I recently attended Bloodstock Open Air. The largest independent music festival within the UK. The event hosted some monumentally iconic bands within heavy metal. From legends like Judas Priest and Lamb of God, to cult heroes such as Party Cannon, to trailblazing newcomers Sanguisugabogg and 200 Stab Wounds, the festival really had something for everyone. Well, if you’re greasy enough to enjoy heavy metal that is. Despite the amount of talent on the lineup, I often found myself at the same tent throughout the festival, this was known as the New Blood Stage, and it’s one of the coolest things about Bloodstock. The festival’s dedicated platform for unsigned and newly emerging metal bands.
Each of the bands on the stage’s lineup are winners of the Metal 2 The Masses competition. Bloodstock’s own battle of the bands which runs throughout regional areas across the UK, Ireland and occasionally parts of mainland Europe. Unsigned bands are able to enter this competition and get judged against other local acts, winners of each regional progress towards a final and the strongest of which earn a slot on the New Blood stage. The bands that perform the best on this stage will then often be promoted to the second largest stage The Sophie Lancaster the next year.
Due to my “journalism” I was granted a media pass for Bloodstock, which meant I was staying within the Media and Artist campsite. Many of the New Blood bands were also camped here, and it turned out that the vast majority of them I met were already fans of my videos on the Coolea channel.
This meant I was able to form a tight bond and speak to them about the experience of performing on the New Blood Stage. The band Microtonal from Ireland for example, who play a tight combination of death and thrash metal, became good friends of mine.
The lead singer of this band mentioned to me that it was his first time outside of Ireland, and the others described that their average gig was typically a small pub venue to a limited crowd. That was not the case at Bloodstock.
As I entered the New Blood Stage to watch their set, the crowd was packed full of curious older attendees, and younger passionate fans moshing at every chance they got. There was even a circle pit that opened with somebody who looked to be in his mid 70s joining in on the action.
Although the crowd was fantastic, I was enamoured with the performance itself. Of course the band was tight and the songs were gnarly, but it was the facial expressions and stage presence, you could tell they were having the best time of their life, shell shocked by the opportunity to play to a crowd this size. This band became the talk of the festival, even to those who may not have caught their set, so I believe it’s almost inevitable they will play again, and that isn’t just because I consider them good friends.
Another band I caught on this stage was Bailed Out, a refreshing taste of metalcore all packaged with an extremely appealing visual image. Despite the band being brand new and incredibly small, I was already a fan so decided to catch their set.
Once again, it was fantastic, they brought a level of youthful energy that just wasn’t replicated by the larger bands on the lineup.
I was actually able to bump into the band the day after, I went up to fanboy them only to realise that one of the members was going to do the exact same to me. I am truly blessed to be respected by the actual musicians within this artform, but enough about me.
Bailed Out once again played to the largest crowd they ever had, their music was introduced to more people than ever before, and even if it doesn’t result in an uptake of listeners. I can only imagine the level of motivation an opportunity like this can bring.
The same occurred for other bands I consider friends such as Chekhov’s Gun and Solatia.
Both of these acts play a style of metal that is unique and forward thinking, sounds that can only come from the young and most passionate. One of the main elements that is as good as the live sets themselves, is the motivation and energy I felt radiate off of these bands after they played their shows. You could feel a joyous motivation from being given the opportunity to do what they love to a large crowd.
Due to the niche that the New Blood stage fits into, you’ll often find festival attendees that spend the entire weekend at this tent, just so they can hear what the new generation has to offer. It isn’t just a token gesture to the new generation, however, it’s genuinely beneficial for countless areas of grassroots and independent music.
The alumni for example, Evile, Sight of Emptiness, Uncle Rotter, Shrapnel, Primitai, all of these bands have gone on to do amazing things within heavy metal.
Specifically Evile are nearly two decades and six albums deep, have survived tragedy and a hiatus, and are still active and respected as one of the UK thrash scene’s most enduring names, a case study in longevity, not just a quick win.
The mechanism of how the New Blood stage gathers talent is also beneficial. Countless bands from various regions all fight for a place to play this coveted stage, and although that may seem unfair to many of the other bands that play, it’s still a way to build genuine communities. The competitions are often held at grassroots venues, funnelling more attendees and allowing each of these bands to meet each other and potentially make more connections with the industry.
The New Blood bands get access to the VIP areas at Bloodstock, and from my experience many of them were interviewed by big names within the scene. A lot of them wanted me to interview them, but personally I think a genuine conversation is always more beneficial than a structured interview, especially considering some of the information I was able to pick up. It isn’t just “journalists”, however, it’s label scouts, promoters, countless industry figures that are specifically eyeing up the New Blood to find bands with potential.
A lot of the time newer bands that get signed come from a handful of musical hotbeds, London, Bristol, Manchester. New Blood attracts artists from everywhere.
This year’s lineup alone pulled winners from Merseyside, Oxford, Devon, Cornwall, Nuneaton, Stoke-on-Trent, and Cork, towns and cities with next to no industry infrastructure, standing shoulder to shoulder with London acts on the same stage. The fact that Microtonal’s lead singer left Ireland for the first time just to play New Blood proves it entirely. It’s all about how well the bands play, not whether they’re from a nepotism-tinted city like London.
In order to truly understand how cool the New Blood stage is, let’s compare it to another large metal festival like Download.
They have openly spoken about wanting to platform new talent, specifically on stages such as Dogtooth and Avalanche. But in reality, those stages are filled with bands that are already a bookers dream, ones that are a few rungs further up the ladder than the average New Blood band. There’s no Download equivalent of Metal 2 The Masses. No regional heats. No open door for a band with zero connections to fight their way onto the bill on merit alone.
Other festivals may platform new talent, but Bloodstock builds it from the ground up. New Blood isn’t a curated lineup like most stages. The entire thing is decided in pubs and small grassroots venues across dozens of towns with very little industry presence, judged by people who actually enjoy music.
Every other festival can add a “new talent” tent. Not many can say they’ve spent years building the actual pipeline underneath it.
