It’s that time of year again, when in the run-up to Bloodstock we endeavour to interview every band gracing the Sophie Lancaster, New Blood and Jägermeister stages from 8th – 11th August 2019. This means you’ve got a chance to read up on all your favourite bands set to play over the weekend and decide which new ones you’ll want to check out.
As ever, we’re predicting some horrible clashes because, true to form, there are some great bands across all three stages so you should start planning who you want to see.
Our thanks to all the bands for taking the time out to answer our questions, and James Kidd (Widows’ guitarist) for doing this one!
Widows – New Blood Stage, Friday
Simple things first – where are you guys from?
We’re from Nottingham.
How long have you been playing together as a band?
We started out in early 2008 and played our first gig ten years ago, although our current line-up is less than a year old.
Where does the name of the band come from?
The village me and Ad (Jolliffe, vox) grew up in has had a lot of deaths happen, largely through illness and nearly always the dads of the families. It’s kind of a nod to that. Plus it’s two syllables so it’s really good to chant!
Describe your music. What makes you unique?
We mix up a few different “styles” from within our corner of the genre, from dissonant, abrasive sludgy bits, to big dumb stoner riffs. We like to mix it up in the song structure too, I get bored playing the same riff for too long so we switch up riffs/parts constantly to keep things interesting, as much for us as much as for the crowd.
What’s your live show like? Why are people going to watch you instead of another band?
We’re loud and in your face. Adam is a great frontman and will definitely keep your attention, plus new drummer Adam Sharrocks has really helped us step up our game with his take on the drum parts. Our release (Ten’Yer) from earlier this year was well received too so hopefully all that will come together in the form of plenty of new faces in the crowd.
Have you been to Bloodstock before? What did you think?
I went back in 2016 and loved it, very well laid out and organised, and no extortionately priced food or drinks either. I liked the crazy side shows they had going on too, I saw two dudes dressed up as medieval knights fighting in a circle of people. In fairness, that could just as easily have been two dudes having too much fun though.
Which M2tM region did you win, or did you come through other channels?
We were in the Nottingham group.
Can you put into 10 words or fewer how it felt when you realised you were heading to Bloodstock?
Very fucking happy. We’ve been wanting to play for ages!
What sort of setlist can we expect?
Well, I’m not gonna give away any secrets just yet (look at me, talking like I hold the nuclear launch codes here), but you can expect something from every release, plus an old favourite that we haven’t played in years.
Which other bands do you most hope you’re not squished up next to so you can see them play?
My “must sees” for the weekend are Barbarian Hermit, Boss Keloid, Bong Cauldron (all the Bs). I do hope we don’t clash with Raging Speedhorn or Soulfly though, that would suck!
What are you working on at the moment?
Currently just getting Adam up to speed with some more of the older songs and writing for another release hopefully for 2020.
What’s the wildest thing you’ve seen or done at a live show?
We had a couple of naked people running around in the pit once or twice, I’ve seen some boobs come out and I’ve seen Ad (vox) crowdsurfing for most of a song, mic in one hand and whiskey bottle in the other. Oh, yeah, someone got tombstoned in the pit once at a show in Manchester a few years ago, that was savage as fuck. Thankfully he came out of it alright in the end though.
What drink do you throw back to get yourself fired up before going on stage?
I’m not a massive drinker these days but usually a Jager or two and some stage beers, that usually does the trick.
