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!
OHHMS – Sophie Lancaster Stage, Saturday
Simple things first – where are you guys from?
We are from Canterbury in Kent, the garden of England.
How long have you been playing together as a band?
Paul (vocals) and I (Dan, guitar) have been playing music together since we were grunge and punk fueled teenagers. We met Marc (guitar) and Chainey (bass) about 5 years ago when we were trying to keep our old band from falling apart. Max (drums) ed OHHMS just after we started before we played any gigs, so it’s really been the 5 of us from the start. It was 2014 that we decided to do this.
Where does the name of the band come from?
It comes from “ohms” on a guitar cab. We were always asking what ohms a guitar cab was before we would plug in to it, after a few practices when we decided we needed a name Marc came up with it. It was going to be Ohms originally, but Paul did a search and there were already a load of bands called Ohms so we stuck another H in it so we could be unique. I was eating a pizza at the time.
Describe your music. What makes you unique?
Heavy, Loud, High Energy, Fast, Slow, Progressive, Brutal, Honest, Political. Lots of people call us doom or stoner, but it’s lot wider than that, we really just do whatever we feel is right for the song. There are elements of post rock, black metal, doom, stoner, heavy metal, prog rock, stadium rock, hardcore, whatever we feel like really. I think that is what makes us unique, also we have a Chainey in the band and he is the most unique beautiful annoying fucker I have ever met.
What’s your live show like? Why are people going to watch you instead of another band?
When you come and see OHHMS you are guaranteed to see five individuals give a performance with every ounce of energy they have. The day we don’t come off stage sweating and short of breath is the day we break up. If we are playing to a bar full of 50 people or a festival stage in front of thousands we always go at it full tilt.
Have you played Bloodstock before? If so, when?
Some of our played Bloodstock in a previous band a few years ago, maybe 2014 I think, but this is the first time for OHHMS and we are extremely up for it.
How/when did you find out that you’d be playing the SOPHIE stage?
Err, honestly I was on the toilet at work reading messages on Facebook, probably two months ago. The real fucker for me is because of my job I have to work Saturdays and it’s very hard to get that day off. It took me a month of negotiating with my boss to get half a day off work to be able to play, so I have to finish work down south in Canterbury at 12 and high tail it all the way to Derby to make the stage time. Nothing will stop me, if I have to drive over other cars to be there I will.
What sort of setlist can we expect?
At the moment we are planning to play some songs from our new record, The Fool, and maybe an older one. It’s difficult for us as our songs are fairly lengthy so we can usually only play three or four at each show. We prefer a shorter high impact show, I think if we played five or six songs we would die of exhaustion before we got to the end of the set.
Which main stage band do you most hope you’re not clashing with so you can see them play?
I really want to see Puppy, their EP Vol.II is amazing and I’ve never seen them live before. They are the band I’m most excited to see. Also well up for seeing Venom Prison, we played with them before earlier in the year but I didn’t really get a chance to see more than a few minutes so I’m looking forward to checking out a whole set. I saw Ghost a few years ago at Sonisphere and they were great so will defo have a few beers and watch them.
What are you working on at the moment?
We are currently writing songs for a new LP. Our last LP, The Fool, only came out a few months ago on Holy Roar, but we are balls deep in to writing the next one. So far it’s very different from the previous releases, but also very OHHMS.
What’s the wildest thing you’ve seen or done at a live show?
I got really drunk at a Korn show once then met Monkey after I snuck in to Brixton academy before the show. They didn’t appreciate it and he came out with some security guards who dragged me back inside and told me off. I’m really only in a band so that one day we can play with Korn and I can get Monkey back for grassing me up to security.
The first time I played a show with Chainey he climbed up my stack and knocked my brand new Marshall head over and broke it, wanker. We played Stonerfall Fest in the Netherlands a few years ago and Chainey crawled on stage whilst the headline band was playing and fell asleep, I was ready to kill him for being so disrespectful but everyone else thought it was was funny, so I let it slide. Other than that, seeing Chino from the Deftones jump off the PA stack during “7 Words” at the London Astoria was a pretty rock and roll moment.
Jager, Hobgoblin Ale, Kraken, Kingstone Press Cider, Kaltenberg Beer or Bulleit Bourbon? And, yes, we’ll be counting all the votes!
I have to say Kaltenberg Beer. I only drink beer really, don’t enjoy cider or spirits. I drink quite quickly and in large amounts so if I drink spirits it messes me up quickly.
OHHMS: facebook | twitter | bandcamp
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4YWfjcbPpo
