Before their performance on the Sophie Lancaster stage on the Friday at Bloodstock, we had a quick chat with Hank from Lionize about their performance and also his thoughts on the festival given that it was his first time there. Read on for the full transcription:
You’re playing on the Sophie stage in a couple of hours. Are you looking forward to it?
Oh yeah. It should be really good and we’re stoked to be playing it. We heard that we were playing through our agent Ben Ward. He’s sadly not here but he’s here in spirit with us!
Are there any bands that you’re wanting to see today?
I’m looking forward to seeing Testament later on. I really enjoyed watching a bit of Dendera earlier. Kind of an Iron Maiden style sort of thing which was really cool.
You’ve got a quite a good friendship with the guys in Clutch. How did that come about?
We are from the same place basically and we’ve had ties with them going back years. They put us on three dates of a tour back in 2008 where we were the first of five and played for twenty minutes. As the years have gone on, they’ve gradually moved us up the bill and they’ve kind of become our mentors now. I guess they saw something in us. Back then, we were playing like 225 dates a year for 6 years when we were in our early twenties. A lot of the people we worked with in the beginning were like “These guys are fucking crazy”. You know, we were travelling 1000 miles for a gig and things like that.
I gather that this is your first time here. What’s your opinion of it so far?
It’s good. I’ve certainly never seen a metal/death metal fest this big in the States. You wouldn’t see things like this in the States as the rock scene is smaller over there as well.
If you were put in charge of booking bands for a festival, what three bands would you pick?
Any kind of festival? Kamchatka as they are one of my favourite bands of all time. I’d probably get Stevie Wonder as well as that was the only show where I cried. Sinéad O’Connor as well. Those two people have some of the most powerful voices I’ve ever heard in concert.
This is the first year the festival has sold out. What do you think has led to this?
I’m not overly sure exactly. I’m not the most well versed in this kind of thing but y’all got the infrastructure sorted out way better than other festivals.
Describe the band in three words.
Ah shit…the band would be…melody, riffs and grooves.
