Femetalism’s Bloodstock Discoveries

Bloodstock is the ultimate UK metal festival. Billed as ‘by the fans, for the fans’ the festival has grown significantly over the years from a small indoor event to a huge outdoor event. 2011 saw me venture to Bloodstock for the very first time.

Although the final line-up failed to really inspire me I had bought my ticket back in December 2010 and was keen to go and just enjoy the experience. It wasn’t that the line-up was bad, I was just unfamiliar with most of the bands and the bigger bands on the main stage were not really my cup of tea.

That said, Bloodstock blew me away: the people, the atmosphere, the facilities but mainly the music. I acquired a guide immediately and started planning which bands to see – making sure they didn’t clash with each other and planning meal and drink stops a long the way. The whole weekend was music focussed with very little regard given to having loads to drink and acting like a fool until 5am in the morning in the campsite. We wanted to see as many bands and listen to as much music as physically possible.

There were a number of bands that blew me away completely and we have been purchasing albums like they are going out of fashion since we returned. The five bands who were complete unknowns to me before the festival but who really stood out to me were:

Shreddertron – New Blood Stage - A four-piece UK metal band from West Sussex. A real surprise these - thoroughly enjoyable almost post-metal with no shredding in sight.

Sanguine – New Blood Stage - A four-piece female fronted UK alternative metal band from Exeter. The set was powerful and energetic. The lead singers’ vocal was somewhat intimidating. I loved it!

Imicus – Sophie Lancaster Stage - A five-piece UK alternative rock/metal band from London. We decided to see them after reading comparisons to bands such as Tool. Although I am not sure where the comparison to Tool has come from, the band stunned me. Strong vocals, big riffs - stunning set.

Byfrost – Sophie Lancaster Stage - A three-piece ‘Black n’ Roll’ band from Bergen, Norway. A tremendous mixture of high speed black metal with barrel loads of incredible guitar riffs. It really did get the head banding! The album is pretty impressive too!

October File – Sophie Lancaster Stage - A UK based Post-Punk Band with a real attitude. They hooked me in with their catchy guitar riffs, grinding sound and exuberant stage presence.

I don’t think I could write a piece about Bloodstock, without mentioning the highlight of the whole weekend?! Seeing Sheffield’s own Northern Oak, bringing the crowd alive with both their acoustic set on the Saturday and their amazing set on the New Blood stage on the Sunday. Their performances were incredible and it was lovely to see them after the set being greeted by people wanting photos and albums signing.

Northern Oak Irish Jigging with the crowd on the Jagermeister Stage on Saturday 13th August 2011.

Northern Oak performing Arbor Low on the New Blood Stage on Sunday 14th August 2011.

In addition, the awesome power that is Evil Scarecrow really stopped me in my tracks. I wasn’t really that impressed when I went to see them earlier this year, but the set they performed on the Sophie Lancaster stage was something else completely. The place was packed and the atmosphere was amazing.

Evil Scarecrow attempting the largest Robot Dance to Robototron on the Sophie Lancaster Stage on Sunday 14th August 2011.

All in all, my first Bloodstock will remain with me forever. It has completely changed me as a person and as a metal fan. I know that sounds very deep and meaningful, but that’s the thing. Music has always really mattered to me. Music makes life bearable. Being a part of something like Bloodstock has given me a new passion for metal, for seeing more live metal, for reading more about metal, for listening to more metal. Being a part of Bloodstock has opened my eyes to the inner workings of the metal community. I feel as though I have carried out my induction, that I have been welcomed with open arms and that I have secured myself a place for eternity.

The Sophie Lancaster Foundation

Hard to believe it's been 4 years since Sophie was killed in an unprovoked attack. For looking different. Her mother has been working hard to promote tolerance for subcultures within our society through The Sophie Lancaster Foundation. The following video has been created to further promote the work they are doing within UK schools.



It was great seeing so many amazing bands play on the stage named in her honour at BOA 2011. Never forget ...

The Royal Wedding Weekend of Metal and Music

It's been a busy weekend in Femetalism land.  On Friday we went to see Delain at Manchester Academy 3 supported by Serenity.  I saw Lacuna Coil at Manchester Academy 1 in 2010 but had not had the pleasure of Academy 3 until Friday.

After successfully negotiating the spiral staircase and queuing for what seemed like forever we entered the room.  It was the perfect size for me - just big enough to encourage an atmosphere but small enough that the stage was perfectly visible from any distance.  We planted ourselves somewhere in the middle and didn't have to wait long for the first band.

Lost in Thought were the first band and I am still puzzled by them.  Musically they were excellent.  There were some really quite epic guitar riffs and catching melodies throughout.  The singing just didn't seem to work … not for me anyway.  The lead singer seemed to have a completely different vocal style to the music and I just couldn't get it to work in my head.  I've listened to them online since the show and it sounded better than during the gig.

Serenity were next.  A symphonic metal band from Austria that isn't female fronted.  The lead singer was a very dominating fellow who's presence was felt on stage immediately.  They played an incredible set  which incorporated a duet with Lisa Middelhauve of Xandria.  The audience was well and truly warmed up by the end of it.

Delain were as anticipated, AWESOME!  I am such a fan of Delain and am so excited that they will be heading straight to the recording studio once their tour is over to record a new album.   They played all of their greatest tracks and the new guitarist Timo Somers was excellent.  He was clearly enjoying himself because he had an excited grin the whole way through.  I was sad to not hear See Me in Shadow but was extremely over excited when they played The Gathering to end their encore; it's my favourite Delain track.

After the show, I bought a Delain vest and Doozr acquired Serenity's new album from the merc stand.  We popped to the loo (relevant) and when we came out Serenity were just hanging about outside.  We got their autographs and told them how awesome their set was.  It was an incredible evening which if possible i would repeat a number of times.

On Saturday night we headed to The Frog and Nightgown in Worksop; Primarily to see Northern Oak who were supporting Sanctorum and Evil Scarecrow.  It was an interesting place that appears to be the hub of the alternative scene in Worksop.  It was really welcoming though and served a great selection of real ale.

For some reason the evening seemed to take forever to get started but when it finally kicked off Northern Oak launched into a flawless yet short set.   I thoroughly enjoyed it and I think they did too! :)   Sanctorum also played flawlessly and I enjoyed their set immensely.   Some very funky lighting and an overused smoke machine made for an interesting haze along the front of the stage during both sets.  Doozr still managed to take some quite awesome pictures of the night though.

We only stayed to listen to a little taste of Evil Scarecrow's set.  To be honest the crowd dynamic changed so dramatically that I found myself surrounded by far too many goth fairies and emos by the time they took to the stage.  We decided to head home as it was very late by this stage anyway.   I don't think we missed a great deal and I was shattered!!! :)

All in all the weekend has been lots of fun and thanks to the Royal Wedding and a Bank Holiday Monday it has also been veeeeryyyyy long! :D  Hurrah!

Photographs kindly provided by Doozr - tme / lazyrobot.

Arch Enemy - Yesterday is Dead and Gone

I am very excited about the forthcoming album release from Arch Enemy.  'Khaos Legions' is released on the 30th May and below is the first video released from the album, 'Yesterday is Dead and Gone'. As anticipated it is pretty awesome.

Bad Pollyanna - Album Fundraiser

We all know that the music industry has changed thanks to the Internet.  Many bands who would have normally remained in the garage or touring the local pub circuit are now finding an audience via online channels such as YouTube, MySpace and Facebook.  I wrote an article back in November for TME which discussed this very subject.

The Internet makes it possible to support local bands, expand your musical horizons and generally keep up to date with what is happening in the international, national and local music scene.  It also gives opportunity for bands to gain a fan base and get their music out into the big wide world.

One such band, who caught my eye back in October 2010 is Huddersfield theatrical rockers Bad Pollyanna.  They were support for The Birthday Massacre at Corporation and blew me away with their loud no nonsense sound.

When I got home I looked the band up online and found they had a large online presence on places such as Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, Reverbnation, Last.fm and YouTube.  Disappointingly, there seemed to be some tracks available to listen to online, but no recordings to purchase.

Since then Bad Pollyanna have been touring relentlessly it seems, with dates all over the country.  They are now on an Album Fundraiser Tour and are trying to gain enough funding to record their first album.  Again, using the power of the Internet, Bad Pollyanna have created a Indiegogo profile and are asking fans to contribute to the cost of making the album.  In return the band are offering a number of 'Perks' a including personalised thank you letter from the band, signed posters, exclusive 'listening parties', album credits or private shows.

Bad Pollyanna released this personal appeal to their fans:

“Hello our amazing fans. First of all, thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your incredible support so far. Without you, there would be no Bad Pollyanna. You have all waited long enough for a top quality album so that you can have your favourite Bad Pollyanna songs at your fingertips. We want to record the album that you deserve.

An opportunity to record a full studio album at a hugely discounted price has been presented to us by long term friends and collaboraters Mat Dauzat who has produced and co-written at least half of Bad Pollyanna’s material and Kevin Lamb who is the band’s first choice of sound engineer and mixing engineer who are based in Los Angeles.

We know you all work hard for your money and we don’t ask this lightly. Below you will find our ‘Contributions Scheme’ which is a list of what you can contribute and what you will receive from us in return. Doing things this way means that we will make decisions purely based on what we think will result in the best possible tracks for you our fans. We can only do this with your support.

Any purchase from the list below- however big or small- is truly appreciated and every little helps. If every fan we have on ReverbNation gave just a few dollars we’d be hugely over budget!

There are limited places for some of our schemes so please get in early for the ones you are keen on to avoid disappointment. This is especially true for the Listening Party which is already filling up.

We’re looking forward to seeing you all on our Album Fundraising Tour in April and May and again at our album launches in July and August- and of course one hundred of you at the Listening Party.

To everyone who decides to contribute no matter how big or small- thank you, thank you, thank you!"

Love to you all, from Olivia Hyde, Nikki Kontinen, Peter Dawes and Sam Morrow.

So, Femetalism has dug into her pockets and added a contribution to an album I have been looking forward to for some time. Why don't you check out Bad Pollyanna and then visit their fundraising page on Indiegogo and make a contribution too? :)

My Metal Musings

I love music and more specifically I love different types of music.  I am not ashamed to admit to having days where a little pop or indie rock can perfectly quench my thirst for musical gratification.  My musical tastes have been developing over a number of years and, as with many things, the people you spend the most time with are the people who influence you greatly.  I admitted defeat some time ago and started to listen to Doozr's music collection.  It was always a long standing joke within our circle of friends about the weird and obscure bands that he went to see, when no one really took the time to find out anything about them.  Let me tell you though, there are some really amazing artists on his iPod and I have been happily experiencing those and branching out to find my own too.

So yes, you could say I am a metal newbie.  I wouldn't say that I didn't like metal before, but I only listened to those 'commercial' metal bands that made it into the popular charts (in the UK that is very limited).  The likes of Linkin Park, Evanescence, Def Leppard, Metallica and so on.  Discovering a host of metal sub-genres and finding out how utterly amazing they are has been a voyage of discovery and I have no intention of stopping any time soon.

Lunatica

I spent some time today reading up on the various sub-genres that exist under the metal umbrella and was amazed and surprised at how many bands I like that fall into so many of them.  Gothic Metal is without a doubt my favourite it seems with numerous bands such as Epica, Within Temptation, Delain, Lacuna Coil, Nightwish, Theatre of Tragedy, Lunatica, Unsun and ReVamp featuring heavily in my most played lists.

I even have to admit to liking a bit of Metal Core apparently; Bullet For My Valentine's recent album Fever has been heavily played and very much enjoyed.

Arch Enemy

What has surprised me more than the Metal Core though is the fact that I also like bands in sub-genres such as Death Metal (Arch Enemy, Dark Tranquility and Opeth for example).  I like a lot of Folk Metal (Agalloch and Sheffield's own Northern Oak).  I like some Progressive Metal (Devin Townsend Band and Wolverine) and of course the traditional Heavy Metal bands (Avenged Sevenfold, Iron Maiden and Def Leppard).  Three years ago I had no idea so many sub-genres existed let alone taken a listen.

In some ways it feels a shame that so many of these bands will never make it into the mainstream and will continue to be an underground phenomenon.  I wish I had come across these bands years ago though and wonder how I would have discovered them without a guiding hand from someone who had already discovered them himself.

Avenged Sevenfold

Saying that though, mainstream success would probably ruin what makes metal so undeniably awesome.  The knowledge that the artists are performing and recording because of their love of music and not for the fame and fortune that appears to be the driving force behind so many 'popular' artists these days.  I think some bands who happen to make it into the mainstream can sometimes be ridiculed by more hardcore metal heads but I have no qualms in listening to and enjoying a bands music no matter where they fit into the hierarchy of musical popularity.  If I like it, I like it.  End of story.

The metal culture appeals to me because of the level of tolerance and acceptance I feel within it.  Gigs are the most civilised I have ever been to and although I was a little apprehensive at the first metal gig I went to, I had no reason to be.  Everyone is there for the music.  Not to throw beer, push people about or keep pushing past you while they pop to the toilet.  They are just there to listen to the band and soak it all up.  Some are there to jump about in the mosh pit, but they do that 'in' the mosh pit and not at random intervals throughout the rest of the crowd.

Evil Scarecrow

Life is pretty hectic a lot of the time but I do try to go to at least one metal gig a month.  This month is a bit of a metalfest for us.  We are seeing Delain in Manchester and Northern Oak, Sanctorum and Evil Scarecrow in Worksop.  August will see me heading to not only my first metal festival, but my first festival ever.  I have wanted to go to Bloodstock for about 2 years now and this year we are finally heading down there for what is shaping up to be an awesome lineup.

Metal has become such a big part of my life it is hard to remember a time when I didn't listen to it.  I am constantly thinking about where I can find new bands, where I can find news and updates on new releases or upcoming gigs or I'm busy finding topics to write about for here or for the wonderful TheMixEclectic.  I've found where I belong and here is where I intend to remain.

To Cast A Shadow

I recently came across this band and have finally had time to give them a listen.  To Cast A Shadow are a Norwegian gothic metal band.  If you've not heard of them before here is a track from their 'In Memory of' album called Oceans Apart.  There are moments where it sounds a little like Lacuna Coil but it has plenty of unique qualities and a little more grunt than some of the recent offerings from other gothic metal bands.