Uprising 2017

Interview with Simon Yarwood – Uprising 2017

Simon Yarwood Interview at Uprising 2017
27/05/2017
Interview by Rick Tilley and Beth Jones.

I’ve known Simon Yarwood for about five years now, primarily for being one of the guitarists in Resin. However, in more recent times, he has become well known in the Metal and Rock community for promoting and organising excellent gigs and events at the Firebug in Leicester and further afield through ‘Resin Events’ and that’s why I caught up to have a chat with him at Uprising because he is the genius/madman that organises this huge event, with the main day (Saturday) taking place at De Montfort Hall and a further two events on the Friday ‘The Night Before Uprising’ and Sunday ‘Uprising Aftermath’ at the aforementioned Firebug!

If you already know Simon then you’ll be aware of his razor sharp wit, incredibly dry sense of humour and massive selection of hugely colourful shirts. If you don’t know Simon then I’m warning you now about his razor sharp wit, incredibly dry sense of humour and massive collection of hugely colourful shirts. Simon is also a lovely guy and works his butt off to make sure that EVERYTHING runs as smoothly as possible. If you are thinking of going into the promotional side of things then I would heartily suggest Simon is one of the go to people so you can witness how things are done properly! He is always a pleasure to talk to and this was no exception!

Rick: Hi Simon, it’s lovely to see you again. This is the second year for Uprising. What made you decide that an already full festival circuit needed another event?

Simon: I think that we feel, and we still believe that this stands on its own two feet, you know, the quality of the venue and hopefully the organisational skills of myself and my partner behind it. I think there is room as well, especially when you look at the capacities of different ‘festivals’ for want of a better word,…it isn’t a word we use because Uprising is not a festival really, it’s just an event on its own, but there is a hole that we thought this would fill in terms of size. You have the sort of 200–300 capacity festivals and then you’ve got the 5000-10000 capacity festivals and there’s not really much that sits in between those. This has got, well the building itself will hold 2 and a half thousand people before we even move outside, so I think there was a space for it. With the right bands and the right backing from the public, I think it’s a hole that can be filled and we’ll fill it…and that’s cool!

Rick: Can you take us through some of the work that you do to put an event like this together?

Simon: I just ring my partner in crime, Matt, and say ‘can you do this?’ and ‘this needs doing’ and ‘can you do that?’ and ‘that needs doing’!

Rick: So it’s delegation?

Simon: Yeah, and then he’ll ring me and say ‘have you done this?’ and ‘that needs doing’ and we just kind of do that to each other really! We’ve both got different skills.

Beth: How long does it take to organise it? Do you start tomorrow?

Simon: Yeah. We will start tomorrow for next year. It’s like last year on the Sunday afterwards we were working on what we needed to do to put things in place for this year!

Rick: well that sort of leads into my next question. How did the arrangement / partnership with De Montfort Hall come about because it’s such an incredible venue?

Simon: It is yeah. I’ll be honest, I am lucky there because my partner at Uprising, Matt, he’s already got a relationship with this venue. He’s part of a board that put a festival on here called ‘Simon Says’. It’s completely different music you know, it’s more Indie, it’s very local bands focused and they’ll have the headliner, I think, this year is maybe The Wonder Stuff or someone like that, I can’t remember. So he’s got a relationship with the venue. So when we approached them to do something that was metal they trusted his past record and obviously he trusted me with my promotions and events that I put on, so that between us we would actually make it work. So he kind of leaves me to deal with anything bands and line-up related because he hasn’t got, maybe, the same feel for what bands need to be playing at the event, but when it comes to the venue itself and how we have to run such a large scale event, he’s got maybe more experience than me in that type of thing, so the two of us together, yeah we shout at each other and then it comes out right!

Rick: How many bands do you actually have to go through before you get to a line-up you are happy with? Because there have got to be bands who can’t do it etc.!

Simon: I would say for every band we book we’ve probably gone through anywhere from 5 to 10. for every slot we’ve probably got 10 bands that we’re looking at to fill that slot and you might find that instantly 7 of them can’t play, and then you’re down to 3 and you might take that 3 back up to 6 with others, you know, it’s just constantly changing. And you have got to put quite a mixed bag on to appeal. You need any sort of random Metalhead that will look at the line-up and there will be sort of 3 bands that are going to appeal to them, because that might be enough for him or her to make the decision to buy a ticket so you fill one slot with a thrash band and you may have another thrash band sitting as a possible for another slot, but you’ve already filled your quota of thrash bands, so they’ve got to go and you’ve got to fill it with a different style of metal so you’ve always got, hopefully, that right mix.

Rick: Obviously you’ve got a relationship with Simon Hall (Metal 2 The Masses Organiser), but how important is it for you to make sure that the Leicester Final of ‘Metal 2 The Masses’ is on here along with the rest of the bands?

Simon: The whole event was built round that you know! I mean Firebug where we put events on is an absolutely stunning little venue, but it is a small venue, and looking at a typical capacity for a final it wasn’t big enough, so then the conversation started with myself and Matt, whereby I said ‘look I want to run ‘Metal 2 The Masses’ but we need a venue for the final other than Firebug, what have we got,’ so Matt said ‘Well let’s do De Montfort Hall’ and I’m like.. ‘Woah… Yeah, well that’s gonna look a bit rubbish with 250 people in there’ and he went ‘well book some more bands then!’ I mean every band in that final, they will leave today, and the same last year, with photographs and video footage that they will never ever forget. I mean to get that production just to do a video would probably cost you ten thousand pounds, you know, for that lighting rig, for that stage, to use that venue for half an hour, to just film a video, would cost you ten thousand quid, I would imagine, and they are leaving here with a full load of footage and photos. I was watching them last year thinking ‘I want some of that! I’m booking my band! How come they’re all playing that stage…what have I done wrong? It’s brilliant. It’s a prize in itself you know. What I like as well is those bands playing that final and they are happy to play that final…to them that is probably their dream gig…until that winning band goes to Bloodstock, and then they realise how much more Bloodstock is. I know that because I’ve done it. I’ve won it, I’ve played it. I know what they are going to feel when they get there, they don’t! So they think this is amazing, but they haven’t yet experienced the Bloodstock experience, so I know that somewhere along the line in the next couple of months I’m gonna get a phone call going, ‘that was amazing, thank you so much’ and that’s what makes it worthwhile!

Rick: I know you have mentioned a bit about Matt, but you have got a load of people who you work with. How important is it to have people round that you trust?

Simon: It’s absolutely the most important thing. It’s more important than anything else! If I can say to anybody on our team, ‘I need this doing’, and I can then move on to do something else. It doesn’t matter what it is, if it is press related or artwork related, or production related, to know that you can just drop somebody an email asking them to do something and know that they’re either going to do it or let you know why they can’t is great. It frees your time up to go and do something that is perhaps more in your skill set. There are probably ten of us I think… all together!

Rick: Wow… that’s not a lot for an event this size!

Now this question is a bit sensitive… The attack in Manchester this week (Referring to the terrorist attack at the Ariana Grande Concert on 22nd May, five days before Uprising). Do you think it is going to put people off going to festivals or events? Or… do you think there is going to be resilience and people are going to fight back?

Simon: I think that for every person that stays at home, there will be another person that makes sure they go out. Some people naturally want to show solidarity or defiance or community spirit and we are seeing that. You saw it in Firebug last night you know…to see everybody stay silent for a minute at 10 o’clock, just because somebody has asked them to. That sort of respect, especially in our community, is really important so… I think it makes you think you know. It makes us have to work harder. We’ve had the police here all the time. We have been very strict on access to certain areas of the building. But maybe that is a good thing!

Beth: It’s reassuring isn’t it?

Simon: Yeah, yeah! We had to get together, we had to have a meeting and we had to decide. The venue had to look at how to make it as safe as possible and of course that’s all going on with days to go! You know, you’ve got to react and you’ve got to put something in place really. But from the public side of things, I don’t think they’ll see anything other than a couple of policemen here that weren’t. They were here last year, you know, they just didn’t have to walk in the building. They just called by and asked if everyone was all right and then went again, but this year they have to be here all the time and they are loving it!

Beth: Yeah, from our point of view, everything still seems very relaxed inside!

Simon: It is, and that is because of the people who are here and if you make them feel safe then they are going to be relaxed aren’t they? And it is a safe place to be!

Rick: How do you want the event to grow over the next three to five years? I’m assuming you are going to carry it on?

Simon: Yeah, I’ve got no intention of saying ‘well there we go that’s it then!’ I’m reluctant to ever want to move away from this venue. I think the venue is important for the quality of the event. Seeing people’s faces when they walk into this venue for the first time, saying the things that they say…!

Rick: Me being one of them, you know, I am a London boy and for me I was always going to Hammy Odeon, and this is my first time here and I walked in and was like…wow, this is a lovely venue!

Simon: Yep, and you capture people instantly then don’t you, you know, before you’ve even heard a band? You walk in that reception and there’s like gold braided ropes and plush red carpets and a proper box office with videos playing… You know last year I had people walking in saying ‘So what room is Uprising in?’ and I was like…you’re in it!! It’s the whole thing…just knock yourself out, go for a walk, go and find things! and they were all ‘Wow this is amazing!’ So I don’t want to lose that you know? ‘Simon Says Festival’, which we hold here, just in the grounds over there. There is a big outdoor stage and a marquee that gets put up with a 300 capacity! We’ve also got a bandstand where the acoustic acts are playing, so my aim is to mirror that really. You know we could have three and a half thousand people here with a decent outdoor stage. Probably another two stages but still all contained within these grounds. I mean you’re sat outside the stage door now and that is usually a grubby place. However, we are sat at a picnic table under a tree!

Rick: It makes a big difference doesn’t it?

I then asked Beth if she had any questions for Simon!

Beth: I don’t think so. I am quite new at this.

Simon: So am I! (This caused lots of laughter)

Beth: No literally, my first ever interview earlier was Lawnmower Deth!!

Simon: Wow, baptism of fire!!

Beth: Exactly! You are obviously very passionate about this?

Simon: Is this ten times more than you expected it to be when you turned up?

Rick & Beth: Yes!!

Simon: Well that’s my job done then!

Rick: When I walked into that main stage I was like, ‘Well I wasn’t expecting that’!

Simon: Yeah that’s my job definitely done then!

Beth: Do you every get days when you think, ‘Why am I doing this?’

Simon: Yeah…seven days a week probably!! (Laughing) But when you see it coming together it is…

Beth: It’s a happy warm feeling?

Simon: Yeah because that’s what it’s all about isn’t it? At the end of the day, when those doors open, people walk in and the music starts. Those 12 hours are…

Rick: And are you pleased with the turnout?

Simon: I’m always happy with the turnout. As long as everyone who wanted to come has come, I’m happy. If more people come, great and if less people come…well, I don’t want anybody to be here who doesn’t want to be here so… I want everyone that wanted to be here to come, but if some can’t, for whatever reason, then that’s a shame! Whatever, I will always be happy with the turnout. It’s not the customer’s responsibility you know. You show them something and they decide if they want to come, and they come or they don’t and then whatever the result of that is you take it on the chin.

Beth: So, apart from starting to organise next year’s event, what are you intending to do on Monday morning?

Simon: Erm… I’ve no idea! I’ve got breakfast in the hotel, I know that, and after that I don’t know! Probably start paying some bills!! (Lots of laughing) I’m back at work on Tuesday. That’s the real life. My gaffer at work actually asked me a few months ago if my job interfered with my hobby too much! And then promoted me so!! Yeah, ‘You’ve got organisational skills mate… come and have a look at this!!’ (Laughing)

Rick: Ha-ha that’s great. I’d just like to say it was a brilliant performance earlier as well with Resin! It was very weird seeing you as a six piece with a violin player!

Simon: Yeah, it’s changed a bit hasn’t it?

Rick: Yeah it has and I love it!

Beth: That’s what I was going to ask you…who is your violinist? I really liked her, she was cool!

Simon: I’ve no idea!

Beth: Just some random bird then?

Simon: Yeah yeah, we just found her! It was an advert on Gumtree or something! (Roars of laughter)

Simon answered this last question in such a matter of fact way that if you didn’t know him you would swear this was actually how they found their violin player Emma. Poor girl, I don’t know how she puts up with them! I’m seeing Resin again, in a little over a week at, SOS Festival so I’m hoping I’ll get to ask her!

What I can tell you about Simon is that he is a real character, very interesting to talk to and extremely funny. Knowing him as a guitarist was good because Resin are a great band, and are due in the studio to begin recording their second album soon, but knowing him as a promoter and event organiser is a real pleasure because he throws his heart and soul into it! You only had to look at the smiles, not just on the faces of the audience, but everybody that had a job to do to see that his way of working gets results. He may well get flustered…but you NEVER see it. What you see is always a calm exterior! There is no doubt that Uprising does indeed have a very important part to play in the Rock and Metal calendar. It really was a fabulous event to be a small part of and if 2017 was anything to go by then 2018 will be even bigger and better.

I just want to take this opportunity to thank him, not only for a wonderful day (I want to get to all three days next year), but also for taking the time to talk to us at Ever Metal! Simon, you are a gentleman!

Rick

Resin Events:

Uprising Festival:

Resin Band:

Disclaimer: This interview is solely the property of Richard Tilley, Beth Jones and Ever Metal. It is strictly forbidden to copy any part of this review, unless you have the strict permission of both parties. Failure to do adhere to this will be treated as plagiarism and will be reported to the relevant authorities

Interview with Hærken – Uprising 2017

Hærken Interview at Uprising 2017
27/05/2017
Interview by Beth Jones
Introduction and summing up from Rick Tilley

I first saw Hærken in the SOPHIE tent at Bloodstock 2014 and they blew me away. Their Medieval Death Metal, banter and stage attire really captured my imagination as did the massive inflatable sword and axe battle that ensued in the crowd during their set. It was almost as funny as watching Evil Scarecrow. I was therefore really pleased when they got in touch with me a few days before Uprising to see if we could meet them on the day for an interview and here is what happened! Well…I wasn’t going to say no was I?

Beth had written the questions in a pseudo sort of Old English but we soon found out that Hærken take these things pretty seriously…sort of!!

Hærken: When we first started we did interviews in Elizabethan English…it’s incredibly difficult! All of the stage banter is scripted because there is no way of doing it off the cuff really. There are a couple of standard phrases that you can drop in, but it takes a lot of research!

Beth: Ok then, we will just do it normally. Obviously, you have your stage names… The Laird, The Baron, The Scribe, The Druid, but which one of you is the Jester and which one of you is The Sage?

Hærken: We sacked the jester! (Laughing)

Beth: Don’t ever sack the jester!

Hærken: No, the jester chose a different path to ours… yeah, we reached a fork in the road to the forest and the Jester’s path diverged. One road went ‘hard work’ and the other road went ‘not hard work’, and he chose that one! So…!

Beth: Is there one of you that would naturally fall into The Jester’s role?

Jonathan – Production Manager: All of them! There is no Jester really!

Hærken – The Druid: Me maybe…I’m constantly dicking about!

Jonathan – Production Manager: Yeah, you can’t have a serious conversation with The Druid / The Jester.

Beth: Is there anyone who is the wise one? Like the dad of the group?!

Hærken: The manager, Jonathan!! Yeah…get in your costumes, come on get out of your costumes, get in the van, get out of the van! Constantly bossing us about! You’ve got to be there at 8.30 in the morning…we arrive at 9.30! Although he bosses people around his isn’t in charge!! (Much laughter as they rib him)

Beth: So, for people who haven’t heard about you just explain a bit about the band, and why the Anglo Saxon / Medieval Folklore influence?

Hærken: This is the rise of Viking metal to an extent.

Hærken – The Druid: Well to cut a long story short, I’d just finished in a band, got itchy fingers, met Ben at work, decided to do a band, said let’s be a British Amon Amarth, I know…we’ll sing about King Arthur and Robin Hood, where they sing about Odin and Viking Mythology so it was kind of a direct…

(There was an interjection of ‘repost’ from the background)

Hærken – The Druid: Rip Off??! (And another shout of ‘REPOST’)! Oh repost…I thought you said rip off!! A direct repost yes. (Laughter)

Jonathan – Production Manager: The thing that is cool about Hærken is, because Viking metal is very popular and the song themes are all kind of samey, so you have a song about dying in battle, a song about Odin, a song about drinking, so it’s all kind of fairly standard, whereas this is a very different kind of storytelling!

Hærken: Ours are all, bar one at the moment, actual events…we are an educational death metal band!

Hærken – The Scribe: Yeah, they are retelling of events and popular stories from the middle ages, so they are all from, say, ‘The Mabinogion’.

Hærken – The Druid: They are all actual myths that you can read about, so you can go and google the subtitle and you’ll find loads of different stuff on each one, so it’s genuine British mythology!

Hærken – The Scribe: And that’s why you won’t find any lyrics in our CDs, you’ll find an introduction to the story so you can just go and enjoy history, because it is a rich Mythology we have and a rich cultural heritage that we’ve got in this country, and we’ve spent a long time exploring that!

Beth: So, it’s less of a band and more an education really?

Hærken: It’s kind of a way of life! It’s a lot of reading! In terms of the band though, it’s been more of, the whole stage show and the idea of it has been bards, so those storytellers that you would have in mead halls and that kind of thing, you know what I mean, where you’d all gather round and there’d be a minstrel playing along and telling stories of victory – it’s exactly that…but louder! Powered by the invention of electricity!!

Beth: So, your debut album was released in 2014…have we got a new album on the cards and, if so, when’s it coming out?

Hærken: There is one on the cards… er… yeah…we started writing a song in 2007…it’s nearly finished. It’s taken ten years! It’s a long song. That’s all we’re going to say on the subject!

Beth: So…by that reckoning, maybe about 2050 or something??

Hærken: Maybe!! Yeah! (Laughing)

(Rick here. The next couple of questions were about upcoming gigs that have since passed. That’s totally my fault for not managing to get the interview online more quickly, but in my defence I have been incredibly busy. I’m leaving this part of the interview in because it is interesting and I’ve since spoken to Reverend Benjamin, The Scribe who has assured me that the gigs were all awesome! Hærken’s next gig is on the 8th July at The Firebug in Leicester and they will be supported by Rannoch and Kill For Company. The poster is at the bottom of the interview)

Beth: Next month you are coming to ‘Pentre Fest’ in Deeside, which isn’t far from us! Are you looking forward to coming to the land of the Druids?

Hærken: Yes, we certainly are. It’s going to be like a spiritual homecoming really. Before that we are going to London for the ‘Isarnos Metal Alliance’ at The Boston Music Rooms, supporting these guys (pointing at Olli, The harsh vocalist and multi-instrumentalist of Isarnos who was playing bagpipes for Hærken at Uprising), the man on the pipes there…we borrowed him for today!

Olli: Yeah Isarnos are my band…we’re a kind of a folk metal sort of…just Bathory with bagpipes is how I would describe it! (Lots of laughing)

Beth: Haha Baggery! Sounds a bit wrong that!! (Lots of laughing)

Olli: Yeah…so it’s basically us putting on our own show and the idea was, cos obviously we do gigs supporting bands, but if we could do our own gig, rather than getting support bands we thought who do we really like and who would we want to play with, so we’ve got these guys who are opening the show and doing something hopefully almost as spectacular as this evening, and we’ve got some other phenomenal bands as well…Countless Skies from just outside London, King Leviathan from Brighton, Cybernetic Witch Cult, from Cornwall, who are just like space dinosaurs, and Valafar from Yorkshire. So, some great bands. It was really difficult deciding on the running order cos any of the six bands playing could have easily headlined a show in London, but these guys have kindly offered to open proceedings and do some kind of induction / inauguration ceremony!

Hærken: We like inaugurating events! (Laughing)

We like opening because it is less waiting around!! Yeah, we can get straight on the pop! (More laughing)

Beth: So, you have already played here today. Obviously, this is a very iconic location to play. How did you find playing in this place?

Hærken: Oh, it was incredible. Beautiful. It’s an amazing venue!

Beth: It’s a stunning building isn’t it, and so much history behind it?

Hærken: And it’s a great team behind the event, both the promoters and the venue. Everyone has been really lovely and really professional to work with and made the day really easy. Everything all day has been great. They are a really great team and great guys. We have worked really hard building up to this one too, to put a set together that was worthy of it. Everything that was on stage we’ve actually been building – we’ve put all the set pieces together and the theatrics that go with it, and we’ve got Jonathan, our production manager, bringing all that stuff to life for us and we’ve got Mike with us for the first time on sound and without those guys bringing it all together, we really can’t put on a show. They are a priceless addition to any band!

Jonathan – Production Manager: A Haerken set is as much a piece of theatre as it is band performance and there’s a lot of extra work that goes in behind it and the venue team today have been really good about supporting us in that and helping us get an awful lot of stuff on to stage very very quickly and getting it all plugged up and working.

Hærken – The Druid: I’m not sure how much of that was in the initial conception of the band, but it has come to be a critical part of what we do. How it looks and how it all comes across.

Johnathan – Production Manager: Yeah, Hærken’s a show as much as music…its theatre!

Hærken: We’re not just a bunch of people who just turn up and play a bunch of songs in t-shirts, there’s enough of that!

Jonathan – Production Manager: From the audience side of things, seeing these guys on a stage that big, actually having the freedom to move around, it’s a much bigger show than four or five guys, just playing songs!

Hærken: What you can always take away from it though, is the community aspect, even from coming to such an iconic venue. You can’t help but walk around and see tons and tons of people that you know…you are constantly walking round shaking hands with people, you know. If we go to the bar or the toilet we are constantly stopping four or five times on the way talking to mates. It’s a proper family vibe here today…it’s brilliant. There are so many people that we haven’t seen since last festival season. We’ve had some good chats. It is as much a catch up as it is a show. And there’s been a lot of Hærken t-shirts today!

Beth: Yeah…I’ve got your patch, in my bag, which is going on my jacket as soon as we get home. So, what’s been the highlight of your career so far as Hærken?

Hærken: This is certainly one of them. It’s right up there!

Rick: Well I last saw you at Bloodstock in 2014…I came into the Sophie tent to see you!

Hærken: Yeah in the Sophie tent…that was an incredible gig. Three thousand people rammed into a tent and several hundred of them going at each other with inflatable weapons! (Lots of laughter)

Rick: Yeah that was fabulous and so funny!

Beth: We watched the video of that on Youtube last night.

Rick: Yeah, I said to Beth, you’ve got to watch this, it’s brilliant!

Hærken: Yeah that idea existed before there was a note of music written. We remember discussing it. In fact it came from when we were talking about wouldn’t it be cool to do a proper old style battle of the bands thing where one band played one song then we played a song and then they played a song, but wouldn’t it be cool if the audience could join in too!

Hærken – The Scribe: I thought we were keeping that idea under wraps! (Laughing)

Hærken: That’s where the inflatables swords came from! Yeah it could be against Amon Amarth and they could have axes and we could have swords! Yeah, yeah! And then… we started to write music! (lots of laughing)

Beth: So I’ve got a couple of funnyish questions to finish up with!

A quick show of hands on this one, or I’ll just go around the group…Ale or Mead?

Hærken: (In turn) Mead! Mead! Mead! Mead! Mead! Both!! Ale first then mead as the dessert!

Beth: You could make some kind of Jaeger bomb with ale and mead!

Hærken: We tried once…and it went downhill from there!! (Lots of laughing)

Beth: Ok and the last one, which we’ve pretty much asked everyone today!

If you were a Monty Python film, what would the title be?

Hærken: Well we are almost the Holy Grail aren’t we! (Plenty of Laughter)

Rick: Yeah that’s why we had to ask you…it doesn’t have to been one that already exists!

Hærken: Errrr…The deleted scenes from Camelot, cos they didn’t go there, cos they thought it was a bit silly!

(Lots of laughing and approval!)

Beth: Fantastic! Is there anything else you guys want to add before we finish?

Hærken: Well it’s all on the Website and Facebook. Can we also just say a massive thanks to Simon Yarwood for putting on a phenomenal day…you’ve got three stages with amazing bands on all three! So much work has gone into it and it has run like clockwork!

After this Hærken, and friends, decided that drinks were in order and there was a mass exodus and assault on the bar, which reminded me of several scenes from the movie ‘Robin Hood: Men In Tights’! Now that I’ve seen them live twice and have had a chance to meet, talk and listen to them it has given me a great insight into what they are all about. They obviously have a lot of fun but it’s done in an educational way, in fact its Metal’s equivalent of ‘Horrible Histories’! If you’ve not checked out their album “…Of Warriors & Kings” or seen them live then you are definitely missing out. Friendly, great personalities, costumes, fabulous music with a story behind it…and mead!! What more could you ask for? I’d like to thank them for taking the time to talk to Ever Metal!

Rick

Check out Hærken at the following links:

Disclaimer: This interview is solely the property of Richard Tilley and Ever Metal. It is strictly forbidden to copy any part of this review, unless you have the strict permission of both parties. Failure to do adhere to this will be treated as plagiarism and will be reported to the relevant authorities

Interview with Lawnmower Deth – Uprising 2017

Interview with Lawnmower Deth – Uprising 2017
27/05/2017
Interview by Beth Jones
with pointless comments, introduction and summing up from Rick Tilley

For those of you that read interviews in the hope of gaining meaningful insight into the thought processes of a band have, obviously, never had the absolute pleasure of meeting and talking to the guys from Lawnmower Deth. I’ve done some mad interviews in the past but nothing quite prepared me for how much fun this next 30 minutes was. For those of you who don’t know, although there cannot be many out there that haven’t heard the name Lawnmower Deth, they might be considered the illegitimate, bastard step-fathers of Evil Scarecrow. I still remember going to buy their first release, the incredible ‘Mower Liberation Front / Quack ‘Em All split album with Metal Duck, back in 1989. Back then, listening to such hallowed tracks as ‘Thermo-Nuclear War Is Good For Your Complexion’, ‘Seventh Church Of The Apocalyptic Lawnmower’, ‘I Got The Clap And My Knob Fell Off’ and ‘Fuck Off’ (I also have to mention the classic Metal Duck track ‘March Of The Metal Duck To The Duck Ponds Of Hell’) was a breath of fresh air. Metal can be very serious and it needs a light hearted and humorous side. Not only did Lawnmower Deth provide humour but they also provided it at the more extreme end of the Metal music spectrum! Over the years they have provided me with countless hours of fun and laughter so to finally meet them, in person, at Uprising really was the highlight of my day! I also thought it was perfect timing to let Beth off the leash and let her do her first interview. My thinking was if she could get through this then she would be able to deal with anyone

NB. Laughing and chuckling was continuous throughout the entire interview – it is amazing we got anything done we were falling about that much!!!!

Beth: Right well apparently I am taking the lead on this one. So this is my proper first interview! You are breaking my duck! Popping my cherry!!

Lawnmower Deth: We’re breaking your duck! (Laughing and chuckling from all around) This is going to be great!

Rick: It is lovely to meet you guys, a pleasure to meet you.

Beth: Question 1

Lawnmower Deth: Question 1 – Let’s have it!

Beth: What do you find is the best way to make an egg sandwich? (Pause for laughter and general chundering)!

Lawnmower Deth: Well its easy innit? – It’s all in the instructions there.

Beth: Yeah but is that the best way that you find?

Lawnmower Deth: Yeah it is yeah!

Rick: Its 2017 now – you do have haute cuisine as well don’t you?

Lawnmower Deth: No, No, No, the easiest way is do a gig and somebody brings you egg sandwiches! And that’s it!

Beth: What sort though?

Lawnmower Deth – Steve: Well it’s egg mayo innit?

Beth: Is it?

Lawnmower Deth – Pete: Nah, Nah, Nah! None of that shit in it!

Lawnmower Deth – Chris: Nah! Two slices of bread right. Butter…Lots of butter. Big fat egg, Its got to be a big fat egg. Yeah, yeah, yeah and what is it?

Beth & Rick: Egg sandwich!!

Beth: Double Yolk – what about a double yolk– does that make it better?

Rick: Boiled or fried? (Laughing and chundering)

Lawnmower Deth: Nowhere in the song does it say, boiled egg sandwich! No, no it doesn’t! It’s got to be fried. To be fair it doesn’t say fried egg sandwich either though!

Rick: No it doesn’t that’s why we asked you!

Lawnmower Deth: Double yolk now! Hmmmm.

Beth: What about bacon?

Lawnmower Deth: Well yeah bacon’s good see but that’s a bacon and egg sandwich!

Beth: Ah is it, or is it an egg and bacon sandwich!?

Lawnmower Deth – Steve: Ah you’re into semantics now. Ah an egg sandwich is just pure classic innit? Some people might say that the pan that you fry the egg in shouldn’t be too hot, but I personally like the crispiness of like, you know, the skin on an egg.

Lawnmower Deth – Pete: You’ve really over thought that!!! You’ve really overthought your answer!

Lawnmower Deth – Chris: It’s not Subway. Like that time you went to Subway and said ‘I’ll have one of them’…..

Lawnmower Deth – Pete: Fucking Subway!!!

Beth: Is egg sandwich on your rider then?

Lawnmower Deth: It fucking should be. Ey it should be actually.

Beth: Do you eat them in rehearsals?

Lawnmower Deth – Chris: No! They Smell! I’ve never eaten an egg sandwich! I would rather have a bacon butty.

Lawnmower Deth – Pete: To be honest I would rather have a sausage butty. (Nods and ‘yeah’s of agreement)

Rick: I’m with you on that.

Lawnmower Deth – Pete: With Brown Sauce!

Lawnmower Deth – Chris: And you don’t want the egg in there cos it makes a mess and goes down your shirt and that!

Lawnmower Deth – Steve: Brown Sauce is the food of Satan.

Beth: I’m with you there!!

Lawnmower Deth – Steve: Mustard and ketchup is where it is. Mustard and ketchup together!

Beth: I’m with you there too – it’s like an exciting Marie Rose sauce innit!!

Lawnmower Deth – Steve: ‘Bout time they… Actually I’m gonna do it – I’m gonna start making it and selling it. Yeah Mustup or Ketchard!!

(This caused lots of laughing and chundering again!)

Beth: Well that’s like the first three questions answered in one there so we’ll…

Lawnmower Deth: Great!!! Oh is that it?? Are we done then?!!

Beth: No, not quite!!! Right… Qualcast, Flymo…or the good old fashioned Rotary? (More laughing)

Lawnmower Deth – Chris: I actually bought a Flymo the other week from Asda…£57…it’s a rotary one, and you get a mini strimmer as well…absolute bargain! It takes half the time of what me other one did, but me other one were a Flymo too, but that one were rubbish!! (More laughter)

Lawnmower Deth – Steve: What about you Qualcast? (Referring to Pete’s stage name of old)

Lawnmower Deth – Pete: Errr. I’m a middle class wanker…I pay somebody to come round and cut my grass.

(At this admission there were huge groans of horror and amazement)

Everyone Together: Nooooooo!

Lawnmower Deth – Steve: Unbelievable!! That’s just incredible! I never thought I would hear you say that!!

Lawnmower Deth – Pete: I keep it cool…and I pay some fucker to come and cut the grass…£20!!

Lawnmower Deth – Steve: Why?? £20!! Do you not think of all the beer you could buy for £20?

Lawnmower Deth – Pete: You’ve seen the size of my back garden! (Much laughing and chundering again)

Lawnmower Deth: It’s good this…It’s like Parkinson.

Beth: Anyway, on a more serious note

Lawnmower Deth: A more serious note… F# Oohh F# (Lots of laughing)

Beth: On a more serious note…GENTLEMEN! Are we ever going to see new material or are you just happy with your three and a half albums.

Lawnmower Deth – Chris: How long was it since we did the last one?

Lawnmower Deth – Steve: The last one was 1993

Lawnmower Deth: Well, it has only been 23-24 years since the last one so give it time! We class ourselves as prolific!

Beth: Do you know how old I was in 1993? I was 13 then!

Lawnmower Deth – Pete: I was only 14! (Many laughs and groans)

Lawnmower Deth: To do two tracks in about twenty four years… is… is… not bad… It isn’t… We may or may not have something in the pipeline for you. But we can’t talk about that!!

(NB whilst I was taking this question seriously, Mr Tilley had gone off on a tangent talking to Chris and Steve and potentially missed the biggest revelation of the whole interview!!!)

Beth: So something might happen?! RICHARD! RICHARD! Something might happen!! Say it again!!

Lawnmower Deth – Pete: No… No you missed it now!

Rick: Oohhh Damn!

Beth: I heard him say it so it’s true! (More laughing and jeering!)

Ok. What was it like to have Kim Wilde on stage with you?

RICK HERE: In case you don’t know, last year at Download Festival, 80’s Pop Goddess, Kim Wilde got up on stage with Lawnmower Deth to perform ‘Kids In America’ and a couple of their own songs! ‘Kids’ was the song that originally made Kim really famous and Lawnmower Deth famously ruined it brilliantly when they covered it and released it as their only ever single in 1991 To say that it was more than a little surreal is an understatement!

Lawnmower Deth: Brilliant, Unbelievable! She was so good. Were you there?

Rick: No, no we weren’t there! Unfortunately we don’t get to Download, but we have watched the YouTube video. You have done Download five times now haven’t you?

Lawnmower Deth: Yeah, Yeah! It’s incredible. It’s. I mean, you can’t say it is a boyhood dream cos you’re never gonna have thought that would happen, you know, who would’ve thought that would happen? But, you know, it did!

Rick: How did it happen? How?

Lawnmower Deth – Pete: We just asked her! It was kind of as simple as that. I will tell you how it happened.

When we had done that stuff for the Sophie Lancaster Foundation, again nothing to do with us but our lovely fan-base, they decided they were all going to go and by the ‘Kids’ single again and we were like, well if you want to get it in the charts or whatever then you go and do that, but we’re not going to do it as a release. So they all went and downloaded it, so we went fine – everything generated from the downloads, we will give to the Sophie Foundation. And somebody had sort of messaged her (Kim) about that and said ‘If it gets to number one, will you play Download?’ and she’d said yes. So off the back of that, I messaged her and said, look, people are pulling your leg, but actually, do you fancy doing it anyway? And she did!! So…It was just as simple as that!

Lawnmower Deth – Steve: We had one rehearsal with her which was really surreal anyway! We were all sitting waiting and this Range Rover turns up.

Lawnmower Deth – Chris: Yeah, where we normally rehearse is a bit of a shit hole so we thought we can’t take her there, so cos we knew Andy Sneap, we went to Andy Sneap’s studio.

Lawnmower Deth: Yeah, we thought we had better treat her right, so she turned up and we were like ooooooh! And she says ‘Can you play it acoustically first please?’ So we were like. NO! Sorry we can only play it one way love! (Loads of laughing)

So we did that and then when we did Download she turned up and she was brilliant! She was talking to all the wives and girlfriends and stuff like that…just generally hanging out! But still, that feeling when I turned to the left and saw her walking on stage and just realised… fucking hell, THAT’S KIM WILDE!

You Know, she’s everything you want her to be! You have to remember she was the biggest selling female artist of the 1980’s…that’s big deal stuff. She is a proper pop princess. And…, she has got a proper potty mouth on her!

Beth: Watching the videos, you looked like you just belonged together on the stage?

Lawnmower Deth: Genuinely we get on really well! She’s just lovely. She was dead honest about it, she just wanted to do it for fun and she came and did it for fun and had a great time!

Rick: And she did some of your songs!

Lawnmower Deth: Yeah, it was all her idea to do some of ours…We just thought we’d get her to do ‘Kids’, but she said ‘Can we do some of yours too?’ We said yeah, what do you want to do and she said Errr ‘Watch Out Grandma’. We were like Oooh bloody hell we hate playing that one we always have to do that one. So we says to her you must have songs that you hate that you do at every gig? She said ‘ Yeah…’Kids In America’!! (Lots of laughing here)

Yeah it was an awesome experience, you know. Download loved it. I mean the response was unbelievable. I think she was a bit worried about it…we all were! She was like ‘Am I going to go down ok?’ And we said ‘Of course you are’! You could tell that half the crowd didn’t really register at first who it was they were like ‘Is it? Is it?’ and then when they realised it was… the roars got louder and louder. The fact she got up and did a ten second Grindcore song! And it was like right ok she’s in for the whole ten yards here!! Bless her; she was more worried about ‘Egg Sandwich’ than any of the others! (Lots of laughing)

Beth: So you mentioned Sophie Lancaster in that? You’ve worked closely with the Sophie Lancaster Foundation quite a bit! Are there any plans for anything coming up with them?

Lawnmower Deth: Yeah, Christmas Show! We got asked last year to do the Manchester show, but unfortunately we couldn’t do it, and I said at the time, come back to us when you know about this year’s show. And in the meantime, I think Chris (Bass Player), Chris bumped into Sylvia (Sophie’s Mum) and she had said you really should get on the show if you can for us. When the phone call came to say ‘do you want to do the Manchester show’ it was perfect! We said yeah we’ll do it. We need a Christmas show; we always do a Christmas show! It’s perfect, just perfect. So that’s the next one!

Beth: So when is that?

Lawnmower Deth: 26thMarch I think!! (Lots of mumbles and shouts of MARCH!!

It should be the Easter show. Eastmass!! (Laughing)

It’s the 26th November. Yeah it’s not too tight to Christmas so people are worried about Christmas, but it is close enough to Christmas to call it the Christmas Show! It’s going to be great. Evil Scarecrow are headlining the Saturday, We’re going to be headlining the Sunday!

Just so you all get the details correctly, it’s the S.O.P.H.I.E Festival 2017 at the Rebellion, Manchester on 25th and 26th November. It’s a fabulous line-up and of course the Sophie Lancaster Foundation is such an important part of us all! The poster is at the bottom of this interview!

Lawnmower Deth – Steve: Can I just add in here…Evil Scarecrow …!!

Lawnmower Deth: We hate them!!(Tongue in cheek) Yeah, they are the younger version of us. They can play a lot better than us though… they are better musicians!! They play their instruments properly, we just wing it!

Beth: Yeah my daughter is 15 and she absolutely adores Evil Scarecrow!

Lawnmower Deth: Why wouldn’t she?

Beth: I suppose if she had have been 15 when you guys were coming up she would have been the same with you!

Lawnmower Deth: Yeah, Yeah, although it was different then! Girls like Evil Scarecrow. We never had that! It was just a room full of sweaty teenage lads wasn’t it!! They’ve got these two guys who do all their special effects for them. We’ve managed to nick them and they’ve done all the like – you know the thing that we have, the Deth shed – the gunge tank thing– they’ve done all that too! And they’ve done it for like 5 pence!! (Lots of laughing and cheers!)

Beth: On that note, do you think metal music is too serious now?

Lawnmower Deth: It’s always been too serious! Well it’s a funny one cos there was a serious edge to some of the lyrics and things but you used to go to like, Monsters of Rock and it was always a friendly atmosphere. Now people pretend it is, but if you look at Facebook everyone’s always bloody arguing!! It is so tiresome. Just people throwing their toys out of the pram! Like, ‘Urgh I don’t like that band, why are they on’. Just go and get pissed!!(Laughing and muttering). Absolutely right that. Bang on!

Rick: I was watching one of your interviews at Download 2014 I think it was, when Rick Parfitt walked past.

Lawnmower Deth: Aaahh yeah, Rick Parfitt! Well it was the interview that fell apart that one wasn’t it? Yeah, yeah (Lots of laughing)

Rick: But you all said 1984 was your first Donnington and that was my first one too! I remember that day so well!

Lawnmower Deth: Yeah incredible it was! And you know, Quo were my first band. You know, ‘On The Level’ was the first album that I bought so, you know, I’ve always been a Quo fan…that was absolutely the band that got me through to where we are now. You know. I still love Quo now, early Quo is just amazing. So when Parfitt and Rossi walk past within ten yards!! You know we are dead fortunate cos all these shows, but Download in particular cos it’s more mainstream! I remember a couple of years ago at Download I turned round and Dave Grohl was stood next to us, so you know, it’s amazing! And the one that made me get giddy was Parfitt walking past, in Double Denim!! Triple Denim!! It was utter fan boy stuff! It was just Aaaahhhhh! It was Quo!! It was my band you know!! It was the same day when Dee Snider came past as well. We were just like wow! Yeah the reason any of us, I suspect, is in a band, is you want to be in a band in the first place because you are into music in the first place, you are a fan…of whatever! We all were…all different bands! We were all proper, proper fan boys, there’s no reason why that should change and when one of your boyhood heroes walks past it’s like… It’s like playing here though isn’t it? I’ve seen so many here, you know Motörhead, Judas Priest, Hawkwind and I mean it’s a fantastic venue isn’t it?

Beth: Well that was actually my next question! What does playing this venue mean to you?

Lawnmower Deth: Yeah, its great innit…its lovely inside, well it’s a nice building on the outside too but I haven’t been here for years, I must admit, cos I used to come when I was a teenager! Motörhead on the ‘Another Perfect Day’ tour was the last time I was here!

Rick: That was my first Motörhead tour…I saw them at Hammersmith!

Lawnmower Deth: Like anything it’s probably smaller than when you were that age, everywhere gets smaller! If someone had said to me one day you’ll be playing here, I would have said ‘fuck off, probably the local pub if I’m lucky’. This is one of those definitive ticks isn’t it? If you look at the classic venues of this size, then it’s Manchester Apollo, Hammy Odeon and here, so it’s a classic tick box gig. We’ve always said this since we started doing this again… it’s got to be interesting if we’re gonna do it, but it has got to be fun otherwise we’re not bothered about doing it. So to get these…we’re just really lucky to come and play these kind of places. This is bucket list. This is absolutely one of them! Wembley’s still on there. (laughter). And Hammy Odeon. We were so close, we nearly had it, and we were added to the bill…Motörhead, Saxon and us many years ago!

Rick: My favourite band are Saxon

Lawnmower Deth: Saxon don’t like us! We’ll tell you a great story. We were on that bill. We were added to it, but Pete pissed Biff off many years ago, and he told Lemmy and Lemmy chucked us off! He’s still never forgiven us. He holds a grudge!

Lawnmower Deth – Chris: At Download though, I saw Biff in the crowd and he was with Toby Jepson. I went up to him and said ‘Do you mind if I have a photo, I saw you at Rock City last year, you were absolutely amazing’…and it was a great photo then these two come up like ‘Oi, Oi…we’re from Lawnmower Deth’!

Lawnmower Deth – Steve: No it wasn’t quite like that! I just went up to apologise. He shook my hand and everything and I said ‘I just want to apologise for what happened a long time ago…it’s Steve from Lawnmower Deth’ and he went ‘Who?’ and I said ‘Lawnmower Deth’ and he goes ‘Can you move away’! (Much cheeky laughter and comments of ‘Oooooh Handbags’ from all!)

Lawnmower Deth – Pete: Well I was going to tell a nice story but you lot have gone for the dirty deed one! I will tell you a nice story! I went to see Saxon a few months ago on the last tour and they were unbelievably good as well, unbelievably good. I met up with Toby, cos I have known Toby forever, he’s a really old mate and of course he was singing for Eddie (‘Fast’ Eddie Clarke, original Motörhead guitarist) and he said ‘Eddie wants to meet you and say hello’, now I’ve never met Eddie, but fucking hell its Eddie isn’t it! He’s a legend. It’s no surprise that the one band that unifies Lawnmower Deth is probably Motörhead, by the time you take all the personal choice out, everyone would gravitate towards them, so meeting Eddie was big news, I was dead excited to go meet Eddie and all he wanted to do was ask ‘What was it like playing with Kim Wilde?! (Huge amounts of laughter)

You know, no chance of asking him about ‘What was it like to write Ace of Spades?’ or something because he was like ‘What was it like to play with Kim?!!’ It was great! Really top fella! He was lovely, a really nice guy, it was really good to meet him! So there you go that’s a nice story. Not like you lot trashing the dirt!!

Lawnmower Deth – Steve: We supported Saxon many years ago, and Pete being Pete decided to put posters up everywhere, round the Mansfield area, that said ‘Lawnmower Deth supporting some sad old gits!’ (This got the single, biggest laugh of the interview!) At the time they were probably a lot younger than we are now so we’re mega sad old gits!!

Lawnmower Deth – Pete: The funniest thing was, on the night, we had this stuffed duck – this stuffed Mallard that we found in a shop, and we tied some torches to its wings, and we had it on the lighting rig and we were going to lower it down on strings!! “THE MALLARD HAS LANDED”, but they cut the sound off!!! They cut the sound off on us before we could drop it!! Ahhhhh ‘The Mallard has landed’! (By this point we were literally holding our stomachs with the pain from laughing so much)

Rick: I’ll never be able to look at the Saxon Eagle the same way again (More laughter)

Beth: So next question…it’s topical!

Lawnmower Deth: Tropical? Tropical question like how hot is it or something? (laughing)

Beth: TOPICAL..! If you could have any politician on stage singing with you, who would it be?

Lawnmower Deth: (After a slight pause) Ooooh ok, blimey – any… I bet Theresa May could do a right mad death grunt!! That’s a really loaded question that is, cos that is simply ‘Who are you backing at the moment!’

Beth: No, No, literally anyone…it could be someone from the Monster Raving Loony Party if you want!

Lawnmower Deth: Boris!!! Boris would be legendary. He would fall off of the stage and everything!! (Laughing)

At this point there was an interjection from Mark ‘Tosh’ Davies, DJ and Co-host of Lincoln’s excellent show ‘The Rock Train on Siren 107.3 FM’, who was in the background listening to the interview and talking to Lawnmower Deth’s Manager Emma Bardill. If you know ‘Tosh’ then you’ll know that his sense of humour and quick wit is legendary

‘You wouldn’t have to dress him up cos he looks like a twat already! (This caused much laughter)

Lawnmower Deth: I mean Boris can’t even control his own hair, and we haven’t got hair!! (Laughing)

Lawnmower Deth – Pete: God, No, No…you know you’ve stumped me on this one!

Beth: I’VE STUMPED LAWNMOWER DETH!!! YES!!! And on my first interview too! (Laughing)

Lawnmower Deth – Steve: Well I think Boris.

Lawnmower Deth – Pete: Well my heart says Corbyn because anything good is going to come out of him but I don’t know!

At this point, someone did what sounds like a pretty good impression of Boris Johnson singing Grindcore! (Much laughter ensues)

Beth: I think you should make it your mission to pick one from each party and get them to do it!

Lawnmower Deth: Absolutely…Absolutely! Let’s just go with Boris, cos we’ve not got a better answer than Boris!!

Rick: And now the Monty Python one!

Beth: Ah yeah the Monty Python one, which I have been asking everyone today…If you were a Monty Python film, what would the title be?

Lawnmower Deth: We are the knights who say Ni. God…the amount of hours we’ve spent quoting that to one another!

Beth: Monty Python mini film…’The Knights Who Say Ni’…It doesn’t have to be one that is already a Monty Python film…just make up a new title for a Monty Python film about your band story.

Lawnmower Deth: These are tough these are!! Can’t you just ask us what our favourite colour is?! (Lots of laughing)

Errr….Monty Python And The Life Of Barry!

You couldn’t really get a much more surreal and funny answer on which to end the interview! We actually carried on talking to the guys and Emma for a further fifteen minutes, as well as getting photos, but we cannot print any of that! Lawnmower Deth’s set later in the day was, as expected, brilliant. They never fail to put on a good show and the screams of ‘more’ when they finally finished were as loud as the howls of laughter. In my live review I said that you cannot have an event like this without Lawnmower Deth on the bill and I stand by that but what made Uprising really special for me was meeting and talking to them. This was one of my bucket list moments! It’s getting on for thirty years since I bought that first split album. I’m going to make damn sure it’s not another thirty before I meet them again…although if I do wait until 2047 they may have released a new song!!!

Rick

Interview with Pelugion – Uprising 2017

Interview with Pelugion – Uprising 2017
27/05/2017
Interview by Richard Tilley

When you are covering an Event such as Uprising, one of the things you’ll invariably be asked to do is interview a band you really aren’t familiar with and that is what happened to me with regards to Pelugion. Luckily we had a couple of weeks beforehand to have a listen to some of their music. This day was to be a very different day for this three piece Heavy Metal / Heavy Rock band from Coventry though, because they were due to play their first ever acoustic gig. This was, to my way of thinking, either a very gutsy thing to do or a very silly thing! What you couldn’t argue with was that all three guys were great fun and, as the weather was so lovely, we sat outside to get their thoughts!

EVER METAL: We are fairly new converts to your music and, I personally, haven’t heard a lot before, so when Angel (Angel Merry of Fat Angel Management, who look after Pelugion, and who was also running the Uprising Press Office with her other half Chris Sams, and might I add they were both superb) got in touch with me and said would you like to do an interview, I had to get up to speed with what you were all about and honestly, I’ve been really impressed with what I’ve heard so far so to those people out there who may not have heard of you tell us about the band and about the name Pelugion as well?

PELUGION: Well, it all started back in College where we all met. We were all sort of shoved together. Originally there were five or six of us in the college band and everyone slowly left and that’s how Pelugion was formed, with just the three of us. As for the name its two Greek words put together but we do not remember what the Greek words are! (As you can imagine there was lots of groaning and laughter at this admission)

EVER METAL: (Still laughing) You can’t say that! I’ve been looking forward to a really deep and meaningful explanation about a great name and it turns out to be two Greek words you can’t remember!

PELUGION: Well we aren’t going to lie to lie to you. It’s really good though because when you Google it we are the only band that comes up

EVER METAL: Okay, so you’ve also got Nicknames/Stage names in the band, which are ‘The Goat’, ‘The Vulture’ and ‘The Quatch’ so what’s this all about?

PELUGION – Andy Sweeney (Bass/Vocals): We’ll start with my nickname. I was given the nickname ‘Sasquatch’ and he (Brandon Balou – Drums) always did this weird face which kind of looked like a vulture! (laughs)

PELUGION – Brandon: Yeah, I’ve been known to pull really seedy faces (lots of laughter)

PELUGION – Andy: And he (John Pittaway – Guitars) just loves goats, and that’s it! (More laughter)

EVER METAL: This is not going well! (Loads of laughter)

PELUGION – Brandon: It basically all came about because Andy was big and hairy and looked like a Sasquatch and it’s just escalated from there!

EVER METAL: So this is your first ever acoustic set .You’re playing somewhere as iconic as this venue and at a large event put together by Simon Yarwood. Why did you choose to do that and how nervous are you to be doing an acoustic set somewhere like this?

PELUGION: Well we were pretty nervous before but now we’ve got here and seen the turnout, I mean there are a lot of people! We are pretty confident it’s going to sound okay, but it’s just different because we are used to the ‘big sound’ and now we are going to be stripped back. It’s going to be strange but hopefully people will like it so go easy on us!

EVER METAL: So is it something you thought about for a while or did you just, off the bat, say we’ll do an acoustic set for this particular gig?

PELUGION: It was offered to us, so we weren’t going to turn something like this down and it was a challenge so we thought we might as well go for it and see what happens! We’ve got one or two surprise covers in the set and some of our own stuff as well so it will hopefully keep people happy and entertained!

EVER METAL: Up to now you’ve released an EP and a single, so is there an album in the works?

PELUGION: Yeah, we’re writing and recording at the moment and have been for the last few months so we should have a release towards the end of this year so keep your eyes peeled! We’ve got four songs recorded for it so far and we aren’t recording all in one go, it’s song by song. We don’t have a title yet, we are going to wait till it’s all done, listen to it and then come up with something!

EVER METAL: So how did the partnership with FATangel Management come about?

PELUGION: We were part of a competition at The Arches in Coventry. Through playing that we gained quite a decent fan-base, that’s how it sort of started for us in Coventry and off the back of that Chris and Angel attended all of the shows and they basically approached us and said “we like what you’re doing and we’d like to help out”. We were only like 17-18 years old at the time and we had never properly played to large audiences and through competing in this competition it gave us the chance to play to more people and from that gained a bit of a following and that’s where Chris and Angel first saw us!

EVER METAL: We’ve mentioned it’s pretty amazing to come somewhere like this and play so after your set who are you going to be interested in watching?

PELUGION: We’ve been listening to a lot of Hærken so will definitely be watching them, Resin and Lawnmower Deth as well and we’ve got a lot of mingling to do!

EVER METAL: We always try and come up with a silly question because what we don’t want is to ask questions you keep getting asked all the time, so if you were a Monty Python film what would the title of that film be?

There was a long pause!

PELUGION: We always come out with random shit so this SHOULD be really easy! (Lots of laughter)

After another pause a light bulb seemed to go off and we got this reply which we really liked!

PELUGION: ‘Monty Python And The Shortest Long Lasting Moment’

EVER METAL: You’re on stage at 5.45pm and we’re going to be coming over and are looking forward to watching you. Is there anything else you want to talk about before we finish?

PELUGION: Yeah, we’ve got Pentre Fest coming up in June (Pentre Fest is at the Mcleans Pentre, Queensferry, Deeside CH5 2DA and is on between 23rd-25th June. Pelugion are playing a full electric set on Saturday 24th June), we’ll probably be a lot better there (lots of laughs)

Mainly we just want everyone to bear with us because we will have new material by the end of the year so keep an eye out and keep listening. We played a new song for the first time last week at Scruffy Murphy’s and the plan is to introduce new songs into the set over the next few months and see what the response to them is like!

With that, ‘The Goat’, ‘The Vulture’ and ‘The Quatch’ were on their way to mingle! These guys are so young, about 21 years old (I’m old enough to, at least, be their Dad) and I can see the wide eyed enthusiasm in them that I had at their age. They’ve done really well for themselves though, their acoustic set was excellent and they got a great response from a good sized crowd. In other words, and to answer my thought in the introduction to this piece, it was a very gutsy thing of them to do and they pulled it off! Their EP “Serpent’s Mistress” is a great listen and I’m very much looking forward to getting the album when it’s completed!

As you can tell from the interview they aren’t a band of many words and revealing answers, they let the music do the talking and when the music is good why shouldn’t they do that? I’d really love to know what those two Greek words are though!

I’d like to thank them for taking the time to chat with Ever Metal and also thank Angel for setting up the interview!

Rick

Check out Pelugion at the following link:

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Disclaimer: This review is solely the property of Richard Tilley and Ever Metal. It is strictly forbidden to copy any part of this review, unless you have the strict permission of both parties. Failure to do adhere to this will be treated as plagiarism and will be reported to the relevant authorities

Interview with Resin – Uprising 2017

Resin Interview at Uprising 2017
27/05/2017
Interview by Richard Tilley
with added help and insults from Beth Jones!

A wonderfully hot and sunny day at Bloodstock 2014 was the last time I had the pleasure of meeting and interviewing Resin and it’s hard to believe that is nearly three years ago. Much has changed in my life since then and the same can also definitely be said of Resin so it was great to sit down near the acoustic stage at Uprising 2017, on another lovely day, with Vocalist/Guitarist Dave Gandon and Guitarist Mark ‘Chez’ Roseby to catch up on what has been happening. After the usual array of laughs we got straight down to business!

EVER METAL: So I last interviewed you in 2014. Can you try and bring the readers up to date with everything that has happened to Resin since then?

RESIN Chez: Well we basically disbanded and we all went our separate ways for a little while. At the same time Dave’s band ‘Twisted Species’ had also disbanded. We had done a couple of mini tours with Twisted Species, so we knew the guys pretty well from gigging and we all appreciated each other’s material and stuff. Simon (guitarist and Uprising main man Simon Yarwood) and I put a thing out saying we wanted to keep Resin going so we were going to audition for a new Bassist, Drummer and Singer.

I think we spoke to Drask (bassist Drask George) first. We’ve known Drask for a long time, he’s done engineering for us and he used to be sound guy at the Queens Hall and we’ve always got on well with him. He’s a hell of a bass player as well so we basically had a bit of a chat with him and the job was his. Then Dave and Stu came down, Stu was the drummer from Twisted Species and they basically filled the next two slots without us even trying. We had some vocal auditions, there are some good singers out there, but to be honest we had had our eye on Dave for quite a while for the job so the fact that he came down and came with a drummer as well was an added bonus and we went from there (cue a few giggles and the comment “that was the only reason he got the job”)

Since then Stu has parted ways with us, for his own reasons – he has quite a busy home life, he’s a family man, so we parted ways…on I think good terms and then we started looking round for a new drummer again. Again we had a couple of video auditions that we got sent from some very talented people and then Ryan (current drummer Ryan ‘Sticks’ Hextall) who had been following the band for some years got in touch. Apparently, he had already sent us an audition years ago when we were looking for drummers, but he was a bit young at the time. He was about 19 and we were all mid to late 30’s and late 40’s and I think there might have been a bit of a clash of personalities. Anyway, we gave him a go this time, now in his early 20’s, still following the band and still working on his game and he just Wowed us really, after that we didn’t bother auditioning anybody else …and that’s pretty much where we are at now!

EVER METAL: So about nine months after you got back together you brought out your EP ‘Persecution Complex’. I have to be honest, leading up to this interview, I sat down and listened to a couple of tracks off of it for the first time and I was blown away. You’ve always had a slightly more 90’s sound to me, which isn’t the sort of thing I usually listen too but, even though I did like you before, I thought this was fantastic. I mean ‘Angel’ is an incredible song, it really is, so are you approaching the writing differently now?

RESIN Chez: Well I suppose we do but actually ‘Angel’ is a very old song of mine from years and years ago but we’ve never had the correct musicians to put it down on CD before, I mean obviously it’s not Ryan on the drums for that EP, It’s Stu but that will be getting redone with Ryan’s interpretation which is mindblowing. ‘Persecution Complex’ was a chance to get something out there and say “these are our new members; if you liked us before then hopefully you’ll stick with us. Myself and Simon (the two main members) have managed to keep it going, tell us what you think! We love how it sounds, it’s spot on now!

Dave: Considering how quickly it came together, I mean we had pretty much recorded everything at the same time as going out live for the first time. Then you look at the body of work and think ‘I would have done that differently’, you’re naturally going to do that! Some of the songs now are performed slightly different, they’ve naturally evolved. That’s not to dismiss it as a body of work, it’s very good and we are very proud of how it sounded, but it just makes you more confident for the album that’s coming out because it’s going to be so different!

Chez: I think it would be fair to say we rushed it a little bit!

Dave: Oh yeah, out of necessity, we needed people to hear what we sounded like as soon as we possibly could!

EVER METAL: It’s a constantly evolving thing isn’t it?

RESIN Chez: Oh definitely, we play the songs slightly differently, I mean the song ‘Printing Money’ was the first song we wrote as a band and because it’s in a different tuning we don’t play it anymore. It’s not detrimental to the song but it just got thrown together a bit quickly. We can now rework it to fit in with the album!

EVER METAL: So there is an album in the works. Are you looking for a release this year or is it more likely to be 2018?

RESIN Chez: We are in the studio in August and the mistake we’ve made in the past is rushing things. Our first album ‘Embrace The Fall’ came at a very bad time, in my life particularly, and a lot of the production was on me at the time. When I had finished it I realised it could have been ten times better, it was rushed. We had set ourselves a release date and that was a mistake but you live and learn don’t you? So this time we want to do things right! I would love to get it out for the New Year, Christmas especially, but if it’s not ready then we’ll hold onto it until it is perfect. So now we’ve got the correct members in the band, we all get on, we write better than we’ve ever written, we sound better than we’ve ever sounded and we are tighter than we’ve ever been then the next recording we put out there has got to be representative of that, so we aren’t going to rush anything this time!

EVER METAL: So as your guitarist Simon Yarwood is the man responsible for putting on this event. my next question is what do you think of it so far?

RESIN Chez: It’s incredible! I mean how much battery life have you got in that thing (my Dictaphone) because I could talk for hours about it! It’s phenomenal; I’m still as overwhelmed now as I was last year when I walked through looking around. Just over ten years ago a guy approached me at an open mic thing for electric guitars…the electric guitar appreciation society (cue lots of laughs), it was on a Sunday evening and a lot of old boys were getting up, playing Shadows numbers, it was nice for what it was! This guy saw me get up and play ‘Sweet Child O’ Mine’ by Guns N’ Roses and he approached me afterwards and asked if I would give him guitar lessons. I thought ‘well I’ve got nothing better to do on a Sunday evening’ so I said yes! This is the same guy that’s now been in the band with me for ten years and puts this festival on! This was a bloke who could strum, maybe four chords in his bedroom, his Mrs would shout at him “Shut up playing that bloody thing, I’m sick of hearing it” (lots of laughing) and he’s gone from that to this, De Montfort Hall, one of the most prestigious venues there is!

EVER METAL: So, what is it like to play somewhere like this?

RESIN Chez: There’s nothing like it is there? I mean we played here last year but we were on the Acoustic Stage so I’m yet to answer that question properly. Until we’ve played on the Main Stage later (Resin went on stage at 5.15pm) we won’t be able to give you the full feeling…we’ll e-mail you the answer!

EVER METAL: There is no doubt this is a great event but I can think of at least two other Metal Festivals/Events which are taking place this weekend. This type of thing has grown hugely in the last few years. Do you think we’ve got to the stage where the market is getting over saturated?

RESIN Chez: Personally I think it’s getting over saturated with badly organised Festivals, but I don’t think you can have too much of a good thing. You can see a good few bands over the course of a weekend; you can see a load of mates that you get on with or have gigged with before, it’s great. I think most of the bands here today we know, or have had something to do with before so it’s fantastic. It’s just the badly organised ones that spoil it. I’m just in a band, I don’t organise events, but you roll up to some places and you haven’t even got a bottle of water. Then you come here and you’ve got a dressing room, your fridge is full of stuff, you’ve got food and you know exactly where you’ve got to be and when, it’s fantastic. I think we should be getting rid of the badly organised ones, or they need to pick up their game!

EVER METAL: So now that you’re happy with the line-up do you see this as a long term thing now? Where would you like to be in five years?

RESIN Chez: Well, after we’ve buried Simon, we’ll audition a new guitarist and carry on (cue lots of laughter).For me; this is all I want to do

Dave: It’s your career isn’t it, or your ‘want to be career’ I don’t strive to have a yacht in the Bahamas somewhere, although it would be nice wouldn’t it? As long as you are just able to make a living! I work in construction but if I could make the same amount doing this then I would swap it in a heartbeat, doing something that I genuinely love, with people that I genuinely love. It’s not fame and fortune; it’s sustainability to be able to do it for as long as possible

Chez: The effect that music can have on your emotions…there are songs that have me in tears every time I hear them, you know? I’d love to be able to write something that affects people like that

Dave: Well you did! When I was auditioning I had to read the words and they are emotional songs. Obviously I’ve not had a hand in a lot of the writing process; we were going through the back catalogue. I was a fan of the band long before I joined and obviously you hear the songs played live and you love them. Then, when you have to deconstruct them to try and learn them you realise how good they are, I can genuinely say that, they are exceptional!

EVER METAL: It must have been really something for you then, being a fan, to actually end up in the band?

RESIN Dave: Well, when I spoke to Simon about it, when I found out I had been successful; I mean I was bouncing off the walls to find out, and for me it was like joining the unsigned Pearl Jam, that’s exactly what it felt like, it was phenomenal. I mean I almost didn’t do it because you’ve got to do it justice and you’ve got to be so respectful so I almost chickened out. I’m glad I didn’t but it took some coaxing really because I looked at it and thought could I do it? I’m the polar opposite, in every sense of the word, to what the band had before and I thought is it going to work? But it does, it’s different enough and the followers of the band like it!

Some of the feedback that I had when I first joined blew me away and I really wasn’t used to it! I Was expecting eight letters and bricks through the windows, but it worked and there was nothing but support and people were outstanding, they really were. I’ve never had that kind of connection before. My old band was nowhere near like at the heights of what Resin were and are now, I mean we had a decent following and you mixed amongst your fans but it was on a smaller scale compared to this, at times it’s been quite overwhelming with a load of people wanting to speak to you after you’ve played. I mean with my old band, of the ten people in the room two might want to come up and say “that was alright that” so to have this response now means an awful lot to me. You just want to do the best job that the songs that have been written deserve. Sometimes you can put so much pressure on yourself and it’s taken me a while to calm down and actually enjoy it now, whereas before it was like being in a pressure cooker all the time. You’re so frightened of screwing something up, which is why, to be honest, it took such a long time for me to get the songs down. I’d spend a few hours learning something and then I‘d get all jittery!

Simon will tell you; he’s writing a book on how not to learn songs and all I’ve got to do is ghost write for him! (Another bout of laughter).He was spoon feeding me lyrics and he would meet me after a gig and he’d say “are you alright mate? You only screwed up a couple of times; you didn’t do too badly tonight”. I was just forgetting words all the time, it was unbelievable. You read something and all you’ve got to do is remember what you’ve read, that’s literally it and I couldn’t manage it. I used to get so nervous!

EVER METAL: So what’s it like for you now writing new material with the whole band. That’s obviously a different aspect for you?

RESIN Dave: Well it’s flipped everything on its head, I mean, in my previous band, and I won’t take sole credit for the song writing but lyric wise it pretty much was 99% me, whereas I’ve come into this band and they already have two exceptionally good songwriters, so that in itself made me think well how am I going to fit in with this, but it’s one of those trust things. You tell them if think you’ve got something you can add, if not you just work with what’s being thrown around. It’s a great environment when you’re writing songs, it really is, in every aspect and there’s a bit more guitar work coming my way now because there’s room in the songs to add it in! I’ve got to admit a failing a little bit, I didn’t quite turn into the Mick Jagger frontman I think everyone was hoping for so I got given my guitar back as a bit of a comfort blanket! (lots more laughter) But it works in a natural way now, that’s what I was always born to do. I was guitar playing long before I was ever a singer, the singing came secondary, out of necessity, it’s not something I even strived to do, so my guitar parts have been worked back in now and it works, it’s filled a space that we didn’t necessarily know was empty. Chez could probably describe it better than me!

Chez: Yeah, it adds another layer to it that couldn’t be there unless we did that, it beefs it slightly and everything sounds massive. He’s an amazing guitarist with some really good ideas and it all sort of works!

EVER METAL: Does it put you more at ease when you’ve got your guitar in front of you?

RESIN: Yeah, you can still be mobile, you can obviously still move around but there are a lot of times when I’ve looked at old footage, certainly when Chez is playing his leads where for 50% of it, I was just standing still listening to it and the other 50% thinks ‘right, you better be doing something now’ and it’s quite obvious I’m just stood there doing nothing and that was the constant battle I was having so to have my guitar back a little bit helps. Originally I got to the point where I was quite comfortable without it but not enough to do an entire set, even though I did do it, but after a bit you think ‘it’s becoming quite obvious now that I’ve run out of things to do’ so down goes the hand into the trousers. We made a drinking game out of it ‘How many times I scratched myself or put my hands down my trousers!’ I mean I don’t think you could play that game, watch a whole video and live! It was ‘How many times does Simon look angry’? ‘How many times does Drask look a little bit bored’?, ‘How many times did I scratch or touch myself’? or ‘How many times does Chez look at the floor’?

We had to stop for a bit here for everyone to stop laughing!

EVER METAL: We’ve got pretty much to the last question and this one we are going to be asking everyone today because we always try to come up with a silly one, so;

If you were a Monty Python film what would the title be?

After a fairly long and thoughtful pause we got the following answer and plenty of laughs!

RESIN Chez: ‘Dirty Resin and the Holy Newquay Brown’

Dave: Can you do us a favour and tell everyone we weren’t really cheerful because it’s going to shatter the image! Just say we were ‘woe is me’!

EVER METAL: No, don’t worry we shall tell everyone you were dull and morose! Is there anything else you would like to add before we wrap it up?

RESIN Chez: Yeah, thanks for sticking with us, thanks for coming along to watch the shows, keep supporting the band and Resin Events as well, that Simon runs on his own and bollocks to anyone who wants to try and put a stop to gigs like this happening like we had in Manchester (this refers to the disgusting terror attack at the Ariana Grande Concert at the Manchester Arena on 22^nd May 2017, five days before Uprising which was obviously still very fresh in everyone’s thoughts)

EVER METAL: It is great to see that people have come out and aren’t letting these ‘people’ win?

RESIN Chez: Keep going to gigs and keep saying ‘Fuck You’!

Dave: Can we just send a quick shout out to the ladies behind the men please because I’m here thanks to the good grace of my wife who’s given me a two day weekend and Simon’s wife who has obviously lived and breathed every second of this, Chez’s Mrs who has been very supportive…I’m just kissing ass! Without the support off all of them we wouldn’t be able to do it! Family doing little things like that allow you to go and do the things you love and it means we get to actually support the event as well!

With that Dave and Chez went on their merry way to get ready for their gig later in the day. They were both absolute gentleman and a pleasure to talk to.

As for the gig itself, it was a cracker. I was really impressed with the new line-up, which included, recently added Emma Bennett on the violin. This is a subject we hadn’t even touched on so I’ll make sure that’s chatted about next time!

I just want to thank the guys for having a chat with us on what is our first interview for Ever Metal and we look forward to bringing you many more over the coming weeks, months and years!

Rick!

UPRISING 2017 – De Montfort Hall, Leicester – 27th May 2017

UPRISING 2017 – De Montfort Hall, Leicester – 27th May 2017
Live Review by Rick Tilley / Photography by Beth Jones
9/10

I’ve not reviewed/covered a live event for a couple of years so I had real anticipation travelling to Leicester to cover Uprising 2017 for Ever Metal and Metal Gods TV. It’s always great to catch up with familiar faces, make new friends and of course watch some cracking music. Being a London boy I saw most of my gigs at Hammy Odeon, Marquee and The Astoria so I was also very much looking forward to seeing the iconic De Montfort Hall properly for the first time and it didn’t let me down, what a fabulous building inside and out with wonderful grounds! To get this venue has to be seen as a massive coup for organiser Simon Yarwood and his team and long may it continue! Considering this is only the second year the event has been held everyone was in for a treat!

After receiving our press passes it wasn’t long before the lovely Angel Merry of FATangel PR/Management turned up to show us around the Press area. This was the first time Angel had run the Press Office at an event and what a fabulous job she and her partner in crime, Chris Sams did. This was easily the best organised event I have covered. No egos, lots of great fun and banter, bands turning up for interviews on time, everyone being where they were supposed to be and no stress (well, no visible stress anyway) Everything ran like clockwork and that doesn’t just go for the Press area, the whole day was a veritable masterclass in how an event should be handled. My only regret was not being able to attend either “The Night Before” or ‘Aftermath” events at The Firebug on the Friday and Sunday but by all accounts they were run in exactly the same manner as the main day!

To get things started the first five bands on the main stage were competing in the Leicester Final of Metal 2 The Masses, with the winner getting the chance to play at Bloodstock Festival later in the year. All I can say is what a fantastic event this has become and organiser Simon Hall is another that deserves huge credit for all his hard work. I wasn’t able to catch all of the bands due to my interviewing schedule, but I did catch some of Fractions, Ubiquitous and eventual winners Blood Oath. To see these smaller bands have the opportunity to play the main stage at this venue was great for the crowd so I can only imagine what it felt like for the bands!

Progressive Metalcore band Fractions were hampered with a messy sound which somewhat muted my enjoyment, as I wasn’t familiar with their music but they put in a very energetic performance and I’m sure this experience will only make them better.

Blood Oath were, without doubt, absolutely superb. Describing themselves as ‘Groovy Death Metal’ is a perfect description of their music. They owned the cavernous stage and looked like a band way beyond their years. Judging by all the positive comments about them after their set they appeared to be well-deserved winners on the day and the Bloodstock audience need to make sure they check Blood Oath out!

Ubiquitous suffered a little following Blood Oath, especially as their music, which again I was unfamiliar with, was an extremely heavy mix of Black and Death Metal. They do however possess good stage presence and I have to give a full set of marks to their drummer ‘Typhoeus’ who was astonishingly precise.

As for My Legacy and, a band I really wanted to see, Mörti Viventi, I can only apologise for missing their sets. If I can find a way of growing a couple of clones then I’ll do my best to watch absolutely everything next time. However I heard both bands receiving good comments from around the venue!

With Metal 2 The Masses completed it was then the job of Resin to open the main stage proper! Resin are a very different prospect from when I last saw and interviewed them back in 2014. Now a six piece with a violinist their Grunge laden Hard Rock was a welcome change in styles from the M2TM bands and they really seem to have grown in stature. They had no problems looking completely the part on a big stage, vocalist/guitarist Dave Gandon looked very much at home and it’s always an absolute joy to see what shirt guitarist (and Uprising main man)Simon Yarwood is going to wear. They looked and sounded very professional and their most recent EP ‘Persecution Complex’ is well worth a listen!

After interviewing them earlier in the day we then went over to the wonderful small outside acoustic stage to watch three piece Heavy Rock band Pelugion. This was their first ever acoustic gig, not a bad way to start, and they were absolutely great. Playing a selection of their own material, such as the brilliant ‘Serpent’s Mistress’, the crowd were also treated to vocalist Andy Sweeney sing ‘Like A Stone’ as a tribute to Chris Cornell and he did it very well indeed. They are all lovely guys and I’m looking forward to seeing them again at some point to watch a full on electric set!

One of the beauties of Uprising is the huge variety of music on offer so our next port of call was over at the smaller, but no less impressive, second stage to watch doom merchants Witchsorrow and it can be summed up in one word ‘brilliant’. For a three piece their sound is absolutely thunderous and a joy to behold. They quite obviously enjoyed every single second up on stage and the assembled crowd lapped up every morsel! Easily one of my favourite bands of the day!

It was then back to the main stage to watch the fabulous Hærken. Death Metal, like all genres, can sometimes take itself a bit too seriously but you don’t have to worry about that with this band. I last saw them destroy the Sophie tent at Bloodstock and their performance at Uprising was no less impressive. If you want to be treated to a dose of Medieval, Gaelic infused & battle hardened Death Metal with full costumes, crests, shields and stage banter in Elizabethan English then Hærken will deliver. Played, sung and executed to perfection, their set was amazing, although next time I want even more bagpipes! I cannot wait until a new album is released!

At this point it was more interviews so the next band on the bill we were able to watch were the legends that are Lawnmower Deth. This is one band that NEVER fails to let anyone down. I’ve seen them a number of times over the years but they look as energetic and as happy as they always do. Hilarious and brutal in equal measures you will never watch an LD show and leave without a huge smile on your face. The antics and characters on stage are as bonkers as they are funny and the songs themselves are stupidly superb. You really cannot have a big event or Festival without Lawnmower Deth!

Still grinning we headed back to stage two to watch Kill II This. I was familiar with them from when they were together originally but had never seen them live before. They proved to be an extremely welcome addition to the line-up although they suffered with sound problems throughout their set. Vocalist Simon Gordon has an excellent voice and Mark Mynett’s guitar work is fabulous and I’m very much looking forward to seeing them again when they headline the Friday at the forthcoming SOS Festival. You should also check out their new track and video ‘Sleeper Cell’!

Straight back to the main stage I then got ready to witness one of the bands I had been most looking forward to see, Onslaught. I was lucky enough to be at London’s ‘The Marquee Club’ when Sy Keeler played his very first gig with Onslaught and that night is burned on my brain as being one of the greatest gigs I’ve ever witnessed. To see Onslaught still so hungry and brutal after all these years is incredible. As far as I’m concerned they are the vanguards of British Thrash Metal, Sy’s voice is in remarkable condition, Nige and Iain’s guitar work is razor sharp and the precision with which the band spat out the songs at Uprising made me feel like that young man of so many years ago all over again. They were also blessed with a crystal clear sound and were my band of the day. Utterly brilliant from start to finish they whipped the assembled crowd into a thrash frenzy and their set was over far too soon!

Another band I had never seen live before were Barb Wire Dolls so, as the bands were staggered so well, they were starting their set on the second stage as Onslaught finished. To be fair, what I had heard of them in the past hadn’t really floated my boat but a good crowd had filled the room to see them so it seemed the perfect chance to check them out and I was pleasantly surprised by their set. Rock N Roll with a Punk attitude, they come across much better in a live setting. They were great fun and there were smiles all round from band and crowd!

Reconvening to the acoustic stage, where the selection of stalls and laid back atmosphere made it feel like a proper outdoor festival, albeit on a smaller scale, and thanks to ‘The Motley Brew’ who delivered a cracking cup of much needed tea we chilled out and watched some of InMe’s Dave McPherson playing an acoustic set. I wasn’t that familiar with Dave’s material but what I saw was beautifully played and sung and perfect for headlining this particular stage, especially as the weather was so nice.

By the time main stage headliners Primordial hit the stage it was getting late and many people had already left or were leaving. We too had a lot to do and journey ahead so we didn’t stay for their complete set but what I saw was huge. They are another band I’ve struggled with in the past when listening to them on an album but they always seem to bring the goods in a live setting and this appearance was no exception!

There were other bands I wish I could have seen so to them I’m sorry for not mentioning everyone but in the past week on social media I’ve read much and I haven’t seen a bad word said about any performance!

To sum up then I have to say that Uprising 2017 was a big success. As already mentioned pretty much everything ran like clockwork and a majority of the bands were on and off stage at the correct times meaning you could actually watch a huge amount, if you were willing to. Of course with the stages being so close together it was hardly a trek but like any event people have their favourites and so the whole thing was very relaxed and the atmosphere really friendly. De Montfort Hall is very well laid out and spacious so the venue never felt over crowded at any point. Having the second and acoustic stages either side of the main stage was well thought out and the main stage itself was beautifully lit with comfortable seating upstairs if you were a bit achy and needed a break

If I’m being picky, and regular readers will know that I’m always a bit picky, then it would have been nice if the Merchandise and CD stalls out in the main foyer had taken bank cards, after all it is 2017 and other stalls were accepting cards or Paypal. With that in mind, perhaps it’s time for a venue like De Montfort to install a cash machine, it could easily be achieved! It’s also worth pointing out that whist there was ample parking in the adjacent carpark the ticket machines weren’t completely clear on informing people that daytime tickets being issued only lasted until 6pm. I’m not sure if anyone was caught out on the day but I would be interested to know if you were! Lastly, living with someone who is gluten intolerant and has to be pretty careful with what she eats, having someone on site that sells, even a small selection, of gluten, nut or dairy free products might be something that’s looked at for next year and beyond! I know it’s a case of supply and demand but nevertheless, some people do have allergies!

Other than those small things Uprising really is a great event and I look forward to seeing it grow year on year! Simon and his team, Angel, Chris and the Press Room, security, police, stall holders and all the De Montfort staff were superb and they should all be applauded because every one of them added to the whole experience. Well done everyone and I’ll see you all again next year!

Disclaimer: This review and photographs are solely the property of Richard Tilley, Beth Jones, and Ever Metal. It is strictly forbidden to copy any part of this review, unless you have the strict permission of both parties. Failure to adhere to this will be treated as plagiarism and will be reported to the relevant authorities.