“WE FEEL LIKE WE DON’T DESERVE ANY OF THIS”
Lake Malice is a two piece metal group from Britain’s creative hub, Brighton. The group is made up of Italian born Alice (Pronounced Al-ee-chay) ) and Blake from the East Sussex town of Hastings.

Images: Grey De Montmorency Words: Noah Fashesin

Alice first moved from Italy to London seven years ago before moving to Brighton in order to study at the University there, “The first time I came down to Brighton from London it was a breath of fresh air … I feel like you almost feel it in the atmosphere and just seeing so many young people around, it’s lovely and creative”. The pair both have a history of music but it wasn’t until the Covid lockdown struck that Alice decided to get back into creating music and took to social media and a group on Facebook titled ‘Brighton metal people’ looking for someone to start a new project with. Blake came across the post and sent over some demos, beginning the pair’s journey as Lake malice. Alice move over to England was one of the catalysts for her decision to start creating music again “It’s not something I would have pursued if I had stayed in Italy at all, especially the music industry is not something you’re pushed to do if you’re in the alternative scene … I think Brighton made a massive difference personally. It just inspired me to get back into music and just follow that passion”. While Alice was able to revive her passion when moving down to Brighton for Blake it was something he almost felt he had to do “Living in Hasting, music was something to do, it was a necessity, something to keep me on a good path, focused on something”. The pair began creating music online in totally remote locations from each other during the national lockdown and following the lift of restrictions the pair of them both settled down in Brighton. Before meeting in real life the duo had already recorded two tracks. Brighton in normal times would be the perfect place for these two musicians who when first connecting were somewhat aliens to each other, the city of Brighton would have been the perfect setting to showcase their sound and gain a feeler for the music they had been working on due to the cities vast number of open mics and small music venues. But as Blake told me “you don’t have to do it the conventional way … we wrote music isolated in

our bedrooms and that music was on the internet reaching people in all these different places, before we even got in a room with a drummer”. Its now 2023 and having made their name through unconventional means their is still somewhat a feeling that they have missed out “I would love to feel what it’s like to have more of like a local community”, Alice shared this and then told me how the group are still yet to play in Brighton despite it being the birthplace of the band. Lake Malice are only 5 tracks deep, but with every single comes a film like music video. This is an independent group and every time they decide to make a move as Lake Malice, all the planning and budget is straight out of their pockets and minds. The group’s music creation is juggled alongside day jobs that help keep the passion ticking on, “We don’t have any time to enjoy normal lives, but it’s so worth it”. Creatively making music has seen a big change for Lake malice as the relationship between the band mates grows and the ideas the pair of them have become one, ”At the beginning we were trying work out the identity of the project, it’s better now where we write together. We can share our visions at the earliest stage”. Where before the creative process would see the pair creating separately with Blake the mastermind putting together tracks on Logic pro before sending them over to Alice who would build the vocals. This separation at the start was due to the pair being in different places and the country being on a complete lockdown, now the pair are able to bounce ideas off each other and create as Lake Malice from scratch, rather than creating as Blake and Alice. BBC future artist, BBC introducing, Download festival, 2000 trees festival, supporting bloodywood on their European tour, “On one hand it gives us lots of confidence for sure, but on the other hand it makes us feel like… imposter syndrome”. Five tracks in and the group have already received recognition and support from some of the biggest musical outlets in Britain. As

well as that, the duo are preparing to support Indian heavy metal band Bloodywood on their European tour which will see them visit 22 different cities across Europe and the UK. The pressure mounts on the Brighton based duo as they tell me how they feel like imposters as they pick up all these opportunities with only 5 singles to their name. ”We’ve got such imposter syndrome we feel like we dont deserve any of this”,
but they have it and while they’re in this position they’re gonna make the most of it. For Alice the tour will see her own comeback performance as the group perform in Milan while supporting Bloody wood across Europe, “I can’t wait to play Milan, my mum is gonna be there”, Alice left Italy to chase her passion and is returning on the stage as the star she left to become. It’s a lot of pressure but the pair are taking it all in their stride, the tour with Bloodywood is about to open them up to a whole new audience and the duo are prepared to make their impact “I want to come out as this explosive energetic band that we are. I want them to see an amazing show, feel like they witnessed something really cool and different”. Two years on from their first release and Lake malice have already done so much with only five official singles. Having garnered all this success and recognition in the last two years, the heights the group may still reach is immeasurable. While the pair have the overbearing feeling of ‘Imposter syndrome’ they don’t dwell on it and despite such a packed schedule the pair already have their next move planned out, with the duo hoping to release their debut body of work by the summer with aims for a May/June release with the preface warning from Alice that “It’s just hard to say when things are going to happen, because of all the things happening in the middle