It's that time of year again, the sun comes out, the beer gets cracked open and thousands of burly metal fans descend upon one of the holiest metal festivals on this planet... Bloodstock Open Air. The festival is now in it's eighth year and is bigger and better than ever, with bands coming from all over the world, countries like: England, Sweden, Egypt, The Netherlands, Ireland, USA, Greece, Canada, Finland and Austria amongst others (more to come), this is a truly global experience waiting to happen. What with three titanic headliners - King Diamond, Lamb of God and Slayer priming to demolish the open fields of Burton-Upon-Trent (Staffordshire), the days are counting down to what is forecast to be the best festival in the British music calender. The festival books signed and unsigned bands from all over the world, not just that though as Bloodstock has it's own very band competition called 'Metal 2 The Masses' which scavenges across the plains of this planet to seek out fresh and promising talent that deserves a spot on the New Blood Stage. Some fans have already expressed delight at this years line-up: "The line up goes from strength to strength every year and I'm sure the Slayer headline set will be a good tribute to Jeff Hanneman!!!" - Paul Cave (Music Fan) "Bloodstock's 2013 has a sick and awesome line-up and as all genres are covered, this is going to be the s**t" - Roses Shrestha (Guitarist for Nepalese band Cry of Agony) "The reaction when Randy from Lamb Of God walks on the stage on Saturday will be felt at the Earth's core and the emotion when Slayer take the stage in Sunday.... I defy anyone not to well up and cry for our fallen brother Jeff" - Jay 'Griz' Binstead (VIP / Serpent's Lair & SOPHIE Stage entertainment coordinator at Bloodstock Festival) "This is the first time the mixed metal bag has it all, fresh UK breaking acts with the bands that inspired a high proportion of them. Bloodstock deserves headliners which make it stand out as one of THE festivals people choose between, and this year they have it! My first calender update every year....Bloodstock! Having been to or done most of the bigger festivals, what Bloodstock gives is something back to the pure music enthusiast. Conjuring unique line ups with a dedicated crowd of music fans. You can tell from the conversations we have there, the fans know what they are getting, a full break from the Daily Blog of the headliner hype that controls most festivals and a mix of Heavy Music that embraces the diversity offered by the UK music scene. This is where you go if you want to be around like minded / eared music lovers". - Adam Fillary (ex-M2TM host / Unified Sounds) First off I spoke to Sammy Sayed of Egyptian Death Metallers Scarab about their upcoming festival appearance. One of GMA's 'bands to watch' "Bloodstock is the best metal festival within the UK as far as we know!" So Sammy, this looks to be the first time an Egyptian Metal band has played at BOA, what does this mean for the Egyptian Metal scene? All the bands, friends and fans in Egypt are excited and happy for us, as this is a great opportunity to spread more of Scarab's music. This should mean a lot to the Egyptian Metal scene, as Scarab is going to be the first Egyptian metal band to perform in Bloodstock. Now when you got the notification that you are playing BOA, what was your reaction and how did you celebrate? We were ecstatic about it, especially that we are in the process of releasing a new album "Serpents of the Nile", and we get to have the chance to perform some songs out of it and expose it a little bit. Speaking of your festival appearance, will there be any tour dates before or after Bloodstock? If so when and where? Nothing is confirmed yet but Bloodstock, so let's not spread rumors until they are 100% real. But we might perform in Germany, and then some shows in the UK before Bloodstock. "Did we just spread a rumor here still?" haha! Besides playing, what bands are you looking forward most to watching? Well, that depends because every member's got a different taste in music and bands. But the one major band that we're all anticipated about is Slayer of course, R.I.P Jeff Hanneman. Other than that, tastes will vary from Dark Funeral to Gojira to King Diamond. Don't get us started please! When are you playing and why should festival goers go to see your set? We will be playing on the 10th of August, which is a Saturday, on the Sophie Lancaster Stage. If you want real Egyptian death metal, come see us and share the Magick we will be carrying with us all the way from land of Egypt "Kemet". And are there any hello's, thank you's, greetings you wish to send to friends, family and fans? We would love to thank all our friends, fans and families that has always been supporting Scarab with their thoughts, energies and efforts. We would also love to thanks Nazgul Touring Agency for getting us the Bloodstock festival show, Stephen Moss and Stephanie Full. Scarab will be playing on Saturday 10th August on the Sophie Lancaster stage. https://www.facebook.com/Scarabegypt "Bloodstock is going to be an absolute belter!" Secondly it was back home to speak to Londoners Karybdis about their confirmation at playing Bloodstock. One of GMA's 'bands to watch' First off how does it feel to be playing Bloodstock 2013? Oh it's brilliant! We had hoped to play last year and only narrowly missed out, so very excited about appearing this year! Regarding Metal 2 The Masses, was you considering entering this year? We didn't compete in this years M2TM, we did it last year and although it was fun, we didn't want enter for a second year. Is this your first major festival appearance? If yes what is the mood in the camp? If no, where did you play before? We played Les Fest in Scotland and Tech Fest in Peterborough earlier this year, but Bloodstock will definitely be the biggest so far! Very exciting, we can't wait! What can fans expect from you when playing your set, any new songs? Stage antics? We will be playing some new stuff, and there will definitely be stage antics! Can't reveal too much though, wait and see! What advice would you give bands thinking of doing Metal 2 The Masses next year? Don't go in with any expectations. Some rounds are still based on how many people you bring, which can be unfair to new bands who are still building a following. You meet a lot of great people though, and it's a great networking opportunity. What do you think of the line up this year? Love love love it. Lamb of God on Saturday night? Yes please! Finally are there any hello's, thank you's, greetings etc you wish to issue? Our label, Beasting records. The lovely people over at Metal Hammer, Simon Hall for getting us on the Bloodstock bill and, of course, our fans! Karybdis will be playing Friday 9th August on the New Blood Stage https://www.facebook.com/Karybdis.band At Bloodstock "if we come off stage any less sweaty and knackered than the crowd we're not doing our job right!" Next in the hot seat is Derbyshire's Hard Rock maniacs Fahran:- Jake (lead guitars), JR (Drums) and Nick (Vocals) gave their sermons to our questions. So guys, first off how does it feel to be playing Bloodstock 2013? Jake: It feels absolutely amazing to be playing one of the biggest metal festivals in the country! Absolutely over the moon. Can't wait to unleash Fahran on The New Blood stage on the Friday ;) JR: Feels great. Nick: Absolutely amazing. To be be on the lineup at a festival like this, let alone headlining the New Blood Stage is a real honor so we're hugely grateful to everyone who's made this happen. We can't wait and we'll definitely be seeing everyone around the campsites at night - the music is only the beginning of the mayhem! Did you enter Metal 2 The Masses? If yes were you more nervous or more optimistic about winning? If not, how did you get onto Bloodstock? Jake: We didn't actually play Metal 2 The Masses with Fahran, we got the gig through our management and booking agent. Although, some of us have played the Metal 2 The Masses competition in other bands and its a great experience. I'd say at the time I was quite nervous about winning, our style of music was quite soft then and didn't think it would work well at Bloodstock. With Fahran, we have a heavier more modern sound so it's gonna go down well! JR: Nah, we are playing because of our current album, management and booking agent Is this your first major festival appearance? If yes what is the mood in the camp? If no, where did you play before? Jake: We've just played Download Festival which was just amazing. We were all so excited, meeting other great musicians, playing alongside them... now playing Bloodstock in the same year... still can't believe it! JR: Nope. We played at Download Festival on the Saturday at 2:50pm! Nick: We've been overseas a couple of times - most recently this May - to headline a festival over in Turkey, where the atmosphere is simply amazing and the sun is a nice change vs. a lot of the UK festivals! But this year we also hit the stage at Download so this has been an incredible double-whammy for us this year; we're absolutely buzzing! What can fans expect from you when playing your set, any new songs? Stage antics? Jake: A straight up, balls out Rock show! We have a few new songs we've been working on for our new album which we may play for the first time at Bloodstock. JR: Fans can expect loads of stage antics, a set full of epic riffage and a few new songs we are saving just for BOA! Nick: We're hard at work on the second album at the moment so we've got a few surprises we've been saving for Bloodstock. We road-tested a couple of new songs over in Turkey and the live vibe is really great so we can't wait to get the crowd going. In terms of our stage antics, we tend to keep it genuine rather than reverting to gimmicks but our general rule is 'play every gig like it's our last' and this certainly won't be an exception - if we come off stage any less sweaty and knackered than the crowd we're not doing our job right! What advice would you give bands thinking of doing Metal 2 The Masses next year? Jake: Just enjoy the gig and go for it. If your at the Queens Hall, it's a great gig to play anyway! JR: Can't really comment on this since we haven't done Metal 2 the masses. But i would say, gig all the time, build up a following and make sure your fans are the loudest! Seeing as bands like The Furious Horde have gone further and played Slovenia's Metalcamp, do you feel Bloodstock is a great place for unsigned British talent to start their festival appearances at? Jake: Definitely! JR: Yeah definitely. Its great to reach out to new would be fans as well as getting to know other great bands and making loads of friends. That's how a tour starts! Nick: Yeah, it's the same with a lot of the major festivals this side of the pond - it's all too easy to feel like you've made it; whereas the best thing you can do as an unsigned artist is embrace the opportunity as a great stepping stone, make sure your set gets noticed and network, network, network. We'd love to make it over to some of the mainland Europe festivals - there's such a great scene over there! Finally are there any hello's, thank you's, greetings etc you wish to issue? Jake: A big thanks to our hard working manager, Beth Windsor and our booking agent, San Phillips for getting us the gig! We will do you proud :D JR: Saving it all for when we get there...Winking smile ;) Nick: Mostly to the fans and hopefully-future-fans heading to the fest - you're the guys we're doing this for and you're the guys we need to impress. So we'll see you there - rock hard for us and we'll tear the stage up for you! Also, Pritchard and Dainton - if I wake up missing an ear, with a four-letter tattoo on my forehead, I know where I'll be looking for vengeance first... That or JR. Fahran will be playing Friday 9th August on the New Blood Stage https://www.facebook.com/Fahranmusic Bloodstock "seems to be a festival still passionate about music, and therefore a festival that is still doing it for the right reasons". Attention then turned towards London armada known as Cypher16, since 2007 they have torn down countries like India and USA whilst wielding guitars alongside bands like Children of Bodom and Lacuna Coil to name a few, but now eyes are set on Bloodstock, so GMA decided to interrogate them for their thoughts. Jack Doolan duly spoke to us.
First off how does it feel to be playing Bloodstock 2013? We're looking forward to it. The festival has really taken a step up in the last year or so with regard to some of the acts that they are bringing down and Bloodstock is really making itself a name as a heavyweight event. We're excited about playing, hopefully making some new fans, and generally enjoying the event. Did you go through Metal 2 The Masses or got contacted to play? The festival contacted us and we were booked through our agent, so M2TM is not something that we've ever actually taken part in. Is this your first major festival appearance? If yes what is the mood in the camp? If no, where did you play before? We've done quite a few festivals before - mainly out in India where we have been a number of times, doing festivals with Children Of Bodom and Lacuna Coil and headlining. Some big college shows over there. We've never done Bloodstock before though so we're looking forward to experiencing what will be a new festival for us! What can fans expect from you when playing your set, any new songs? Stage antics? We're playing some songs from our new EP, 'Determine' which recently came out, so they might be lesser known to people familiar with us. We like to move around a lot on stage and engage the audience as much as possible, so expect some interactive portions during the show for sure! The Indian crowds are pretty hard to beat when it comes to really getting into the music, but hopefully the UK ones can give them a run for their money. What do you think of the line up this year? Like I mentioned earlier, there are some really big-hitting acts on the bill this year, and I think the festival is now starting to step away from the smaller independent label that it used to have. We're actually one of the less extreme acts playing so I think that we'll fit in a bit more than we might have done on previous bills. It seems much new diverse this year. Finally are there any hello's, thank you's, greetings etc you wish to issue? Well we'd obviously like to thank the festival for contacting us and inviting us to play. We're looking forward to representing our endorsers at ESP guitars, EMG pickups, Illuminati Jeans, Warwick basses, Audio-Technica and Blackstar Amps too. Cypher 16 will be playing on Friday 9th August on the Sophie Lancaster Stage https://www.facebook.com/Cypher16 To keep up with coverage in terms of interviews conducted with bands appearing at Bloodstock please click the below link. http://globalmetalapocalypse.weebly.com/38/post/2013/07/bloodstock-festival-dissection-a-second-type-of-band-aid.html
0 Comments
Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
Leave a Reply. |
If you enjoy reading this content, please consider a donation Donate© 2011-2023 Global Metal Apocalypse
Live Reviews and News
From gigs to festivals, this is where the music means business Archives
December 2022
Categories
All
|