One of many interviews we did at this year’s Bloodstock Festival was with Cypriot (though now Brighton-based!) death metallers Stormcast…
You played yesterday, how did it go?
It was fantastic. We were on at quarter past eleven in the morning – there was maybe 100 people in the tent when we started and it was raining as well. By the end there was maybe 400 people in there and we had a great response, people seemed to respond to us which was nice. Just general playing a big festival, big stage, lot of people, it’s always going to be fun.
Being in the tent, was that the New Blood stage? Was that via Metal 2 the Masses?
Yes! We played the first round back in June and the final was about a month ago and we got to play here!
What’s been your experience of it?
It’s great. It’s a good opportunity for unknown bands to have a chance to get their name out there, experience playing to a bigger audience. Generally, it’s a great organisation.
As a band was this your first experience of Metal 2 the Masses?
The band was on hiatus from about 2014 until about a year ago. When we reformed, our first gig was Metal 2 the Masses, our second gig was the final and this is our third gig. It’s kind of crazy!
So how does it feel to play Bloodstock?
I never thought it’d be possible but it’s happened. We still haven’t processed that it’s happened and still haven’t processed it!
Are you here the whole weekend?
Unfortunately, no as we have full-time jobs and couldn’t get all the days off for the festival. We arrived Friday night after a seven hour drive with the traffic. We ‘re trying to catch as many bands as possible – when it’s not raining?
Would you come back to Bloodstock even if you weren’t playing?
Yeah! I’ve been to quite a few festivals, like Wacken, Metal Days, Brutal Assault… I really like that it’s a bit smaller, more compact. It’s only like 15,000 and that’s really nice. A festival like Wacken… it’s huge! You can’t see the whole festival and the walk from the camping to the site can take a half hour walk. I really like that it’s really clean, everybody takes care to keep the festival area clean and they’ve got great bands every year!
You mentioned having full-time jobs. How do you balance that with being in a band?
With great difficulty! But we manage. We rehearse at the weekends as it’s the days we have off. Most of our week we’re at work so when we’re not at work, all we want to do is play music and we meet up for three hours on a Saturday or Sunday and give it all up. All we want to be doing.
Now you’ve done Bloodstock, what’s next on the agenda?
Next is getting some shows booked around the UK. We are still virtually unknown to the UK so it’d be good to get a few shows – get our name out there and make sure more people hear about us.
Photos by Sean Larkin and Drew Scott
Stormcast: facebook | twitter | instagram | youtube | bandcamp
