Continuing our run of letting you know a little more about as many of the bands on at Bloodstock 2025 as we possibly can before you get a chance to see them, we have Shrike. This bunch play on the EMP Stage on the Friday.
Simple things first – where are you guys from?
Ste: Born and raised in Preston, a little-known, extremely wet city in the Northwest of England!
Liam: I was born in Bolton, but moved before to Preston before I had cognition, haha. So I’ll represent Preston also.
Danny: I’m based in Blackpool myself, representing the Fylde Coast!
How long have you been playing together as a band?
Danny: The band has been around for a number of years now, I only joined more recently – within the last year or so.
Ste: I’ve been in bands with Liam since around 2014 when my first band were looking for a replacement guitarist. He joined but we both ended up leaving not long after due to musical and creative differences to form a new project which later became Shrike which was around 2018. I then met Danny through Liam, so Liam, knew him/met him once or twice before he joined Shrike at the back end of 2023.
Where does the name of the band come from?
Ste: The name came from a suggestion from my wife, back in 2018 who explained what a
Shrike, the “butcher bird”, is and how horrible it is. We thought it was pretty striking so we ran with it and kept it ever since!
Liam: Yeah, it was the least pretentious name we had at the time too! Plus going down the Mastodon route of naming your band after a cool animal works for me!
Describe your music. What makes you unique?
Ste: Our latest release, which is our first album as a band, features a diverse track listing. There’s blast-beats, clean singing choruses, orchestral sections as well as lyrical themes that deal with things like struggles with mental health and less-than healthy relationships to name a couple. I think the flow, diversity and lyrical themes make it a unique listen and one that resonates with a lot of people. We even had someone message us to say how much of an impact it had on him.
Danny: Yeah, It’s a pretty dense blend of heavy groove, speed and cinematic goodness.
Liam: Yeah, with some ambient soundscapes for good measure. For me though, I’m not sure “being unique” is something I try and manufacture anymore, with regards to the musical sound and labelling. But what I think makes us unique, just following on from what Ste was saying, is our stories, our emotions and our messages which is purveyed through the music. I think that’s far more important to us now, or to me especially. What has shaped us to create this music in the first place, no one has experienced like we have. And we hope that can transcend to others and offer a new perspective and validation, to an emotion or event in someone else’s life. Because music creation and consumption is so accessible nowadays, and dare I say saturated even, to try and be ‘musically’ unique in terms of genre is a lot more difficult now and seems a little bit futile at times. Even the most creative pieces of modern contemporary music seem to be a slight variation on something that’s been done previously. So for us, the storytelling and emotion through composition is what’s most important and is ultimately unique to us.
What’s your live show like? Why are people going to watch you instead of another band?
Ste: You can expect some super-fast technical stuff mixed with choruses you can sing to. We’ve had plenty of circle pits as well as some intense crowd interactions. It’s pretty high energy which is perfect for a Friday at Bloodstock!
Danny: I’d say just sheer ferocity combined with a certain technical proficiency.
Liam: Yeah our show pairs perfectly with a “First day of music at a festival excitement, and no hangovers yet”!
Have you been to Bloodstock before? What did you think?
Ste: Absolutely! This will be my 4th time and it’s always amazing, which is down to the bands, the people, the organisation, the crew who all make it happen! The sunshine and beers help too.
Liam: Yeah, mine and Ste’s first one was in 2013. I’ve virtually been to every one since bar one or two. It is essentially Christmas for me now that I’m an adult!
Danny: Nope this will be my first time at Bloodstock, and playing it no less!
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When/how did you find out you’d been selected to play at Bloodstock?
Liam: I emailed Simon applying to play, thinking nothing of it and lo and behold a reply dropped in our email offering us a slot. It’s still surreal and not something we take for granted at all! So yeah, massive respect to Simon Hall and team!
What sort of setlist can we expect?
Ste: There’ll be a mixture of breakneck sections, bouncy rhythm sections, clean singing, growls as well as plenty of other good stuff. Guaranteed to be something for everyone!
Liam: Yeah it’s pretty well paced, especially for a short festival set. Variation is key here I think. Enough time to put our best wares in the shop window so to speak
Stage times haven’t been announced yet, so which other band do you most hope you’re not clashing with so you can see them play?
Danny: Fortunately, I think we’ll be quite early during the day, so I’ll get to see some of my favourites throughout the weekend, namely that of Trivium and The Black Dahlia Murder.
Ste: I wouldn’t mind catching Paleface Swiss as they’re playing the Friday as well so I just hope we’re not on at the same time!
Liam: I concur! Luckily I got to see them at the start of the year on their headline run, but it would be great to grab them guys again!
What are you working on at the moment?
Ste: We’ve just come off an album release run which has been so well received! So for now we’re focusing on preparing for Bloodstock and after that start the writing process for the next release.
Danny: Apart from practicing for our BOA set, I’m currently working on my second album for my other project, Where Deprivation Lies.
What’s the wildest thing you’ve seen or done at a live show?
Liam: The wildest thing I’ve done is get on stage with Bleed From Within and do a bit of fracture with them. I think Scott had a problem with his throat on that Fracture tour, so he was basically handing out the mic and I thought “I gotta take advantage of this”! A memory I’ll live with forever.
Danny: I remember years ago at a local show, seeing someone getting knocked out cold during aparticularly intense pit.
Ste: I saw a guy climb the scaffolding in the centre of a tent and start hanging off it by one leg, while watching Pendulum at Leeds fest around 2008. Security were trying to coax him down. Didn’t see him again after he eventually came down. That was pretty wild!
What drink do you throw back to get yourself fired up before going on stage?
Danny: Jack and Coke all the way!
Ste: A double-shot espresso. There’s nothing quite like doubling your heart rate before a show!
Liam: A Lucozade energy and one beer. Works a treat.
