Bloodstock

BLOODSTOCK are thrilled to announce that French super-heavyweights and Metal Hammer Golden God Award ‘Best Live Band’ nominees, GOJIRA, have been added to the Saturday line-up. Still basking in plaudits for current album, ‘L’Enfant Sauvage’, the earthquake-inducing four-piece stole the show on the recent 2013 Jagermeister UK tour. Frontman Joe Duplantier enthuses, “Hey everybody! We are super excited to play Bloodstock again this year, we had an amazing time back in 2010. Looking forward to seeing all of our UK fans again and kicking your asses!” Sure to be one of the live highlights of the weekend, cast your eyes over this festival clip of fan-favourite track ‘Flying Whales’ and see the treat that Bloodstock’s in for on the Youtube video below:

The award-winning BLOODSTOCK FESTIVAL has started a weekly Facebook lottery, enabling a lucky winner to grab a pair of festival tickets (with camping) every week from now through to the festival in August. All you need to do to enter is swap your current Facebook cover pic for one of the three custom-built Facebook cover banners available at the bottom of the banner downloads page on the BLOODSTOCK website; www.bloodstock.uk.com/advertising_banners .

At a random day and time every week, a winner will be selected by the BLOODSTOCK team, from active timelines showing one of the BLOODSTOCK banners in the cover pic slot. The winners will be notified by private Facebook message, and their name announced on the festival website. Switch up your cover pic and take part! You’ve gotta be in it, to win it!

For the third year running and after a record-breaking 2012, Teenage Cancer Trust is to benefit from the Bloodstock Open Air festival again this summer. The festival is held over the weekend of August 8-11 at Catton Park in Derbyshire and will be raising awareness and funds for the charity.

Fundraising initiatives at last year’s festival raised a whopping £4,775 for Teenage Cancer Trust. Money was raised via guest list donations, raffles and a T-Shirt Amnesty and the charity are hoping the 2013 festival will smash the £5,000 target.

This year, the Teenage Cancer Trust T-shirt Amnesty will be back, with old rock and metal T-shirts available in exchange for a donation while festival goers are invited to donate their unwanted T-shirts. There will also be a raffle over the weekend with an exclusive prize for one lucky winner – more details of this will be announced nearer the time. All funds raised from these initiatives will go towards supporting young people with cancer thought the UK.

Bloodstock Open Air is the UK’s ultimate metal festival and with this year’s headliners already announced its set to be the biggest and best yet. 12,000 people will descend on the Derbyshire countryside for three days of music from the likes of King Diamond, Lamb of God and Slayer.

Teenage Cancer Trust’s vision is a future where young people’s lives don’t stop because they have cancer. They make sure they’re treated as young people first, cancer patients second and everything they do aims to improve their quality of life and chances of survival.

Around six young people aged between 13 and 24 are diagnosed with cancer every day in the UK. They need expert treatment and support from the moment they hear the word ‘cancer’. Teenage Cancer Trust are the only charity dedicated to making this happen; they fund and build specialist units within NHS hospitals bringing young people together to be treated by teenage cancer experts in a place designed just for them. They want every young person with cancer to have access to this specialist support, no matter where they live.

Jen Walker, Music Coordinator for Teenage Cancer Trust said: “We had a brilliant time at Bloodstock last year and appreciate all of the support from both those behind the scenes at the festival and all of those who popped by the stall and supported us! Roll on August – and Lamb of God!”

For more information about Teenage Cancer Trust head over to http://www.teenagecancertrust.org/get-involved/music/festivals/bloodstock-open-air-make-us-their-official-charity/

You can also buy your Bloodstock tickets from the Teenage Cancer Trust affiliate link and help to fundraise before you’ve even got there!

There’s yet more thrash for BLOODSTOCK with Northern Irish upstarts, GAMA BOMB landing an opening slot on the Ronnie James Dio mainstage. The band are looking forward to churning up the Catton Park turf, commenting; “BLOODSTOCK: it’s just like Woodstock, but for heavy metal types, and replacing the love and peace with chips and Carling! And SLAYER! Our UK fans have been asking for this for years, and now the dream is real. So pack your tent, back up your arse with bananas and send the word – The G-Bomb are comin’ to BLOODSTOCK!". The band’s fourth album, ’The Terror Tapes’, featuring sleeve artwork by veteran horror artist, Graham Humphreys (Nightmare On Elm St/Evil Dead) is released next Monday 22nd April on AFM Records. Check out their new video for ‘Terrorscope’ on the Youtube video below:



British heavy metal standard bearers, BEHOLDER also step in to an early mainstage slot on Saturday. Frontman, Simon Hall says “For Beholder to actually be asked to do this, without me dropping to my knees and pleading like a bitch is a true acknowledgment of where the band is right now. To be on the best BLOODSTOCK line-up ever is something we’re not going to approach lightly, and on Saturday 10th August, let’s show the rest of the world how true British Metal fans rule all!!” BEHOLDER’s latest album, ‘The Order Of Chaos’ hit stores in February. Check out their latest video for lead track, ‘Black Flag’;



BLOODSTOCK is honoured to name their 2nd stage in memory of Sophie Lancaster and are pleased to see the recent developments by the police, recognising subculture hate crimes. Picking up the final headlining spot on the Sophie stage are LAST IN LINE, the band put together by former DIO band members (BLOODSTOCK’s main stage is of course named after their sadly departed band visionary and metal legend, Ronnie James Dio). Former DIO/current DEF LEPPARD guitarist, Vivian Campbell will be joined by Vinny Appice (drums), Jimmy Bain (bass), Claude Schnell (keys), with the project being fronted by vocalist, Andrew Freeman (Lynch Mob/Hurricane). Also added to the Sophie stage line-up are GRIFTER, CYPHER 16, BETRAEUS, and WAY OF PURITY.

The award-winning BLOODSTOCK FESTIVAL have been throwing around cool ideas with their beer-friendly buddies at HOBGOBLIN, and have created a special limited edition t-shirt which you can pick up for the bargain price of £14.99 at the Hobgoblin store online at http://www.wychwood.co.uk/shop/products/view/97/limited-edition-bloodstock-t-shirt/ .

If there are any left come August, you’ll also be able to pick ‘em up at BLOODSTOCK, the UK’s top metal festival, held at Catton Park, Derbyshire.
The special design was created by renowned fantasy artist, Paul Raymond Gregory, who has designed and painted numerous classic album covers for rock giants such as Dio, Saxon, Molly Hatchet and Uriah Heep. For more info and a further look at Paul’s beautiful work, click through to http://www.paulraymondgregory.com/.
The ‘Goblin’s elf friends are currently stitching up a storm to cater to your t-shirt needs. Zip over to the frankly fabulous Hobgoblin website, pick one up and have a poke around at all the other fun things there.

If you like metal, and you like beer too, be sure to come out to BLOODSTOCK FESTIVAL on 8th-11th August. If you’re really lucky, the Heavy Metal Hobgoblin will welcome you personally if you pop by his tent in the main arena. You’ll see it. It’ll be the one with a Hobgoblin outside.

You can find all the info you need to have a fabulous festival weekend, including ticket prices and travel details, on the Bloodstock website.

Need a lift to BLOODSTOCK? Or driving there and want some extra cash for the empty seats in your car? BLOODSTOCK have teamed up with GOCARSHARE to make it easier than ever to rock out and reduce your carbon footprint at the same time. Simply register where you’re travelling to/from, or the route you’re taking, and then sit back and wait for drivers/passengers to get in touch! GOCARSHARE is integrated with Facebook, so you can check out the profiles of your possible travel buddies and they also encourage travellers to post feedback. Learn more at: http://gocarshare.com/page/about . Plus... if you’re the driver, be in with a chance to win FREE UPGRADE TO VIP camping for you and your passengers in the luxe 'Serpents Lair' when you GOCARSHARE to BLOODSTOCK. Just log your journey before 1st August to receive a qualifying car bumper sticker! For full details and to find your ride or fill your car, head over to the newly launched http://gocarshare.com/festival/bloodstock

After launching our online easter egg hunt last weekend to find 12 golden easter eggs hidden throughout the Bloodstock website .. we had an incredible response and clearly ruffled a few feathers as we made it a little harder than last years egg hunt.

We are pleased to announce the winners of a pair of weekend with camping tickets to Bloodstock this year to see another awesome metal line up are Kate Senter, Nick Stevens and Amy Lawrence.

Well done guys, tickets will be posted out tomorrow.

We’re having a big clear out of all historic Bloodstock merchandise for 1 day only on 1st April - AND WE’RE OFFERING A HUGE 50% OFF EVERYTHING!!

Get your self a bargain - Hoodies, T-shirts, Vests, Belt Buckles, Sweat bands and more - it’s all up for grabs - when its gone its gone! go to http://bmerch.com/bloodstock/ on 1st April.

As many of you may have already noticed, our Bloodstock webmaster has been busy hiding Golden Easter Eggs throughout the Bloodstock website.

Some of you found it very easy last year, so we have decided to make it a little harder and have hidden a total of 12 Golden Easter Eggs, to keep YOU all busy this Easter weekend and give you the chance to win a pair of Bloodstock weekend camping tickets.

Simply find all 12 Golden Easter Eggs on the Bloodstock website www.bloodstock.uk.com and then email us the URL for each of the pages you found the eggs on to comps@bloodstock.uk.com giving your full name and address.

You have from 8am Good Friday 29th March until 8pm Tuesday 2nd April to enter and submit your answers to us by email. We will then choose 3 winners at random who will each win a pair of standard weekend with camping tickets to enjoy 4 days of metal at what is set to be the UK’s biggest metal festival of the year.

Please Note : The Golden Easter Eggs listed in our news pages, are listed for information purposes only and are not classed as hidden eggs.

Good luck and Get Hunting those Gold Eggs !

The award-winning BLOODSTOCK FESTIVAL are excited to announce a second batch of breaking bands to grace their updated ‘New Blood’ stage in 2013. The stage is sponsored by BOA’s favourite thirst-quenchers, Hobgoblin.

BLOODSTOCK is very proud to support new bands from all over the world and the ‘New Blood’ stage gives them the platform to showcase grass roots acts, underlining their belief that you don’t necessarily need a big record deal to have a shot at playing the fest. The following bands were chosen from CD applications to perform at the festival, while more will be added later via the ‘Metal 2 The Masses’ tour which rolls through local clubs and venues in June.

The lucky eight additions span a range of metal genres; REZINWOLF (Thrash), PROSPERINA (Prog), MASK OF JUDAS (Groove/Tech), BOUND BY EXILE (Death), XII BOAR (pronounced Twelve Bore - Stoner/Sludge), KREMATED (Thrash), THE INFERNAL SEA (Black) and FURY (Trad).

Has your fave new band not been selected yet? Fear not, for BLOODSTOCK intend to keep hunting out new additions via CD applications, video uploads, and the mighty ‘Metal 2 The Masses’ events! There’s plenty more to come and still time to enter!

Full details can be found at www.bloodstock.uk.com/events/boa-2013/stages/new-blood-stage

Incoming on the BLOODSTOCK front are the first batch of official Bloodstock club nights. More are being added for June and July, but in the meantime, get along to one of the following events in your area, check out some tunes from BLOODSTOCK bands old and new, and get in with the chance of winning weekend tickets to the biggest metal gathering in the UK.



Fri 5th April – NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE – Newcastle Uni
Sat 6th April – STOKE ON TRENT – Bunker 13
Thu 11th April – LONDON – The Purple Turtle
Sat 13th April – BIRMINGHAM – The Asylum
Sat 20th April – NORWICH – The Waterfront
Sat 20th April – MANCHESTER – Jabez Clegg
Sat 27th April - LANCASTER - V BAR
Sat 27th April – DERBY – Mosh
Sat 27th April – BIRMINGHAM – Eddie’s Rock Club
Sat 27th April – GLASGOW – Classic Grand
Sat 4th May – BRIGHTON – Belushi’s
Sat 4th May – LIVERPOOL – The Krazyhouse
Sat 4th May – STOKE ON TRENT – Bunker 13
Sat 4th May – SHEFFIELD – The Corporation
Mon 6th May – IPSWICH – Liquid and Envy
Fri 17th May – MIDDLESBROUGH – The Empire
Fri 17th May – SUNDERLAND – The Independent
Sat 18th May – NORWICH – The Waterfront
Sat 18th May – MANCHESTER – Jabez Clegg
Fri 24th May – LEICESTER – Mosh
Sat 25th May – GLASGOW – The Cathouse
Sat 25th May – BIRMINGHAM – Eddie’s Rock Club
Sat 25th May – CARDIFF – Bogiez
Fri 31st May – NOTTINGHAM – The Maze

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BLOODSTOCK 2013 is shaping up to be the metal event of the summer, with another ten head-bangin’ bands confirmed to join headliners, SLAYER, KING DIAMOND, and LAMB OF GOD.

Canadian prog thrash pioneers, VOIVOD are set to play their only UK show of 2013 at Bloodstock Festival!! The band’s latest album, ‘Target Earth’ was released in January and marks a landmark 30th anniversary in the band’s illustrious career. If you’re not up to speed on this legendary band, check out the EPK for ‘Target Earth’ and get yourself educated!



Swedish metallers, SABATON also step up into a main stage slot. The band are currently on the road in Europe on their Swedish Empire tour and have been making regular video blogs from the road. Watch the latest episodes at http://www.youtube.com/user/Sabaton?feature=watch , or click on over to Facebook and give them a ‘like’ and catch the updates there: http://www.facebook.com/sabaton. The band’s current album, ‘Carolus Rex’ was voted the ‘Best Album of 2012’ by Sweden’s biggest metal mag, Sweden Rock. Prepare to raise your horns aloft!!

WOLFSBANE headline the Sophie Lancaster stage on the final day of the fest. Guitarist, Jase Edwards comments: “It is an absolute honour and we can't wait to bringing our brand of fuckin’ Howling Mad Lunacy to Bloodstock for the first time!! To play alongside such bands as ANTHRAX and SLAYER is a huge privilege. We're really looking forward to catching up with the bands we have played with in the past and we're also very excited to be headlining the Sophie Lancaster stage on the last day as we have been active supporters of the charity and have taken part in fundraising events locally. We'll close the Sophie Lancaster Stage with full on Wolfsbane Howling Madness!!! Cum on!!!”

Brit thrash pioneers, XENTRIX join the bill at Catton Park as special guests on the Sophie stage. Xentrix’s guitarist, Kristian Havard is looking forward to it; "We can't wait to play Bloodstock, this is the first festival for Xentrix for over 20 years. The line-up this year is awesome, so to be included on the bill, is a massive honour. We're going out with one mission, get the crowd thrashing like it’s 1989!!!!".

Also added to the Sophie stage are POWERQUEST, who play their final show ever at Bloodstock. Steve Williams (keyboards) enthused, “I’m really thrilled that we will be taking to the stage for the last time at BOA in 2013. There’s a certain symmetry about it as we played Bloodstock Indoor in 2003 as part of our very first tour. Really looking forward to rounding off 12 years with a bang and also with some very special guests joining us from down the years! See you there!”

Further additions to the Sophie Stage include Argentinian folk metallers SKILTRON, Celtic doomsters MAEL MORDHA, Nottingham black metal thrashers EVIL SCARECROW, York metal five-piece RSJ, and melodic death metal Swedes GORMATHON.

Want the chance to win some weekend tickets to metal mecca, Bloodstock?! DEVILDRIVER (who are playing this year’s event) are running a special Bloodstock Treasure Hunt at each of their shows this week in London, Nottingham, Manchester and Glasgow! The hunt begins on Thursday and they’ll be hiding a prize package somewhere near the venue in each town. The parcel will include a voucher for a pair of BOA weekend tickets (with camping), a DevilDriver t-shirt, guitar picks, drumsticks, signed postcard...you get the picture! Each day, frontman Dez will Tweet/Instagram some clues for you to find the prize. Be sure to follow him on Twitter (@evilriver) and Instagram (@dezfafara) so you don’t miss out. There'll be one prize pack per tour town (London Forum - Thu 7th Mar, Nottingham Rock City - Fri 8th Mar, Manchester Ritz - Sat 9th Mar, Glasgow O2 ABC - Sun 10th Mar).

If you miss out on the DevilDriver packages, but still want to go to Bloodstock, don’t worry, there’s another chance to win festival tickets by joining the new Bloodstock e-team. Get involved with helping promote the festival online, and earn points for festival-related prizes! Full details can be found at https://www.fanteamz.com/bloodstock

BLOODSTOCK are excited to announce the first batch of breaking bands to grace their freshly designed ‘New Blood’ stage in 2013. The stage is sponsored by BOA’s favourite thirst-quenchers, Hobgoblin.

Bloodstock has always been proud to support new bands from all over the world and the ‘New Blood’ stage gives them the platform to showcase the latest new acts, asserting their belief that you don’t necessarily need a major label record deal under your belt to get a shot at playing the fest. The following bands were chosen from CD applications to perform at the festival, while more will be added later through the ‘Metal 2 The Masses’ scheme.

The lucky seven span the range of the metal spectrum and are... FAHRAN (Hard Rock), KARYBDIS (Tech Death), LEFT UNSCARRED (Metalcore), DISHONOUR THE CROWN (Hardcore), DIESEL KING (Sludge), AMULET (NWOBHM), and MERCILESS TERROR (Thrash).

Has your fave new band not been selected yet? Fear not, for Bloodstock intend to keep hunting out new additions via CD applications, video uploads, and the mighty ‘Metal 2 The Masses’ events! There’s plenty more to come and still time to enter! Full details can be found at www.bloodstock.uk.com/events/boa-2013/stages/new-blood-stage . Watch out for further New Blood announcements in the coming weeks!

Bloodstock tickets are on sale now, priced at £125 (plus booking fee) for a weekend pass with camping. VIP ticket packages and upgrades are also now available. Look up all the info on Bloodstock 2013 so far, plus check out all kinds of awesome coverage from 2012’s festival over at www.bloodstock.uk.com.
Bloodstock takes place at Catton Park in Derbyshire on 8-11th Aug 2013.