Profiler are a four-man engine built for impact. Fronted by Mike Evans on vocals and guitar, locked in with Joe Johnson’s elastic, character-driven bass work, powered by Jacob Andrews behind the kit and sharpened by Jay Evans on guitar, the Bristol crew operate like a unit that discovered its identity the hard way and decided to double down. What began as Mike’s university songwriting experiments snowballed into a fully committed band with a sound that sits somewhere between nu-metal’s punch and modern metalcore’s precision. They’ve done their time on SharpTone, stepped into independence without blinking, and now move like a band mid-mutation, tightening the bolts and pushing toward their next evolution.
So we asked them to walk us through the journey.
Profiler are one of those rare young UK bands who speak with the calm assurance of musicians who already know their trajectory. Born in Bristol from the solitary songwriting experiments of Mike Evans, later joined by Joe Johnson, Jacob Andrews and Jay Evans, they’ve grown from university demos into a fully realised nu-metalcore force with a clear identity and a sharper sound every year. When asked how they’d introduce themselves to new listeners, their answer is disarmingly simple: “We are driven by our passion for music and creating the best live performance that we can along with harnessing our own sound in the current scene”. It’s modest on paper, but you can hear the intent humming underneath. They are building their own path.
The origin myth is as real as it gets. “Mike experimenting with songwriting as a university student[…] he realised there was quite a bit of energy behind the music” they explain. That spark led him to search for the right people to turn an idea into a band. There wasn’t some big turning point, just ideas that kept pushing their way out of Mike’s notebook. Their memories of that era are told with affection and the kind of laughter that only comes from shared chaos. “The funniest moments for all of us have just been messing around in practice and on tour and not taking things too seriously”. It is the kind of humour that doesn’t need punchlines; it is simply the warm gravitational pull that keeps bands alive for longer than the industry expects.
Profiler’s journey included a significant chapter with SharpTone Records, but it ended with the polite grace of something that had simply run its course. “We were with SharpTone Records for quite some time”, they say, “and that naturally came to its own conclusion”. Nothing dramatic, just evolution. Releasing their new EP independently wasn’t a reckless act. For them, it was simply a fresh start. “Releasing the EP was both necessary and a conscious choice”, they tell us. “We are grateful to have our own music out there in the world that we have created ourselves and we’re very proud of this achievement”.
And yet independence means work, the kind that never gets romanticised in rock documentaries. Mike and Joe took on branding, graphics and videography themselves. That workload could break a less cohesive band, but Profiler talk about it with a shrug that borders on charming. “There have definitely been some moments of stress and pressure”, they admit, “but we always get everything done so no drama so far”. That pretty much sums them up, they don’t shy away from hard work because the effort makes the result mean something.
Musically, the band don’t speak in grand reinventions. They see their growth as continuous. “We always see everything as a natural continuation”, they say, “but we do feel like we’re going to continuously upgrade our sound and abilities as we progress because we just keep getting better and more defined”. This is not a band leaping between aesthetics or chasing fashionable heaviness. They’re continually fine-tuning what they do, trying to land on the right mix of heaviness, atmosphere and genuine emotion. The same applies to their lyrical path. Personal struggles informed their earlier themes, ego, relationships, internal turbulence, but they’re keen to explore new ground. “I think we’ll be steering away from this”, they reveal, hinting at a widening lens. Anyone familiar with how young bands evolve, the early intensity that eventually needs room to breathe, will understand why this shift feels natural.
For a band that plays with such weight, they decompress in ways that border on ascetic. “I love going to the gym, getting out in nature, taking saunas and cold showers”, Mike says. “I’m one of those guys”. It’s endearing, a reminder that the modern heavy musician is more likely to swear by Wim Hof breathing than trash a hotel room. And even in the studio, where ritual and superstition usually thrive, Profiler keep things refreshingly human. “We just relax and enjoy the process”, they say. No incense, no lucky picks, no talk of capturing spirits. The work is the ritual.
Ask them about the UK scene and they remain clear-eyed. There’s a small nu-metal revival bubbling beneath the surface, but they don’t claim ownership of it or rely on it. “People are just interested in the older simplicity of music in a very fast-paced complicated world”, they say. They make a good point, the renewed interest isn’t really nostalgia so much as people looking for something simpler in a busy world. Yet Profiler refuse to be boxed in by expectation: “We don’t struggle with any expectations. We just try and do our own thing”. It’s the only line any serious band should ever stand behind.
Their dream festival is a beautiful, unabashed love letter to the bands who shaped them: “Linkin Park, Limp Bizkit, Deftones, Profiler, Incubus and System of a Down”. It reads like a teenager’s bedroom wall come to life, except these days it doesn’t feel unrealistic. And when asked about ambition, Profiler don’t pretend to aim small. “We would love to do a full-length album”, they say, “and it would be amazing to play with Deftones, Limp Bizkit, Incubus[…] we think we would fit on a bill really well with these guys. We want to be a massive band and we won’t stop until that happens.”
Plenty of bands claim they want to get huge, but not many actually sound like they believe it. Profiler do. There’s no arrogance in their tone, just the quiet conviction of a band sharpening their identity in real time, building their own architecture, and embracing the chaos that comes with doing everything themselves. Their humour grounds them, their independence keeps things real, and their ambition stops them from sitting still for long.
Profiler aren’t chasing a revival. They aren’t resurrecting anyone’s nostalgia. They’re carving a lane that happens to echo the bands that raised them, while sounding unmistakably like a group growing into something of their own. If they keep pushing forward with this kind of focus and drive, the real question won’t be whether they belong next to their heroes, it’ll be how long before everyone else notices.
Stream: https://profiler.ffm.to/illusion
Order Masquerading: https://profiler.ffm.to/masqueradingself-ep
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