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 Collected who play the New Blood stage on the Saturday.
Simple things first – where are you guys from?
We are from the seaside armpit of the UK; Clacton-On-Sea!
How long have you been playing together as a band?
About 10 years now, but under the name Collected probably about 5 years.
Where does the name of the band come from?
We all come from different backgrounds in the band and have really varied music tastes, interests and ideas which we feel comes through in our sound. We wanted a name that portrayed that. After much deliberation, we decided on Collected as it kinda summed everything up in a nice bitesize one-word package.
Describe your music. What makes you unique?
I feel like our music is unique because it doesn’t just have one distinct aspect. You can hear all our influences from multiple genres and it’s got a bit of something for everyone. We’d probably define it as “modern metal” if we had to, but we’ve had people call it all sorts from prog to nu-metal.
What’s your live show like? Why are people going to watch you instead of another band?
We 100% bring the energy. That is what people seem to know us for and we aim to live up to that reputation. Growing up we all absolutely loved bands like Pantera and Slipknot so we’ve always been so inspired by their music and particularly their approach to live performances. Expect windmills, head banging, spins, crowd surfing and just general energy and passion. If we don’t leave the stage dripping with sweat then we ain’t played.
Have you been to Bloodstock before? What did you think?
We haven’t actually been to a festival yet so Bloodstock will be taking our festival virginity (which we’re beyond proud of).
Which M2tM region did you win, or did you come through other channels?
We made it to the grand final of Essex M2tM and, although we were runners up, we were extremely lucky and honoured that Mr Simon Hall actually offered us a spot a few weeks after the final. We’d like to just take a second to thank him as we can’t thank him enough for the opportunity and support he not only shows us, but all upcoming metal. So yeah big shout out to Simon Hall!
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Can you put into 10 words or fewer how it felt when you realised you were heading to Bloodstock?
Utterly speechless. A literal lifelong dream come true, no joke.
What sort of setlist can we expect?
When planning the set for this we really wanted to showcase everything we’ve got. We wanna highlight our high energy aspects but also our more prog side just so Bloodstock can enjoy a real epic experience. We’re aiming to really put on a performance but mainly just want everyone to have fun and vibe!
Which other bands do you most hope you’re not squished up next to so you can see them play?
We definitely wanna catch our brothers and sisters in Fyresky and Existentialist – gotta support our Essex family! We also can’t miss our brothers in Redmethod – they are literally unreal and if you ain’t heard them already go check them out now! Their set is gonna kick off!!
What are you working on at the moment?
We’re currently working on an (as of now) unannounced single. So you could say you’re technically getting a little early reveal but you didn’t hear that from us, haha. This is gonna be our proudest song yet. It has really taken us a while to mould it into what it is now, and we’re planning a video so it’s all exciting for us as dates get closer. We’ve taken quite an artistic approach and I feel like we’re really starting to just scratch the surface of what we’re capable of.
What’s the wildest thing you’ve seen or done at a live show?
It has to be the time our vocalist Liam stage dived for the first time! The crowd literally took him all the way to the back bar and back again. It was sick!
What drink do you throw back to get yourself fired up before going on stage?
Probably water. Not very rock’n’roll we know, but the drinking usually starts afterwards for us! …..unless it’s Artis, Arti will be smashed by breakfast!
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