I don’t know whether there are enough younger bands getting big. The headliners this year are brilliant but they’re getting old…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXj7r9yohik
Fearless Vampire Killers, the band searing with theatrical and musical vision, take to the stage for their most recent attendance at Download Festival, having finally erupted out of the claustrophobic tent over to the masses waiting at the second stage. The achievement comes with their latest release, Unbreakable Hearts, which evidently seems to have propelled them into a whole new platform of success while their set attracts fresh fans of their music as FVK show the new followers what they have been missing out on. Debbie Gough joined vocalist and rhythm guitarist, Laurence Beveridge, and drummer Luke Illingworth to discuss their thoughts on this year’s performance.
Thank you for taking the time to do this interview, I appreciate it. How did this this year’s slot playing on the second stage compare to your last visit here? I understand as well as playing in the Pepsi Max tent, you also performed acoustically?
Laurence: Well it was definitely strange! That year before playing on the acoustic stage, we played the main tent and so we’d already had that buzz from playing there so when we played unplugged, we hated it.
Luke: Yeah I just remember being really hung-over and not knowing what to do with myself.
Laurence: The thing was, we hadn’t really rehearsed it and so it was more of a ‘let’s see what happens’ kind of plan whereas this year, we’re playing The Dog’s Bed stage and we’re more prepared than we were formerly. It’s an absolutely tiny stage and so it should be pretty intimate, which is cool at a festival of this size. In comparison to playing the Zippo stage, I think it’s going to be a weirder changeover than before but we’re looking forward to it.
Within the media lately, there’s a whole debate about the future of festivals such as Download; what do you think about the future of metal festivals and potential headliners?
Laurence: Hmm, I don’t know. I don’t know whether there are enough younger bands getting big. The headliners this year are brilliant but they’re getting old. I guess they could carry on for a while though, I mean look at Slipknot.
Luke: It wouldn’t matter if they began to look old, Slipknot have their masks so nobody would see anyway.
Laurence: Yeah but I don’t think there are enough younger bands with that sort of scope to become headliners, which is a shame.
As everyone knows, Download is famous for its strange sights. What’s the weirdest thing you’ve seen here?
Laurence: One of our mates took all of his clothes off in the mud and the rain.
Luke: The other year I saw two geezers dressed up as lego men, which was cool.
Laurence: Oh I saw two men naked wrestling as well just before Muse… wait they weren’t even naked, they had boxers on but that’s still weird right? I have no idea. I think if you just look anywhere at Download there’s something weird happening.
If you could make a super group based on the acts of this festival, who would you have?
Laurence: Matt Bellamy on guitar, the guy from Faith No More on vocals… hmm, what drummer would I have?
Luke: Erm me.
Laurence: Yeah okay you. I’d have Gene Simmons for a laugh and one more guitarist…
Luke: Slash? Slash!
Thank you again for your time, any last comments?
Laurence: Peace and fucking believe!
