Winners of the London leg of Metal 2 The Masses, Symbyote were early risers on the Saturday of Bloodstock at Catton Park. Paul Castles caught up with the deathcore mob after their full-bloodied performance on the Timothy Taylor New Blood Stage.
Q How did it go today for you on the New Blood Stage?
A Amazing, I was surprised there were even people there for our soundcheck! It was insane. It’s always a good sign when you’re soundchecking and you have audience chanting your name!
Q You were on stage at 10:30 this morning, how did you find that experience?
A I went to bed about 3 or 4 in the morning and got up about 8 O’clock! Normally you have a show in the evening and you plan for it throughout the day. Today it was like wake up, go find the band we’ve got to go. I was on auto pilot until the second song!
Q You’re at Bloodstock on the back of your success in the London leg of Metal 2 The Masses. How did you find that whole experience?
A It was absolutely fantastic. We were playing with friends, discovering new bands – and we said right from the start that any band could take this. To win was a massive bonus, seeing how far we could get. We’ve only been together two years and with this line-up seven months.
Q You got through the qualifying heats of M2TM to reach the final at The Dome, were you feeling confident on the night?
A No! We were up against Aggro, who are such an incredible band, along with Paridis, Vulgaris, Solatia… all great bands.
So performing on the New Blood today was your biggest crowd to date?
A By a distance, but there were no nerves once we saw the people who were there to see us. We just love it that everyone comes out to see us and that’s from the heart, but we play the same whether there’s one person or hundreds.
So what gigs have you got coming up after Bloodstock?
A We’re playing Beermageddon in Bromsgrove, followed by Coaltion Fest. We then open for Chuggaboom in London on 31 August and play Beneath the Arches festival in Chelmsford on 6 September.
Have you been spending much time in the studio?
A Our EP with two songs on it is out now but we plan rerecord with our new drummer Harry and then record our single ‘Blood and Sorrow’ which we played today. That will set the tone for what we sound like in the future. Then probably in December or early in the New Year we’ll have an album. Right now it’s just hard to find time to record when every weekend we’re playing a gig or festival!
So are you hoping to build on today at Bloodstock?
A Yep, we hope to gain more fans and a broader audience, people who wouldn’t normally listen to deathcore not just for us but for other bands too. The progress of the band has exceeded expectations, and since Harry joined its changed the whole thing for us. Then winning M2TM, playing today… we think now we’re going somewhere with this band.
