Bloodstock Bound: Those Once Loyal
As Bloodstock gets closer, we delve deep into the line up to find out more about some of the bands playing the New Blood and Jägermeister stages at this years event.
Today we chat with Those Once Loyal!
The Razor's Edge: Please introduce yourself and your band mates.
Those Once Loyal: We’re Those Once Loyal, a Hardcore/Metalcore band from Nottingham formed in 2019. I’m Oscar the guitarist and backing vocalist and I formed the band whilst at Uni here in Notts. During my time at Uni was when I recruited our frontman Matt Smith through the cursed Join My Band website (he’s sound though haha) and recently had a line up shift inviting Harry Blanchard on Lead guitar and Tom Moore on Drums, currently sessioning for us on bass is Dan Bingley. This makes up todays line up of Those Once Loyal!
The Razor's Edge: How would you describe your style of metal?
Those Once Loyal: We like to say we’re a very 00’s style of metal, mixing in the hard-hitting breakdowns and melodic riffage of bands like Killswitch Engage, Hatebreed, Machine Head and others within the Hardcore/Metalcore genre base. But on top of that we of course take influence from a lot of modern greats as to not date our sound too much as well as dipping into each band members personal taste to truly tie together a familiar sound with a unique flavour.
The Razor's Edge: How did you land your spot on the Bloodstock bill?
Those Once Loyal: The king himself Simon sent me an email saying he loved what he heard and offered us a slot! Still beyond belief over that!
The Razor's Edge: What does playing at Bloodstock mean to you?
Those Once Loyal: Playing Bloodstock means a massive amount to us as a band, it’s the years of work put into this project paying off which is so immensely heart-warming. Getting to be a part of easily the UK’s best independent metal festival along side so many giants, as well as a whole host of underground insanity is simply surreal as I’ve been going since 2014 and have missed a year since!
The Razor's Edge: For people who’ve never seen you live, what can they expect at Bloodstock?
Those Once Loyal: If you’ve never seen us live before, then expect complete stage control, with a large focus on crowd participation including the classic circle pits, through to a lot more of the more hardcore activities, there’s no action untouched during our performances and trust us when
The Razor's Edge: What day are you performing?
Those Once Loyal: We’ll be performing on the Sunday! Sadly we’ve not had the time through of our slot but we’ll be sorting out an event page so you can keep up to date with when it is and anything else!
The Razor's Edge: What other bands are you looking forward to watching at Bloodstock this year?
Those Once Loyal: We’re hyped to see Megadeth, Killswitch engage, Knocked Loose, Biohazard, In Flames, Employed To Serve and of course our friends in Beyond your Design, Daybreaker and loads of other bands!
The Razor's Edge: Playing the Jager Stage is just the first stepping stone in a bands journey. What’s next in your plans for world domination?
Those Once Loyal: What’s next in your plans for world domination? We’ve got some nifty little secrets in the pipeline for ourselves the rest of the year, shows, merch and other things as well, but where’s the fun in spoiling too much ey!
The Razor's Edge: Are you camping with the fans? Which campsite are you heading for?
Those Once Loyal: The best camping is with the people of Bloodstock, its something I’ve always done and plan on sticking to it! But where we go changes every year, though it usually ends up being Midgard.
The Razor's Edge: How many Jager shots will you be consuming over the weekend?
Those Once Loyal: In the words of Barney Gumble from The Simpsons “JUST HOOK IT TO MY VEINS!” hahaha!
The Razor's Edge: See you at Bloodstock next week!
LaVein: See you soon guys, here’s to one of the best weekends a metalhead could ask for!
