Our regular run-down of as many of the Bloodstock bands as we can get to talk to us! Yersin play the EMP stage on the Sunday…
Simple things first – where are you guys from?
We’re from Sunderland which is in the North East of England.
How long have you been playing together as a band?
We’ve been doing this about nine years now. We had a few different names in the beginning, but yeah about nine years in total.
Where does the name of the band come from?
Yersinia Pestis is the bacteria behind the black death. That’s a little hard to fit on a t-shirt so we just went for the first bit for the name. Naming a band is one of the most difficult things because it’s needs to be unique and original but without sounding naff and cheesy.
Describe your music. What makes you unique?
We’ve called ourselves every sub-genre of metal going, but we incorporate so many different styles we’ve just started calling ourselves either a metal or extreme metal band. It gets a bit ridiculous when you read about a band and they’re “blackened hardcore, with a djent edge who channel a crust punk energy whilst maintaining their routes in grindcore” – give me a fucking break! We don’t like to pigeonhole ourselves, and at the same time our sound is too difficult to put into one category of metal.
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What’s your live show like? Why are people going to watch you instead of another band?
I think we’re pretty intense live. Being just a three piece I think crowds appreciate how much noise we make. We’re a “strap yourself in” sort of band. We don’t take any rubbish or people acting up in the crowd. If we see someone being a cunt or acting like a dick to someone else in the crowd we’ll call it out. That doesn’t mean we want people to just be static. We’re pretty old school in our pit mentality. Everyone’s there for a good time and to let loose and we’re the music to do that to.
Have you been to Bloodstock before? What did you think?
I went in 2016 and 2018. It’s hard for me to do full festivals now as I work events and have a son, but when he’s old enough I hope he wants to go to Bloodstock with me. I’ve never been to a festival with such a laid back, happy vibe whilst still offering some of the most intense music going.
When/how did you find out you’d been selected to play at Bloodstock?
We got the email confirming it just before we went on tour with Mastiff in March. It was a massive elephant in the room. People at the merch table asking what else we had planned for 2024 and we just had to say “We’ve got an announcement soon”.
What sort of setlist can we expect?
We’ve got about 35/40 minutes. Think it’s going to be pretty intense. Start of with some fast-paced in your face stuff, maybe slow it down for a song or two in the middle then it’s time to pick up the pace again. We’ve got one song that’s only 45 seconds long, but it’s something else. Really want to see what chaos we can cause during that one.
Stage times haven’t been announced yet, so which other band do you most hope you’re not clashing with so you can see them play?
For us I think it’s all about Satyricon. We all love that band so we’re hoping to not clash with them so we can catch their set. They’ve got so many great songs and probably one of the only black metal bands that don’t have any sort of cringe factor. Our mates in Goblinsmoker are on just before us so we’ll be sure to watch them. Think we might finish just before Carcass too so if we can get gesr down quickly it’d be good to watch them and enjoy a few beers.
What are you working on at the moment?
Right now we’re writing and rehearsing. Possibly recording again next year but nothing set in stone yet. We’ve got a few more festivals this year and other gigs up and down the country which we’re looking forward to and as ever constantly working behind the scenes.
What’s the wildest thing you’ve seen or done at a live show?
A few years ago our guitarist Rob and I were out in LA and we went to see Trash Talk just after we’d landed from an eleven hour flight. The show was intense and the crowd was insane. Some guy ran across the stage and dove into the crowd but like in a seated position. He was going crotch first straight towards the guy s face in front of me until he ducked. I ended up holding this guy up in the air in this weird stance and then channeled my inner old-school WWF/WWE days and power bombed him on the floor. Was maybe a bit OTT but I was a few drinks deep and was just like “What do I do?!” The guy wasn’t too hurt and in a few minutes was back in the pit.
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What drink do you throw back to get yourself fired up before going on stage?
I’m a bore – I don’t drink before going on. I just stick to water and that’s because I don’t trust myself not to get the dreaded flavour and end up being completely pissed. I’ll have a few beers after, we’ll probably share a nice bottle of something after to celebrate a job well done. Rob, our guitarist, will either have a few ciders, bourbon and cokes or a big bottle of blue drink before we go on and our drummer Mal will probably just stick to lagers till we come off stage.
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