As ever, we’re going to try and cover every single Jäger, New Blood and SOPHIE stage band before Bloodstock kicks off on August 9th. 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!
Hundred Year Old Man – Sophie Lancaster Stage, Thursday
Simple things first – where are you guys from?
We’re from Leeds.
How long have you been playing together as a band?
From the first inception of the band it’s been about four or five years. With the current lineup it has been about four or five months.
Where does the name of the band come from?
It’s loosely from a speech by Harry Leslie Smith, a sample of which can be found in the song “Black Fire”.
Describe your music. What makes you unique?
I think we come across as a more intense style of post-metal/sludge but with a lot of more ambient/drone sections? We try not to push the music into any particular direction and just let it happen as far as possible really. I think that letting the music take shape as naturally as possible is key, rather than forcing it into something else.
What’s your live show like? Why are people going to watch you instead of another band?
Our live show is hopefully quite atmospheric building to intense, in keeping with the music.
As far as picking us over another band at Bloodstock, I believe we are the only band on at the time we are playing. We have the honour of opening the whole festival this year, so are the first band on the only stage open on Thursday night.
Have you played Bloodstock before? If so, when?
We played Bloodstock last year after progressing through Metal 2 The Masses in Lincolnshire.
How/when did you find out that you’d be playing the SOPHIE stage?
We were asked a few months ago. I was actually away at Roadburn at the time, which made that weekend even better.
What sort of setlist can we expect?
We are still working on exactly what we’re going to play, but we may pull out a surprise or two.
Which other band do you most hope you’re not clashing with so you can see them play?
We know we’re not clashing with anyone which is an excellent way to start off, but we are definitely looking forward to watching Underdark and Negative Thought Process as they are friends of ours who both made it through M2M in their areas. Gojira, Cannibal Corpse and Judas Priest should be good fun too.
What are you working on at the moment?
We are currently back to writing for our next release, which is going well so far. We have new this time, and the writing process is very different this time around, so things are turning out quite interesting.
What’s the wildest thing you’ve seen or done at a live show?
Pretty much every Dillinger Escape Plan show I’ve seen tops that list. The 2001 ‘Reading incident’ involving Greg shitting in a towel and throwing it into the crowd is unlikely to be topped any time soon. Honourable mention to the drummer from The Locust throwing up over the front of his drumkit in Leeds a fair few years back – Dan saw that one I believe.
As far as we go, probably Owen spin-kicking the singer of his old band in the face while playing, accidentally (he claims).
Jager, Hobgoblin Ale, Red Bull, Kingstone Press Cider, Kaltenberg Beer or Bulleit Bourbon? And, yes, we’ll be counting all the votes!
Bulleit and Hobgoblin. Although Dan lives off Red Bull when he isn’t drinking.
