The first batch of venues for 2009 / 2010 Metal 2 The Masses Campaign have been announced with some of the countries finest venues offering their services to find the latest in Breakthrough Metal.

With a return of venues such as Scruffy Murphys, The Lounge Bar and Riffs, we're pleased to have added venues such as The Queens Hall, Retribution, The Rockhouse and Yardbirds Club, all of which are dedicated to finding new talent and keeping Metal Real !!!

But this is just the start of a UK wide initiative where we intend to approach more venues and in doing so search high and low for the best the UK has to offer. For bands wishing to apply all the venue details can be found on the "Masses Venues" section along with website links, geographical locations and loads more.

Further to this, the Bloodstock Roadshow will be coming to each venue giving away loads of goodies and giveaways and although we can't mention anything yet (due to red tape) we've got a huge incentive for all bands and venues to be announced soon.

So if you are in an unsigned band that could kick ass at Bloodstock get you CD's and Biogs off to the venues (clearly marked Metal 2 The Masses) as soon as possible or if you think you know a venue that may be interested in coming on board with Bloodstock Open Air, then feel free to get in touch with Initiative Organiser - Simon.

Simon@bloodstock.uk.com

Regards

Bloodstock Team

Well here it is – after a good many hours of going back and forth to the easel - we think Paul has come up with a great image for BLOODSTOCK OPEN AIR 2009.

For those of you who don’t know the history behind the artwork – Bloodstock was of course born in Derby, so Paul had the great idea of using some of Derby’s folk law ‘The Derby Ram’ to represent the image of the festival. After the first Bloodstock ’indoor’ festival in 2001 we decided to hold a competition for you guys to come up with a suitable name for the Ram and so ... ‘S-tan’ was born. And to each year there after ‘S-tan’ has become an integral part of the Bloodstock family.
We hope you like it

If you want to know more about the history of Bloodstock go to www.bloodstock.uk.com/history-of-bloodstock.htm

Regards

Bloodstock Team

For those of you who missed out on buying a Bloodstock 2008 festival t-shirt from the official merchandise stall at this years festival - we are pleased to confirm the last remaining stock is now on sale in the Bloodstock Store.

A couple of sizes have already sold out and we have no plans to reprint so when there gone... they're gone !


Regards

Bloodstock Team

The Bloodstock team are delighted to announce that Swedish goth metallers KATATONIA have been added to the bill for BOA 2009.

Katatonia were formed in Stockholm in 1991 by Jonas Renkse and Anders ‘Blakkheim’ Nyström and started life as a hybrid doom/death metal crossover before gradually shifting to a more mainstream atmospheric gothic/alternative rock sound, a move which began in earnest on their third album Discouraged Ones.

Having made a name for themselves on the underground with their Jhva Elohim Meth demo, the band released their debut album Dance Of December Souls on No Fashion records in 1993. A period of line-up instability threatened the future of the band and it would not be until 1996 that their sophomore effort Brave Murder Day eventually appeared. Featuring guest vocals from Opeth’s Mikael Åkerfeldt, the album marked a further development in their sound and, like their debut, was a critically acclaimed success. Renkse was back on vocals for Discouraged Ones, adopting a clean singing style which, although a risky gamble, proved to be a major turning point and helped them reach a much wider audience.

At this point, the band signed a long term deal with UK label Peaceville and began a run of releases building on their signature style and culminating in 2006’s The Great Cold Distance, their most dynamic work to date. Their eighth, as-yet-untitled studio album is expected later this year.

Click Here to view the KATATONIA Bloodstock Band Profile page .

KATATONIA – A Darkness Coming - BLOODSTOCK OPEN AIR 2009.

Don’t forget Early bird Tickets are now on sale at just £85 but only until 15th December 2008 when prices will increase. To buy your ticket now go to the secure Bloodstock on line store.

Regards

Bloodstock Team

The Bloodstock team are pleased to announce that Finnish folk metallers TURISAS have been added to the bill for BOA 2009. This will be the band’s ONLY UK performance in ’09!

Turisas were formed in 1997 in the southern Finnish city of Hämeenlinna and quickly developed a sound incorporating elements of folk, Viking and power metal. They spent the next few years honing their style and recording demos for promotional purposes. Their debut album Battle Metal was subsequently released in 2004 and almost immediately spawned its own sub-genre – battle metal – since used to refer to Turisas and other bands with a strong influence from Northern European folk history.

Tragedy struck in 2005 when guitarist Georg Laakso was seriously injured in a road accident, but although he was forced to quit as a result, the rest of the band resolved to forge ahead without him. Continuing to tour and gather momentum, Turisas were voted ‘Best New Band’ in Metal Hammer’s 2006 readers’ poll. Their second album The Varangian Way appeared in 2007, upping the ante on every front and winning the band many new fans and glowing reviews. They have become something of a festival institution, playing most of the major outdoor events across the length and breadth Europe and making their first UK debut at B.O.A. in 2007 with a rapturously received set of blood, thunder and… sauna.

2008 has seen the band embark on their biggest ever tour, supporting DragonForce throughout the UK, Europe and the US and also the release of their first DVD A Finnish Summer With Turisas. 2009’s UK EXCLUSIVE show will witness their welcome return to the beer-soaked fields of Bloodstock – cheers!

Click Here to view TURISAS Bloodstock Band Profile page .

TURISAS – From Beer To Eternity - BLOODSTOCK OPEN AIR 2009.

Bloodstock takes place on Friday 14th, Saturday 15th and Sunday 16th August at Catton Hall, Walton on Trent in Derbyshire.

Early bird Tickets are now on sale at just £85 but only until 15th December 2008 when prices will increase. To buy your ticket now go to the secure Bloodstock on line store at www.bloodstock.uk.com

Regards

Bloodstock Team

The Bloodstock team are pleased to announce that Swedish thrashers THE HAUNTED have been added to the bill for BOA 2009.

The Haunted were formed in Gothenburg in 1996 from the ashes of At The Gates and originally consisted of guitarists Patrik Jensen and Anders Björler, bassist Jonas Björler, drummer Adrian Erlandsson and Peter Dolving on vocals.

The band released their self-titled debut on Earache Records in 1997 and immediately made a major impact on the metal scene, winning Terrorizer magazine’s Album Of The Year. Both Dolving and Erlandsson quit in 1999, the latter going on to join Cradle Of Filth. Replacing the pair with Marco Aro and Per Möller Jensen, the band then issued their second album The Haunted Made Me Do It in 2000, showcasing a sound somewhat closer to the melodic death metal of At The Gates than the thrash metal of their debut. Over the years, they have continued to produce music which crosses the boundaries between thrash and death and have also proved influential on the metalcore genre.
Their third album, One Kill Wonder emerged in 2003 but despite its success, Marco Aro quit soon afterwards with original vocalist Peter Dolving returning to the mic. Since his reinstatement, the band have issued three albums; 2004’s rEVOLVEr, The Dead Eye in 2006 and finally Versus which appeared in September.

Known for their blistering, in-your-face live shows, their assault on Bloodstock promises to be brutal and unrelenting.

Click Here to view THE HAUNTED Bloodstock band profile page .

THE HAUNTED – No Compromise - BLOODSTOCK OPEN AIR 2009.

Bloodstock takes place on Friday 14th, Saturday 15th and Sunday 16th August.

Early Bird Tickets are now on sale at just £85 but only until 15th December 2008 when prices will increase. To buy your ticket now go to the secure Bloodstock on line store at www.bloodstock.uk.com and we promise to post your ticket out before Christmas.

* Not only that but The Bloodstock Team in conjunction with Kilimanjaro are offering up for grabs 2 x tickets to go and see ‘The Haunted’ and ‘All That Remains’ on tour in January at either Nottingham, Birmingham, Glasgow, Manchester, Brighton or London. To be in with a chance to win these tickets simply purchase your Bloodstock Early Bird Tickets before 15th December if you haven’t already and the winners will be picked at random and announced 16TH December. For information on their January tour go to www.myspace.com/thehaunted

Bloodstock is pleased to confirm that Finnish Metallers WINTERSUN have been confirmed as a UK Exclusive for next years Bloodstock Open Air 2009. This will coincide with the bands long awaited new album tentatively entitled Time which will also be out in August 2009 .

The amazing artwork from the self-titled debut album "Wintersun", courtesy of Necrolord already gives you a hint where this act might come from, exactly, Finland! Hailing from the land of the thousand lakes where the winters are long and cold, WINTERSUN is the new project of singer and multi instrumentalist Jari Mäenpäa, who recently left his former band ENSIFERUM.
Powerful and majestic with a lot of energy, the music of WINTERSUN mainly flows with great melodies influenced by folk and Scandinavian traditional music. If you enjoy bands like AMORPHIS (in their early days), CHILDREN OF BODOM, FINNTROLL or ENSIFERUM, "Wintersun" is the right choice for you! Lyrically the album deals with mastermind Jari's life, feelings, emotions, hallucinations and dreams, facts that make the record a very personal piece of work.

Beside Jari, drummer Kai Hahto from the Finish Grindcore/Death Metal band ROTTEN SOUND plays on "Wintersun" and provided the album with a hellish pummelling in all or more of the right parts.

The rest – vocals, guitars, bass and programming – was done completely by the perfectionist Mäenpäa. They both managed to create a diversified song spectrum from speed metal tracks over heavy guitar tracks to bombastic mid tempo opuses. While fast songs like opener 'Beyond The Dark Sun' and 'Winter Madness' stress out the high technical abilities of WINTERSUN, epic songs with big choruses like 'Sleeping Stars' and 'Death And The Healing' show the unique feeling of Jari for emotional and melancholic melodies. The vocals always fit perfectly to the present mood – Jari masters everything, no matter if you take melodic clean vocals, brutal screams or Viking-like chants.

The band is delighted to be performing at next years Bloodstock Open Air Festival this will be a long overdue UK appearance for Wintersun and will be their ONLY UK show for 2009!

Bloodstock takes place on Friday 14th, Saturday 15th and Sunday 16th August at Catton Hall, Walton on Trent in Derbyshire.

Click Here to view the WINTERSUN Bloodstock Band Profile page .


WINTERSUN – Summer Madness - BLOODSTOCK OPEN AIR 2009.


Early bird Tickets are now on sale at just £85 but only until 15th December 2008 when prices will increase. To buy your ticket now go to the secure Bloodstock on line store at www.bloodstock.uk.com and we promise to post your ticket out before Christmas.

Regards

Bloodstock Team

www.bloodstock.uk.com
webmaster@bloodstock.uk.com

Fellow metal heads – it is time for you to let the world know what you thought of this years Bloodstock Open Air as we’ve been nominated in this year’s UK Festival Awards in the following categories:
- Best Small Festival
- Grass Roots Festival Award
- Best Lineup

The winners will be determined by public vote at www.festivalawards.com over the next few weeks (voting closes on 20th October). Everyone who votes is eligible for the prize draw to win a pair of tickets to every winning festival, so if you think this year’s Bloodstock is worthy of a vote then here’s a chance to win Bloodstock tickets for 2009.

The winner will be announced on-stage at the UK Festival Awards Ceremony on Thursday 30th October at the IndigO2.

So don’t forget to VOTE NOW by going to www.festivalawards.com

Regards

Bloodstock Team

www.bloodstock.uk.com
webmaster@bloodstock.uk.com

Hello Bloodstock !!

I've been asked to introduce myself officially to all and sundry so we can
put a stop to all the email's saying "Who's the big guy with cheesy grin on the contacts page?"

Well I'm the singer that nearly fell off the Lava Stage on a couple of occasions
in 2007 with my band Beholder, which still stands as one of the funniest gigs ever.
I'm also the promoter that works alongside a number of venues throughout the UK & Europe
with my company DS Promotions Ltd alongside being the guy who ran the Unsigned tent
this year and was nearly trampled to death by the hordes of crazy Berzerker and the
Ted Maul fans who tried (but failed) to flatten me.

But now the bruises have healed and the swellings gone down, I've been asked to come on
board the good ship Bloodstock and Coordinate the Metal 2 The Masses initiative as well
as running the second stage. By being involved in bringing breakthrough acts to the show
along with highlighting some of the best Metal venues in the UK is a real privilege and something
that I intend to give my full drive & support.

2009's gonna kick royal ass and I'm happy to be on board.

Simon

Bloodstock are pleased to confirm Swedish power metallers SABATON are to grace the stage at next years Bloodstock Open Air as an EXCLUSIVE UK Performance !

Sabaton were formed back in -99 in Falun, Sweden and worked hard with demos and small club shows just like any other band. An album was recorded in 2002 bearing the name of Metalizer on an independent label in Italy but was never released, what is interesting is not to hear what you already heard from thousands of other bands but to hear the story of a successful band that paid the high price and sacrificed it all for their dreams. So we take a leap in history.

In 2004 the band began to be quite angry about their trouble to get an album out on the market but decided to forget about the past and started all over again. A new demo was recorded bearing the title of Panzer Battalion. At this point Sabaton had become much better songwriters and the quality of the songs was a lot higher than before which of course gave result.
Several labels immediately contacted Sabaton but after stranded negotiations Sabaton decided to record an album without any help from any label. Primo Victoria was recorded and was fully paid by the band members themselves. With this masterpiece in their hands the band now returned to some labels and the bidding started. Winner was the Swedish label Black Lodge who gave a fair offer and a deal was made. About one year later Primo Victoria was one of the most successful debuts ever to come from a metal band on an independent record label. The band played bigger and bigger clubs and was soon one of the most popular bands in Sweden. Meanwhile Sabaton also was launched into the European market which led to immediate success. At this time it was no longer possible to have a “normal” life so jobs, apartments and girlfriends had to go away. This was a hard sacrifice but the band decided that the band goes first!

About one year later Sabaton entered the studio once more with the mission to follow up the great success of Primo Victoria. The result of this session was to become one of the best selling metal albums in Sweden in 2006 and win several awards worldwide.

Before the release and to promote the two albums Sabaton went on a 6 week European tour with Edguy & Dragonforce. That tour became a great success and was followed up by the release of Attero Dominatus. The band was now recognized all over the continent and was now able to successfully tour as headliner in Europe for the first time. In 2006 the band did more shows than most bands and was able to handle three European tours plus being the opener for Lordi in Sweden.

The first activity in 2007 was a five weeklong European tour with Therion and Grave Digger. This was a very successful tour for Sabaton and journalists all around Europe praised Sabaton over their tour mates.

Once Attero Dominatus had been released, and after almost 2 years of negotiation with an earlier record label, the original debut album of Sabaton saw the light of day when it finally became available as a double-CD compilation called Metalizer. Even though it was just intended for the fans and gained no real hype or marketing campaign it still reached no #1 position on Swedish hard rock selling charts and topped the leading record stores sales for months. The album was also followed up by the first bigger headline tour of Sabaton which reached several European countries from east to west and lasted for about five weeks. During 2007 the band was one of the hardest touring metal bands and did over 80 shows in more then 20 European countries and played at several of the biggest festivals in Europe.

This bodes well for the future and new albums!

In January 2008 it was time again for a new recording and with material good enough to top the previous albums, the band returned once more to Abyss Studios where they worked with both Tommy and Peter Tägtgren to reach a new level with the new album. The new album was to be based upon an ancient book called “The Art of War” which was written 600 years B.C. by a Chinese general, so a great amount of research was made.

With a heavier sound, much more powerful songs and fantastic new artwork, the album “The Art of War” was ready to invade record stores worldwide in March. But as the band refused to take a rest and instead packed their bags and travelled to America for their first US show in Austin, Texas during the huge South By Southwest week. The band returned triumphant to Sweden with new deals and contacts and America now stands ready to fall.

Awaiting the release of “The Art of War”, the band, which still consisting of the original members, has already booked up every weekend for 6 months with over 60 shows, including the main stages of several of Europe’s biggest festivals and one big headline tour plus one of the most massive tour a metal band have done in Sweden since years.

Click Here to view the SABATON Bloodstock band profile page .

Sabaton will officially be tearing up the main stage at next years BLOODSTOCK OPEN AIR in their only UK show for 2009 !

Regards

Bloodstock Team

www.bloodstock.uk.com
webmaster@bloodstock.uk.com

Greetings Metal Heads!!

The dates are now set for 2009; they are Friday 14th, Saturday 15th & Sunday 16th August!

Tickets will be going on sale from 1st September at this year’s price of £ 85.00; as of 15th December 2008 the ticket prices will be increasing. We have decided as always for our fans loyalty to offer the early bird ticket prices for a limited time, this will give you the chance to get next years tickets at this years prices!!

We will soon be announcing bands for 2009; we cannot give you any clues but can assure you of a bigger and even better line up for 2009!!!!!!!

Bloodstock is the UK’s number1 Metal Festival & we intend to keep true to our word in bringing you the bands you have been requesting as well as UK Exclusives!!

Keep watching the website for more news soon.

Regards

Bloodstock Team