The Afterlife Interview: Bleed You Dry, Main Stage on Inkcarcertion Festival and 2025

We've chatted with Afterlife, an alternative metal band from Florida that has been making significant strides over the past years, releasing new singles, performing on main stages at major gigs, and more!

We just talked to a post-punk band from Riga, Latvia called ANAIT a few days ago (read it here), and today, once again, we are back with an interview featuring another badass emerging band that's breaking down walls. Hailing from West Palm Beach, Florida, Afterlife is an alternative metal band that isn’t afraid to take risks and try something truly new. If you’re a fan of alt-metal, you’re probably tired of bands that just produce whatever their labels or the market demand. But Afterlife is different; these guys are innovating in ways no one has ever seen before.

Afterlife started in the summer of 2015, working quietly behind the scenes. They began collaborating with their producer, Zach Jones, and started to develop a concept for the band and their EP. Afterlife had a clear idea that they wanted to develop carefully and spent most of 2016 making music videos, promoting the record, and building their brand.

With that being said, let's get to work!

A 2023 Recap

CONCERTY: We will start by asking something we’ve been asking all the bands we’ve talked to. We are almost halfway through 2024, and we know you have done a bunch of cool stuff so far this year and have a busy schedule touring everywhere. We’ll talk about that, but first, let’s recap a little bit about 2023. Could you describe 2023 in one word and explain why?

AFTERLIFE: I would like to say that 2023 can be defined by the word “Growth” Through all the touring and writing that took place in 2023 it allowed us to pull back a little and really ask ourselves what is the next step of Afterlife? What are we looking to accomplish in 2024? How can we really bring the band to the next level. 2023 was a fantastic year for the band but in this world, you always have to be thinking about the future so about halfway through 2023 we started to devise our plan for 2024 which in the forefront of that was the most important topic… Releasing brand new music.

CONCERTY: “Finding the intersection between Slipknot, Linkin Park, and modern hip-hop.” This is one sentence often used to describe the band’s main goal. With some killer releases you guys have had till today, do you think you’ve already achieved that goal?

AFTERLIFE: I like to think of it as a “Sliding Goal” because I never want to feel like we’ve “Reached” that goal you know? I’d like to always have something to look forward to, something to attempt to achieve with our music. We will continue implementing all the aspects we love about the bands while evolving in our own way, finding new influences to incorporate musically.

CONCERTY: It’s very interesting that you guys had a vision of exactly what you wanted to be when you started the band. That’s very uncommon, as most bands only have a vision after getting some popularity. Now, do you guys have a vision of what you want to become looking back on everything you’ve been through?

AFTERLIFE: I think we are always looking to push the envelope you know? Asking ourselves how can we create the best music possible while staying true to the band’s initial and current aspirations and expectations. I do believe we are in a good position now to essentially experiment with our sound, like we have our CORE fanbase who loves everything we do but now how do we capture and excite the ones who haven’t heard of the band? How can we reach a new audience the right way? The best thing about the band is that we trust our gut, block out all the nonsense while writing, and trust the process. Which has worked for the band so far so I think we are on the right track to the next chapter of the band.

Inkcarceration Festival and Gigs Around the World

CONCERTY: Now, talking more about the present: We just saw you guys had the main stage at INKCARCERATION FESTIVAL, how was it? This is just incredible and is not something every band can achieve. What was the feeling of being on the main stage?

AFTERLIFE: I really feel that our “Inkcarcertion Festival” performance was a defining moment in our band’s career. Not only was this our FIRST main stage appearance at ANY festival it was also our DEBUT “Inkcarceration Festival” performance so it was a really big deal for the band and we did everything we could to document and ensure that this performance would be “Main Stage” worthy you know? The festival is located at a famous prison in Mansfield, Ohio (The Ohio State Reformatory) and just the idea of performing at a prison was insane to the band so we couldn’t wait to be there and step on stage! We all walked off the stage after the show and just couldn’t believe it happened haha we were in a bit of a shock honestly but for a good reason. We can’t wait to make our return to Inkcarceration Festival.

CONCERTY: You guys performed at Welcome to Rockville as well this year. How was it? Do you enjoy the energy of big gigs like Welcome to Rockville and INKCARCERATION?

AFTERLIFE: UNBELIEVEBLE! This was our 3rd year performing at “Welcome To Rockville” and the crowds just kept getting bigger and bigger for us so it’s like we are watching the band grow in real time every time we step on the stage at that festival and “Welcome To Rockville” was the first festival to give the band a chance so we have a really special place in our hearts for that one, it’s always an incredible time + it’s our home state festival!

CONCERTY: On this same topic of music festivals, I want to talk a little bit about that. What’s your opnion about music festivals and events? Do you enjoy performing at them? I’m asking you this because we’ve talked to some bands, and we found out that some bands prefer more to perform for their own audience and think that music festivals end up mixing too much all types of crowds. What’s your opinion on that?

AFTERLIFE: Personally, I love music festivals! (Performing + Attending) I do believe they’re integral to the growth of certain artists and they have absolutely helped our band reach a new audience time and time again. There is a special culture that you can only find at music festivals and I love being immersed in that.

Bleed You Dry

CONCERTY: As we are approaching the end of our interview, I’d like to talk about the single “Bleed You Dry” released just a few weeks ago. The song is extremely brutal and well-produced, can you walk us through the process of creating this song?

AFTERLIFE: When the band and our producer “Zach Jones” sat down to discuss where we wanted these next few songs to end up sonically we were going back and forth about the idea of a “Heavier Afterlife” which was a funny thought to me because the band was already perceived as quite heavy so it made us think about how we were able to push the envelope and create something that would be at the time the heaviest song we’ve written but also true to the band you know? I was also quite angry about a certain situation at the time of the song being written so it only fueled the fire conceptually. As the song started to take shape I think we started to realize that we had something special you know? An incredibly heavy song yet it still retained the catchiness and marketability of the “Softer” songs in our catalog which was an affirming feeling for the band.

Upcoming Projects

CONCERTY: Thanks for chatting with us! One last question: what can fans expect for the rest of 2024 and the beginning of 2025?

AFTERLIFE: It was an absolute pleasure speaking with you today, thank you for having me! We’ll be finishing off this year with a US tour starting on October 17th through November 7th with an artist called Zero 9:36 in which we’ll be direct support to him over 14 shows across the United States along with the opener Reece Young. After that tour, we plan to enter the studio to write some more music that we hope to have out in early 2025 but fans can expect to hear some new music from Afterlife before the end of 2024 and I think it’s our best music to date!

We wish the band all the best for their 2024 tours and upcoming projects!