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 is Tribe of Ghosts who play the New Blood stage on the Saturday.
Simple things first – where are you guys from?
We are all from sunny Brighton in the South East Of England.
How long have you been playing together as a band?
Tribe Of Ghosts has been going since 2018 with Ben Kitching (bass) and Adam Sedgwick (guitar and vocals) as part of the original lineup, but with the addition of Beccy Blaker (vocals) and Danny Yates (drums) in 2021 and in early 2022 we fully realised our sound that you’ll be hearing at Bloodstock.
Where does the name of the band come from?
Tribe Of Ghosts was a name floating around in Adam’s head for a while, and when we started writing our first demos it fit the sound!
Describe your music. What makes you unique?
We’ve been using the term “Industrial Post-Metal” to give it a genre title, but our overarching statement better describes it – “Dystopian Music for a Totalitarian World”. We pull influences from all over the musical spectrum ranging from Cult Of Luna, Chelsea Wolfe, Perturbator and Author and Punisher all the way through to Charli XCX, Rina Sawayama, Bambie Thug and FKA Twigs.
We’re very much this post-modern musical hybrid of electronic soundscapes, pop hooks, ethereal harmonies, punishing drums, roaring bass, ferocious screams and grinding guitars aiming to create a soundtrack to a dystopian world on the brink of collapse.
What’s your live show like? Why are people going to watch you instead of another band?
Honestly – expect the unexpected! We perform an atmospheric and intense set filled with twists and turns that paint a picture of this dystopian world we’ve created through our music.
If you like what we do, consider joining us on Patreon for as little as £1 per month!
Have you been to Bloodstock before? What did you think?
This will be Beccy and Ben’s first Bloodstock, and they’re beyond excited! It’s been an exciting baptism of fire for Beccy as well as Tribe Of Ghosts has been her first band she has fronted since 2014, so it’s been quite a journey re-honing her stagecraft!
For Danny and Adam however, they’ve both performed at Bloodstock before on the New Blood and Sophie Lancaster stage in previous bands (King Leviathan and Enslavement) and Adam worked with the Sophie Lancaster Stage crew for a few years also.
Bloodstock was an incredible time for Danny and Adam, and was an incredible opportunity for up-and-coming bands to really make their mark on the UK Metal scene and get their sound out into the world – we’re so excited to see our Brighton friends All Hail Dog hit the Jagermeister stage, and we can’t to see all the other bands on the New Blood and Jager Stages as well across the weekend!
Which M2tM region did you win, or did you come through other channels?
We participated in the Brighton M2TM event, hosted by our wonderful friend Mark (Hi, Daisy!) from Jackhammer Promotions alongside some incredible bands – our heat was a nail biter, and the final was incredible as well! We’re so excited that Simon Hall has given us the opportunity and we can’t wait to make Brighton proud!
Can you put into 10 words or fewer how it felt when you realised you were heading to Bloodstock?
Collectively… Holy shit!
What sort of setlist can we expect?
Our setlist is going to contain our most recent singles “COLD” and “REIGN”, as well as music from our debut album that we’re going to be heading into the studio to record soon including our next single.
Which other bands do you most hope you’re not squished up next to so you can see them play?
There’s so many! We’re really excited to see Sleep Token, Jinjer, Heriot, Malevolence and Behemoth – but we’re so excited to see our friends in All Hail Dog, Sulvain, Denali, Thuum, Ambrius and so many more! The New Blood and Jagermeister stages are filled with absolutely monstrous bands from an underground scene that is in rude health – it’s a wonderful celebration and it means so much to be part of it.
What are you working on at the moment?
We’re going to be recording our debut album by the end of this year, and we’re planning on sharing our music across the UK during the autumn as we’ve only played a few shows in the south – keep your eyes peeled!
What’s the wildest thing you’ve seen or done at a live show?
Adam: Honestly, I’m a liability so I’ve definitely done something stupid whilst we’ve been playing. I get told off by our sound engineer Sophy nowadays though haha!
Beccy: In 2016 I went to the Edinburgh Fringe festival for a hen do and ended up at the Wank Bank masterclass (it was honestly really funny and would recommend it!) which is all about learning how to do happy ending massages. Everyone was given a cucumber and two balloons (each filled with a pingpong ball) and some lube to practise the moves…but it doesn’t stop there. As hen parties do, we went to this masterclass all in fancy dress. The gentleman leading the masterclass asks one of the hens to go up onto the stage, lie on a massage table so he can stick a cucumber between her legs and demonstrate a few moves. She was dressed as a nun. So, in short, the wildest thing I’ve seen on stage is a “nun” having a cucumber wanked off between her legs.
Danny: Back in Adam and I’s old band, we were playing a show where a woman ran on stage and started yelling at us a load of religious bollocks whilst we were playing, then pushed our guitarist over, ran over to the side of the stage and threw up.
Ben: I got flashed at a function gig once? Just the top though…
What drink do you throw back to get yourself fired up before going on stage?
Beccy: A cup a water and pure adrenaline
Danny: Peach ice tea
Adam: A nice dram of whisky and a bottle of water
Ben: Stella. I have expensive tastes.
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Tribe Of Ghosts: facebook | instagram | spotify | bandcamp | youtube
