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 Steel Mage who play the New Blood stage on the Saturday.
Simple things first – where are you guys from?
We are based in Sheffield, UK.
How long have you been playing together as a band?
We formed back in 2016 as a school project but started properly as a band in 2020.
Where does the name of the band come from?
Back in the earlier days of the band, our ex-drummer & guitarist were sitting in a practice room at school thinking about names and they came up with this one and it fit and we’ve stuck with it since!
Describe your music. What makes you unique?
We started releasing music in 2020 which came under the more thrash/heavy metal banner but with a change in lineup last year also came with a change of direction musically which can be heard in our debut full length album As The Chapel Falls which was released at the start of July 2022. The album explores lots of genres such as hardcore, nu-metalcore, deathcore and beatdown.
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What’s your live show like? Why are people going to watch you instead of another band?
Our live show is something we take very seriously. We work hard to ensure we pull out all the stops and deliver a 30 minute set full of energy that people will remember.
Have you been to Bloodstock before? What did you think?
A few of our band members have attended the festival before as punters so to be playing this year is a dream come true.
Which M2tM region did you win, or did you come through other channels?
We secured our place at Bloodstock through the M2TM Sheffield programme hosted by Heel Turn Promotions at Corporation, Sheffield.
Can you put into 10 words or fewer how it felt when you realised you were heading to Bloodstock?
Unreal.
What sort of setlist can we expect?
For this year’s Bloodstock Festival we will be playing a collection of new material from our new album As The Chapel Falls, and maybe even some surprises.
Which other bands do you most hope you’re not squished up next to so you can see them play?
New Blood wise we are quite fortunate that a few bands we want to check out are on before us such as Cast In Tephra and Portrayal Of Ruinn so we will be watching those from side stage. We are also stoked to check out Karmas Puppet on the Sunday. Unfortunately we will be missing Lorna Shore and clashing with Jinjer, two bands we would’ve liked to see but there’s always another time! We are also stoked to be checking out Malevolence, Ingested and Guilttrip to name a few over the weekend.
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What are you working on at the moment?
Our current focus is getting out on the road playing as many shows as we can to promote As The Chapel Falls. After our summer shows we will spend the back half of the year working on new music, along with a few shows along the way.
What’s the wildest thing you’ve seen or done at a live show?
A pretty wild experience was our first show back post-covid, which was also the first show with our new lineup. Nothing too ‘wild’ goes on on stage during our shows, no doubt as time goes on we will have more stories to tell on that one.
What drink do you throw back to get yourself fired up before going on stage?
Monster/Red Bull is a popular choice, can never drink too much water, gotta stay hydrated as shows can be pretty taxing! Lucozade is a good one too, try to stay away from booze pre show so we can deliver the tightest performance we can.
