#RoadToBOA2019 – Take Refuge

It’s that time of year again, when in the run-up to Bloodstock we endeavour to interview every band gracing the SOPHIE, New Blood and Jägermeister stages from 8th – 11th August 2019. This means you’ve got a chance to read up on all your favourite bands set to play over the weekend and decide which new ones you’ll want to check out.

As ever, we’re predicting some horrible clashes because, true to form, there are some great bands across all three stages so you should start planning who you want to see. 

Our thanks to all the bands / artists for taking the time out to answer our questions!

Take Refuge – New Blood Stage, Sunday

Simple things first – where are you guys from?

As a band, we are based in Milton Keynes. But as member we cover from Bedfordshire to Northamptonshire.

How long have you been playing together as a band?

We have been together with this lineup for almost a year now! (That’s gone too fast!) The band used to go under a previous name and line-up, but when our newest guitarist Arran came in and we changed our music style slightly and thought a fresh start with a new name was needed, and Take Refuge was born.

Where does the name of the band come from?

The name is kind of something that just got thrown out there, we liked it as a band so it stuck. We have a few songs about a nuclear war and oppressive leaders etc, so the name kind of fits with some of our lyrical direction too.

Describe your music. What makes you unique?

We describe our genre as heavy metalcore because we like to bring that metalcore feel but with little dabbles in other metal sub-genres. Our forthcoming single “The Gods Walk Among Us” is one we really enjoyed writing we have tried to bring that old school metalcore vibe, but with modern elements. Our music reflects us as band members and you can really tell that we all have our own inspirations and music styles, and luckily for us it is working rather well.

What’s your live show like? Why are people going to watch you instead of another band?

Our live show is something we have really worked on, especially over the course of the M2tM competition, so expect a d*ck-load of energy right from the off, mix that with aggressive breakdowns and maybe some sexy synchronised headbanging! We just want to get out there and have as much fun as possible!

Have you been to Bloodstock before? What did you think?

Our bassist Flynn is a regular to BOA and goes most years. His brother’s band Garshkott actually won M2tM last year and smashed it on the New Blood Stage, so for those boys it is kind of turning into a family tradition. Arran, our new guitarist, went in 2015 (he thinks) when Trivium headlined. Some say he was fan-boying over Matt Heafy so hard he was screaming like at a One Direction concert. (Arran is adamant that this is all fake news). For the others it’s a first time, so they are looking forward to not just playing but the festival experience as a whole! 

Which M2tM region did you win, or did you come through other channels?

We came through in the Milton Keynes region, it was tough – there was more than one band who we thought could have gone through! (We’d love to throw an honourable mention to Akilla, those boys smashed it). We had a bit of a blip during our competition run, getting ourselves eliminated in the first round, but we went away wrote 2 or 3 new songs before getting a message saying we’ve been given a wildcard to the semi-finals, so what felt like practicing the same setlist 100s of times we managed to make it to the final, and go all the way! 

Can you put into 10 words or fewer how it felt when you realised you were heading to Bloodstock?

I think most of the band are still speechless. We just know we left everything on that stage and thankfully Simon liked us and gave us the slot!

What sort of setlist can we expect?

We are not leaving anything in the tank. Expect a setlist that is heavy as dicks right from the start – there will be no warm ups. Expect breakdowns, headbanging and aggression from the first minute. 

Which other bands do you most hope you’re not squished up next to so you can see them play? 

Luckily for us the majority of bands we 100% want to see are on Friday & Saturday. Our friends in Jackals Backbone are playing on the Sunday on the Jäger stage so I hope we don’t clash with them. Looking at the bigger stages obviously Dimmu and Aborted on the Dio stage and then 10 Ton Slug on the SOPHIE Stage we are hoping to catch also – fingers crossed!

What are you working on at the moment?

At the moment, we have recorded 2 singles and videos that are ready for release very soon, the first “The Gods Walk Among Us” is due early August along with a video. Then we have another single and video that will follow late Sept/early Oct. Both tracks we are really excited to get into everyone’s ears! We are also working on material for either our debut album or a full-length EP, we haven’t really set dates for anything because we want to give our fans (and prospective fans) the best material possible, so it won’t be rushed at all. We will also be gigging throughout the rest of 2019 and into 2020! 

What’s the wildest thing you’ve seen or done at a live show?

We like to keep things professional, but we did once finish a show with a tease of “Raining Blood”, which then was followed up with Arran throwing his guitar at his fellow guitarist.

What drink do you throw back to get yourself fired up before going on stage?

We like to have a couple of beers whilst relaxing and watching other bands play…nothing to crazy. Richard, our vocalist, normally necks the biggest can of Red Bull in the world – we are 99% sure it’s bigger than him! 

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