#RoadToBOA2018 – Thirt3en

As ever, we’re going to try and cover every single Jäger, New Blood and SOPHIE stage band before Bloodstock kicks off on August 9th. Your chance to check them out and start planning which bands to get there early for!

Trust us when we tell you that this is bound to result in some frustrating clashes because, as ever, there are some great bands on these three stages.

Our thanks to all the bands for taking the time out to answer our questions!

Thirt3en – Hobgoblin New Blood Stage, Saturday

Simple things first – where are you guys from?

Hello readers of The Moshville Times and lovers of all that is metal. The 4 of us come from the Herts/Essex border where we as individuals, have been rocking the local scene for around 9 years.

How long have you been playing together as a band?

The band was founded by rhythm guitarist Charles Bryan back in 2011, with lead singer James Bryan. Matt Truman, “Ruggy”, joined in late 2014 bring his own grove with the sticks and Tom Jeffrey, our lead guitarist who, either fell from heaven or crawled up from hell (you’ll have to come see us to see what we mean), in 2015. The 4 of us have been playing together since and really have become a family, striving to reach bigger things together, which has managed to get us to BOA 2018.

Where does the name of the band come from?

We really struggled to find a name, as I think all bands do. We were brainstorming with different ideas and logos and Charles, who can’t draw for toffee, (who James often did his art homework for) drew a great logo and we became 13.

Describe your music. What makes you unique?

I think like all bands starting out, your music is heavily influenced by what you are listening to. When we first formed our biggest influence was Trivium, our only problem was that none of us could scream. Over time our music has developed so much, the Trivium influence can still be heard in some of our songs, but we would like to think that we have naturally developed our own sound. We are pleased to say that both James and Charles have learnt to scream. If we were to pigeon-hole ourselves, we would say that we are melodic metal. We are massively guitar-y. We have killer solos, loads of twin guitaring, great riffs. Vocally we are equally as impressive. James is a powerful clean singer, who can now scream, Charles has a range of brutal noises and Matt provides some great harmonies. You really have got to come see us, we are proud of our music and have some great catchy choruses.

What’s your live show like? Why are people going to watch you instead of another band?

We know that we need to grab the attention of the people who pass by, that’s how the New Blood Stage works. We have a great set and will be delivering it with more energy, cheese and choreography than ever. I mean we even stand up for the key change! We hope our music will draw people in and for our performance to keep people glued to us for the rest of our set. We really do have great songs and Tom, really is incredible on guitar. However, we know that the M2TM Hitchin family will be there to support us along with Skinner, who Squatter has declared our mascot. We’ll have a great time and welcome everyone to come and join us.

Have you been to Bloodstock before? What did you think?

None of us have ever been before. Since we entered M2TM last year, we have been researching and learning about the festival and it does sound like nothing else comes close. Matt and Tom have been Download several times but neither Charles or James have ever been to a festival. It is quite cool though that the first time any of us attend BOA, we are playing it.

Did you enter M2TM thinking you could win it?

We certainly wanted to win! We entered the competition last year and ,out of nowhere, we made it to the final. Shortly after the final, we all met up for a few beers and we all said that we wanted to win 2018. We all became consumed with M2TM and all things BOA. After falling at the last hurdle in 2017, we have rehearsed more, harder and been more critical of our performances. We owe what we are now, to last year’s competition and all the bands we have played with, you are the people who have propelled us to get here.

Which region did you win, or did you come through other channels?

We are honoured and humbled to say that we are this year’s winners of M2TM Hitchin. We have loved every second of being involved last year and especially this year. The competition really has set the local scene alight and brought hundreds of people together. We have attended nearly every gig this year and are now faced with the prospect of not competing next year. Shout out to all venues hosting the competition next year, we are free and would love to be involved and come see you all, be it judging or even headlining one of the quarters, if you are willing to have us.

What sort of setlist can we expect?

At Bloodstock? The set of our lives! We aim to deliver as much as we can. We aren’t selling a story, we don’t have a concept, we just enjoy performing so much and want to have fun. That’s what you can expect! Lots of smiles, roars and our 2 guitarists Charles and Tom looking at each other longingly like Frodo and Sam.

Which other bands do you most hope you’re not squished up next to so you can see them play?

The honest answer is we don’t mind when we play, we are just happy to be there. Earthbound made it through the final in Hitchin with us and won the video competition. As they are also playing the New Blood Stage, we won’t be squished up with them, we won’t miss their set. Also, Vulgore, who were on the Bloodstock podcast with us. We are just looking to enjoy the weekend as much as we can. We are going to see which of the other acts on the New Blood catches our eyes and ears, we’ll have a look at the Jäger Stage and look to learn from some of the bigger bands on the Sophie and Ronnie Stages. Our aim now is to do what we can to get invited back next year, so we’ll be speaking to loads of people. But we just want to have a great weekend.

What are you working on at the moment?

Several things. For the last year we have concentrated solely on winning M2TM, so we have written very little. We can confirm that we have 2 new songs which will be gig ready by the end of the year. We are also currently recording some of our newest tracks, including “The Next Chapter”, which quite a few people have been screaming for. In 2019, you can expect a music video and we are looking into touring around the UK. Watch this space! Our album Deliverance is available to listen to and download for free.

Jäger, Hobgoblin Ale, Red Bull, Kingstone Press Cider, Kaltenberg Beer or Bulleit Bourbon? And, yes, we’ll be counting all the votes!

We aren’t sure, you’ll have to send us some samples! Matt lives off Red Bull and all of us are beer drinkers, proper beer. Not tried Kaltenberg though. So 1 vote for Redbull, it keeps us rocking for longer and 3 votes for Kaltenber Beer as beer is the golden nectar of life.

 

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