Road To Bloodstock 2015: Delain

The next in our ongoing Road To Bloodstock series comes from Delain’s frontwoman Charlotte Wessels who reveals why the band chose to play a smaller stage and what we can expect from their headline set.

Hey Charlotte! You’re playing the Sophie Lancaster stage at Bloodstock. Why did you want to play on that one and not the Ronnie James Dio stage? “Well, as we have a song called We Are The Others, which is actually about the tragedy of Sophie Lancaster’s death, it makes sense for us to play on that stage. At first there was talk of the band playing the main stage, but we really did want to play the Sophie Lancaster one instead. We also get to headline, which is great for us.”

How much do you know about Bloodstock? “Ever since we played at Sonisphere in 2010, we’ve been hearing how good Bloodstock is. We’ve asked a lot of people which festival in the UK is the best one to play, and it does seem that this is the one to be at. It has such a great reputation.”

What sort of set will you play? “We will play our normal set, and as we are headlining it will be quite a long one as well. In the past, we’ve tried to tailor our performance to fit in with metal festivals, and just do the faster numbers. But experience has taught us that it’s always best to do the songs we particularly enjoy playing live, as that gets through to the crowd.”

Are there any other bands playing you’re gonna check out? “Well, I am really hoping to see Within Temptation, whom we know well and have played with before. And also We Are The Catalyst, as they won the competition we ran with Metal Hammer to find a band to fill a slot at Bloodstock. So, it’s only fair I should see them.”

**Will you be sampling the general atmosphere at Bloodstock? **“I hope so. I haven’t yet seen our schedule, but we always like to find the time to check out what happens at any festival. And Bloodstock sounds like it has a great atmosphere. I just hope we can bring good weather with us.”

**In one sentence, why should fans check out Delain? **“Well, we have a real party onstage. That should convince anyone to see us! People can’t resist any band who look like they’re having fun onstage.”

Weekend and day tickets for Bloodstock are available here.

Malcolm Dome

Malcolm Dome had an illustrious and celebrated career which stretched back to working for Record Mirror magazine in the late 70s and Metal Fury in the early 80s before joining Kerrang! at its launch in 1981. His first book, Encyclopedia Metallica, published in 1981, may have been the inspiration for the name of a certain band formed that same year. Dome is also credited with inventing the term "thrash metal" while writing about the Anthrax song Metal Thrashing Mad in 1984. With the launch of Classic Rock magazine in 1998 he became involved with that title, sister magazine Metal Hammer, and was a contributor to Prog magazine since its inception in 2009. He died in 2021