HTF have always been big fans of Essex rockers Forever Never, so when it came to light that guitarist Jack Mackrill had departed from the band in June this year, everyone wondered what the hell had gone wrong?
We hit up Jack for an exclusive chat with him regarding his departure and how he came about joining Shadows Chasing Ghosts shortly after.
Jack has not spoke to any other magazine about this upsetting subject so HTF felt honoured that he would go into so much detail with us on the matter. Read here below and find out how Jack recieved the dreaded ‘email’ regarding him being kicked out of the band and hear things from his point of view here first!
You can find out more on Jack’s new band Shadows Chasing Ghosts right here: www.facebook.com/ShadowsChasingGhosts
HTF: Hi Jack, long time no see! How have you been?
Jack: Hey Steph, I know, it’s been a while! I’m not too bad thanks apart from a severe case on man flu that everyone on the tour seems to have caught, haha.
HTF: So it is common knowledge that you recently parted from Forever Never. We wanted to hear your side of the story and how your departure came about?
J: Had you asked me this a couple of months ago you may have got a slightly different response haha. I had no idea really that anything was up, and then I got ‘the email’ from the guys saying they all wanted to sit down and have a meeting with me. So from the minute you read that your heart sinks a little.
Naturally I called round and tried to get hold of someone to see what was going on and when I finally did I got told that we needed to have a meeting and that it probably wouldn’t be too pleasant.
In the end it was all talked out on the phone because I felt sitting round a table while people picked faults in me wouldn’t be productive as I knew id retaliate and I didn’t want to go down that road of falling out with everyone. I have to say though that what was said to me on the phone took real guts and I know how hard it must have been to say, so for that I have the utmost respect.
I don’t really want to go into the finer details of what was going on, but I was in a pretty horrible and miserable place in my personal life going into the final tour I did with FN. I was drinking a lot, messing things up pretty bad and just generally a pretty horrible person to be around because I’d pretty much lost everything. I know I was well out of line with my behaviour, but as cliché as it sounds running from things like that feels like it’s making it easier… even though it obviously doesn’t.
So anyway this coupled with where FN were looking to go with their future sound and being a 4 piece made me the one who was up for the chop.
As I said to the guys at the time, what hurt most wasn’t being kicked out the band, it was that I thought we were tighter friends than that.
HTF: We felt shocked on hearing the news and quite upset about it. How have the fans taken it?
J: Ah the fans have been absolutely amazing! I had so many messages of support, and messages wishing me good luck for the future I couldn’t believe it! And what’s really nice is I’m now seeing a lot of those same faces coming to check out SCG. It’s pretty touching to be honest.
HTF: Do you feel that at any point you would return to the band at a later date?
J: No definitely not. I think to be honest you always have to look forward. My time in FN was absolutely amazing, I had the best experiences of my life with those guys, played some amazing stages and legendary venues, in countries all over Europe, but that’s in the past and I’m enjoying a new challenge now.
HTF: Moving on… 
So you have now joined screamo rockers Shadows Chasing Ghosts. Some would say perhaps a fast move after your long stint with Forever Never, or has this been in the pipe line for a while?
J: Yeah funnily enough the chance to join did come along pretty rapidly. A week or so after getting the news about FN I was chatting to my boy Jay from Fei Comodo about where I wanted to go musically and saying that I didn’t want to start again and that I’d rather wait and join an established band if/when one came along rather than doing something just for the sake of it that I potentially wouldn’t enjoy. During the chat I actually used SCG as an example haha. “Take that SCG band that you’ve just taken out, I could see myself joining them if they ever lost a guitarist”. And he laughed and said strangely enough….
So yeah he hooked me up with a contact for them and the rest as they say is history. Pretty cool really.
HTF: Do you feel that a slight genre change is what you needed personally to feel happy with your music again?
J: I don’t know if it’s what I ‘needed’ as such, because although I was unhappy in my personal life I loved being in FN and playing their songs. And I still enjoy the songs now even after what happened. It is however a different challenge and something that I’m loving every second of.
HTF: You guys are on tour of late, how is that going? Does it feel strange being part of a new project? Or are you just enjoying every second of it?
J: Ah it’s amazing. I get on so well with the guys; they’re truly some of the nicest people I’ve ever met so I couldn’t be happier. I did a couple of festivals over in Belgium last month to ease me into their live show, which was good. Bit less pressure than messing up in front of anyone who may know me haha!
HTF: What shall we expect from you guys within the next 12 months?
J: Well we’ve just released the video for our brand new single ‘Resist’, which is available to buy on iTunes September 18th. You can see the video for it on all the usual TV stations Kerrang! etc as well as online at Rocksound.TV and all the others.
Plus as you mentioned earlier we’ve just started this massive tour which takes us right up to mid October. Then after that we’re going to be locking ourselves away to write and record the new album, which naturally I’m real excited about putting my touch on.
Following the album release hopefully more tours and next summer’s festivals.
HTF: Any final words?
J: Just wanted to say a massive thank you to everyone who sent me their lovely messages of support when I was having a rubbish time, and an equally massive thank you to everyone in the SCG family and the fans for being so welcoming.
Finally thank you to the guys in Forever Never for 5 of the best years of my life. We saw some amazing sights together and played some amazing shows. Great times, but I can’t wait to see where my new challenge goes.
Interviewer: Steph Knight
Photo Credit: Ian Collins
