Bloodstock Bound: Compounds
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 EMP stages at this years event.
Today we chat with Compounds
The Razor's Edge: Please introduce yourself and your band mates.
Compounds: Hi! We’re Compounds: Tom - vocals; Kiv - lead guitar; Jay - rhythm guitar; Chris - bass and backing vocals; Jon - drums and backing vocals. Kiv and Jon are the founders of the band, with Chris joining the original full lineup around 2018. Tom and Jay joined just after COVID and have been part of the band since our second EP in 2021. We were all living in Reading at the time, although we’ve spread out around Hampshire and Berkshire now.
The Razor's Edge: How would you describe your sound?
Compounds: We describe ourselves as melodic hardcore - basically bringing together the speed of 90s skate punk with hardcore breakdowns and melodic lead guitars. We’ve all got very different influences, from metalcore, hardcore, punk, 90/00s metal, and even classic heavy metal, but it’s come together to sound a bit like Comeback Kid, Counterparts, While She Sleeps - that kind of thing.
The Razor's Edge: How did you land your spot on the Bloodstock bill?
Compounds: The metal promoters that run a lot of nights in Brighton and Southampton (Apocalypse) started up a Metal to the Masses event in Southampton this year - Chris is a Southampton local and the music scene is great there, so we applied to play just because we knew it’d be a fun experience! Every round was just a really awesome, friendly gig, with tons of energy from everyone. I don’t think we did anything special for M2tM - we’ve been playing together for a while now, and a big part of that is getting used to pushing yourself when the venue/crowd isn’t great, so seeing the room fill up with people willing to get stuck in and loving what we were doing just means it comes naturally. While we were on stage I don’t think any of us really thought about the judges, because we were having such a good time.
The Razor's Edge: How tough was this years M2TM competition?
Compounds: There weren’t as many bands on the roster as I’ve seen in other cities - I’m guessing because it was just the first year - but every round was really tough. Each of the bands we were up against was very different but all really good at what they did, and I think any of them would have smashed it at Bloodstock. There were a few that were recently formed, too - I’m excited to see where they’ll be in a year or two. We were blown away to get to the final and then win the event.
The Razor's Edge: What does playing at Bloodstock mean to you?
Compounds: It’s a real privilege to have this opportunity, so we’re going to do everything we can to make the most of it! Medium-sized festivals like Bloodstock where local bands get to play on the bill with massive international headliners are such a great part of the UK music scene, and it’s incredibly exciting to be part of that. We’re really proud of the music we’ve released, so it’s awesome to suddenly have so much more reach and to see the Spotify numbers climbing. All the amazing feedback from the Southampton crowds and the judges is really validating too, because we’ve always considered the live energy a big part of what we do.
The Razor's Edge: For people who’ve never seen you live, what can they expect at Bloodstock?
Compounds: We’re all about performing live - you won’t see any of us standing still on stage. Even Jon likes to get out from behind the drums if we give him a chance. There’s lots of fast riffs to get people moving and breakdowns to get people moshing, and Tom loves getting the crowd involved. The main thing for us is making sure everyone watching us has as much fun as we do playing, so we try to make the energy as infectious as possible.
The Razor's Edge: What day are you performing?
Compounds: We’re on Friday - times will be on our socials as soon as we know.
The Razor's Edge: What other bands are you looking forward to watching at Bloodstock this year?
Compounds: We’ve got quite varied tastes across metal, metalcore, and hardcore, and the lineup this year is a really cool mix of old and new. The more we look, the more stuff we’re adding to the list. Bands like Machine Head, Trivium, Fear Factory, Static X, Nailbomb etc. got us into heavy music in 90s/00s, there’s progressive stuff we got into later like Gojira, August Burns Red, and Mastodon, and then loads of newer bands like Paleface Swiss, Thrown, Heriot, Kublai Khan, Gnome. Chris is the one who’s most into classic heavy metal, and 3 Inches of Blood was one of his favourite bands at school, so he’s very excited about that. And as Southampton representatives we’ll of course be there for Creeper. We’re just hoping we get time to squeeze in new discoveries too!
The Razor's Edge: Playing the New Blood Stage is just the first steppingstone in a bands journey. What’s next in your plans for world domination?
Compounds: We were actually planning on working on our next EP for the second half of this year, so we’ve had to do a bit of last-minute redirection to get ready for the festival. I think the big thing is going to be making sure we give ourselves time to get that written and recorded while the momentum is high - while not disappearing from live shows completely! We released our previous EP coming out of lockdown, so it’s exciting to think about how much more we could do with a new release off the back of playing at Bloodstock.
The Razor's Edge: Are you camping with the fans? Which campsite are you heading for?
Compounds: Sadly the weekend tickets were all sold out by the time the winners started being announced, so I think most (all?) of the M2tM winners are being told we’ll need to be in artist camping unless we already had tickets. We’re hoping we’ll be allowed to come hang out, though!
The Razor's Edge: You’ve gotta keep hydrated at Bloodstock, what is your drink of choice for the weekend?
Compounds: For day drinking in the sun, you’ll probably find most of us with some kind of craft IPA/lager - Jubel is a particular favourite for Jon and Jay at the moment. Tom is also rarely seen without black coffee!
The Razor's Edge: See you at Bloodstock in a few weeks!
Compounds: Thanks guys - see you all in a pit somewhere!
