If you aren’t already a part of Ankor’s world, you soon will be. Slowly but surely crafting their sound, selling out shows in all four corners of the world and creating a space where empathy, understanding and openness on the demons we face is front and centre, the future of modern metalcore feels very much in their hands.
You only have to listen to their 2024 mini-album ‘Shoganai’, a blistering blend of guttural riffs, pummelling electronics and tear-stained honesty, to hear that. And you only have to look at the footage of their performances at everywhere from France’s Hellfest to India’s Bangalore Open Air to see how deeply they are resonating with thousands upon thousands.
Now, as they make their way across Europe once more, with a recent stop off at London’s Iconic Underworld, vocalist Jessie Williams takes Rock Sound inside the belly of the beast…
Rock Sound: How are you feeling about where things with Ankor are right now, with 2025 set to be your biggest year yet?
Jessie: It’s been an amazing journey. It’s been two years since we started the process of this mini-album, and it has been a journey because we took our time writing these songs. We took a very long time with each song and went through something different every time we started to write a song. What we have seen is that a lot of people have lived this journey with us. People tell us things like, ‘When you released ‘Oblivion’ I was going through a terrible time in my life’ or ‘When you released that song, I was going through this’. The fans have been on their own journey within this, and it’s been nice to see that it’s not just us who have been living it. That’s crazy to realise but in a good way.
RS: Taking things back to the band’s roots, it feels like the place you are now has been a long time coming. How do you reflect on your early days with the band and the aims and ambitions you had?
Jessie: I wouldn’t say that our goals are very different. We have always believed in this band the way that we do now. When I joined in 2014, the band was already a band for a long time. They started right back in 2003 in their garage. But when I joined, I had been in a metalcore band in Barcelona, and music was just a hobby for me. An escape from the real world, being with my friends, doing something we liked. But with Ankor, something changed. We had bigger goals, and that hasn’t changed a lot. We have always believed in what we were doing, but what we’re doing now is much better than what we did back then. That’s because we have grown and changed as people. I was 20 when I joined, so we are not those kids anymore. We’re more much more focused, but we have worked very hard, I have to say. We’ve always done everything ourselves. But the thing that was missing was the ingredient you find in our music now. We had to add something different to what we were doing before. And now, we have lived so many more things, including the bad, because many of our lyrics and songs aren’t particularly happy. These experiences have led us to where we are now, though.
RS: You have used that time to build a community around the band worldwide and, most importantly, try to make the community in Spain even more prominent than it was in the past. Building something from the ground and learning everything as you go, both at home and on the other side of the world, is an amazing route to be able to take, even if it’s difficult…
Jessie: A lot of people focus on just making good music and believe that if you have the right album or song, that’s it, and you’re going to blow up. But it doesn’t always work like that. People need to see it and you need the exposure. That’s something we have always known and something we have always. So for us, going to Japan, even for a small tour, was us believing in our music and travelling anywhere we could. That was the same around Europe as well. Unfortunately, Spain, I wouldn’t say it’s the best country for metal music if I’m honest. Some bands come to Spain, but when they are planning a tour, it’s not often that happens. We don’t have the culture of live music in the way a lot of other countries do. We toured around Spain, going to the same towns, until we felt that there was not much else, we could do. I think other countries take care of their bands and artists. The UK is one of the places where they are proud of what they have. When you’re a Spanish band playing in Spain, people don’t realy notice you that much. But then, when you start playing in other places and getting noticed, that’s when people in Spain begin to pay attention too, which is a bit sad, but it’s just how it is. And with us, people at home are seeing that we have worked hard to be where we are, and we are happy to see that. But we have learned a lot from playing in so many other places. It’s been very rewarding, and it’s something that will continue to be rewarding.
RS: In terms of your recent touring, how has it been experiencing so many different cultures and approaches to heavy music across various countries? You spent last Summer everywhere from Hellfest to Wacken, so what stood out in terms of what made each unique?
Jessie: All the festivals have been great. One that shocked us was when we went to India, at Bangalore Open Air. We had never been there before, and it was so different to anything I had ever seen. But what I loved was that people were so grateful. When you plan a tour, India is not usually on the list. So with us going, we were so well taken care of. And around Europe, everywhere was special. Everything was great. One day, we played Resurrection Fest in Spain; the next day, at 11:45 am, we played at Hellfest in France; and the following day, we had Tuska in Finland. There were no flights, so we drove for 12 hours between Galicia and Clisson. On no sleep, I wondered who would be there, and I remember looking out, and it was just packed—thousands and thousands of people. Then we flew to Finland straight after.
RS: To see that people in all corners have resonated with what the band have been doing must be so gratifying, especially when you see them resonating with particular songs written during particular sessions. When you go back to each step of the process of bringing ‘Shoganai’ to life, what do you feel as though the ultimate goal of this era was?
Jessie: When we started all of this, it was just over two years ago at this point. We released the first chapter, ‘Prisoner’, in December 2022. We had thought a little bit about what we wanted, but not too much. ‘Prisoner’ is a song about someone who is a prisoner in their own mind. They’ve afraid of going out, they feel guilt. Once we wrote it, we thought we would make a whole story from this, where we show different states of mind and the stages of grief. We have all been through a lot of things, like a lot of people in this world. We all have many issues and problems we are working through. We wanted people to connect to each song on their own, but all of those songs also connect. We wanted everybody to listen to every song because we wanted every song to be special.
RS: What makes each song special to you in their own way?
Jessie: Well, for example, you have ‘Oblivion’, which to me is the most emotional song on there. I unfortunately lost my dad to suicide a few years ago, so I wanted to put something about suicide in this story, but I didn’t like it just to be my story. Then there is ‘Stereo’, focusing on the feeling of the good and the band voices speaking to you. There’s ‘Venom’, about all the rage consuming you inside. ‘Embers’ is about accepting a loss but not wanting to let go of it. And ‘Shoganai’ is detailing the end in this epic way. But through all that, there is also ‘Darkbeat’, which is more of the song that defines the band as a whole, where there is a lot of hope. We were all going through our own things when we wrote each song. We’ve had people in the band dealing with depression, and we have lost people around us because of mental illnesses. I know people talk about these things more nowadays; it’s not as taboo as it used to be, but I still feel like it needs to be even more normal than it is. We wanted it to be even more visible. We always want to write about things we have believed in and things that we have lived. I think that is why we have seen so many people find themselves in these songs: because the things we have lived as things that many people worldwide have lived too.
RS: Being able to go to these dark places but also offer up those glimmers of light feels like it reflects within the sound of the band or how you have developed the sound of the band. Going from being stupidly heavy to euphorically danceable with the flick of the wrist opens a whole new world and a whole new level of connection between you and your fans…
Jessie: On the last tour that we did, I can’t remember exactly where but it was in Germany, there was this moment. During ‘Oblivion’ I end up saying, ‘I’ll be okay’ a few times, and everybody got out pieces of paper that said, ‘We’ll be okay together’. Someone had printed them all off and handed them out, and the whole crowd took part in it. We all started crying. Seeing so many people living this song with us was so emotional, and the sentiment was so true. We will be okay together. Our music helps them, and they help us because we wouldn’t be where we are without them. We owe them a lot and I am very grateful for it.
RS: Do you feel as though there was a shift where you felt Ankor shows starting to feel more and more like that? From where you were just playing your songs to a communal safe space built on understanding?
Jessie: We have always had people who follow us around, but not at the current level. And I can actually pinpoint the show where I thought to myself, ‘This feels different’. It was Hamburg last year. We played a show there in October 2023 on the ‘Darkbeat’ tour. It was sold out, and everybody in the venue was singing, jumping, headbanging. After the show, we were backstage, and I looked at our videographer, one of our best friends, and he was crying. I asked what was wrong, and they said, ‘You made it, guys’. They were so happy and emotional to see their friends living their dreams. The feeling that day was fantastic, and when I realised something had changed.
RS: So, as you’re looking to the next stage, both the shows you have lined up and the chance to start writing again, how are you preparing? What is at the forefront of your mind?
Jessie: Whatever we make next will feel like a continuation of what we have done, even though it also isn’t. It’s not going to be the same story, but there is a reason we have called ‘Shoganai’ a mini-album and Volume One because we wouldn’t have put that ‘One’ there if we didn’t want to do more. It’s something that has worked really well for us, so it’s something we will continue doing. I’ve been very inspired by K-pop music in that way, which I listen to a lot of. The songs we write will still speak about our emotions because we will keep having new experiences and feelings about new things. But we will continue to change because we can’t help but change with every track we write. But everything will still have that Ankor touch to it.
RS: It feels like you have found out even more of what Ankor is at its core over these past few years. Finding out things about your best friends you may not have previously known and being able to use them to inspire you is something not to be taken lightly…
Jessie: There is still so much to learn. Every day that we live, there are more stories to tell. And as you say, there are stories of our friends, too. This doesn’t have to be all about me or another member of the band. It can be an experience of the people who are around us. There is always more. We will never make music that doesn’t mean anything to us just because we need to write something to fill a space. That’s not what we are about.
RS: Saying all that, how vital is Ankor as a part of your life, personally as well as professionally?
Jessie: Ankor is my life, 24/7. David [Romeu], our guitarist and my husband, makes our music videos. We record at home in our studio. We do a lot of work every day and all day for the band. A lot of times, we will go out on a date, and we will just end up talking about the band. Our lives revolve around this, which I love and wouldn’t change for anything. And to be honest, that’s why we are where we are right now. I’ve grown with this band, and I’m very lucky to have the people in this band as my life partners. They are family, and I hope it stays that way forever.