Here we go again… Last year we covered every band on the Hobgoblin New Blood and Jagermeister stages in the run-up to Bloodstock 2015. This year, we’re going one better and aim to have interviews from all the bands on those two stages as well as all of those on the SOPHIE stage prior to the event kicking off on August 11th. That’s almost 100 interviews to get online for you lucky people over the course of the next couple of weeks. I bloody love this job, but you lot owe me a beer at Catton Hall, right?
Thanks to all the bands who’ve taken the time to respond!
Footprints in the Custard – Hobgoblin New Blood stage, Sunday
Simple things first – where are you guys from?
We parade ourselves about as a Manchester band, which is true for the most part, but two of us live in the holiday destination of Crewe.
How did you meet?
Russ, Ian, Whitty and Ross met at multiple parties in various states of inebriation. Paul came along from a band him and Whitty used to be in… where they also got fairly lairy.
How long have you been playing together as a band?
In its current line up we’ve been going at it for 5 years – the original line up started back in 2006 which saw the release of the 2007 Oh God, It’s Warm album. Incidentally we’ve wound up playing Bloodstock on our 10th anniversary! It’s like they knew!
Where does the name of the band come from?
The old joke ‘How do you know an elephant’s been in your fridge? Because there’s footprints in the custard.’ We started as a bad joke and things just got way out of hand.
What are your influences – individually or as a band?
Throughout the band we have different influences ranging from melodeath and the modern walks of metal through to the classic thrash with plenty of punk thrown in. Just for good measure.
Describe your music. What makes you unique?
It’s not enough for us that the lyrics are enough to make your grandmother recoil in her nightgown, the music has to stand up to the plate as well. With this in mind, the fact that we have such different musical approaches in the band really helps keep things entertaining.
What’s your live show like – why should the baying hordes troop over to the stage you’re playing on to watch you?
Because we offer something that few bands do – a splash zone.
When/how did you find out you’d been selected to play at Bloodstock?
We found out by the man, the myth, the legend Simon Hall shortly before the official notice went up. Safe to say, we’ve been fairly overwhelmed with the we’ve had since.
What sort of setlist can we expect?
The setlist we have in mind is balls to the wall madness, with tracks ranging from our original 2007 release to some of our recent offerings from The Descent of Decency album released this year.
Which main stage band do you most hope you’re not clashing with so you can see them play?
Satyricon and Anthrax are definitely two particular bands we’d love to be front and centre for.
What are you working on at the moment?
It’s all very busy in the land of Footprints! We have a Descent of Decency B sides release we’re tinkering with and we also have the Do-Re-Mi-So-Fa-La-Ti-Bag EP. This came off the back of our recent and successful pledge drive for the Descent of Decency release. Fans had the opportunity/misfortune to have a subject matter of their choice immortalised in song… people buy some weird stuff. Last, but not least, we’re developing our very own RPG game – Footprints in the Custard: Bear and Back Again. Players take on the role of our band mascot the Pickleweasel and traverse the land of Phallia in order to catch Every STD In the Book!
What’s the wildest thing you’ve seen or done on tour?
On our ‘What a Mess’ tour, ing up with our buddies in Scumface, the roadie cleared out a bar’s worth of Jack Daniels shortly after announcing he was urinating blood. That was something to behold.
What advice would you give to a young band just starting out today?
Stick with it through thick and thin. But above all else keep it fun otherwise what would be the point?
If you could be part of any 3-band line-up who else would you have on the bill? One band above you and one below – a chance to plug a smaller, unsigned act!
Psychostick (who we have the immense pleasure of playing with later this year) and having from our epic amigos Stone the Alchemist. These guys are going to be huge before too long.
What stage / time are you playing at Bloodstock (if you have your slot yet!)
We’re still waiting with bated breath to find out our time slot for the big day. But we can certainly promise it will be messy.
