the wildhearts

BLOODSTOCK FORGE AHEAD, ANNOUNCING 11 MORE BANDS FOR 2021!

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We’re full speed ahead with plans for this year’s event and are excited to announce a string of new bands to the 2021 bill at Catton Park!


THE WILDHEARTS romp into a main stage slot on Friday! Having been a big hit in 2019 when they stepped up last minute to fill in a cancellation, we’re happy to welcome the band back to Catton Park this year. With 2019’s ‘Renaissance Men’ album being deemed a huge return to form (as well as a return to the ranks for original bassist, Danny McCormack), the band also very recently dropped the ‘The Wildhearts, Live: 30 Year Itch’ via Round Records. 


Grabbing a Sophie Lancaster stage slot on Friday are Corby’s finest, the mighty RAGING SPEEDHORN! Having impressed many with their ‘Hard To Kill’ comeback album in October 2020, we’re thrilled to see they’re back and bringing their delicious noise to BLOODSTOCK. 


Moving into Saturday’s headline position on the Sophie stage are PHIL CAMPBELL & THE BASTARD SONS. The band unveiled their splendid new album ‘We’re The Bastards’ in November via Nuclear Blast, having recorded it in Wales during the lockdown.


Also grabbing Thursday spots on the Sophie stage are HACKTIVIST, THUNDEROUS JONES, ASHEN CROWN, LUNA’S CALL, URNE, FORLORN WORLD, SEETHING AKIRA, and KING WITCH. 


BLOODSTOCK’s 2021 main stage headliners are DEVIN TOWNSEND (Friday), KREATOR (Saturday), and JUDAS PRIEST (Sunday). The festival will also feature sets from DIMMU BORGIR, SKINDRED, PARADISE LOST, BURY TOMORROW, DIAMOND HEAD, JINJER, VIO-LENCE, SAXON, GLORYHAMMER, DARK TRANQUILLITY, BLOODYWOOD, MEMORIAM, RAMAGE INC., GREEN LUNG, CONJURER, ORANGE GOBLIN, THE NIGHT FLIGHT ORCHESTRA, UNLEASH THE ARCHERS, SYLOSIS, WINTERFYLLETH, THE CRAWLING, RAISED BY OWLS, ANAKIM, ACID REIGN, SVALBARD, SOEN, DOG TIRED, BAILER, BLASPHEMER, BLACK TONGUE, LIBERTY LIES, PIST, SHARKS IN YOUR MOUTH, SEIDRBLOT, BLOODSHOT DAWN, & EVILE so far. More bands performing across the long weekend are still to be announced.

Download Festival announces even more bands for 2016

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Download Festival, the world’s premier rock and metal event, adds another 14 acts to an already huge bill, including All Time Low, The Temperance Movement, The Wildhearts, and Napalm Death. Download Festival takes place on 10-12 June 2016 in Donington Park. Tickets are on sale now.

Joining headliners Rammstein, Black Sabbath and Iron Maiden for three days of unmissable rock are All Time Low. With over 1.1 million sales and more than 100 million Youtube views, the US pop-punk rockers are riding high after the last album, Future Hearts topped the UK charts at the end of 2015.

Returning to their Midlands roots are British grindcore pioneers Napalm Death. Since forming in 1981, Napalm Death have gone on to influence a legion of hardcore fans and musicians alike, they’ll be joined by Geordie punk rockers The Wildhearts whose original member Ginger will be returning to the line up after various solo projects.

Californian skate punk legends, Pennywise, will play Download Festival for the first time in over 10 years, headlining the third stage on Saturday. Their speedy and infectiously catchy punk anthems will ensure everyone knows why they are still one of the most relevant forces in punk today.

Bringing some powerful blues-rock to the festival’s Lemmy Stage, will be critically acclaimed The Temperance Movement, whose recent UK tour was lauded as one of the highlights of rock already this year. Currently one of the rock community’s most revered underground bands Glassjaw, will be making their debut Download appearance in June. The post-punk innovators have recently debuted six brand new songs and will be bringing their unmissable east coast underground sound to Download.

Texan hard-rockers Scorpion Child will be joining the line-up to showcase their 1970s Krautrock and Psychedelia inspired metal sound as will Scandinavian garage-rock band Royal Republic. Making their Download debuts are trans-Atlantic blues, rock and soul quartet Buck & Evans. Joining them and tipping their hat to the likes of Mastodon and Avenged Sevenfold are Scattering Ashes and psych-rockers Weirds who will be bringing their trademark energetic and eclectic show to Download.

Metalcore supergroup, Devil You Know, brings together John Sankey, Francesco Artusato, Howard Jones and Logan Mader to create a blinding sound. Their latest album Stay of Execution was released at the end of last year, ready to be executed to the Download crowd this summer.

UK’s own The Raven Age will be joining the line up fresh off the back of supporting Download’s own headliners Iron Maiden on their 2016 world tour as will The Shrine who’ll be bringing their LA skater vibes to Donington.

Download Festival is the home of rock music and takes place on the sacred grounds of Donington Park, which have been associated with rock since the eighties. The festival attracts icons of rock and metal to its main stage, plus some of the best and hottest new acts in the world. AC/DC, KISS, Metallica, Aerosmith, Guns N’ Roses, Rage Against The Machine, Slipknot, Linkin Park and many more have all headlined its main stage.

18 more bands set for Download Festival

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The Summer Festival Guide can reveal 18 more acts which are added to this years Download Festival lineup which takes place this July.

Seminal punk act Against Me!, fronted by the phenomenal Laura Jane Grace, will make their debut at Download, bringing with them their signature crunching guitars and soaring choruses accompanied by thoughtful ruminations on the ideals of social justice.

Legendary grime rockers Monster Magnet will make their first Download appearance in a decade, while atmospheric post-grunge pilgrims Chevelle, whowere due to appear at the very first Download in 2003 but had to pull out at the last minute, finally return in 2014 to claim their birthright.

For Monster Magnet this performance has been a long time coming: We're really happy to be performing at Download 2014. We've haven't played a festival in the UK for ages!

Another act which has a long association with Donington – hard-edged Geordie rock quartet The Wildhearts – return having made their debut at rock’s seat of power in 1994 and who last performed at Download in 2008.

Guitarist CJ reflected on the band’s relationship with the mythical stage: Well they just can't get rid of us. It's only 20 years since we first played Donington and in 2008 they turned the power off on us. Who knows what will happen this year…Bring it on!  

These latest additions to the line-up also provide plenty of heavy riffage, in part through Italian power metal demons Arthemis. Lead guitarist, Andy Martongelli, shared his delight at returning to the festival:

Arthemis at Download Festival 2014! Hell yeah! Do we need to say more? There's nothing better than playing in front of the massive Download crowd. Last year we had a blast and it's such a true honour for us to be back! We'll deliver a very special, face-melting-show for this event so make sure you're there to share the awesome moment with us: Arthemis strikes back!

British juggernaut Orange Goblin also add to the heavy factor, while local Nottinghamshire boys Lawnmower Deth add a sharp dose of good old fashioned thrash metal to the party, with singer Pete Lee taking the opportunity to reflect on the band’s history with the festival:

Back again! Damn do we love Download. Damn do we love Copping. Our 4th time. You do realise them puppies Metallica have only officially managed 3! We’re in pole position baby. And to boot, Twisted Sister and the mighty, mighty Quo are playing on the same day. Is it only March? Come on already June.

On the other side of the rock spectrum, fellow Midlanders Page 44 will also return to add some passionate, stripped back post-punk to proceedings.

Making their first appearance by the racetrack is one of the most exciting young acts on the British music scene, Brighton blues rockers Royal Blood, who have recently been nominated for BBC Sound of 2014 award.

Other home grown talents taking to the Donington stage include symphonic punk rockers, The Dirty Youth, whose singer Danni Monroe is relishing another visit to Download, saying: We're over the moon to be invited back to Download festival for the third time. It has always been our favourite festival! Cannot wait to rock the second stage!

This sentiment was shared by melodic math-punk newcomers Marmozets, who said: We’re looking forward to playing at Download 2014. It was a blast last time and it opened a few doors up for us as a band. 

Meanwhile, further Download debutants announced today are Japanese hard rock duo VAMPS (JPN) (not to be confused with The Vamps. Ever), Irish disco blues punks Kid Karate, ska merchants The Magnus Puto, Irish troopers No Hot Ashes, punk rockers Colt 45, hardcore punks Drones and Bristol rock’n’rollers Tax the Heat.

Drones looked ahead to following in: We are over the moon to be playing the hallowed ground of Donington and the legendary Download Festival, where so many of our heroes growing up have performed. We can't wait to tear it up and cause some chaos, see everyone in the pit!

Tax the Heat said: We’re absolutely ecstatic to be playing such a great festival and with such a great slot too. We look forward to being one of the first bands to play Download this year. See you there!