#ROADTOBOA Interview: Sanguine

Bloodstock 2016 logoHere 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!

Sanguine – SOPHIE stage, Sunday

Nick and Tarin from the band took time out to answer our questions…

Simple things first – where are you guys from?

Tarin: Myself & Nick are originally from Cornwall… don’t laugh but our natural pirate tongues gives us away! Ross is a Devon boy from Exeter, and Matt was originally born an American but he’s spent most of his life in England so he’s our very own Anglo-American.

How did you meet?

Tarin: I formed the band when I joined Exeter University. Matt was studying there and Nick I knew back from college in Cornwall. Ross joined the band a few years later after a line-up change on the bass and we’ve been the best of friends since.

How long have you been playing together as a band?

Tarin: Seriously, we did our first demo back in 2004! But we didn’t know anyone in the music industry and there was absolutely no metal scene in Exeter when we started (laughs). We had no in-roads, no connections so everything we built up has been because our music opened doors. I meet a lot of bands who complain about how slow things are to build naturally if you don’t have contacts in the industry and I just smile… Yeah been there, done that!

Nick:  We have also evolved our sound over the years – you have to remember that we formed before Evanescence released Fallen. There were practically no girls doing metal back then so we had to create our own path.

Tarin: We’ve not done badly for a little-known band from Devon!

Where does the name of the band come from?

Nick: Sanguine has two meanings; to be optimistic or positive, and to be blood-red in colour. We felt this dual meaning summed us up as people and our music.

Tarin: Yeah we’re not all doom and gloom hence the positive aspect to our personalities but we’re definitely still metal and that’s where the colour blood red comes into play! I love the word sanguine, it rarely gets used anymore. I heard it on Californication the other day… that made me smile!

What are your influences – individually or as a band?

Tarin: We all listen to different stuff but we share an interest in rock and metal. Personally I grew up listening to my dad’s LP collection: Rolling Stones, Queen, Pink Floyd and then when I hit my early teens I found Nirvana and Metallica and NOFX….I was hooked! I tried playing guitar but soon  realised that I wasn’t naturally gifted in that area, I learnt enough to write my own songs so I just stuck with singing.

Nick: I just loved skulls…ever since I was a really young boy I wanted to wear skulls and I still do! (laughs) What made me connect with metal was Iron Maiden’s artwork. I didn’t know what I was doing when I walked into my first record store, so naturally I was drawn to the Eddie artwork and skulls oozing stuff.

Describe your music. What makes you unique?

Nick: Tarin’s voice, the way she can scream one moment and sing like an angel the next. I see her like a female Mike Patton, she isn’t operatic or too feminine and she doesn’t sound like a bloke either, she is naturally a gifted singer.

Tarin: Ok… now I’m blushing! Lol! The truth is that this band wouldn’t be Sanguine without its members. Myself and Nick are central to the songwriting process and Sanguine wouldn’t be Sanguine without Nick’s riffs and voice. I think what really different about Sanguine is that we don’t constrain ourselves to writing one type of song. There’s a real eclectic range of songs on our albums, one minute we’ll be playing a soft rock song the next we’ll be playing a heavy metal track but it always sounds like Sanguine – that’s what makes us unique.

What’s your live show like – why should the baying hordes troop over to the stage you’re playing on to watch you?

Nick: If you’re looking to listen to something a bit different to the metal norm then come and check us out! Even if you don’t like female singers come and check us out as we are not like the normal female fronted metal band. We’re pretty brutal live, expect loads of audience interaction, spitting and sweat, and may a unique cover and definitely some brutal riffs.

Tarin: That’s true – we put our all into playing live, if we don’t come off absolutely knackered and covered in sweat and tears after we’ve played then we hadn’t done it right!

When/how did you find out you’d been selected to play at Bloodstock?

Tarin: After we got confirmed for the Fear Factory tour! That was a bloody great week…so much good news I thought I was going to die!

Nick: Bloodstock has always supported us – so thank you Bloodstock!!! We played back in 2011 and blew the pants off the audience… some people still remember that show and talk to us about it.

What sort of setlist can we expect?

Tarin: Heavy, catchy… there will be no excuses for our audience not to move!

Nick: Yeah, people please remember to limber up!

Which main stage band do you most hope you’re  not clashing with so you can see them play?

Tarin: Heart of a Coward. I always seem to miss them playing because I’m doing interviews or on another stage somewhere!

Nick: I’ll be missing Anthrax as we have to leave early to get to Holland for a show with Fear Factory on Monday!

Tarin: Oh yeah… damn it! We were going to try and make Nick’s dream come true by asking if he can stand on stage with them when they play “Safe Home”. One day, Nick, one day!

What are you working on at the moment?

Tarin: We’re starting to lay down demos for our next album. The next record is looking really exciting, can’t wait to get the new songs out there! We’ll be trying out some of the new stuff at the show… you lucky lucky b****ds!

What’s the wildest thing you’ve seen or done on tour?

Tarin: OMG – literally could be here all day. The time we met Ron Jeremy in LA at a pornstar karaoke night. The time I met worked with Adrian Smith on the Primal Rock Rebellion project and went to his house… the list really does go on!

Nick: That’s why we’re in the band – it takes you places, it takes you on missions and exposes you to things you thought you would never normally see or do! Working with Jesper Strömblad on the last record was pretty mind-blowing. Going to Germany and playing in a sex club was bloody funny too!

What advice would you give to a young band just starting out today?

Tarin: Learn how to record yourself, read up on business and remember that you don’t do it for the money. If you’re doing it for the money, you’re in the wrong industry!

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!

Tarin: Faith No More as a headliner. That’s number one on my wish list!

Nick: Not sure about support, there are so many good bands out there all doing unique things – RSJKing Creature, Anti-clone, The Five Hundred… Maybe we would have to have a festival!

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