Continuing our run of letting you know a little more about as many of the bands on at Bloodstock 2025 as we possibly can before you get a chance to see them, we have Rascal. This bunch play on the New Blood Stage on the Friday.
Simple things first – where are you guys from?
We are from Warsaw, Poland.
How long have you been playing together as a band?
Rascal took its final form around February 2019. So it is our seventh year of playing together. Time flies, it feels more like four.
Where does the name of the band come from?
To be quite honest, it comes from an idea of a compromise. The word itself sounds alright and seems to make sense in the context of our music, it’s easy to pronounce both in English and Polish, it’s easy to shout at the gigs, it works as a logo and we hadn’t found any other metal bands with the same name. Probably not great, definitely not terrible.
Describe your music. What makes you unique?
In general, we say we play speed metal. In fact, it’s more of an amalgam of classic heavy metal, speed, thrash and maybe some blackened touches here and there. We hope that what makes our music stand out a bit is our mixture of the old and the new. An old school genre infused with modern ideas. Keeping the classic aesthetic but trying not to be repetitive and boring. Going fast, but not forgetting about the melody.
What’s your live show like? Why are people going to watch you instead of another band?
We always bring energy and have tons of fun onstage. And if all goes well we infect the crowd with the fun we’re having. But we do our best to make sure this fun does not come at the expense of quality and musical value. So if you just want to hang out and listen to some fancy guitar harmonies, solid riffs and flashy vocals – come to our show. And if you want to headbang and go crazy in the mosh pit – come to our show as well.
Have you been to Bloodstock before? What did you think?
We have never been to Bloodstock. Having seen a couple of big metal fests we do have high hopes though. After all, Bloodstock is a proper household name in the world of heavy festivals.
If you like what we do, consider joining us on Patreon for as little as £1 per month!
Which M2tM region did you win, or did you come through other channels?
We’ve won the Polish M2tM contest.
Can you put into 10 words or fewer how it felt when you realised you were heading to Bloodstock?
Hyped, proud and determined to live up to this win.
What sort of setlist can we expect?
We will squeeze the best we have to offer in the 30 minutes on stage. You can expect the set to manoeuvre between the heaviest, the most melodic, the most technical and the most aggressive flavours we have in our reportoire but we’re not planning to ease off the gas pedal either. I guess the word is: fast.
Stage times haven’t been announced yet, so which other band do you most hope you’re not clashing with so you can see them play?
Ruthless question, there’s quite a few we wouldn’t want to miss! But since we have to pick one: Warbringer
What are you working on at the moment?
We are working on our third release, which will be our second full-length album. Mostly composing and practising new songs. We’re about half way there with the material at this point.
What’s the wildest thing you’ve seen or done at a live show?
One word: Gutalax. Ten words: Gutalax playing to the audience crowd surfing an actual porta-loo
What drink do you throw back to get yourself fired up before going on stage?
Water — maybe slightly sparkling if we’re feeling adventurous. You’ve got to be at the top of your game. Then, after the show, a beer tastes like well-earned heaven.
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Rascal: facebook | instagram | spotify | bandcamp | youtube
