Bloodstock 2015 Interview – Desecration

[avatar user=”James” size=”50″ align=”left” /]On the Saturday at the festival, I had the opportunity to interview with Welsh death metalers Desecration. We chatted about their most recent album, their upcoming tour of Mexico and how they play their gigs live. There were a few funny moments but the guys were all really nice and friendly. I look forward to watching them at Lord of the Land in October.

Thanks to Andy at Future PR for organising and the guys for their time.

MT: You guys played on the Sophie stage on Thursday, how do you think it went?

Andy: It was brilliant. We’re always fluffers for everyone we play with so to be fluffers at bloodstock was perfect.

Ollie: It was awesome, last time we played it was raining so we assumed folk were there to shelter from the rain. This time people wanted to see with so many people wearing our shirts and folk outside the tent watching as well. It was awesome.

MT: Your most recent album, Cemetery Sickness, came out a little over a year ago. What’s the fan response like when you play the new songs live?

Ollie: Great, we’ve got a few sing- a- long songs now haven’t we?

Andy: Response is always very good. I think the songs have been getting better and better and live they come across very very well.

Ollie: I think it’s the best sound we’ve ever had. Each album has just got better and better and we’ve topped it this time.

Mic: We recorded it at my studio, Sonic Forge. So we had the time to play around with stuff and do pre-production.

Ollie: We had a lot of comments on the production and the songwriting. We think everyone should go to Sonic Forge. It’s a great studio.

MT: You’re going to be touring Mexico soon as well are you excited for that?

Ollie: Yep in September. We’re all members of Extreme Noise Terror and I had something to do with organising the tour so asked if they wanted us to play as well. They said yes so we are touring with them. Hopefully it should be very good, got quite a few fans down there.

MT: What’s your live gear like in terms of guitars and drums?

Ollie: Yeah we got some stuff.

Mic: I think we are one of the least fussy bands to be honest.

Ollie: I just play guitar. As long as the amp turns on and sounds distorted then I’m fine. None of us a gear heads.

Mic: We’re all about rocking out to the metal. As long as it sounds like a metal band that’s fine with us. Most of the gigs we play we use either other folk’s backline or the venues backline. I get to play on a variety of kits. I think it makes you better if you can play on any gear.

Andy: Don’t tell Orange that, we’re supposed to use their stuff!

Ollie: Playing all over the world you get to play through different gear. We’ve done so much of playing through different types of gear that we’re used to it now.

Mic: You get some bands that recreate the album perfectly on stage. That’s all very well and good but once you’ve seen them once you don’t need to see them again. Whereas with a band that uses whatever gear is provided they will sound different every time. When you see them it’s a different experience. At the end of the day you come to see a band to play some music for you and not recreate the album on stage. We’ve even stopped using triggers to give us an old school sound.

MT: What bands are you looking forward to seeing today?

Ollie: Belphegor, Death, Overoth and Jasad.

Mic: Khaos trigger, they won the Metal 2 the Masses in Cardiff and are good friends of mine. Overoth and Dark Angel as well. And Napalm Death.

MT: My final question for you is what advice would you give to a new band starting out?

Andy: Gig as much as you can and get in everyone’s faces. It doesn’t matter who you are playing to, just play every gig. Don’t be pretentious and have fun as well.

Mic: Gig as much as you can and what’s the worst that can happen when you play? I mean you can fuck up every song but does that mean people are not going to come see you again? No. There’s plenty of other people in the world.

Ollie: I’d say that you should just play the music you enjoy playing and not change for anyone. Make sure you have fun as well.

MT: Thank you for your time guys!