Graphic Nature

Barely a year on from a debut that saw them emerge as one of the brightest lights in British metal, Graphic Nature return with their heavy, emotional and raw second album, Who Are You When No One Is Watching?. 

It’s a title singer Harvey Freeman has been thinking about a lot. Already known for a lyrical depth and raw openness that’s given the band a unique connection with their fans, through its 10 tracks, the record sees Harvey asking big questions about people’s true identity. 

“It's the idea of your true self showing through,” he explains. “We all put on a mask around our friends and colleagues, pretending to be someone. And then when we come home, that's our true personality. Or, on the flipside of it, it's the fakeness of pretending to be someone that's likable and nice, but who also does horrific things. There are many different ways to take it. It's really just who you are.”

The past 18 months have been huge for Graphic Nature. Their A Mind Waiting To Die album was hailed by the likes of Kerrang! as a powerful work of heaviness that tapped into the intensity and rawness of prime nu-metal, with electronic and drum’n’bass flourishes that gave them a unique flavour. An already hard-won reputation for devastating live shows was underscored by shows at Download, 2000trees, a riotous performance at Reading & Leeds, tours with the likes of Skindred, Cancer Bats and Vended, as well as a headline gig at London’s Camden Underworld at Christmas.  

Behind this, however, all was not well. As detailed in the band’s recent Kerrang! cover feature, a random attack on a train deeply affected Harvey. As he tried to work through the after effects and the surprising range of emotions he was running into, he found himself wearing a mask, even when opening up about mental health onstage. It’s this that makes up the album’s backbone.

“Lyrically, it's a journey through a lot of different emotions I've personally been through in the space of 12 months,” he explains. “How I dealt with that was to write it onto paper and to put it into the songs. It’s my way of saying, ‘I’m not doing so good, here's some shit I went through, here's how I felt about it, here's some things that have then come off the back of that.’ It’s really just about how everything can stem from one bad day in your life.”