Charlie grins from the first second of the interview, the prospect of the Sophie Stage packed to the rafters with thousands of metalheads is only a few hours away as we speak. “It’s amazing, last year was sick, the sun is shining and we’re ready to smash it!” says the drummer of the Sheffield five-piece. As we speak, the weather hits nearly 40 degrees Celsius, nature trying its hardest to sap the energy from the crowds – “I’m just hoping people haven’t got too much sunstroke and are still able to mosh” says Charlie as the heat beats down on his Stella Artois T-Shirt, seemingly carefree and ready to deliver the groove come 11pm that night.
Charlie tells us ‘It’s some big boots to fill replacing Hatebreed“, after the hardcore giants had to pull out this year, “but I felt like last year was such a pivotal point for us. Playing a big metal crowd at Bloodstock…turns out even all the guys in the battlejackets like our riffs.” This pretty humble reference to their set in 2021 may undersell just how immense Malevolence were – absolutely enormous pits, acclaim from press worldwide and flawless energy means they not only deserved the call up for 2022, but people demanded it.
“"Bloodstock's got a sick vibe, everyone is really friendly and the crowds are open minded"”
Bloodstock has, and to great success, opened its booking to more of the younger and newer bands in metal over the last few years. Elitist tears might flow, but it’s undeniable that bands like Malevolence, Heriot and Blood Youth (To name a few from this years bill) are the future of heavy music and deserve a spot at the UK’s biggest true metal festival. Does Charlie feel like Malevolence have a representative role to show the older generation of metal fans what the new bands can do? “Yeah I guess so, I always find we’re unique as we do represent the older sound enough…(the older stuff) is what we grew up listening to and we try and pull elements from everywhere rather than getting pigeonholed, whoever likes it likes it! Playing Bloodstock should pull in some of the OG metal crowd.”
Pulling away from focus on the bands sound, we asked Charlie how the band have found hanging around and chilling at Bloodstock this year. “Bloodstock’s got a sick vibe, everyone’s really friendly and the crowds are so open minded are ready to pit…it’s a lot smaller (than some festivals) and us collectively like that.” Charlie says that the band have been enjoying the festival as fans of heavy music themselves too – ‘We watched Sylosis earlier, Lorna Shore and the boys Blood Youth are on later today, it’s been great.” It’s awesome to hear that headline slot artists still enjoy the festival just as much and in similar was as the thousands that walk through the gates over the weekend.
“"It's the release and expressing yourself that you get from music that you don't realise until it's gone."”
People after the pandemic have missed the atmosphere and community of heavy music, and Bloodstock missing a year in 2020 left thousands sat at home wishing to be back at their favourite shows. As such, after the return of heavy music the energy at Bloodstock 2021 was immense, and Charlie hopes that the crowd will offer the same this time around. “I feel like it’s gonna be a crazy one later…we’ve all got new gear, I’ve got a new huge rack for my drumkit, we were smashing through practices last night and we’re confident it’ll be sick.”
Elaborating, Charlie explains how he felt coming out of the pandemic – “I’ll honestly never take it for granted ever again, it was a rough time for everybody and we didn’t know what to do with ourselves. Obviously it was a loss of income but aside from that it’ the release and expressing yourself that you get from music that you don’t realise until it’s gone.” You can tell that Charlie means what he says, speaking on the fans that support them he says ‘I honestly can’t thank them enough to be honest, if they weren’t there we couldn’t thrive and we owe it all to them.” Malevolence and their fanbase have a great connection which has been nurtured over time, and hearing about the genuine appreciation the band have for their supporters is great.