Here we go again… Last year we covered every band on the Hobgoblin New Blood and Jagermeister stages in the run-up to Bloodstock 2015. This year, we’re going one better and aim to have interviews from all the bands on those two stages as well as all of those on the SOPHIE stage prior to the event kicking off on August 11th. That’s almost 100 interviews to get online for you lucky people over the course of the next couple of weeks. I bloody love this job, but you lot owe me a beer at Catton Hall, right?
Thanks to all the bands who’ve taken the time to respond so far!
Heriot – Hobgoblin New Blood, Saturday
Simple things first – where are you guys from?
We’re from a small town called Swindon.
How did you meet?
We’ve actually known each other since school! The three of us have been in bands together since we were 15/16 years old.
Where does the name of the band come from?
I’m not entirely sure, but I want to say it’s some kind of medieval torture method? You’d have to give it a quick Google search, it’s something to do with death.
[I’m a) a teacher, b) a nerd and c) pretty sad really, so I did look it up. It’s actually, according to Merriam-Webster “a tribute paid to a lord out of the belongings of a tenant who died, often consisting of a live animal or, originally, military equipment that he borrowed.” So it’s basically a tax paid when someone dies. As the saying goes, there are two certainties in life – death and taxes. A heriot covers both!]
What are your influences – individually or as a band?
As a band we individually have varied tastes, but at the same time we have a mutual love for a lot of bands. We’re all into bands from the ‘Nu Metal’ movement in the late 90’s/early 2000’s, bands like Deftones and Korn. Another band we can all agree on is a Code Orange, we took a lot from their sound when we were starting out.
What’s your live show like – why should the baying hordes troop over to the stage you’re playing on to watch you?
We take a lot of pride in our live performances. I think when you’re an unsigned band the most important thing is playing live. Our live show is very frantic and aggressive, there’s lots of energy. Whether we’re playing to 1 or 100 people you will see the same performance from us. If you see us at Bloodstock you will not be disappointed.
When/how did you find out you’d been selected to play at Bloodstock?
We won the Metal To The Masses heats in Swindon last month! We actually competed before in Bristol, mainly just so we could play some out of town shows and we ended up in the finals. So to come back, compete again and win was pretty cool!
What sort of setlist can we expect?
We’ve been playing the same set for a little while now. It’s two tracks from our first release, three tracks from our second release and two tracks from our upcoming release. It’s a nice balance of everything we’ve done.
Which main stage band do you most hope you’re not clashing with so you can see them play?
Slayer. If you clash with Slayer it’s pretty much guaranteed that you’ll be playing to an empty tent.
What are you working on at the moment?
We’re just getting ready to release our first ‘proper’ record. With these new songs we now feel like we have quality material that matches our live shows. Everything we’ve released up until now has been self produced so this is the first time we’ve worked with a producer. We’re hoping to have a new single out just before Bloodstock!
What’s the wildest thing you’ve seen or done on tour?
Last year we went to Brighton to play a show in a kitchen. There were about 50 people crammed between the kitchen and dining room of this house. People were jumping off the work tops, it was pretty crazy. It was probably one of the best shows that we’ve played!
What advice would you give to a young band just starting out today?
Take every show you get offered, no matter how far it is or how poorly promoted it is. Make friends with every band you play with and network from there. The more mates you make the easier it gets!
If you could be part of any 3-band line-up who else would you have on the bill? One band above you and one below – a chance to plug a smaller, unsigned act!
We’d had have Slipknot headline, they’d sell more tickets than us. Opening we’d have a band from our hometown called Belial. They’re disgustingly heavy and they’re going to be huge soon, check them out!
