Our regular run-down of as many of the upcoming Bloodstock bands as we can get to talk to us! Dead Blonde Stars play the New Blood stage on the Saturday…
Simple things first – where are you guys from?
We’re based in Sheffield, although only Gary and Matt are Sheffield natives. Jamie is from just up the road in Rotherham, Oli is originally from Holmfirth and Tom is from deepest darkest Derbyshire.
How long have you been playing together as a band?
Dead Blonde Stars started in about 2012, but the current line-up has been together since 2019.
Where does the name of the band come from?
We just plucked it out of thin air. It has no real meaning, it’s just a name we could all agree on at the time. Agreeing on a name is one of the hardest parts of being in a band!
Describe your music. What makes you unique?
Heavy alternative rock with a strong grunge influence. I’m not sure we’re unique exactly, but we haven’t come across any other bands that sound quite like us. I guess having three guitar players makes us pretty unusual.
What’s your live show like? Why are people going to watch you instead of another band?
You could say we’re quite understated and intense. We don’t really go in for the whole foot-on-monitor throwing the horns showmanship thing, but we do go at it hard and give it everything. We rehearse a lot so we’re very tight and slick in terms of performance, and the third guitar gives us another dimension that most bands don’t have. Gary’s voice helps us to stand out from the crowd.
Have you been to Bloodstock before? What did you think?
This year is the first time for us. We’ve heard nothing but good things and a lot of our mates are regulars, so we should have a fair bit of support in the crowd on the day.
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Which M2tM region did you win, or did you come through other channels?
We won the Sheffield region. We entered M2TM with no expectations of winning, we just wanted to play some well attended shows at a decent sized venue with bands we haven’t come across before and hopefully win some new fans. As we’re not a metal band we didn’t expect to progress far in the competition. Obviously by the time we got to the final, the reality of the situation and what we stood to gain from it was not lost on us!
Can you put into 10 words or fewer how it felt when you realised you were heading to Bloodstock?
Beyond chuffed. Absolutely a career highlight. It’s that simple.
What sort of setlist can we expect?
We’re sticking to the same setlist we played throughout the M2TM competition. After all, it’s what got us here! All the songs are from our latest album, which came out in February.
Which other bands do you most hope you’re not squished up next to so you can see them play?
We’re playing on the Saturday so Crowbar and Meshuggah on the main stage, plus The Grey on the Sophie Lancaster Stage. We’re hoping to catch as many bands as we can whilst we’re there.
What are you working on at the moment?
Right now we’re 100% concentrating on being ready for Bloodstock. You don’t get many opportunities to play shows like this, so we’re rehearsing to make sure we’re the best we can possibly be. After that we’ve got a few more shows lined up and we’ll be starting pre-production on our third album.
What’s the wildest thing you’ve seen or done at a live show?
I think someone crowd-surfing in a large inflatable duck must be high on the list.
What drink do you throw back to get yourself fired up before going on stage?
We don’t need to drink for that! Most of us will just stick to water/soft drinks before we play. Matt and Tom might have an IPA or two at the most. It’s not a very rock and roll answer but remaining focused and keeping a clear head helps us to give our best performance.
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