This weekend all the rockiest rock bands are heading to Donington Park for Download Festival. Alongside headliners Avenged Sevenfold, Guns N’ Roses and Ozzy Osbourne, you’ll find a number of Upset’s faves – from former cover stars Black Foxxes and Milk Teeth, to cover-stars-in-waiting The Faim (right, guys?!). We sent a bunch of ‘em our patented (not really) Download 2018 Q&A to find out what their plans are, and who they’re looking forward to checking out (spoiler alert – almost everyone said Guns N’ Roses)…
Hey Henry from Boston Manor, congrats on playing Download this year – are you all ready for festival season?
Thanks, we’re really excited to play, it’s gonna be our first time at the festival. I’m so ready, British Festival summers are the absolute best. I try to go to as many as I can and we’re lucky to be playing some of the best this year!
What’s your top tip for surviving a summer spent in fields and on the road?
Have as much fun as you possibly can. Stay hydrated, and don’t leave your beer in the sun because hot Skol is not the one.
Do you have any fond memories of Download from years gone by?
I actually only went to Download for the first time last summer for the day to see a few friends’ bands play. It was an awesome day though; I got to see Mastodon & Code Orange which was dope, they both smashed it.
Which bands are you most looking forward to seeing there this year? Will you be meeting up with any pals?
It’s such a solid year! I’m super excited for Manson, Alexisonfire, Rise Against, Meshuggah, Hatebreed, Thrice, Gold Key, Loathe & Rolo Tomassi. And our pals who I’m equally excited to see: Knocked Loose, Employed To Serve, Death Blooms, Higher Power, Milk Teeth, Puppy and the one and only Jamie Lenman. It’s gonna be such a great time.
Download’s got a new Greenpeace campsite this year – do you think festivals have a responsibility to do some good by raising awareness of things like environmental and/or social issues?
That’s awesome, festivals like Download are one of the few times of the year when subculture gets brought into the mainstream. Within our communities as a whole we are pretty strong supporters of environmental and social issues; so why not bring that with us to events like these? It’s a great time to start having discussions about issues that don’t usually get talked about on more mainstream platforms.
If you were running your own festival, are there any ‘do good’ initiatives like the above that you’d want to introduce?
Animal rights is a huge one for me. However, I know Peta and other groups are usually at most festivals anyway. That’s always a presence I like to see at these events none the less.
What else are you up to this summer, do you have a busy few months coming up?
We’re always busy tbh. We’ve been away for three months; as soon as we get home, we have a day off then we go to Germany for the Impericon festivals, then we start our tour with LTA in the UK. Then it’s pretty much-hitting festivals all summer which I’m super excited about. Hope to see some of you guys there.
