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!
Womenowar – Jägermeister Stage, Sunday
Simple things first – where are you guys from?
The Kitchen of Steel (based somewhere near the Midlands, UK)
How long have you been playing together as a band?
Womenowar has been a bit of a longstanding joke between Erica Had’ems (Gemma Lawler – Dakesis vocalist) and Joanne Lmao (Amie Chatterley – Dakesis Bassist) for many years now. It finally came to fruition in 2018 during the planning of the second Power Metal Quest Fest held in Birmingham, where they decided that their long term “dream” of forming an all-female tribute to Manowar should finally happen. So they booked Womenowar, completed the lineup and initially only intended to perform this one-off show. It seems that Womenowar went down a little too well and here they are now….
Where does the name of the band come from?
Anyone that has heard of Manowar and is familiar with the name should definitely see the correlation between the two. Womenowar started out as an all-female tribute act, but due to some clashing menstrual cycles, a few got distracted before their debut performance at Quest Fest and they did the only thing they knew how to (besides making sandwiches and ironing)… ask a man. Thus they unofficially became “Women(and some men)owar”.
Describe your music. What makes you unique?
If you enjoy preparing yourself for battle by listening to Manowar, but don’t want to pay an extortionate amount of money to see the band – with there being a fairly high chance of them pulling out – then Womenowar are definitely for you. 100% of the talent for 1% of the cost. Womenowar bring all the classic Manowar anthems (thanks to the with … well … actual bringing all the talent) and an entertaining, tongue-in-cheek live show.
What’s your live show like? Why are people going to watch you instead of another band?
Sometimes when you’re at a festival, you have a yearning for the glory of metal and the power of steel. You want to hear a rousing battle cry and be ready to fight. Sometimes you want to see a band that bring some fairly serious issues about sexism within the music industry in the form of a tongue in cheek, entertaining live performance. Sometimes you want to see male of some of the best UK original bands recreate some fist-pumping, classic Manowar anthems, in a dress – with some absolutely outrageous killer highlight and a mean eye-liner wing.
Have you been to Bloodstock before? What did you think?
This will be Womenowar’s debut Bloodstock performance – however Womenowar is a supergroup made up of from some of the best independent bands in the UK (Dakesis, Fury & Christgrinder). Both Dakesis and Fury have played Bloodstock a number of times and all the have been attending the festival for many years now.
When/how did you find out you’d been selected to play at Bloodstock?
We sent a messenger raven with tidings of steel to Simon Hall, and of course he immediately met our ridiculous list of demands and gave us the biggest show on the biggest stage. We’re going to wait until the day before to demand that the whole festival is rebranded Womenowar Festival and then pull out when he refuses.
What sort of setlist can we expect?
Fan favourites, and a couple of curve-balls! But definitely the truest, heaviest show of pure heavy metal the Jäger stage has ever seen.
Which other band do you most hope you’re not clashing with so you can see them play?
Manowar. Oh wait…
What are you working on at the moment?
Womenowar have a few more live dates over the coming months, with plenty yet to be announced, but we are mostly going to be busy with our main projects, all of which are working on new albums at the moment! Of course, we always have to be ready for the possibility of the odd lawsuit here and there, but so far so good!
What’s the wildest thing you’ve seen or done at a live show?
We managed to squeeze all 10 of WomenOwaR and HanOwaR on-stage at Scruffy Murphys for a rousing and mostly unrehearsed rendition of the anthemic “Battle Hymns”. There was a lot of man-sweat and a toy drum kit involved…the toy drum kit did not survive until the end of the show.
What drink do you throw back to get yourself fired up before going on stage?
The tears of all the wimps and poseurs who can’t handle a true metal show. Or a nice lady gin with a tiny pink umbrella.
Womenowar: official | facebook | youtube
