For the last two and a half years, Resolve have been learning what it means to be human.
That’s both literally and figuratively, by the way.
Off the back of the release of their second full-length album ‘Human’ back in September of 2023, their time has been spent delving into exactly what that album represents, not just for them but for everyone who let it into their lives. Spending more time on the road than they ever have before, touring with everyone from ERRA and While She Sleeps to Make Them Suffer and LANDMVRKS, in more corners of the world than they have ever covered, it has been a period full of connection, camaraderie and catharsis.
Now they are waving goodbye to the era in style, with their biggest and boldest live show yet across the UK. Then attention turns immediately to the next step: building on the foundations they have laid and moving even higher up the ladder.
To pay tribute to this vital period in their history and sum up what it has provided for them, Rock Sound caught up with vocalist Anthony Diliberto.
Rock Sound: How are you feeling as you bid farewell to the ‘Human’ era after spending so much time within it?
Anthony: When we say that this is a farewell, it’s not a full farewell. We will be playing songs from the album again in the future. But people know that when you are working on a new album, you need to make room for those new songs. That’s what this tour is all about. It’s about playing those songs as a headliner once more, because next time we won’t be a part of it. It’s a thank you to the fans as well, who have always been behind us. It’s also a personal thing, because we want to play them ourselves one more time. Then we will be ready to move on to the next thing.
RS: You’re also taking stock of the whole of these last two and a half years. How are you feeling looking back over this era compared to how you felt looking back over the ‘Between Me And The Machine’ era previously?
Anthony: It’s completely different. When we put out the first album and toured throughout that cycle, we still had so much to prove. Not just in being a band but within my own personal world. With that album, we had started doing some cool stuff and were getting on some cool tours, but we didn’t have the experience we have today. At the end of this cycle, it feels like what we have been doing has started for real. We did so many tours, met our idols, and saw our streaming numbers go up. Now that we’re more established, it doesn’t feel the same. We were a different band back then.
But it also feels the same, in the way of having to say goodbye to something that has been with us for two years. And you never know what will come after that. I know the music will come out, but I don’t know how it will be received. What we will get to do with it, what tours we will get. I can’t see the future.
RS: So, when you were writing ‘Human’ and figuring out what you wanted to be writing about, how has your own relationship with what you made shifted?
Anthony: For certain songs, I feel very proud. With a song like ‘In Stone’, I have seen how it has connected with a lot of people. When you write a song that is about more than just being angry, it means so much more. Let’s keep those kinds of songs in our set going forward. On each album, you have the songs that define the band. This is one of them. Then ‘Older Days’ is a type of song that I feel completely different about now. At the time, I never thought of it as a single, and I was completely wrong because it has become one of our biggest songs from the album.
I feel like nothing is certain. Sometimes I’m sure about something, and then what happens is completely different. I guess I feel older and wiser now than when we first wrote the music, but I also feel like, because we are thinking about the next thing, I am a bit lost in everything we have done. My mind is already pointing towards what is next, so that I don’t really have the time to say goodbye and think too much about what has changed and what hasn’t.
RS: With that in mind, what are the things that you have picked up along the way? You learn so much more on the road than you do in the studio, so what are the lessons that this batch of touring has given you?
Anthony: We had the chance to tour with one of our favourite bands, which is While She Sleeps. Getting to watch a band like that every night for a month, it’s really interesting watching how they function. The same with touring with ERRA in Australia. We toured with a lot of bands who were much bigger than us, and every night there was something new to see and learn. You take a bit of influence from the music, but even more from the attitude and professionalism. I feel like now when we tour, we’re not working in the same way. I feel like we are trusting ourselves more now. If I feel that way, then let’s write the music that way. It doesn’t matter if someone likes it or not. Before we think about things like whether it is going to work live or not, or whether it’s going to come across to people the way you want.  You can think that a song is really sick, but you are so lost in your own mind, thinking about all these different things. That really doesn’t help when you are trying to write a really good piece of music. We still want to do this for the art. If we don’t write music that we really enjoy and I don’t talk about the things that I really mean, then what is the point of going on tour? If I’m not going on stage for something that matters to me, what’s the point? I don’t want to be the biggest band in the world. When Resolve is done, I want to be able to look back and be proud of what we have made.
RS: You also toured with LANDMVRKS in the US, your first-ever trip over there. More than it being such a milestone, how did it feel to be doing it with a band that you are so close with?
Anthony: Especially now that they are so big. We did their first European headline tour back in 2021, when it was a 300/400-cap tour. Even then, they told us that when they got to do certain things, they would bring us along. When they say something to us, they always go through with it. I’m pretty sure we’ll do more things in the future, too. I feel like the relationship with have with them is going to be for life.
RS: The way that they have treated you must have such a wonderful knock-on effect on effect to how you function when it comes to your own touring. It encourages you to do things the same way for bands that are up-and-coming now.
Anthony: That’s exactly what we want to do now. We have the chance to do the same for them as they did for us. It was a gift that they gave to us. They didn’t need us; they just wanted us to show our music to the people. Now it is the same with the bands we are bringing out. There is a band we are taking out called Ashen, and they are really good. In France, they are doing something, but in Europe, less so. We want to share their music and help people know about them. We should all try to help each other. When you really like a band, you just want to help and protect them.
RS: So, after this tour, you are launching yourself straight into something new. What can you say at this point about what the next Resolve era is going to feel like? What are the exciting things you are most excited about in what you have been working on?
Anthony: We tried some stuff on ‘Between Me And The Machine’, then we tried some more stuff on ‘Human’. Then, when we did the three tracks that appear on the ‘Extended Cut’ of ‘Human’, we found what we wanted to be. In my opinion, it is the perfect association between heavy music and prog. Those three songs are exactly what we want Resolve to be. Now, on the next record, which is not even finished but is almost there, when you listen to it, everything sounds the same. It is in the same vibe and same mood, because now we finally know. That’s not always the case during ‘Human’. It’s very eclectic. That’s a good thing, but it can also turn out to be a mistake. Now, we are at a point where we are making music with more identity. That identity is clearer now. And because of that, it’s going to be much easier for us to create more around it. It’s even going to be easier for us to talk about it.
RS: Being open to what life has to offer is knowing that things aren’t always straightforward. Sometimes it takes some time to find your footing. It’s messy and scattered, but you have allowed yourself the space to figure it all out. And then the whole journey becomes a part of that identity.
Anthony: When you start a process, you always think it will go one way. But then, when you get into it, you’re not going to feel the same. But does it mean that you have to get rid of what you wrote on day one? I don’t think so. When you listen to something, you think about what has gone through that artist’s mind over the last two or three years and realise that what you’re hearing is the result of that. What they experienced is all in here.
RS: It goes the same into making your show cohesive as well. When you have nailed your identity, it has a massive effect on the live experience that you put together.
Anthony: And right now is the best that Resolve has ever been. Now is the best time to come and see Resolve. And in two years, it will be even better than it is now. Every show that you play helps you to get better. We’re playing the songs from ‘Human’ the best we ever have right now, because we have had these two years to perfect them. Now we know what we are about.
RS: And to look back even further, to this band being your focus for almost a decade now, how does it make you feel to see all of that work paying off in the way that it is now?
Anthony: We talk about this a lot. Almost every week it comes up. When we started this band, we said it would be our last. We were going to give it everything that we had. That’s why it is called Resolve. But we were still dreaming at that point. Our goals were also way lower than they are now. When I think about what is planned for the next year, it’s things that we never thought about. It’s things that we thought wouldn’t be possible. And now we are into it, we want so much more. We will never know what we can do in a few more years, but whatever it is, we know how lucky we feel. Resolve has fans all over the world who are paying to come and see us play songs that we wrote, and I couldn’t be more grateful. We owe it to those people to give this everything we have, because we owe everything we have to them. We have gone beyond what we have expected, and yet it is still the beginning.
JANUARY
28 – LONDON O2 Islington Academy
29 – MANCHESTER Academy 3
30 – GLASGOW Cathouse
31 – BIRMINGHAM Asylum
