Ferocious Dog

BLOODSTOCK ANNOUNCES FINAL MAIN STAGE HEADLINER & MORE!

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After 2021’s most successful event to date and in celebration of Halloween, BLOODSTOCK is excited to announce a swath of bands for 2022’s Catton Park heavy metal party, including their final main stage headliner! 

The mighty BEHEMOTH will bring their spectacular production to close out the Ronnie James Dio main stage on Friday. Nergal tells us, “BLOODSTOCK has a very special place in BEHEMOTH’s heart. They are one of the first major European metal festivals who took risks to position BEHEMOTH as a festival headliner; a game changer for us in the UK! I can’t wait to get back onto the legendary grounds of Catton Park and raise some monumental hell with our legions! Until August!” The Polish heretics spent lockdown writing new music and putting on the best livestream we’ve ever seen, so we’re excited to see what they have in store for us next summer. In the meantime, remind yourself of their incredible production with this live clip of ‘Evoe’, taken from their ‘In Absentia Dei’ stream, which sees a live release on 17th December via Nuclear Blast.   

Las Vegas ‘death western’ crew, SPIRITWORLD earn a Saturday main stage slot in a UK festival exclusive! The band drop their debut ‘Pagan Rhythms’ album via Century Media on 5th November and we urge you to check it out! Get a taste of their ‘death western’ sound and aesthetic via the awesome video for ‘The Bringer Of Light’, taken from that debut.  

We also welcome Sweden’s black metal kings, DARK FUNERAL to Sunday’s main stage in yet another UK festival exclusive. It’s been five long years since their last album, but the icons recently confirmed they have finished recording their latest, seventh opus with producer Daniel Bergstrand, with a prospective release date of March 2022. While we wait, check out a video from their archives, 1996’s ‘The Secrets Of The Black Arts’.  

Moving over to the Sophie Lancaster stage, Austrian diabolics, BELPHEGOR grab a slot on the bill. With a new album arriving in 2022, we can look forward to seeing some new tracks live. Frontman Helmuth comments, “Hail! We are proud to announce that BELPHEGOR was again invited to the ingenious BLOODSTOCK Open Air in Derbyshire, England in August 2022 and we will shred the Sophie Lancaster stage. Be prepared!”  In the meantime, watch their devilish video for 2017’s ‘Baphomet’.  Grabbing a Sophie stage spot on Friday are British metal squad, HEART OF A COWARD. The band are working hard on album #5, so we hope to see new music in ‘22, but in the interim, why not pick yourself up a bargain in their 50% off sale on selected merchandise over on their official website. 

Swelling Saturday’s Sophie roster are Celtic folk punks, FEROCIOUS DOG, currently half-way through an extensive UK headline tour to promote their latest record ‘The Hope’, released just 2 weeks ago. The six-piece shared an emotional official video for the title track on World Mental Health Day, made in collaboration with NHS advisors. Also added to the Sophie stage on Saturday are Harrogate’s BLOOD YOUTH, who released their acclaimed third album at the start of October, titled ‘Visions Of Another Hell’. Watch the video for latest single ‘Colony3’ and read a recent Kerrang! interview with them here to learn a bit more.  

In addition, joining Saturday’s Sophie line-up are much lauded Hull crew, BLACK TONGUE bringing their fresh take on down tempo deathcore & doom. The group just wrapped up their first UK headline tour in 2 years and are now prepping to perform at Cvltfest in November before heading out on the road with Decapitated in 2022 for the latter’s 25th anniversary – not a bad warm-up for BLOODSTOCK! Last but not least, up-and-coming British noiseniks, HERIOT land a slot on Sunday’s Sophie stage. With US magazine Revolver recently declaring them “one of the most promising young bands in modern metalcore”, check out what the fuss is about when they support Svalbard across the UK in November and listen to their recent cover of the Machine Head classic, ‘Ten Ton Hammer’.
Joining BEHEMOTH as 2022’s Ronnie James Dio main stage headliners are LAMB OF GOD and MERCYFUL FATE. Also landing main stage slots across the weekend are DIMMU BORGIR, PHILIP H. ANSELMO & THE ILLEGALS playing their Pantera set, TESTAMENT, EXODUS, BLACK DAHLIA MURDER, GWAR (in a UK festival exclusive), BURY TOMORROW, SACRED REICH, LIFE OF AGONY, BUTCHER BABIES, VIO-LENCE, BLOODYWOOD, JINJER, LORNA SHORE, DOYLE, & LOST SOCIETY. Over on the Sophie Lancaster stage expect to see HATEBREED, SLEEP TOKEN, EYEHATEGOD, DISCHARGE, STATIC-X, THE NIGHT FLIGHT ORCHESTRA, ENFORCED, PARTY CANNON, SOEN, HEATHEN, and NEKROGOBLIKON as well as tons more yet to be announced. Stay tuned for more band announcements soon and check out the first 2022 trailer here. With tickets selling faster than ever, all VIP packages, early birds, and campervan tickets are already sold out. Weekend camping tickets & child tickets are on sale now at the ticket store.  

BLOODSTOCK will take place at Catton Park, Derbyshire on 11th-14th August 2022.
For more info, click to www.bloodstock.uk.com. 

Nottingham Splendour Festival 2015 Highlights

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It was a scorcher at Splendour Festival 2015 with The Specials, The Twang and Lawson headlining the mainstage. In between acts we got the chance to have a chat with Georgie, Ferocious Dog, To Kill a King, and Lawson. Splendour has a reputation for showcasing Nottingham's best young talent and again this year it didn't disappoint, with up and coming acts from Nottingham, the Midlands, and around the UK. There was no lack of things to do with the day, with fair rides, stalls, samba and a circus, it catered for the whole family. Much to the disappointment of the festival goers, the ale ran out at 5pm, however they didn't let it dampen their spirits and still enjoyed the sun, music and entertainment.

We caught up with headliners Lawson backstage, with band member Joel Peat himself originally from Nottingham, he said he loves being back in his home town and with a familiar crowd. The sun wasn't quite enough for Lawson though, who were all feeling the chill despite what we thought was a happy 22 degrees. The boys had visited the circus and the beer tent and gave Nottingham a sneak preview of their brand new single 'Lions Den'. Lawson said they love playing to a Nottingham crowd and like lots of the other local bands are inspired by, and love playing at Nottingham's own rock city. During their Splendour set it was screaming girls galore with their typical pop-rock ensemble of songs to get the crowd going. 

Ferocious Dog, on the confetti stage, have a large following in Nottingham and when we caught up with them they said that it was great to be back since they first played two years ago. The guys are hoping to play on the mainstage within the next few years as they're becoming more popular. Ferocious Dog are building up their fanbase and have played two sold out gigs at Rescue Rooms, and got to play at Nottingham's infamous Rock City which they described as 'the dream', having spent the eighties and nineties watching bands there. 

To Kill a King, have used Splendour to increase their exposure for the young band after making the main stage, being one of the first acts up, the crowd warmed to their British rock infused set. The boys have been really busy, travelling to Nottingham for Splendour follwing playing at Latitude festival the night before. They said that often festivals can be far less stressful than gigs as 'everyone's really intent on listening to what you're doing and that'll get really stressful, and you'll come to festival season and everyone's in a field, drunk, and you can basically just have a really good time with it'. Equally, the boys say they love gigging and explain that by the time festival season is over they think 'why is no one listening to me?!'. 

On the main stage Roots Manuva's set was perfectly timed with an outburst of sun much to the appreciation of the festival goers. Roots didn't disapoint with ska infused reggae to keep the crowd entertained and in the festival mood. James were recieved by one of the largest crowds of the night and the tracks 'Laid' and 'Sit Down' had to be among my personal highlights of the day, with the crowd of all ages joining in with the classics.

Local artist Indiana, tore up the mainstage with a cult Nottingham following, after being brought in to replace Jess Glyne. From her appearances on BBC introducing and In New Music We Trust, Indiana's fanbase has gradually developed in the midlands and across the UK. Her melodic, Florence-and-the-Machine-esque voice, combined with a heavy baseline went down a storm setting up the three headline acts. With the local acts out in storm, Georgie, first up on the confetti stage, was enjoying the exposure of being at a festival being an under the radar musician. Georgie says her progression in music has come as her 'voice has matured' and she's 'matured in herself'. 

Heading over to the acoustic tent, which was snuggly tucked away inside the off buildings of Wollaton Hall, Joy Mumford was singing to mellow beats as the sun went down. The acoustic tent showcased some of the best new music across the day including Hhymm, Eyre Llew, Pierce Brothers, Jamie Lawson and Molly and Jack. 

Bananarama, headlining on the confetti stage, attracted a crowd of life long fans, singing along to all of their hits including 'Robert de Niro's Waiting', 'Full Summer', and 'Really Saying Something'. They also switched it up with covers of the Beatles 'Help', and The Bee Gees 'I want you back' and 'You should be dancing'. Bananarama's disco vibes on the confetti stage and The Specials eighties two tone and ska on the main stage offered something for everyone and was a great end to a family day out.