Download Festival, the world’s premier rock event has announced another plethora of bands, from legends and new talent alike, including Devin Townsend Project, Suicide Silence, Code Orange and many more. Download Festival takes place on 9 – 11 June 2017 at the spiritual home of rock in Donington Park, Leicestershire.
New to 2017, The Avalanche Stage shines a spotlight on everyone from the biggest global acts, to the latest breaking bands. Headlined by the previously announced Sleeping With Sirens, Simple Plan and The Dillinger Escape Plan, the Avalanche Stage will be hosted by new music champions, Kerrang’s Fresh Blood.
Alex Baker, presenter of Fresh Blood on Kerrang! Radio said: “Right now, there is an undeniable, electric excitement about new music in the air and as soon as we saw the new Avalanche Stage we just had to be involved. It was clear from the get go that one of The Avalanche Stage’s aims was to ensure that there was a dedicated space for these new bands within the festival. Download has always been amazing at supporting new talent and I’ve always admired them for that – so it was a no brainer to get as involved as much as humanely possible!”
Metal behemoth, Devin Townsend Project will be making their welcomed return to Download Festival, featuring living legend and ex Strapping Young Lad frontman, Devin Townsend.
On playing the festival, Devin said: "Download! Amidst a crazy year, we have been invited to play at one of my favourite festivals in the world. The band is rocking better than ever, and we are fired up to have some fun with you guys. We look forward to blowing the roof off the place. See you there!"
The hottest name in hardcore, Code Orange are torchbearers for their genre and will excite festival goers with a crushing set. Twenty years on from the release of ground-breaking album Roots, Max & Iggor Cavalera reunite to perform the seminal record in its entirety to the Download crowd.
Having influenced heavy music with their rapid twin vocal and tech metal, groove masters SikTh will bring the Main Stage mosh pit to life. Deathcore stalwarts Suicide Silence are back with tracks from their eponymous fifth album and are set to deliver an incomparably powerful live set atDonington this summer. Joining them are unmissable supergroup elite, Krokodil who are set to impress with their immensely forceful metal, and UK stoner rock legends, Orange Goblin with their heavy hammer, steel toed riffs and fistfuls of attitude.
Renowned for his wild live shows and fiercely loyal fan base, Ohio rapper Machine Gun Kelly has received waves of critical and commercial success with sophomore album General Admission, which he’ll be bringing in abundance to Download this June. Aussie rock heroes Sick Puppies will serve up their tooth rattling rock and hard hitting hooks that will send the Download crowd wild. Led by the incredible Johnny Hawkins, San Antonio rockers Nothing More have cemented themselves in the top echelons of modern rock and will be bringing their ferocious live performance to Donington.
Having previously supported Iron Maiden, metalcore outfit The Raven Age stride between melody and brute force, and will be returning to Download for another epic performance. They’ll be joined by tour de force of energy, Yonaka, and country rock n’ rollers Blackwater Conspiracy.
The dark and volatile Perturbator completes the trio of Dogtooth Stage headliners alongside the previously announced Exodus and Wednesday 13. Prepare to be lost in his technoir, dark synthwave as he closes the Dogtooth Stage for 2017. Dublin’s grunge pop rockers OTHERKIN will riff their way through infectious songs with a raucous energy, whilst London five piece, Drones will be out to deliver a barrage of hardcore punk for the Download Festival audience.
Having supported the likes of rock legends Black Stone Cherry and Halestorm, The Fallen State will bring soulful vocals and unapologetic rock to Donington. Expect a distinctive mix of pop, punk and new wave from London/LA duo Love Zombies, chaotic and energetic indie punk from Blackwaters, gritty modern blues fuelled rock from Bristol natives Tax The Heat and soulful rock n’ roll from Nashville’s Tyler Bryant & The Shakedown.
Download Festival is the home of rock music and takes place on the sacred grounds of Donington Park, which have been associated with rock since the eighties. The festival attracts rock icons to its Main Stage, plus some of the best and hottest new acts in the world. AC/DC, KISS, Metallica, Def Leppard, Guns N’ Roses, Rage Against The Machine, Slipknot, Linkin Park and many more have all headlined its Main Stage.
An entire weekend of sunshine is an absolute rarity during British summertime, but a weekend at Bloodstock Open Air where you’re not at risk of trench-foot even more so. This year’s BOA, hidden in the depths of Derbyshire at Catton Hall is awash with lobster-faced metalheads having a ruddy good time, and the kind of lineup that is set to shake your bones.
Taking a little tour of the arena shops and eateries you can get your hands on pretty much anything your little black heart desires, from limited edition vinyl to second hand band tees to support The Teenage Cancer Trust or a huge portion of brisket-inna-bun from The Texas Smokery. People are whizzing around on fairground dodgems or being shot up into the air in a bungee cage with unrivalled glee, it’s just a shame for Sophie Stage Bands that have to compete with the blaring music coming from the rides. One such band is German power metallers Messiah’s Kiss who’s tight-pants, crimped-hair and solid rocking set is unfortunately overshadowed by the twister ride’s expulsion of Welcome to the Jungle.
Donning the traditional black metal corpse paint the indiscernible growling of Belphegor is pretty one-dimensional overall, though die-hard fans crowd the front, the main contingent of the arena is set on lounging around with ice-creams, hitting each other with blow up guitars or having a good old nap. Enslaved come with a rockier shred-heavy edge yelling to the sunbaked crowd “We are Enslaved from Norway, Hello Bloodstock England!” before Ihsahn (of Emperor fame) takes to the main stage with his own brand of black metal prog. For such an unassuming quiet sort, he certainly knows how to captivate a crowd, but unfortunate technical difficulties (or is it perfectionism?) seem to put him on the back foot from the off, it’s clear he’s not happy with the sound.
Hyperactive Jersey boys Overkill were a huge hit last time they graced BOA and this year is no different, coming in loud and confident they proceed to blast through their brilliant screechy eighties thrash set yelling “We are your cousins from Jersey, whether you like it or not!” and doling out some serious face-melting guitar solos. I am I with former Dragonforce vocalist ZP Theart gather a decent crowd on the Sophie Stage, but it’s Swedish extroverts Sabaton who take the prize for best of the day on the main stage, with their huge stage set. What’s not to love about a band who sets their drummer atop a tank which actually fires pink pyro? With matching camo-trousers, black ops vests and mirrored aviators they could have walked right out of a 90’s Smash Hits boyband centerfold but luckily for all involved they sound considerably better and it’s a wave of flame cannons, ticker tape explosions and full throttle heavy metal. Joking around the crowd chant of ‘Ikea’ is quickly picked up as frontman Joakim Brodén tries to sell his bandmate “If you want this guy, you can find him in the Ikea catalogue. He comes this big… and you fold him out. He comes under number 666 I guess…” before dropping into fan favourite ‘Swedish Pagans’. Following Sabaton’s explosive finale, as has become BOA festival tradition, the first band of the 2016 line-up is announced to be homegrown heroes Venom, to a massive roar from the crowd.
As hot day turns into chilly night, Trivium hit the stage to an intro of Maiden’s iconic Run to the Hills, giving everyone a chance to air guitar it out and warm up a bit. With twin creepy skull things hovering above the stage (they sort of look like Frank the dead bunny from Donnie Darko…) and blasting smoke cannons, the sound is the clearest it has been all day, and Trivium give a good solid, if not exactly awe inspiring mix of old hits and new material. Technical difficulties cause havoc for guitarist Corey Beaulieu who misses playing the first two songs due to “getting electrocuted by [his] microphone” and soon after throws the mic stand claiming “my face is getting shocked to shit!”. Despite the setback ‘Becoming the Dragon’ and ‘Strife’ get a small circle pit going and they finish strong on ‘Pull Harder on the Strings of Your Martyr’ to cheers, despite the fairly thin crowd in front of them.
Saturday sees another corpse-painted posse 1349 bring some doom and gloom to an otherwise sunny day, everyone seems to be loving ‘Atomic Chapel’ but it’s all a bit hard to take seriously in the nice weather and I kind of want someone to tell them it looks like they haven’t rubbed their suncream in properly. Plenty of panda-faced people with yesterday’s sunburn and hangover-applied mascara actually look sort of similar. Finnish folk-metallers and lords of the extraordinarily tight-pants, Korpiklaani are unashamedly fun and upbeat. You can’t beat a good silly jig around in a field with your mates, toasting with ales from hollowed out horns, and Korpiklaani bring exactly that to the party. With a giant inflatable football making its way across the crowd and super catchy ‘Vodka’ (or Wodka as they seem to say it) they just put the life back into the arena after a sleepy afternoon.
Local lads Napalm Death always bring the noise, frontman Mark "Barney" Greenway looks like a toddler having a rage tantrum but the sentiment is as usual anti-establishment for ‘When All is Said and Done’ and ‘Scum’ and it is pure gritty energy. 25 years after their last time in the UK, thrashers Dark Angel lead some sweaty circle pits with doom riffs and serious shredding a pretty big crowd has turned out to hear them play and give some crowd-surfing a go.
Last time Opeth played BOA, there was a definite lack of spark and a pretty sparse turnout, but today, this is the aligning of the powers that be and they are joined on stage by the perfect sunset for their eerie but beautiful music. Opeth greet the mesmerised crowd “Good evening… er where are we… Derby. Good evening England. We came all the way from Stockholm Sweden to play for you… which takes a long time if you’re walking like we do.” and joke about a night out after mixing their record here some time ago, and getting fish, chips and a glass of milk. Countering, the crowd keep up the earlier joke of chanting ‘Ikea’ only to hear back “Are you saying Ikea? It’s Swedish… is that what they’re saying? Why not, I have a shitload of Ikea furniture at home. You know Volvo too? Also Swedish…” and they finish up with epic ‘Deliverance’.
Back in the olden days (ten long years ago) when Bloodstock was a little metal fest held in the Derby Assembly Rooms, tonight’s headliner Within Temptation blew our metaphorical socks off. Back tonight with an epic stage set and a number of costume changes the symphonic melodic metallers soar to new heights. Dressed in a white PVC bustier, black pleated skirt and some sort of binbag-esque cape, Sharon headbangs her way through the set with so much energy it’s amazing that she never breaks song once, the vocals are immaculate and when she stops to mention that guitarist Stefan “…had an accident last week, he has a bruised rib. He’s trying his best, he’s here for you tonight” a roar of approval is elicited from the now densely packed crowd. ‘Our Solemn Hour’ and the refrain “Sanctus Espiritus” have even the clueless chanting along and the energy the band exudes is infectious. With the full force of ‘Stand My Ground’ ringing through the arena, bursts from flame cannons and an elevated platform for lead vocalist Sharon to run around on top of, it’s clear this band mean business. With the addition of some fringed arm gauntlets, a cellist and the help of some smoke cannons the band sail through their jam packed set, with Sharon pausing to ask “This is a male dominated festival… where the girls at?”. Whilst she could of course be talking about the sea of people in front of her, it is a good question raised at the overwhelmingly male dominated main stage acts this year.
Unfortunately a massive sound blunder befalls the unlucky band as they try and fail to start ‘Ice Queen’ once, twice and then “You wanna try for a third time? You sure? Okay, third time it goes otherwise I’m going to skip it… maybe this song is cursed!” yes, you guessed it – on the drop for the third time the PA completely loses its shit again. Of all the places for this to happen though, Britain absolutely love an underdog. The crowd cheers on through a massive drum solo and stick it out for massive finale with ‘Covered by Roses’ and the incredible ‘Mother Earth’. Floating above the stage in a billowy white cape Sharon calls out “We waited ten years to come back here, thank you so much for having us”, and we hope it won’t be another ten years before we see them here again.
You could definitely do worse for your hangover than starting Sunday off with a big old heap of Orange Goblin, who rock the cobwebs right out of your dusty ear-holes, but its Pro-Pain’s chuggy steam roller metal that instantly blows a speaker with their heavy riffs. It’s a pretty good sized crowd in the arena but the effects of possible liver damage and sunstroke seem to be weighing heavy today. Luckily Sepultura are on hand to deliver a downright dirty and dark set, with rolling drum and a celebration of their thirty year anniversary.
Finnish fury Ensiferum take to the stage with a melodic Viking style intro and proceed to windmill their hair in dangerous ways, but the ever creepy Cannibal Corpse really dig deep into the weirdness, singing songs about “shooting blood from your cock” and growling at the crowd “Don’t sit around rubbing your girlfriend’s tits and ass, she’s not here to look at you… she’s here for ME!”.
With all the dark and heavy stuff that’s graced the stage this weekend, it’s a nice change of pace to have Black Label Society providing the rockier edge, and Zakk Wylde sporting a signature flamboyant guitar is as ever shred-heavy and brilliant. Following BLS Bloodstock’s second band announcement for 2016 is revealed to be epic 2012 headliner, Behemoth.
As the skies darken on the final night of Bloodstock 2015 and the painted up zombies come out to play, the stage comes alive with the monstrous legends of film on huge backdrops for headliner Rob Zombie. Whilst this isn’t the stage sets we’ve become accustomed to seeing at bigger festivals, it allows Rob to really showcase himself as the attraction. With some serious dance moves, a good bit of lunge-work and some fairly seductive gyrating, he’s a force to be reckoned with. The rowdy frontman rocks hobo-chic in a way that makes you think vomiting in your own dreadlocks and sleeping in a bog look like it might actually be a good fashion choice, but the music is what’s really pulling us in tonight. No-nonsense gut busting drums, huge riffs and dirrrrty lyrics is what takes Rob Zombie from comedy metal to genius, and absolutely everyone is going full throttle mental for ‘Living Dead Girl’. Especially the female zombies in the audience who actually are living dead girls tonight. A little bit of James Brown funk thrown into the mix does no harm “You can’t listen to metal all day right?” says Rob (and really, who doesn’t want to see Rob Zombie studio-54 it up whilst singing about being a Sex Machine?). Rob is also suitably impressed at the calibre of crowd surfing in the UK “That’s some crazy fucking crowd surfing using a couch… I remember when it was a chair, now it’s a sofa?!”.
Mass crowd pogo-ing, chants of “We wanna fuckin party” and LED lit guitars all add to the spectacle, but it’s being told that “The past few years doing shows in the UK have been some of the most fun we’ve had in twenty fucking years” that really gets us to put our hearts on our sleeves for Rob Zombie, we know Rob, we know we’re awesome at metal. You’re welcome.
Kicking out big blow up balloons into the crowd and dropping a cheeky Ramones cover (Hey Ho, Let’s Go – Blitzkrieg Bop obviously) is great but still doesn’t hold sway against classic (and Guitar Hero favourite) White Zombie song ‘Thunder Kiss ‘65’ as the call goes out for “All the young people, put your hands in the air. Now turn around and wave at all the old people in the back. Remember when you used to stand in front?”. A little snippet of fellow gore loving metal icon Alice Cooper’s ‘School’s Out’ is snuck in alongside a huge guitar solo, played on the tiniest guitar ever and after a short encore Rob Zombie return for an encore in matching Union Jack trench coats to a massive roar of appreciation from the crowd. We might not be the most outwardly patriotic of countries, but damn do we love it when those treasonous scallywag Americans decide to rock our flag.
Closing out the night with firm favourite ‘Dragula’ is the perfect note to end on, and happy little rotten-to-the-core metalheads go forth into the night satiated after rounds of raucous applause and chants of ‘Zombie’. It’s been an incredible set, night and weekend for Bloodstock-goers and with next year’s tantalising announcements, there are sure to be immediate ticket sales during tomorrow’s early bird release. So it’s with a heavy but happy heart that we doff our caps/bandanas/horned helmets and Stetsons to the BOA organisers and look forward to more exciting announcements about next year’s lineup.
BLOODSTOCK HQ is a-buzz with activity with just over three weeks to go! There’s still more bands to announce and we also welcome the return of the brutal-yet-amazing ‘Battle Of The Nations UK’ historical fighting team!
The New Blood stage on Friday sees a brace of additions; Hertfordshire melodic death metal outfit and Luton ‘Metal 2 The Masses’ finals winner, COUNTLESS SKIES (www.facebook.com/countlessskies) and Gothenburg, Sweden’s WE ARE THE CATALYST (www.facebook.com/WATCofficial) – who also won DELAIN’s competition with Metal Hammer magazine to win a support slot on the Dutch symphonic rockers’ UK tour. Joining the New Blood bill on Saturday are Midlands-based prog metallers, MARTYR DE MONA (www.facebook.com/martyrdemona, groove metal outfit and Norwich M2TM winners, SOULBORN (www.facebook.com/soulborn) and self-proclaimed ‘hobo sludge’ gang and Reading’s M2TM winners, VICTORIAN WHORE DOGS (www.facebook.com/VWDBAND). Sunday welcomes London death metallers SKARTHIA (www.facebook.com/skarthia), hard rock funk/schplunk metal men and London final M2TM winners, WRETCHED TOAD (www.facebook.com/wretchedtoad) and lastly, the winners of the ‘Metal To The Masses’ Hobgoblin online video upload competition, Newcastle groove metal beasts, TOMBSTONE CROW (www.facebook.com/tombstonecrowofficial).
Over on the Jagermeister Stage on Friday, hard rock four-piece CITY OF THIEVES (www.facebook.com/cityofthievesuk) join the fray. On Saturday, the blues-based rockers PIG IRON (www.facebook.com/pigironmc) grab a slot, as well as stoner/sludge squad, MORASS OF MOLLASSES (www.facebook.com/MorassOfMolasses) and straight out of Valhalla, the truest of true cover bands, HANOWAR (www.facebook.com/Hanowartruemetal); a bit like Manowar, but…well, you do the math! Lastly for this announcement, Sunday sees horror-metal punksters, THE HELL PUPPETS (www.facebook.com/hellpuppets) join the Jager bill. Final additions to all stages will be announced next week!!
There’s plenty more on site to see and do besides watching the awesome bill! Returning this year for Friday-Sunday are the very popular BATTLE OF THE NATIONS UK historical fighting team! These guys have to be seen to be believed. Catch their regular ‘demonstrations’ (read: ‘full-on’, no-holds-barred fighting with broadswords, maces and plenty of other historical weaponry) in their designated pen in the main arena.
All these stellar bands are on the bill! Friday’s headliner TRIVIUM and special guests SABATON, Saturday’s headliner WITHIN TEMPTATION and special guests OPETH, Sunday’s headliner ROB ZOMBIE and special guests BLACK LABEL SOCIETY, plus CANNIBAL CORPSE, IHSAHN, SEPULTURA, ORANGE GOBLIN, DEATH D.T.A, NUCLEAR ASSAULT, 1349, NAPALM DEATH, DARK ANGEL, ARMORED SAINT, BELPHEGOR, OVERKILL, ENSIFERUM, AGALLOCH, KORPIKLAANI, PRO-PAIN, ENSLAVED, RAGING SPEEDHORN, XERATH and WOLF. Over on the Sophie Lancaster stage, there’s headliners DELAIN, FLESHGOD APOCALYPSE, GODFLESH and ARNOCORPS, LAWNMOWER DETH, MORDRED, ETHEREAL, ONSLAUGHT, OAF, CONAN, PLANET OF ZEUS, GODSIZED, plus many many more.
The Summer Festival Guide can reveal 18 more acts which are added to this years Download Festival lineup which takes place this July.
Seminal punk act Against Me!, fronted by the phenomenal Laura Jane Grace, will make their debut at Download, bringing with them their signature crunching guitars and soaring choruses accompanied by thoughtful ruminations on the ideals of social justice.
Legendary grime rockers Monster Magnet will make their first Download appearance in a decade, while atmospheric post-grunge pilgrims Chevelle, whowere due to appear at the very first Download in 2003 but had to pull out at the last minute, finally return in 2014 to claim their birthright.
For Monster Magnet this performance has been a long time coming: We're really happy to be performing at Download 2014. We've haven't played a festival in the UK for ages!
Another act which has a long association with Donington – hard-edged Geordie rock quartet The Wildhearts – return having made their debut at rock’s seat of power in 1994 and who last performed at Download in 2008.
Guitarist CJ reflected on the band’s relationship with the mythical stage: Well they just can't get rid of us. It's only 20 years since we first played Donington and in 2008 they turned the power off on us. Who knows what will happen this year…Bring it on!
These latest additions to the line-up also provide plenty of heavy riffage, in part through Italian power metal demons Arthemis. Lead guitarist, Andy Martongelli, shared his delight at returning to the festival:
Arthemis at Download Festival 2014! Hell yeah! Do we need to say more? There's nothing better than playing in front of the massive Download crowd. Last year we had a blast and it's such a true honour for us to be back! We'll deliver a very special, face-melting-show for this event so make sure you're there to share the awesome moment with us: Arthemis strikes back!
British juggernaut Orange Goblin also add to the heavy factor, while local Nottinghamshire boys Lawnmower Deth add a sharp dose of good old fashioned thrash metal to the party, with singer Pete Lee taking the opportunity to reflect on the band’s history with the festival:
Back again! Damn do we love Download. Damn do we love Copping. Our 4th time. You do realise them puppies Metallica have only officially managed 3! We’re in pole position baby. And to boot, Twisted Sister and the mighty, mighty Quo are playing on the same day. Is it only March? Come on already June.
On the other side of the rock spectrum, fellow Midlanders Page 44 will also return to add some passionate, stripped back post-punk to proceedings.
Making their first appearance by the racetrack is one of the most exciting young acts on the British music scene, Brighton blues rockers Royal Blood, who have recently been nominated for BBC Sound of 2014 award.
Other home grown talents taking to the Donington stage include symphonic punk rockers, The Dirty Youth, whose singer Danni Monroe is relishing another visit to Download, saying: We're over the moon to be invited back to Download festival for the third time. It has always been our favourite festival! Cannot wait to rock the second stage!
This sentiment was shared by melodic math-punk newcomers Marmozets, who said: We’re looking forward to playing at Download 2014. It was a blast last time and it opened a few doors up for us as a band.
Meanwhile, further Download debutants announced today are Japanese hard rock duo VAMPS (JPN) (not to be confused with The Vamps. Ever), Irish disco blues punks Kid Karate, ska merchants TheMagnus Puto, Irish troopers No Hot Ashes, punk rockers Colt 45, hardcore punks Drones and Bristol rock’n’rollers Tax the Heat.
Drones looked ahead to following in: We are over the moon to be playing the hallowed ground of Donington and the legendary Download Festival, where so many of our heroes growing up have performed. We can't wait to tear it up and cause some chaos, see everyone in the pit!
Tax the Heat said: We’re absolutely ecstatic to be playing such a great festival and with such a great slot too. We look forward to being one of the first bands to play Download this year. See you there!
One of the most successful and influential bands the British metal scene has ever produced,PARADISE LOST are true pioneers, with their early blend of death/doom giving way to the more melodic sound that defined the gothic metal genre. Guitarist Greg Mackintosh observes:
"We had the pleasure of playing the first ever Bloodstock Open Air way back in 2005, when it was quite an intimate affair. It's an honour to be asked back to BOA 2012, which looks to be shaping up to be a blinding festival. Since we last played, we have seen BOA grow into the Great British metal festival it is today. We look forward to seeing you all down the front."
With a back catalogue spanning twelve albums over twenty two years – and a DVD set for release before Bloodstock 2012 ("Draconian Times MMXI" features the London show at The Forum on April 1, a documentary from the whole tour, interviews about the history of "Draconian Times" and the two promo videos from their latest album, "Faith Divides Us – Death Unites Us") – PARADISE LOST are one of the few bands capable of delivering a set that will satisfy both fans of more brutal, death tinged doom with songs such as “Eternal”, “As I Die” and “Gothic”, as well as the melodic, gothic darkness of “Embers Fire”, “Hallowed Land” and “The Last Time”.
Joining them are Swedish Black Metal misanthropists WATAIN, who make their BLOODSTOCK debut at a very special slot on theRONNIE JAMES DIO stage. Festering in the Black Metal underground since 2000, WATAIN’s rise through the ranks has been an impressive one, with Erik Danielsson’s dedication and conviction setting them apart, leading the band to become one of the most prolific acts on the scene today. Of next year’s appearance, the band states:
"The United Kingdom has spawned many a thing inspirational to Watain, be it druidic sorcery, Venom or Judas Priest. Our performances there have always been spiced with a nameless sensation of raw power, and this is the main reason why we have chosen Bloodstock to be one of the very few festival shows we will perform next year. As always, expect something very far from the ordinary."
Famed for their incredibly atmospheric live shows, their set at BOA 2012 will be their biggest UK performance to date, and as such the band are preparing to deliver a suitably memorable set, with a show full of satanic majesty planned, as blood, fire and fierce Black Metal spew out over a dusk covered CATTON HALL.
BLOODSTOCK OPEN AIR 2012 takes place at Catton Hall August 9th – 12th. Four day camping tickets for next year’s event are available now at bloodstock.uk.com for just £90 (plus booking fee) until xmas.
The first act confirmed for the RONNIE JAMES DIO main stage next year are legendary Canadian comeback kings ANVIL. ANVIL are true defenders of the faith, having never lost sight of their vision to create uncompromising, dyed in the wool heavy metal. They have been on a rock ‘n’ roll journey for the past 30 years and while few bands can make it to the three year mark, ANVIL have closed in on three decades of the most uncompromised and ear pleasing metal known to headbangers.
Ever since the award-winning documentary “Anvil! The Story of Anvil” propelled the Canadian band from their respectable, hard-earned status as a band revered by the likes of Metallica, Motorhead and Guns N’ Roses,ANVIL founding members, vocalist/guitarist Steve “Lips” Kudlow and drummer Robb Reiner, have made sure that one thing remains constant; their dedication to their music. Their performance at BOA 2012 is bound to be a memorable one in BLOODSTOCK’s history.
Home-grown stoners ORANGE GOBLIN are first to be confirmed for the SOPHIE stage next year. Since the mid 90s, ORANGE GOBLIN have upheld the traditions of great British heavy rock and metal, cementing their place in rock history as pioneers alongside the likes of Monser Magnet, Kyuss, Fu Manchu and Clutch. Since their formation in the late night drinking holes of London’s Soho, the band have risen to the very pinnacle of what they do, earning a reputation as an awesome live band that has seen them share the stage all over the world with the likes of Alice Cooper, Heaven & Hell, Sex Pistols, Kreator, Queens of the Stone Age, Danzig, Monster Magnet, Nashville Pussy, Cathedral, Nebula, Unida, Alabama Thunderpussy, Dio, Grand Magus, Witchcraft and many more. Returning to BLOODSTOCK for the first time since the inaugral indoor event in 2011, anyone under the canvas of the SOPHIE tent while OG are on its stage will be helpless against the sheer power and presence of man mountain/frontman Ben Ward, and will be in for one of the weekend’s highlights.
BLOODSTOCK have released early bird tickets for next year’s fest at rock bottom prices. Four day camping tickets for next year’s event – which takes place 9th – 12th August next year – are available now atbloodstock.uk.com for just £90 (plus booking fee) until xmas.
BLOODSTOCK OPEN AIR 2012 takes place at Catton Hall August 9th – 12th