It’s that time of year where we set out to interview as many of the Sophie, New Blood, and Jager bands as we can in the lead-up to one of the most anticipated festivals of the year, Bloodstock. Answering our questions here are Cottonmouth who play the New Blood Stage on Saturday.
Simple things first – where are you guys from?
Nottingham.
How long have you been playing together as a band?
Jack and Liam started jamming in late 2017, since then we had various people come in and out whilst we tried to place our sound. We’ve been in our current line-up since 2019.
Where does the name of the band come from?
Cottonmouth, among other things, is a snake. It was suggested at a band practice and stuck from there!
Describe your music. What makes you unique?
Each member brings their own inspiration and music preference to the band, which makes for interesting and diverse writing sessions. We always strive to do something different every time we write a song, which we believe keeps our music interesting and our set lively. We also don’t copy our inspirations, we do our own thing, we love it when fans tell us what they heard from us, because it varies so much.
What’s your live show like? Why are people going to watch you instead of another band?
Fans can expect a lively set of big riffs, soaring guitar solos and epic choruses. We pride ourselves on having a tight live performance that delivers a great hard rock set. Also expect to see us having the time of our lives up on that New Blood stage… we are all extremely excited to play!
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Have you been to Bloodstock before? What did you think?
Yeah absolutely, I myself (Jack) have been going to Bloodstock since 2016 and our guitarist Dale has attended many times. It’s been a staple in my gig calendar since I first attended, and I plan on going every year I can. Bloodstock has such a good and friendly atmosphere that you don’t find at many other festivals, it’s also great how much they the underground scene. We also enjoy attending the M2TM heats, it’s a great way to see loads of local bands and grass roots venues and bands.
Which M2tM region did you win, or did you come through other channels?
Nottingham, we played the final on July 11th and the Vat and Fiddle. There were a lot of top bands playing this year’s final (8 including us!), so we’re honoured to have been chosen and to be going on to play the New Blood stage this year.
Can you put into 10 words or fewer how it felt when you realised you were heading to Bloodstock?
It felt unreal, a lot of hard work paying off.
What sort of setlist can we expect?
Full throttle from the get go, we’ll be giving it our all for the New Blood stage. Expect headbanging songs, melodic songs, and lots of hard rock riffs and solos.
Which other bands do you most hope you’re not squished up next to so you can see them play?
We’re all stoked to see the headlines, Devin, Kreator and Priest – luckily, we’ll not be anywhere near close to clashing with these metal titans! I myself (Jack) am also excited to catch Shrapnel & Evile on the Sophie stage as well as local heroes Evil Scarecrow give the festival a big send off.
What are you working on at the moment?
We’ve just released a new single, “Altered Mind”, which came out on the 2nd of July. We’re currently in the process of releasing all 5 of our recent singles on a physical CD which will be out shortly after our set at Bloodstock. The rest of the year will be playing as many gigs as we can and writing and recording for a new release in early 2022.
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What’s the wildest thing you’ve seen or done at a live show?
In Cottonmouth, we’re all very professional (of course!) and leave the antics for off the stage. I did however play a show in an old band where an intoxicated lady decided to climb on stage and proceeded to chase our singer around the stage for a kiss. The bassist and I couldn’t control our laughter as we finished the song with the singer holding the lady at arm’s length whilst trying to sing!
What drink do you throw back to get yourself fired up before going on stage?
An ice-cold beer always gets us in gear to hit the stage, we’re not fussy which one, it’s just got to be cold – as well as a fair few once we’ve got off stage!
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