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Before Conan set about playing their unique brand of metal on the Sophie Lancaster Stage at Bloodstock, I had the opportunity to chat to the resident skin smasher and newest member of Conan, Rich Lewis. We talked about the response to the latest album, any bands he was looking forward to watching and his live setup.
Thanks to Andy at Napalm for organising and Rich for his time.
MT: You’re playing on the Sophie Lancaster stage today at the festival, are you excited for that?
Rich Lewis: Absolutely, it’s been a dream for a few years now.
MT: The most recent album, Blood Eagle, came out around a year ago. What’s the fan response been like when you play the songs live?
Rich: It’s been absolutely great. It’s got some of the faster material for Conan, which always seems to go down well at the live shows. So we’ve tried to incorporate some of that into the newer stuff too.
MT: You are working on a new album. How’s that been going?
Rich: It’s been going really well. Every time we’ve sat down to write something, we’ve always come up with something. We’ve tracked the drums already so we’re going to be finishing that off next month.
MT: Is the production going to be any different to the previous one?
Rich: I’m assuming so. I think we’re going for a raw sounding vocal and more live sounding drums. We barely used any click tracks whilst tracking so it sounds a bit more real.
MT: What’s your live gear like in terms of your drum setup?
Rich: At the moment, I use 5 piece kit. I stick the bass drum off to side as if I use two, that will be rectified soon. I use three toms at the moment but I want to get a small floor tom off to the left as that gives some really interesting sounds. I use a piccolo snare in my other band but I haven’t worked that into the Conan material yet. I’m using a lot cymbals at the moment, two of everything.
MT: If you have time, who are you hoping to watch at the festival?
Rich: I’m hoping to watch Cannibal corpse and 1349. I’m going to be wandering around and watching a lot of bands as well as there’s not much else to do here!
MT: Thank you for your time!
