Bury Tomorrow's snarling frontman, Dani Winter-Bates has been flying the flag for British metalcore for almost 20 years now. Across eight albums, his band have clawed their way into the UK charts - even achieving a top 10 with 2020's Cannibal - whilst offering an uncompromising vision of metallic heft.
With new album Will You Haunt Me, With That Same Patience seeing the band go heavier than ever before, we caught up with Dani to talk through ten records that have shaped his life, from Slipknot's Iowa and Through The Eyes Of The Dead to Tracy Chapman.
1. Papa Roach - Between Angels And Insects (Infest, 2001)
“My love for Papa Roach is the worst-kept secret. The Infest album made me want to be a frontman like Jacoby Shaddix. I was a nu metal kid and it came out just as I was a teenager. I remember the video for Between Angels And Insects with the roaches coming out of Jacoby’s mouth, and thinking it was the most badass video I’d ever seen.
I’ve played with Papa Roach and Jacoby said he liked our band, which was a monumental moment for me!"
2. Pendulum - Hold Your Colour (Hold Your Colour, 2005)
“I used to flip between genres massively when I was a kid, and some of the skaters I used to hang out with were into punk and some were into drum’n’bass. I remember hearing Pendulum when Slam and Tarantula came out, which were their big tunes. I remember thinking this was drum’n’bass but played like a metal band.
Hold Your Colour was the one that really caught my attention. It’s a beautiful song, and for me it’s always a perfect summer vibe. I saw them play at Isle Of Wight Festival, and it just makes you want to party and dance and have a good time."
3. AFI - The Days Of The Phoenix (The Art Of Drowning, 2000)
“I was a drummer in a goth-punk band when I was 13 or 14 years old, and I still love punk. I didn’t really know much about AFI until The Days Of The Phoenix came out, but they seemed to sit somewhere between the Misfits and A Nightmare Before Christmas, which is one of my all-time favourite movies.
I loved the image, and AFI were also massively linked with the Tony Hawk’s games. I was a skater, so it was like the perfect blending of all of those things for me as a teenager."
4. Tracy Chapman - Talkin' Bout A Revolution (Tracy Chapman, 1988)
“Sticking with my younger years, my mum used to love Tracy Chapman, and Talkin’ Bout A Revolution is a song that a lot of people in my generation were exposed to. We used to have this on all the time, and her songs were framed around social justice.
Tracy paints a picture of what we could achieve with social cohesion and equality, and then equally reflects on what happens when you don’t have that. I’m now the Head of Inclusion for the NHS, and while I wasn’t given the job for listening to …Revolution, the expression of protest through music has always stuck with me."
5. Slipknot - My Plague (Iowa, 2001)
“I also vividly remember Slipknot’s Iowa coming out. It was the same time as System Of A Down’s Toxicity, so it was a great time for HMVs everywhere. Iowa is a perfect album, but My Plague stood out because it was on the Resident Evil soundtrack.
I remember thinking I would literally give my left arse cheek to be on a soundtrack for a movie like Resident Evil, because it was so big at the time. It’s also an absolute banger that shows how they can write commercially, but still be brutally heavy."
6. Parkway Drive - Boneyards (Horizons, 2007)
“Parkway Drive represent another juncture in my musical life. I was into metalcore like Killswitch and Darkest Hour, but I think Parkway honed it and brought something brand new. They had ridiculously heavy breakdowns, and Winston [McCall] brought a whole new level of heavy vocals.
That ‘Blood in the water…’ bit in Boneyards stuck out to me massively, because I’d never heard someone use their vocals like that before. It helped me become the vocalist I am today, listening to Winston and learning from how he uses his voice almost acrobatically in places."
7. Through The Eyes Of The Dead - As Good As Dead (Malice, 2007)
“I’d be doing a disservice if I didn’t bring in some death metal, so I’ll go with As Good As Dead by Through The Eyes Of The Dead. They’re undoubtedly death metal, but this song specifically is commercial with a very small ‘c’. My big thing lyrically and musically is to make the un-catchy catchy.
It’s what I’ve always wanted to bring to Bury Tomorrow’s music, and when I was writing Portraits at 17 I was essentially writing it with bands like this in mind."
![Through The Eyes Of The Dead - As Good As Dead [HD] - YouTube](https://img.youtube.com/vi/8QlasCcoOZQ/maxresdefault.jpg)
8. He Is Legend - The Seduction (I Am Hollywood, 2004)
“I think He Is Legend are one of the most underrated bands around. They never really made that next step, but I don’t know many bands with such amazing lyrics. When it comes to telling a story, He Is Legend use metaphors brilliantly, and that really connects with me.
I love conjuring an image through a metaphor, and a song like The Seduction also brings melody and heaviness together perfectly."
9. La Dispute - King Park (Wildlife, 2011)
“La Dispute are another band whose lyrics I love, and the song King Park gave me chills when I heard it. It describes a shooting in which a young kid lost their life accidentally, and it plays like an out-of-body experience. I have generalised anxiety disorder, and I often put myself in a place of imagining what it would feel like if you’d done something like that.
The song builds and builds to a crescendo where he sings, ‘Can I still get into Heaven if I kill myself?’ and I’ve got the words ‘Can I still get into Heaven?’ tattooed on my stomach because of this song."
10. The White Buffalo - The Woods (Hogtied Like A Rodeo, 2002)
“I love country, folky kind of music, and The White Buffalo is an amazing artist. I love Sons Of Anarchy and The Punisher, and he’s all over them.
The Punisher is one of my favourite TV series, and there’s a scene where Frank Castle goes to his [murdered] wife and his kids’ graves, overlooking the seascape, and they play The Woods. It’s amazing.”
Will You Haunt Me, With That Same Patience is out now via Music For Nations. Bury Tomorrow tour the UK from October 10 and support Electric Callboy at London's Alexandra Palace on November 11.
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