawling through Twitter – avidly reading about people who’d either forgotten to have breakfast; felt sleepy; or had to tell me they were watching Jeremy Kyle – to come across an incensed tweet from our Maltese metal brothers.

A fellow band from Malta called Dying Signals, who have recently been signed, were interviewed on the Times of Malta website. Naturally they wanted to advertise the fact they have a new album and that they are looking to tour Europe; nothing wrong with that, and I hope the “biggest festivals” come their way and MTV is proud to present them. They even gave a nod to three Maltese metal bands that have managed to get themselves signed and deservedly so… though they seem unable to name them!? (Hopefully, Loathe was one of them.)

Granted Malta isn’t the biggest place in the world and getting any kind of scene there must be a daunting task, but we know first-hand that local bands have sweated blood trying to organise and publicise anything ‘metal’ happening over there.

Enter Dying Signals:

not too interested in the local scene, claiming “there is no point as there is not much of a metal scene here”.

Malta is limited and no one really supports metal music, Mr Manche said – Dying Signals was looking beyond these shores. The band would need to infiltrate the US, Germany and the UK, where that kind of music is still going strong.

How to wipe out all the hard work of your fellow metal bands in Malta . Well done, lads.

Ok, they’re young… maybe a little naive, having only played ten gigs and all of those on home turf. Just mentioning that you were signed and would be touring abroad would have sufficed!

We have a saying in Brum and possibly the rest of the UK, and hopefully at least one member of Dying Signals will have heard it, as he is English. The saying goes:

Don’t sh*t in your own backyard!