INTERVIEW: Profiler - on collaboration, chaos and Masquerading Self

Just over a week ahead of dropping their first self-released EP, ‘Masquerading Self,’ we sat down with Mike Evans and Joe Johnson of rising nu-metal band, Profiler. The duo shared their thoughts on the new, exciting era they are stepping into, and they reflect on the differences during the writing and releasing process this time around. Evans states, “It’s fairly different, it’s gone really well, obviously the numbers aren’t as big and we don’t have the same reach, but we’ve been really happy with the result.” Johnson adds, “It just means that it’s all our music, we put it up ourselves, and it’s something we can put our names on and be happy and proud of.”  

You can sense the pride they are feeling with the evolution of their work as they reflect on how far they’ve come. When asked about how they think ‘Masquerading Self’ differs from their previous work, they both agree that this is the most confident they’ve ever felt in their music.  Evans explains, “It’s definitely a continued evolution of the stuff we’ve previously put out, everything’s the highest level it’s ever been.”  

Looking back on the recording process, Johnson reflects on the benefits of having some extra time to create. “The first EP that we recorded was done in our producer’s bedroom, and then the second one was the debut album that was in a studio, and then this time it’s been a bit of both. But it’s nice to have no time pressure, I mean, it has taken probably a bit longer than we would have liked to record and get everything nailed, but I think it’s nice to not have that time pressure to be like, you’ve got 14 songs to sing within the space of 10 days. If your voice is bad for one day, that’s just even more pressure the next day.” 

Evans adds, “It was a lot nicer of a process, something we’ll do next time and going forward. I don’t think it’s a bad way of operating, but if you’ve got time limits in a studio and your voice does go, it’s like tough luck. It’s kind of not great. As a vocalist, it’s nice to be able to take your time. I think it's worth spending a bit more time, I think it’s paid off as well, so that’s good.’ 

Johnson adds, “Each track was a collaborative effort between the whole band.” Making it feel like an authentic Profiler project. “We’ve had live drums on this record for the first time, in the track we just released, Illusion, there was a bit that Mike wanted to add in and then Jay came up with something and then Jacob came up with some even crazier drums over the top.” 

One thing that sets Profiler apart is their attention to detail when it comes to visuals. Each track has a different colour attached to it, for example, the track ‘Dope’ has a baby blue cover art, making you instantly tie this colour to the song. Johnson explains, “we focus on aesthetics quite a bit in terms of the colour coding that we’ve used for each of the singles, me and Mike thought we should probably have an obvious colour scheme. Visually, we’ve tried to step up rather than having everything jumbled, it’s quite satisfying to scroll through the last few months of what we have put out; it all makes sense to us.”  Scrolling from the bottom of their Instagram timeline to the top to see the posts change colour as the new single is getting released is something so simple yet so unique that gives each track its own moment. 

‘Masquerading Self’ is perfect if you’re looking for some nostalgic, nu-metal vibes. One to check out if you’re a fan of anyone from Limp Bizkit to Ocean Grove. Johnson continues, “musically, we all take inspiration from a lot of different places, for some of the tracks I’ve written, Limp Bizkit are always an influence musically in terms of the tones and how it’s structured.” 

Going back to the beginning of the era, Evans tells us why ‘Waste’ was the track chosen to introduce people into the new era. “It was the first one that was together; it was written and put together pretty quickly, and it had been ready for a while. We didn’t want to start off crazy heavy; it's probably the lightest one on the EP, it's a nice entry-level track for people and one that encapsulates the EP.” 

As this EP wraps up 2025 for Profiler, we discussed what fans can expect from the band in 2026. If you thought they’d be slowing down, think again. “Following our headline show in December this year, we’re hoping to maybe do a couple more headline shows next year and see how it’s received.”  Johnson shares, "I think we’re planning to record some more music early next year as well, just keep the ball rolling, really. We’ve got to keep up the momentum that we’ve built up off of this release.” 

‘Masquerading Self,’ is available now on all streaming platforms, a band to definitely keep an eye on in 2026 with the direction they are heading. 

Words: Isabella Jacklin

Photo: Profiler