Bloodstock Festival : M2TM Wolverhampton - The Bands : Heat 2.
Every year Bloodstock Festival runs the "Metal 2 The Masses" competition with regional heats up and down the country. Ultimately the winner of each competition gets to play on the hallowed grounds of Catton Hall, lining up at the festival alongside the likes of Judas Priest, Behemoth and Devin Townsend.
This year we are taking a deep dive into the Wolverhampton competition, being held at K.K.'s Steel Mill, a venue run by Judas Priest guitarist K.K. Downing!
With Heat 2 kicking off this Thursday, lets get to know the four bands competing for a place in the regional semi finals!
Big Black Eye
First off tell us where your from and how long you’ve been going?
We've been playing together for two years but know each other as friends and musicians since we were kids. We all hail from Netherton, Dudley
Tell us a little bit about your style of music and influences?
Our style tends not to have too much of a genre as it covers a lot of bases thrash/punk would be a good choice. Mac our drummer is punk, Pete our bassist loves his math metal and I (Stevo) am thrash and most things heavy/funky. Mix those things with our love of Metallica, Anthrax, Pantera, RATM, GBH, Exploited, Sevendust etc combined with our upbringing in our local area together you get our sound.
What is your goal in this year’s M2TM competition?
The obvious one is to win but there's a lot of serious contenders again this year, our main achievement would to just get our music out there and gain new fans and friends. We believe our music is best played live and love to get people bouncing around.
What should we look out for in your live show?
Just get ready to have a good sing along and throw yourselves around.
What do you think makes you stand out in the crowded metal scene?
Not your run of the mill stuff that's out there at the moment. We play catchy riffs, good sing along choruses, not taking ourselves too serious and just having a good time.
Other than yourselves; Who do you think are your biggest rivals to win this year’s M2TM Wolverhampton?
There's a lot of bands who've entered who we know are good and other bands who we haven't saw live so it's a tough one, we have no rivals. Good luck to all I say.
Ghozer
First off tell us where your from and how long you’ve been going?
We're from all over the West Mids, Oswestry, Shrewsbury, Wolverhampton and Birmingham. We've been in our full lineup for around two years.
Tell us a little bit about your style of music and influences?
We're playing stoner/doom, taking influence from grunge and alternative to the modern scene: Soundgarden to Fu Manchu to Conan.
What is your goal in this year’s M2TM competition?
Our goal is just fun as always. Pure selfish indulgence.
What should we look out for in your live show?
Look out for airborne splashes of rogue sweat.
What do you think makes you stand out in the crowded metal scene?
We don't know if we stand out other than clearly not making any effort to stand out. We don't wear 'stage gear' or any of that sort of thing... just not our style. We're kinda just regular guys that happen to all enjoy making a racket and if our music stands out to some folks, then great!
Other than yourselves; Who do you think are your biggest rivals to win this year’s M2TM Wolverhampton?
Not sure how we would ever be our own rivals in a competition, but yeah, there's some great bands this year, so it's hard to call. We consider one of our greatest strengths as a band to be our ability to give totally vague non-answers. 🙂
Recall The Remains
First off tell us where your from and how long you’ve been going?
We are recall the remains, we are from Telford and we been going with this line up for over 2 years.
Tell us a little bit about your style of music and influences?
We are influenced by lot of bands and genres Jordan's is Within Temptation, Anthony's is As I Lay Dying, Elliot's is Erra, Zach's is Metallica and Jacob's is Thy Art Is Murder.
We are influenced by lot of bands and genres Jordan's is Within Temptation, Anthony's is As I Lay Dying, Elliot's is Erra, Zach's is Metallica and Jacob's is Thy Art Is Murder.
What is your goal in this year’s M2TM competition?
We want to show that we have evolved and want to get to the finals.
We want to show that we have evolved and want to get to the finals.
What should we look out for in your live show?
More energy and stuff over the top of us playing
More energy and stuff over the top of us playing
What do you think makes you stand out in the crowded metal scene?
I'd stay the we are a metalcore band that can go heavy whilst having gritty singing.
Other than yourselves; Who do you think are your biggest rivals to win this year’s M2TM Wolverhampton?
It hard for us to pick because there are bands we have seen performance and they are amazing and bring so much energy and then we got some new faces so we can only wait and see.
It hard for us to pick because there are bands we have seen performance and they are amazing and bring so much energy and then we got some new faces so we can only wait and see.
Slump
First off tell us where your from and how long you’ve been going?
We’re based in Birmingham/Stafford and have been going for about a year with the unit we are now.
Tell us a little bit about your style of music and influences?
We’re in the doom/sludge/stoner sphere with a heavy Black Sabbath influence, but all bring in our own individual influences, like classic rock, prog, jazz, grunge and punk rock.
What is your goal in this year’s M2TM competition?
Our goal is winning, but we’re mostly hoping to grow our audience and make some fans. We would like to get some feedback on our set, to see if we’ve got something that people enjoy.
What should we look out for in your live show?
Matt’s stage banter and dirty bass fills.
What do you think makes you stand out in the crowded metal scene?
We’ve got fast bits and slow bits, but we keep it individual and it’s always riffy.
Other than yourselves; Who do you think are your biggest rivals to win this year’s M2TM Wolverhampton?
Recall the Remains will be really difficult to beat as they’re a big band and really good, but we’re looking forward to seeing Blood Church and our friends in Fractura as well.
