As ever, we’re going to try and cover every single Jäger, New Blood and SOPHIE stage band before Bloodstock kicks off on August 9th. Your chance to check them out and start planning which bands to get there early for!
Trust us when we tell you that this is bound to result in some frustrating clashes because, as ever, there are some great bands on these three stages.
Our thanks to all the bands for taking the time out to answer our questions!
Deity’s Muse – Sophie Lancaster Stage, Friday
Simple things first – where are you guys from?
We’re from Alberton. A small town in the south of Johannesburg, South Africa.
How long have you been playing together as a band?
The name Deity’s Muse has been around since 2001. It was only in 2012 when we started taking this band thing more seriously. Our current lineup is the 7th version of the band and has been together for around 2 months.
Where does the name of the band come from?
Though I’m not a religious person, the name basically asks the question: “What’s the greatest piece of art ever created? Is it the Universe and everything within it? Yes. Probably. And if so, who was the inspiration behind its creation? Who inspired the artist to create it?”
Describe your music. What makes you unique?
Always difficult to describe but I’d say definitely for fans of Tool, Alice In Chains, Dead Letter Circus, Black Sabbath, Deftones. But our uniqueness I suppose stems from the fact that we don’t really sound that much like our influences anyway. We’re able to appeal to a vast audience given that we fit in really well when we opened for Seether earlier this year while we were able to fit in really well with TesseracT too when we shared the stage with them last year. We have a little something for everyone to enjoy.
What’s your live show like? Why are people going to watch you instead of another band?
Well we don’t do cartwheels on stage or wear masks. We prefer to let the music do the talking. Essentially we might be one of the least traditionally metal bands on the BOA bill this year. We’re the first South African band to play this festival.
Have you played Bloodstock before? If so, when?
Nope. And hopefully this upcoming performance at the fest won’t be our last.
How/when did you find out that you’d be playing the SOPHIE stage?
We found out via email in April sometime. I was having breakfast at home when we got the offer and I almost choked on my coffee. True story.
What sort of setlist can we expect?
A big and groovy setlist made up mainly of tracks from our newest and most popular album, Convergence. Some spacey sounds, some big and heavy riffing, some prog vibes. Overall a journey filled with the variety you’d expect from an alternative band influenced by metal and prog.
Which other band do you most hope you’re not clashing with so you can see them play?
Thankfully we are playing pretty early on in the morning but I hope it means we won’t clash with Feed The Rhino or our Zimbabwean counterparts, Kamikaze Test Pilots. I’d really like to see them.
What are you working on at the moment?
Right now we’re simply rehearsing and getting our new guitarist ready for our UK tour. After our Bloodstock trip we’ll be locked away in our rehearsal space preparing new music for a future release.
What’s the wildest thing you’ve seen or done at a live show?
Many years ago we played at a dingy pub in Edenvale, South Africa called The Dragon’s Lounge. It was a normal gig until I spotted someone just outside the entrance of the venue getting pummelled with baseball bats by bouncers from two rival clubs while we were playing our show. The crowd didn’t notice a thing because they were too busy watching our show and I simply could do nothing because I was just flabbergasted by what I was seeing happening beyond the audience. I was simply in shock. Later when we were packing our van with gear after the show you could see trails of blood on the pavement outside. To this day I still don’t know what it was all about and if the victim was fine afterwards. Let’s just say, the area was very dodgy at the time and overrun by drug cartels. Not a pretty scene at all.
Jäger, Hobgoblin Ale, Red Bull, Kingstone Press Cider, Kaltenberg Beer or Bulleit Bourbon? And, yes, we’ll be counting all the votes!
Hobgoblin Ale. Definitely!
Deity’s Muse: official | facebook | twitter | instagram | youtube | bandcamp
