Employed to Serve’s Sammy Urwin on Craziest Show, Dream Show, and More

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U.K. post-hardcore band Employed to Serve are set to drop their stellar new album Eternal Forward Motion this Friday, May 10th, and they’ll play a sure-to-unhinged record release show that same day, at London’s The Garage. The fast-rising outfit also has gigs booked through the summer, including festival stops at All Points East, Hellfest and Glastonbury. But the band members are fans of heavy music, as well as creators, so ahead of all this, we chatted with guitarist Sammy Urwin to discuss the first, worst and wildest concerts he’s attended as a concertgoer.

What was your first concert as a fan?
Stone Sour and Murderdolls at The Brixton Academy. I wanted to see Slipknot so bad, but this was during their hiatus where Corey [Taylor] and Jim [Root] were off doing Stone Sour and Joey [Jordison] was doing Murderdolls. Literally, had the best time ever, and the Brixton Academy remains, to this day, a very special place to me as I saw so many of my first shows there.

What was the worst show you’ve been to?
Any of the shows that I didn’t know were 18-plus when I was younger. Getting turned away at the door after traveling far to a show is never fun.

How about your craziest show?
The first Unholy Alliance Tour: Slipknot, Slayer, Hatebreed, Mastodon. I don’t really have to say anything else, do I?

What was the smallest show you’ve seen?
Seen countless of great small shows so this is a hard one. Not necessarily the smallest show I’ve ever seen, but I saw Gojira supporting Obituary back in 2006 at The Mean Fiddler in London. It was awesome to see them in such a small venue compared to the places they play now and to see their journey from one of metal’s most promising acts to the absolute monoliths they are today in the metal scene.

How about your biggest show?
Outside of festivals, it’s probably between seeing Metallica, Slipknot and Korn at a stadium in Holland or seeing Iron Maiden at Earls Court. Both were very awesome experiences, and it’s been about 10-plus years since I’ve seen Metallica or Maiden so I suppose I should rectify this soon.

What would be your dream show?
To make it easier for myself, I’m going to pick bands that are still around. Slipknot/Deftones co-headline, with support from Gojira and Meshuggah. This would be my dream “big” show. Someone want to hire me as a promoter?