It’s that time of year where we set out to interview as many of the Sophie, New Blood, and Jager bands as we can in the lead-up to one of the most anticipated festivals of the year, Bloodstock. Answering our questions here are Mountain Caller who are playing the Jagermeister stage on Saturday.
Simple things first – where are you guys from?
London! I (Max) met Claire on Twitter, who knew El, and we met up at Storm Rehearsal Studios in Holloway Road (massive shout out to them) and started jamming. London’s the hub for all of us.
How long have you been playing together as a band?
Coming up to four years now! It’s been quite a time. We started playing together just for fun and didn’t necessarily expect things to go as far as they have. We all feel very lucky, humbled, and delighted that people respond well to our band. It’s a lovely thing.
Where does the name of the band come from?
The Mountain Caller is a character from our music’s concept storyline, the zombie goat shaman that appears on the cover of our new EP Chronicle: Prologue, and our first shirt. The Protagonist of our story encounters him and he compels her to go on a journey of self-discovery. Who is he? From whence did he come? Is he friend or foe? We don’t know. Yet.
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Describe your music. What makes you unique?
We play a mixture of stoner, doom, progressive, and good ol’ fashioned riffy heavy metal. Dynamic, expansive, atmospheric instrumental music. What makes us unique? Us three members. This band was born out of us jamming and writing with our three creative personalities play off each other. We have a great love and understanding for each other, and the band wouldn’t be what it is if any one of us was removed.
What’s your live show like? Why are people going to watch you instead of another band?
I think we have quite an uplifting, wholesome feel to our show. We love what we do so much, and I think that comes across in the music and onstage. Doom-y progressive bands can sometimes be quite dour (no problem with that, FYI) but I think ours is more optimistic. We want to spread positive feelings and attitudes.
Have you been to Bloodstock before? What did you think?
I haven’t personally, I don’t know about Claire or El. I’ve heard such wonderful things about Bloodstock. The line-ups always cater to the metal scene so well, and they manage to placate older fans while still pushing new talent. Giving bands like Behemoth and Machine Head their well-earned chance to headline a major festival shows how on the pulse Bloodstock are. And I hear that the crowd atmosphere is second to none. I’m so excited to finally be going.
When/how did you find out you’d been selected to play at Bloodstock?
Honoured and excited! It’s such an incredible festival with a great reputation. Playing it is a rite of passage for a UK metal band, without a doubt. We didn’t know whether this band would ever even gig, so we feel so lucky to have this opportunity.
What sort of setlist can we expect?
The vast majority of our album, a couple of tracks from the EP, and maybe (just maybe) some other things unheard by human ears.
Which other band do you most hope you’re not clashing with so you can see them play?
I mean, our set is on Saturday, have you seen that main-stage line-up? Maybe we’ll just pull a sickie and go there all day. I went on a huge Kreator discovery binge this year, so playing a festival with them is absolute kismet. I’d love a chance to see Winterfylleth, obviously absolute modern legends of the British scene. But who am I most excited for? Dani Filth and his circus of gloom. I love Cradle Of Filth. I can’t wait.
What are you working on at the moment?
We’ve got a riff bank bursting at the seams. There wasn’t much else to do in lockdown! We’ve just started being able to play together in person again, so we’re fleshing out musical and story ideas for the next album. We’ve got a lot to get on with so we’re raring to go.
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What’s the wildest thing you’ve seen or done at a live show?
The wildest thing I’ve seen is probably Greg Puciato jumping from the balcony into the crowd at The Dillinger Escape Plan’s last show at Terminal 5 in New York. It was a hell of a jump. And then, after their second encore, a string quartet suddenly appearing onstage and going into “Dissociation”. Risking life and limb for a gig is one thing, but Dillinger managing to subvert my expectations right until the end after years of listening was stunning. What a band. Wildest thing I’ve done? Playing my last show with my old band at a show in Northern Norway and we all stripped down to our pants and brought our kit round the venue. It was 1am but a midday sun was still blazing, it was my last show, we’d been drinking… It does things to you.
What drink do you throw back to get yourself fired up before going on stage?
Bourbon. Woodford Reserve, Makers Mark, or Jack Daniels please. To calm the nerves and warm the cockles of my very being.
Mountain Caller: facebook | twitter | instagram | spotify | bandcamp
