Bloodstock Bound: After Smoke Clears

Bloodstock Bound: After Smoke Clears

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 After Smoke Clears

Please introduce yourselves.

Thanks for having us! We’re really grateful for the support from The Razor’s Edge thanks for giving us a platform!

We are After Smoke Clears, an energetic and hard hitting metalcore adjacent band from the UK. 2026 has seen After Smoke Clears launch with a new lineup, and with this comes some more geographical spread. Joe, our new vocalist hails from the south west but nowadays calls Brighton his home. The rest of us, Aaron (Bass) and Dave (Drums) both live in Brixon, South London, and Kiran (Guitar) lives in Eltham, South East London. We have a pretty strong relationship with the South!

After Smoke Clears has been a band since around 2019 when we released our first EP, ‘Disillusion’ with our super over the top music video production for the single ‘The Crusher’. In 2020 (Covid years) we released our debut album ‘Edification’ with a 7/10 from Metal Hammer, which was pretty fkn great. Fast forward a few years, in 2022 saw Kiran join the band and our EP release ‘The Fear’ which then got an 8/10 from Metal Hammer, extra fkn great, which we followed up in 2024 with our sophomore album ‘Intentions’ which received ‘Album of the Year’ from Novacane. Joe joined us in early 2026, and we quickly released the new single ‘Sanity in safety’ which brings us to where we are now.

How would you describe your sound?

The music we make as After Smoke Clears is constantly evolving, we float in between metal subgenres like Nu Metal, Hardcore, Metalcore, Tech Metal, so we find it difficult to describe our sound in one ‘easy to define’ genre. Our songs range from hardcore adjacent ‘Soap Bath’ to anthemic ‘Animal’ all the way to tech-laden breakdowns ‘Serenity’, to classic metalcore ‘Sanity in Safety’. But what we do have that is a consistency, is an unmistakable groove, everything must be danceable, designed to have a good time. Maybe that’s what makes us unique?

How did you land your spot on the Bloodstock bill?

After Smoke Clears has been grinding in the underground scene for several years now, finding our audience across the UK playing loads of shows up and down the country. Quietly grinding out new songs, refining our craft, improving with every release. Along this journey, we’ve been in touch with the Bloodstock team, initially from just an email introduction, to each year making sure we’re in their faces.

This year we re-introduced ourselves, shared our new sound, new promo, and new team. As a band of our size, this was one of many emails we send, which rarely we hear back…

…We found out we were selected to play at Bloodstock, when the email from Simon popped up, that Kiran saw immediately, and went into the group chat saying something like, ‘DID I READ THAT EMAIL RIGHT? BLOOOOOOODSTOCK BABYYYY’ to which Aaron said ‘Fuk’ and then we had to wait a couple of hours to see if David (our drummer) was actually available… luckily he was.

What does playing at Bloodstock mean to you?

Playing at Bloodstock 2026 is an amazing achievement, each year the festival showcases the best and brightest upcoming talent from the UK. The festival is a superb supporter of the underground scene with their various metal to the masses, Sophie Lancaster, EMP and New Blood stages, so it’s reassuring to be part of this festival amongst these burgeoning bands. It will be a performance we’ll never forget, but also hopefully the start of the next chapter for After Smoke Clears.

For people who’ve never seen you live, what can they expect at Bloodstock?

The After Smoke Clears live show is bursting with energy. We can’t stand still and are constantly moving around the stage, engaging with each other and the audience. We play tight and hard and we aren’t afraid to get amongst it and get in the crowd. The fact that the music is danceable, you’ll find yourself unable to stand still when we start playing songs like ‘Unintelligent’.

What day are you performing?

So we’re appearing on the EMP stage, on Friday the 7th of August, alongside headliners Lamb of God, one of our early inspirations. Hopefully Randy will be around to catch our set

What other bands are you looking forward to watching at Bloodstock this year?

We’re keen to see so many great bands at Bloodstock 2026, there are so many bands who have directly inspired our sound such as Lamb of God, Sepultura, Northlane, Body Count and Leprous, also bands who we’ve played with and made friends with along our journey like, Wrex, Graphic Nature, Seething Akira, and Dream State.

Playing the EMP Stage is just the first steppingstone in a bands journey. What’s next in your plans for world domination?

Oh yeah this performance will be the starting point for the new era of After Smoke Clears. We have a brand new EP we’re recording this year which we’ll be debuting a few songs at Bloodstock (be there to see it!), the first single will drop some time later this year. We’re already starting to plan out 2027, and it’ll be bigger and better than ever.

Are you camping with the fans? Which campsite are you heading for?

I believe we’ll be fortunate enough to be camping in the artist area, which will be a huge honour to be surrounded by the other bands on the bill, obviously we don’t expect to be in the tent next to Rob Halford, but you never know who you’ll meet!

You’ve gotta keep hydrated at Bloodstock, what is your drink of choice for the weekend?

To be fair we each have our own favourite drinks, Joe loves a Monster, Kiran loves a lager, Dave loves a Guinness, and Aaron will have a Tequila. Otherwise we’ll just take what’s on the rider and have a party.

See you at Bloodstock in a few weeks!

Can’t wait! Thank you!

For all the latest news, reviews, interviews across the heavy metal spectrum follow THE RAZORS’S EDGE on facebook, twitter and instagram.