Firstly Happy Birthday to you (Rick Peart - guitar) and to him (John Hanslip - guitar)...
John: Thank you. Yes indeed we're January babies...well pensioners!!
So how did the gig go this evening?
John: It depends on your point of view...
Rick: The sound was shit on stage, but that comes with a lot of gigs.
John: Goldie (Adam 'Goldie' Goldsmith - drums) played with one hand for most of one song, because, the big speaker fell on him.
Ian Bell (bass): [He was] Drummin' with one hand and he was like 'help!'
John: Otherwise it was ok.
Please introduce yourselves.
Robb ('voKills'): My name is Robb, I've been clean now for two months...
All: CLEAN!
Robb: I sometimes do the vocals, but generally just tomfoolery.
Goldie: I play drums, my name is Goldie, and there you go.
John: I'm John, I play guitar and do the backing vocals.
Ian: I'm Ian and I play the bass.
John: He's finally got a guitar that's as tall as him.
Rick: And I'm Rick and I play guitar and keep these fuckers in line.
Goldie this was your first gig with the band, did you enjoy it? Were you excited?
Goldie: Oh I loved every minute of it, even being crushed by a drum monitor.
John: He's actually been in the band for eight months. When he joined the band the old drummer was still in it, he sort of gave us notice that he was leaving.
Rick: So not being one to waste anytime we swiftly got a new one in.
Robb: We joined in the same month, we were bullied into joining.
Goldie: They wouldn't leave me alone, I only said yes so I could get some peace.
Has the transition between 'Brick' (previous female vocalist) leaving and Robb joining been a smooth one?
Rick: The transition has been pretty cool. She accepted we didn't really want her in the band anymore.
[What was she like?]
She had a pretty good voice but a bad memory.
Ian:[to Robb] You've learnt more lyrics in two months than she did in two years. She had lyric sheets at gigs. He's more of a front man, where as she was just a singer.
Rick: It's hard to talk about from an objective view because pretty much we're still good friends with her.
Ian: It's really weird because she used to be in another band really upfront. They had three albums and toured all over Europe and she was a really good front person for them.
Rick: He has fitted straight in.
Robb: I was in another band called 'The Enchanted', we'd rehearsed in the same rooms as Bloodstream for five years and played numerous gigs with each other and I knew a lot of the songs. As soon as I heard she was leaving...
Ian: Well you were waiting for her to fuck off anyway.
Robb: We had a few rehearsals, it all came together and, well, here we are.
Just a quick question. What does the track D.N.Y.P mean on the album?
Rick: Don't Need Your Pity. Written in about five minutes about an ex who I really wanted to fuck off and die!! She owed me £500 and was shagging two other people. Then she ran off and joined the circus of horrors. It's a straight up punk song, licks are a piece of piss, and the lyrics are really easy.
Ian: It's bloody enjoyable to play.
What happened to the planned release of 'Death Speed Hate'?
All: Nooooo!!...'Death Hate Speed'
Robb: Interview over right we're going home.
John: It was supposed to be today but I haven't finished the artwork, just been busy so it should be next week.
Who have influenced you musically and which new bands do you rate?
Rich: Suicidal Tendencies, Anthrax, Gwar, Dead Kennedys. [Right now?] Nothing really...Cruel Humanity.
Ian: Iron Maiden, if it wasn't for Steve Harris I would never have picked up a bass, seriously it's how I learnt. Anthrax definitely. All the usual fuckin' earache bands. Godflesh definitely.
John: Ian's responsible for all the samples and weird shit...that we didn't use any of tonight.
Ian: Bands at the moment...God, don't really buy a lot of new stuff, still trying to get my back catalogue. Jesu (http://www.avalancheinc.co.uk). Justin Broadrick from Godflesh, he went on to do a solo project called Jesu who are absolutely awesome. When I bought that E.P; I wept, simple as that, burst into tears halfway through it. Brilliant. John the big cheese monger...
John: Listen to everything, Motorhead, ACDC, death metal, black metal, punk, rock. Dragonforce, The Darkness, The Dead can Dance, Britney Spears, Ultra Violence.
Goldie:I like everything. 3 Inches of Blood, Lamb of God, Slayer, Kreator, Anthrax, Suicidal Tendencies, Pantera.
Robb: Ah man this is going to be embarrassing. I didn't get into metal until I was well into my teens. 1994 I heard Monsters of Rock on Radio 1 and Pride and Glory were the first band on, I thought, I love 'em and listened to the entire show. Before that I was brought up on blues and shit by my Dad. As for metal, Brutal Truth, Judas Priest, Metallica, Maiden, Anthrax.
All: unsigned - Scolded Curse, Gore. Signed - Mastodon, Lamb of God, Bath Tub Shitter, Dillinger Escape Plan, Meshuggah...Well that answered that one.
Finally guys, what are your plans for 2005 and the future?
John: Get drunk...finally make it home.
Ian:Knuckle down and write the second album.John:Goldies first gig abroad
(9th July, Rock Am Eislek in Luxembourg). I wasn't 100% happy with thigig
but I think by this time next week, I think we'll be perfect.
Ian:We gel in the studio and we gel in the practice room and I think the
only reason we were let down is because of the sound.
John: We just recorded an E.P. and it went really, really well. It's the
first thing we've done together as a band because before it was Brick and
the old drummer and I can look back on it now and think this is what we've
got now. It sounds bigheaded but I think we got the right people to do it
now.