Having proved themselves the top Hitchin headbangers by winning the town’s Metal 2 The Masses competition, Dead Flesh guitarists Chris and Troy talk to Paul Castles at Bloodstock just prior to their appearance on the New Blood Stage. 
Hi guys, we need to keep this quick as you’re just about to head over to play on the New Blood Stage, so how are you feeling right now?
We’re very excited, we’ve been waiting the whole weekend to play and 4:30 is a nice time to go on stage. We’re not clashing with any headliners and we just want to get on there now having been watching so many sick bands play over the weekend. We’ve brought half our local scene with us although most of them are regulars to Bloodstock anyway.
What kind of impact are you hoping to make today?
We’ve every confidence in the people coming to see us. I know they’re going to be running around in circles. Our fans are a big part of the band and if we’re slacking they’ll let us know – although that will be impossible with them in front of us. 
You’re here today on the back of the Metal 2 The Masses win in Hitchin, how did that all go?
It was brilliant! We went through two rounds and semi-final to reach the final. North Herts has such a quality metal scene, and every single round was tough and we were surprised every time to reach the next stage. It felt amazing to actually reach the final.
And how were your nerves at the final?
We were buzzing on the day. There was a lot of people there and a lot of great bands. We were feeling happy regardless of if we won or not. Troy is our newest member and the semi-final and final were his first shows with the band and today at Bloodstock is his third with us. So he’s been thrown straight in at the deep end!
How is the metal scene doing in Hitchin?
Unfortunately Club 85, our local venue, where we won M2TM is in danger of closing at the moment. There is a huge campaign with a Go Fund Me page to try and keep it alive. It’s really like a home to so many people in North Herts and every metalhead we know we know through that venue. A lot of the local guys are in the same boat. It featured on the local BBC news.
To what extent is Bloodstock a showcase for Dead Flesh today?
That’s exactly what it is. It’s our biggest ever show. Most of us have been coming here for years. As we walk through we see so many people we know and we feel part of the community here. 
What’s the story behind your latest EP, Dehumanise?
It’s a story of depression and anger at society and everything that is going wrong right now, so it has quite a political feel. First and foremost, it’s just a heavy brutal record. We were trying to write the most dirty and aggressive stuff as possible. It’s just an angry angry record. The recording was made with Justin Paul Hill from SikTh in his home studio, which was a dream come true for us. He’s such an inventive guy and he has really taken our songs to another level. The quality has been pushed so much further than what we started out with.
And you’ve just signed to Extreme Management Group in the US…
Yes, it’s a really cool thing. EMG caught wind of the EP and said hold fire, they wanted in on it. They’ve put it where they can and really helped us. They put it in a lot more places than we could reach and Joel at EMG is a really friendly guy. EMG also handle legendary bands like Suffocation and Cryptopsy so it would be great if we got the chance to do something with them in the future.
