Gore. frontwoman Haley Roughton might have the coolest day job of anyone in metal. She works as a spacewalk engineer for NASA, where she helps train astronauts and develop the next generation of spacesuits.
“I’ve built a very fulfilling life,” she says proudly. “It took a lot of pain and challenges, but I’ve got a life I wouldn’t replace. I love my career, and I love music.”
Those challenges she mentions all seemed to hit at once. Three years ago, she went through a tumultuous time as her relationship ended, she was fired from her then-bands Dorzia and The Xebellian Triangle, and she had to move back in with her family.
“I was at rock bottom, baby,” she chuckles darkly. “I’d spent so long joining other people’s bands, doing things other people’s way… which I was fine with. It wasn’t as scary as starting my own band.”
Speaking to Hammer from her brightly lit, colourful home in Texas, Haley exudes a sense of comfort and happiness that’s a far cry from those difficult years. While coming to terms with her losses, she decided to channel her energy into writing her own emotive, potent songs. Moving away from the tech and melodic death metal of her former bands, Haley found herself writing metalcore with an R’n’B twist.
“I realised I hadn’t heard a sound quite like this before,” she recalls. “I envisioned an entire band, so I spoke to Alex [Reyes, guitars] and Devin [Birchfield, bass], two musicians that I trust and who bring different elements to Gore. to make it even better.”
Channelling shoegaze, R’n’B vocal runs and crushing metalcore weight, Gore. released their debut single, Pray, in December 2023. The song explores unrequited love, its guitars echoing with despair as Haley’s vocals shift between desperate screams and yearning cleans. ‘When I pray alone, all that I know is I feel the weight of the world, so could you stay here and pray for me?’ she sings.
Doomsday came out a month later, and added a political spin to Gore.’s lyrics, as Haley raged about inequality. ‘I peek my head outside and watch the cops kill all my neighbours’ kids’ she sings. ‘I wonder if things would be different if their parents had been rich.’
Amid the personal and political observations, Haley was keen to incorporate her own identity and understanding of femininity into Gore.’s music. A turning point was the song Babylon, which deals with her complex feelings around motherhood and women’s “biological clock”.
“I want a husband and kids. That’s not a thing that most metalcore bands talk about,” she says. “I was feeling like, ‘Everything’s coming too late. I’m just learning from my mistakes, and I’m lost.’ The girl-boss perspective of, ‘I’m gonna be triumphant, and I’m fiercely independent, I can stand on my own two feet’ – that’s not Gore.. It was supposed to be this almost pining femininity, oozing nurturing emotions.”
The last year has been nonstop for Gore.. They signed to Spinefarm in August and went on their first tour, supporting deathcore stalwarts Within The Ruins in October. They released their debut EP, A Bud That Never Blooms, the same month, and got announced for Download.
As if that wasn’t enough, the band were completed when drummer Wills Weller – formerly of New Jersey prog metallers Toothgrinder – officially joined in November. It felt like a coup for Haley.
“I used to listen to Toothgrinder in the gym,” she grins. “So I was like, ‘Holy moly, Wills wants to join Gore.?’ We had to have him!”
This year is shaping up to be another busy one. Gore. supported Cane Hill in the US in March, and will soon undertake their first run of European festivals. There’s new music on the way, and the band want to expand their horizons.
“If you’re married to A Bud That Never Blooms, you’re going to be disappointed in the future,” Haley admits. “That’s not the sound we’re going to have forever.”
Although Gore. originally formed from a place of defeat, these days they’re helping Haley reassert her power. After her leap into the unknown, she’s confident about what comes next – even if she doesn’t know exactly what that will be.
“Not only is Gore. gonna sound different in the future and we’re gonna develop our sound further, but the vision and the story of that vision is going to develop,” she explains. “You’re going to hear some stuff that’s way heavier. You’re also going to hear some stuff that’s way more radio-friendly. You’re going to hear a huge spectrum of things, because we are still figuring out what we want to sound like.”
A Bud That Never Blooms is out now via Spinefarm. Gore. play Download in June.
