Photo Credit: Pearl Cook
We caught up with Lake Malice‘s Alice Guala and Blake Cornwall, after their blistering half-hour set at Glasgow’s SWG3 Galvanizers in support of RØRY. The Brighton-based band are currently putting the finishing touches to their debut album and are showing great promise, with invites to some major festivals in the UK and Europe in 2025 including 2000trees and Ressurection Fest.
Can you begin by sharing what the Lake Malice sound is about, for those who are new to you? You take lots of influences from metal but also alternative pop.
Alice: We are a duo working out of Brighton and have a session drummer on tour with us.
Blake: I think it’s an interesting mix of metalcore, hyperpop and nu-metal, we really like pop music and heavy music. My background is mainly with thrash and heavy metal, while Alice is also that but lots of pop influences such as Charlie xcx. We try to write music that feels good and is very energetic, that can make you feel something. We love dynamics and we try to figure out how we can be less conventional when we write.
Your performance tonight was very passionate, the stage movement from both of you certainly kept the crowd interested and we think that you gained lots of new fans tonight.
B: Because we are a duo we feel that we need to work so much harder to keep the energy levels high with the crowd.
Who came up with the name of the band and how did it come about?
B: Alice wanted it to be called Malice Lake and I wanted it to like Alice!
A: The name comes from our first names – B(Lake) M(alice).
Of course that makes sense now! Can’t believe that I overlooked that one. We are loving your new song Scatterbrain. How was the recording process and what is the song about? The video is also a very interesting watch, the moment you cut the phone wire during the drop is special. Do you think that making a decent video to go alongside your songs helps attract more listeners?
A: We don’t have the money to do that yet, we do it all at home. We have an extra room that we use to record music, it’s a good setup for us we think. We only had one telephone to do the scene in the video so had to do it in one take.
B: The recording software available nowadays means that we can record at home without any major financial outlay. There is a lot that you can do with the stuff you have at home that can make the music sound professional and send it to get mixed as well. We have never really felt the need to go into a big studio. We would love to do that one day though.
There have been a few releases from you both, is there another EP in the works or an album even?
B: We have actually written an album already, ten tracks are done. We are going to the studio to record the drums because that’s one thing we can’t do at home. We don’t have a record label at the moment and are trying to find a label that is the right fit for our sound.
A: We hope what we have written is enough for a debut album, we are really excited as to what the future holds.
When did you first pick up an instrument and realise that music was something that you wanted to do with your life?
A: I started singing at home, I just listened to records when I was 11 or 12, then I got into the school choir then I was in a few bands back in Italy where I lived then. I have always had my feet on the ground, so never really had the ambition that I could really become an artist. We have spent most of our lives building careers, we do hope that one day we can fully focus on music though. We don’t have a backup solution if something goes wrong, it’s only ourselves.
B: I was fortunate that my parents took me to gigs when I was younger, seeing bands like Green Day where the music is sort of rebellious and quite easy to pick up and play. When we were young there were so many icons, like Linkin Park and Sum 41 for example, when we saw them on the cover of Kerrang Magazine it was so inspiring for me. I did give up in some ways as I never met the right people.
A: We just feel so lucky that we have managed to maintain careers while still making music, lots of bands maybe try to do it another way.
What festivals will you be playing in 2025?
B: We have Wacken this year, Slam Dunk in May, Radar festival in Manchester, Resurrection in Spain, Rock For People in the Czech Republic among others.
A: We are also playing a new festival in Sheffield.
We know that you have toured with a few well-know bands such as Enter Shikari – how has touring with relatively big bands helped mould you as a band and which tour have you enjoyed most?
B: At the end off 2023 we toured with Enter Shikari, We had a great time touring with Bloodywood, they treated us really well. It’s difficult to hang out with people as we are all so busy and when not busy we are just really tired.
A: We missed out on the Bloodywood Glasgow support show at The Garage as I was ill.
When do you hope to release a potential album or EP? And can we expect a tour on the back of that?
Al: We did hope that this year would see the debut album release, but this may be pushed back to 2026 now.
B: Yeah we want to try and get the right team behind us first then go for a release and a potential tour next year.
How much does the band/crowd connection mean to you?
A: It means everything really because it is like an exchange. It would be hard to go on stage if you don’t feel like being in the room and have the kind of response that the crowd expect from you. There is always that group of people that respond really well and move and dance, we have a good connection to our fans on Discord and also at the merchandise stall.
Thank you both so much for taking the time to talk to Bring The Noise. We hope to see you perform again soon.
Interview by: Alan Brown
See Lake Malice live at the following dates:
May 2025
Sat 3rd – GUILDFORD, UK – Truefeel Festival
Sat 24th – HATFIELD, UK – Slam Dunk South
Sun 25th – LEEDS, UK – Slam Dunk North
June 2025
Wed 25th – COLOGNE, DE – Gebäude 9*
Thu 26th – FRANKFURT, DE – Das Bett*
Fri 27th – VIVEIRO, ES – Ressurection Festival
Sun 29th – DORFGÜTINGEN, DE – Meadow Festival
July 2025
Fri 4th – MANCHESTER, UK – RADAR Festival
Thu 10th – CHELTENHAM, UK – 2000trees Festival
Thu 31st – WACKEN, DE – Wacken Open Air Festival
*w/ Bury Tomorrow
