As ever, we’re going to try and cover every single Jäger, New Blood and SOPHIE stage band before Bloodstock kicks off on August 10th. Your chance to check them out and start planning which bands to get there early for!
Trust us when we tell you that this is bound to result in some frustrating clashes because, as ever, there are some great bands on these three stages.
Our thanks to all the bands for taking the time out to answer our questions!
Shrouded – Hobgoblin New Blood Stage, Sunday
Simple things first – where are you guys from?
We are based in Belfast, Northern Ireland, however most of us come from surrounding areas.
How long have you been playing together as a band?
As a band we’ve been playing for just over three and a half years. The band existed before then but it was very early days and just writing songs before we played our first show.
Where does the name of the band come from?
We wanted to convey a lot of dark themes in the band, so in that respect it was very fitting. The meaning behind it is that the world we live in is not what it seems to us and that we are all kept in the dark, in a fog of lies and uncertainty, some would say we are shrouded.
Describe your music. What makes you unique?
At it’s core our music is melodic death metal, but we focused a lot more on the death metal aspect. There is a massive influence from brutal death metal and black metal in the music. We wanted to lean towards the darker side of the genre, so there aren’t that many “happy” sounding melodies!
What’s your live show like? Why are people going to watch you instead of another band?
Fast, relentless and very heavy. It’s a very different take on a well established sound. To people who haven’t heard us before it is going to be quite new. There is even and element of darkness to the stage show to add to the theme.
Have you been to Bloodstock before? What did you think?
Last year was the first year that me and our other guitarist Dani went and I can honestly say it was the best weekend I’ve ever had, so many great bands every year and the atmosphere is perfect. It’s actually the thing I look forward to most in the year now! This will be our bassist Jordy’s fifth year in a row at it!
Did you enter M2TM thinking you could win it? Which region did you win?
We won the Belfast leg of the competition. We entered feeling confident that we were better than last year and that we stood more of a chance than before. However the metal scene in Belfast is so strong now and there was some incredible competition. The likes of Lock Horns, Elder Druid, Neamhní and Oracle totally blew our minds this year so to have been chosen over such a vast array of talent was a great honour.
What sort of setlist can we expect?
We have a new EP coming out just before Bloodstock so there will be a lot of new material on show, though there will be some older songs in there as well, and of course it’s going to be extremely fast… for the most part.
Which main stage band do you most hope you’re not squished up next to so you can see them play?
Quite a few haha! The likes of Arch Enemy, Obituary, Brujeria and Possessed. Even on the Sophie Lancaster stage bands like Oni, Wretched Soul and Wolfheart. There are so many good bands, it will be difficult to see all of them.
What are you working on at the moment?
We have a few shows in the pipeline in Belfast later in the year, but for now we are hard at work writing our debut album. We are very excited about how it is shaping up!
What’s the wildest thing you’ve seen or done on tour?
We’ve done 2 tours across Ireland in the last couple of years but if you do anything “rock and roll” these days you get into a lot of trouble sadly. Though on our most recent tour with Zombified and Scimitar, when we were in Dublin, we saw a guy getting hauled out of the hostel totally naked by several heavily armed police. It was so over the top and of course we were all drunk so we thought it was the hilarious at the time!
Jäger, Hobgoblin Ale, Kraken, Kingstone Press Cider, Kaltenberg Beer or Bulleit Bourbon? And, yes, we’ll be counting all the votes!
This is downright impossible! Taking the rest of the bands affiliations into I’m going to say Jäger. Though Hobgoblin and Kraken are fantastic!
