(Lured by the impending release of a new Conan album on Heavy Psych Sounds, our Comrade Aleks got in touch with band leader Jon Davis, and below you’ll find their discussion — and the three singles released so far from Violence Dimension.)
The UK’s heaviest band strikes back with all the power of the gargantuan barbarian sword. The name itself fit well for the music that Jon Davis and his companions played from the start – dirty, ugly, and damn heavy sludge-doom with a hypnotizing stoner vibe. Conan honed their skills with each new album and made a huge leap onward from the point where they started to their current firm position in the global extreme metal scene.
Conan built the legend on their own, but moreover they somehow managed to develop their sound further with the new album Violence Dimension, a masterpiece of heaviness and brutality. Somehow we caught Jon for a while during the band’s current tour and here’s what we were able to learn from him:
Hi Jon! How are you? How is it in the Conan camp?
All is great thanks. We’re currently in our hotel rooms in Christchurch, New Zealand and heading to Auckland tomorrow. We’ve been through ASIA and have enjoyed some cool shows on this tour so far.
Violence Dimension is about to be released. Are you still thrilled after all these years or did you get used to things like this? Do you feel an urge to spread the word or is it the label’s matter now?
We’re thrilled, honestly. It’s our first release with David Ryley on bass, and we feel his presence has changed our style a tiny bit already, so that’s cool. We’ve released quite a few records already, and this is our 7th full length, and it still excited us. We’re spreading the word a bit already by doing some online promo and playing a couple of songs live, but aside from that we leave most of it to the label.
By the way, you changed Napalm Records for Heavy Psych Sounds. How is it different regarding distribution and promotion stuff?
It’s hard to say what the differences with promo between the two labels as we’ve not really experienced that with HPS yet. They do seem well positioned though, so I expect it to work out great. They’ve released music for bands bigger than us, so I feel like we’re in good hands. Napalm were awesome to work with, but the time was right to move on.
And what about gigs? Do you have someone who organizes everything for you? Or do you deal with it in a DIY way?
We have booking agents who handle our shows. US and Canada is Nathan Carson at Nanotear. Everywhere else is through Mythology, who are based in the UK.
How has your perception of Conan changed since the release of Evidence of Immortality in 2022? Your attitude was quite professional back then, but I wonder if it’s possible to keep people interested nowadays when there’s a damn lot of new bands around?
I think the secret to doing well is to stick to your guns and keep going, which is exactly what we’re doing. I do agree that there is a lot of competition, but we do hold our own quite well I feel. As for perception, I guess this will change over time depending on lots of factors, most of which are out of our control.
Your first demo Battle in the Swamp saw the light of day 18 years ago. How much of that former Conan is left in Violence Dimension?
I think a lot actually. Violence Dimension feels and sounds quite fresh I think, just like those demos did back in 2007. We think people will enjoy them a lot.
I read somewhere that Conan was praised as the UK’s heaviest metal band or something like this. It’s hard to argue with such a claim. However, who’s heavier than Conan objectively?
It’s hard to say really. It depends on your definition of heavy. Maybe AHAB?
Maybe… Good choice anyway. Do you try to keep yourself in proper physical shape to be able to play that heavy stuff live? It’s known that a lot of professional musicians have specific health issues because of regularly performing their music. Did you manage to avoid that?
I do quite well yes, I don’t drink a lot of alcohol and I don’t smoke. I’m 48 now, so I can’t pull allnighters as often as I once did, but there’s some lead left in this pencil.
Chris Fielding left Conan in around 2023, what was the reason? Was he so busy with his work at Foel Studio?
Chris has a young family and his partner has a merch printing business, and so rightly he wanted to shift his energies to that.
David Ryley, who took his place, played three decades ago at Fudge Tunnel; occasionally he was noticed in Ungraven and now he does bass duties in Conan. How did it happen?
David and I became friends through Facebook in 2018. We talked about him doing some live work with my other band Ungraven. Around that time Chris couldn’t play a couple of festivals with Conan and I asked Dave if he would like to step in. Since then, he has played several shows with us and eventually when Chris left, he was the obvious choice to replace him.
How did David’s appearance influence the chemistry inside the band?
Hard to say really. He slotted in quite nicely back in 2018, so I don’t really notice any change in the chemistry now really.
A year ago, you released the DIY Series, Issue 1 EP. What was your idea behind this recording? Was it a signal that the band was alive or something?
We wanted to release something DIY and handle it ourselves fully. It was a fun project, and we will do it again soon.
Jon, this year you also released the first album of Ungraven, Hollows Made Homes in Their Sunken Cheeks, the project you run together with David Perry. He performed with Conan live, plus Ungraven is about doom/sludge as well. What drove you to start it?
Ungraven started out as a project that was me and a drum machine only. It then became a full band with a drummer and a bass player, but that format led it to sound a bit too much like Conan. So, with that in mind, I spoke to Dave about doing a drone/synth type of release. He was into the idea, and the rest is history.
What are your further plans for Conan in 2025? How far do your ambitions spread?
Well, we do have some touring planned for the back end of 2025, so we’ll announce that in due course. Aside from that, we’ll have one eye on starting to write a new album next year maybe.
https://heavypsychsoundsrecords.bandcamp.com/album/conan-violence-dimension