As ever, we’re going to try and cover every single Jäger, New Blood and SOPHIE stage band before Bloodstock kicks off on August 10th. Your chance to check them out and start planning which bands to get there early for!
Trust us when we tell you that this is bound to result in some frustrating clashes because, as ever, there are some great bands on these three stages.
Our thanks to all the bands for taking the time out to answer our questions!
Ba’al – Hobgoblin New Blood Stage, Saturday
Simple things first – Where are you guys from?
We formed in Sheffield, however only three of us were actually born there. Richard our bassist is from Sussex and Steffan our vocalist is from Northampton.
How long have you been playing together as a band?
Originally myself and Steffan got together around early 2016 and Ba’al went through a few different until we settled as a five-piece. Then around January this year we lost our previous guitarist, Craig, and Tom ed shortly after. From this we noticed the whole dynamic of the band change and we almost feel like a new band, so with our current settled lineup it’s been around five or six months.
Where does the name of the band come from?
It was originally a Canaanite deity, meaning “Lord” in ancient languages and over the centuries it became known as a false god and eventually became the earliest form of Beelzebub. At least that’s what we think anyway, we thought it sounded cool regardless!
Describe your music. What makes you unique?
It’s difficult to say really, there are of course genres which we fit into more than others but we don’t like to pigeon-hole ourselves if we can avoid it. We have post-metal elements, black metal elements, doom, sludge etc but we also take influence from less traditional and non-‘metal’ acts too, such as Mogwai, Bjork, Deftones and Ulver. We don’t disregard ideas based on genre expectations either, we just write things that we think work. In a nutshell I’d say we combine serene atmospheres and intense emotions with enough monster riffs to give you a stiff neck, if that isn’t too pretentious to say!
What’s your live show like? Why are people going to watch you instead of another band?
This is really what we pride ourselves on to be honest, we’ve put a lot into our live show. Tom knows tone like the back of his hand so he’s managed to make our sound that much huger and he’s also a lighting technician so we’ve incorporated a specific lighting show into our set too. On the whole we like it to be a visual and, dare I say, visceral experience as well, with the intense sound, visual aspect as well as Steff doing everything to connect with the crowd on an emotional level too. We want to be one of those bands that go the extra mile and get ed. We just hope that people can get as much out of it as we do!
Have you been to Bloodstock before? What did you think?
A couple of us have, but for some this will be our first time! What makes it a great festival, aside from the lineup, is the atmosphere. It’s at that perfect festival size where it’s big enough to feel like you’re caught up in something but small enough to not be overwhelming and there’s a real sense of the metal community coming together and just having a great time. You could come any year without even looking at the lineup and be pretty much guaranteed to have fun.
Did you enter M2TM thinking you could win it? Which region did you win?
We won the Sheffield region and we didn’t really enter thinking we would win owing to the fact there are some really really good metal bands in Sheffield at the moment who are definitely worth looking into. Ultimately we saw it as a win-win situation as it is good exposure and at the very least we could have gained some new fans, then obviously there was the chance we could win which would of course be an amazing bonus. We grew more confident with every round we got through but we never expected to win and it was still a huge shock. Huge thanks go to all our Sheffield fans who were with us every step of the way!
What sort of setlist can we expect?
Hopefully one that will be enjoyed! We’re trying to find a good balance of songs as we know we can’t cater to everyone’s tastes but we think we have enough to provide some intrigue for all. It certainly won’t be a traditional metal set but it will be heavy and it will be intense.
Which main stage band do you most hope you’re not squished up next to so you can see them play?
It’s hard to say really, we all have different tastes and like so many different bands so at least one us is likely to be missing a band we want to see. That’s just the nature of the beast though and we have come to with that!
What are you working on at the moment?
We are recording our debut EP throughout July. We don’t have a release date just yet and we’re still working on artwork and a new run of merchandise. It will be our first release and we are very excited about it – they are songs that we’ve never played live before but we like them and we think others will like them too.
What’s the wildest thing you’ve seen or done on tour?
We are generally very sensible and wholesome when we’re out gigging. Most of the time if we’re not playing or watching the other bands with a pint, we’re in a quiet area discussing books or films over a Tesco meal deal – falafel is about as dangerous as we get I’m afraid… most of the time…
Jager, Hobgoblin Ale, Kraken, Kingstone Press Cider, Kaltenberg Beer or Bulleit Bourbon? And, yes, we’ll be counting all the votes!
Being pretty much teetotal I’m probably not the best one out of the band to answer but I’ve liked rum whenever I’ve had it so Kraken it has to be! I know for one or two of the other band it would have to be Hobgoblin, though!
Ba’al: facebook | bandcamp | instagram | youtube
https://youtu.be/rntUlZ9eSl0
