Always aiming to put the smaller / less well known bands front and centre, welcome to our series featuring acts on the New Forces stage at this year’s Metal Days festival in Slovenia, as well as a couple of bands who are being featured for a second time having trodden the boards of that stage in earlier years. We’ll be there with them and hopefully will catch as many of them live as possible so we can tell you how good they are! Tickets for the five-day (plus warmup!) event are still available for around £135. It takes place in Tolmin, Slovenia, from July 21st to 28th.
When did you first find out about Metal Days?
Metal Days has been a festival we’ve heard about for a number of years as one of Europe’s leading metal festivals in an absolutely beautiful part of the world. We’ve heard a lot about it in the last few years with the increasing number of Irish bands going over to play there such as The Crawling, Dead Label, Overoth, Primordial and especially Galway’s own Na Cruithne, with whom we share a member! We’re delighted to be joining that select group.
As for landing a slot there, we found out last November so we’ve had plenty of time to look forward to playing there!
How did you end up on the bill for this year’s festival?
There are a number of ways a band can land a slot there including submissions from band members in attendance, which is how we landed a slot as Ronan and the Cruithne lads have been attending annually for years now.
Is this the furthest you’ll ever have played from home? If so, what was the furthest before now?
Definitely! Being from the west of Ireland, the farthest afield we’ve played so far has been Scotland or England, in terms of cities Inverness or London maybe! We had been booked to play a small festival in Germany a while back but unfortunately, it fell through last minute. We’ve been waiting and aiming to play in Europe for a while now!
Which bands on the bill are you most looking forward to seeing?
There are loads: Goatwhore (who were excellent at Bloodstock a few years back), Cannibal Corpse, Judas Priest, Behemoth, Obituary, Primordial, Soulfly, and fellow New Forces bands Splinterbomb and Malemort to name a few!
Other than bands, what are you most looking forward to about Metal Days?
The atmosphere, the weather, the setting, the beer, the people and the craic!
Before you hit the stage: Monster energy drink or Laško beer?
Monster before we play, Laško after!
