GBHBL Interviews Games, Brrraaains & A Head-Banging Life

The dos and don'ts of a festival. We’ve all got some rules we subscribe to and think others should too. Rules that keep you safe, rules that ensure you have a great time overall, and rules that ensure it’s a festival to never forget. In this interview, we ask an artist/band to give us three dos and three don’ts of a festival, while discussing their own upcoming experience.

In this case, it’s Bloodstock Open Air 2024, which is right around the corner. Taking place August 8th to August 11th, the UK’s premier metal festival has, once again, delivered a stellar line-up.

One such band on the bill is Hammer, the five-piece extreme metal band (who just so happen to have tons of groove) from Edinburgh in Scotland. They will play Bloodstock Festival this year, having earned their spot at the festival by emerging as victors of Scotland’s 2024 Metal to the Masses event.

On route to the festival, they’ve been keeping busy and latest single, ‘Accelerator’ is out now.

We talk a little bit about the new single in this interview, as well as talking about their journey to Bloodstock, what they’re hoping to get from the experience, what they plan to deliver when it comes to their set, the three dos and don’ts, and so much more.

Find out more here: https://linktr.ee/hammertheband

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Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/hr/podcast/the-gbhbl-podcasts/id1350465865

Intro/Outro music created by HexedRiffsStudios.
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The dos and don'ts of a festival. We’ve all got some rules we subscribe to and think others should too. Rules that keep you safe, rules that ensure you have a great time overall, and rules that ensure it’s a festival to never forget. In this interview, we ask an artist/band to give us three dos and three don’ts of a festival, while discussing their own upcoming experience.

In this case, it’s Bloodstock Open Air 2024, which is right around the corner. Taking place August 8th to August 11th, the UK’s premier metal festival has, once again, delivered a stellar line-up.

One such band on the bill is Straight from the Sun. Hailing from Birmingham in the UK, they embody the raw energy and force that defines the metal genre. Find a person who claims they haven’t head banged until it hurt when listening to this band, and you’ve found yourself a liar… or someone deaf.

Since their 2017 formation, they have been kicking down door after door, and living up to every bit of their potential. They deserve this spot at Bloodstock, and they are going to be one of the highlights of the entire weekend.

Which is an opinion shared by many, and something we get into in this interview. As well as talking about their journey to Bloodstock, what they’re hoping to get from the experience, what they plan to deliver when it comes to their set, the three dos and don’ts, and so much more.

Find out more here: https://straightforthesun.bandcamp.com/

Website: https://gbhbl.com/

Ko-Fi (Buy us a coffee): https://ko-fi.com/gbhbl
Big Cartel: https://gbhbl.bigcartel.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GBHBL
Twitter: https://twitter.com/GBHBL_Official
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gbhbl/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@gbhbl

Contact: gbhblofficial@gmail.com

Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/gbhbl
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5A4toGR0qap5zfoR4cIIBo
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/hr/podcast/the-gbhbl-podcasts/id1350465865

Intro/Outro music created by HexedRiffsStudios.
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKSpZ6roX36WaFWwQ73Cbbg
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hexedriffsstudio

Benedict Harris-Hayes is an award-winning audio creative, composer and multi-instrumentalist best known for his work in MASS!VE DYNAM!C and ENOCHIAN THEORY, as well as his ‘progressive metal’ project, Oceanica.

It’s the latter that we know him best for, having really enjoyed the 2019 debut album from the project, OneDark (read our review here). As good as that album was, Ben improved on what the project could deliver impressively with the album, ‘Panta Rhei’, released in 2023.

Benedict Harris-Hayes is a talented musician, a very creative individual, and it’s his latest imaginative effort that got us talking. Coming late 2024, it’s ‘Try Not to Dwell on It’, a new 21-minute-long track from Oceanica. In this interview, we get into some of the details of the track, the creative process of it, and how it came about. As well as delving into Ben’s own personal creative path amongst the many projects he is and has been part of.

Find out more here: https://oceanicauk.bandcamp.com/

Website: https://gbhbl.com/

Ko-Fi (Buy us a coffee): https://ko-fi.com/gbhbl
Big Cartel: https://gbhbl.bigcartel.com/

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Contact: gbhblofficial@gmail.com

Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/gbhbl
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5A4toGR0qap5zfoR4cIIBo
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/hr/podcast/the-gbhbl-podcasts/id1350465865

Intro/Outro music created by HexedRiffsStudios.
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKSpZ6roX36WaFWwQ73Cbbg
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hexedriffsstudio

Releasing on July 19th, 2024, via Mongrel Records, ‘Threnody: Songs of Fortitude’ is the new album from melodic hardcore metal band, Lower Hollow. Returning with unyielding resolve and a sound forged from the depths of adversity. Following the departure of three founding members after their debut album ‘Bloom & Expire’, the band has emerged stronger, fiercer, and more determined than ever.

Threnody: Songs of Fortitude is a very impressive release that proves Lower Hollow have survived their trials and tribulations and come out stronger for it. Having gone through enough hardship to kill most bands, and using those difficulties in a creative way, the band have reached deep inside themselves. The result is an eleven-track (including an intro) brute of a release. One with a thick rivet of pain running through it.

You can read our full review of Threnody: Songs of Fortitude here: https://www.gbhbl.com/album-review-lower-hollow-threnody-songs-of-fortitude-mongrel-records/

We spoke to founding member and drummer, Ashley De Beer about the new album and the creative vision behind it. Delving into the journey to this point, the hardships the band has been through, the drive to carry on, dealing with pain, and so much more.

Find out more here: https://www.lowerhollowhc.com/

Website: https://gbhbl.com/

Ko-Fi (Buy us a coffee): https://ko-fi.com/gbhbl
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Contact: gbhblofficial@gmail.com

Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/gbhbl
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5A4toGR0qap5zfoR4cIIBo
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/hr/podcast/the-gbhbl-podcasts/id1350465865

Intro/Outro music created by HexedRiffsStudios.
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKSpZ6roX36WaFWwQ73Cbbg
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hexedriffsstudio

Waylon Reavis, frontman of A Killer's Confession, is an undeniably powerful musician in the metal genre. After three seminal albums as the frontman of Mushroomhead, Reavis retreated from music, only for it to draw him back in 2016.

He resurfaced at the helm of A Killer's Confession, delivering three cult-favorite albums — Unbroken (2017), The Indifference of Good Men (2019), and Remember (2021). A Killer's Confession explores the captivating repugnance of true crime, set to a soundtrack of melodic hard rock dosed with elements of metal and industrial.

Now, A Killer's Confession is gearing up for their most ambitious release yet, the concept album ‘Victim 1’. A newly-signed artist under MNRK Heavy, the band have already released several new singles, ‘Greed’, and ‘Martyr', and are about to drop the latest, ‘Filth’ on July 12th.

To date, A Killer’s Confession has tallied tens of millions of streams, in addition to collaborating with everyone from Brian "Head" Welch of Korn and Love and Death to Chad Gray of Mudvayne and HELLYEAH.

We spoke to Waylon about the upcoming new album. Diving into the concept, the excitement and challenges, as well as talking about recent touring and what fans can expect soon.

Find out more here: https://akcglobalrecords.com/

Website: https://gbhbl.com/

Ko-Fi (Buy us a coffee): https://ko-fi.com/gbhbl
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Contact: gbhblofficial@gmail.com

Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/gbhbl
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Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/hr/podcast/the-gbhbl-podcasts/id1350465865

Intro/Outro music created by HexedRiffsStudios.
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKSpZ6roX36WaFWwQ73Cbbg
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hexedriffsstudio

The 2nd of August 2024 will see the return of Barbarian Hermit, Manchester’s leading purveyors of groove laden, stoner/doom metal. Released on APF Records, ‘Mean Sugar’ may just be the heaviest ever tribute to Northern life.

Recorded by Joe Clayton at No Studio and mastered by Chris Fielding (Foel Studios), the album sees the return of original vocalist Simon Scarlett who helped craft the band’s debut ‘One’ EP, originally released in 2016 (and reissued on APF Records in 2021).

Written over a 3-year period, it’s no surprise that ‘Mean Sugar’ is the sound of a band dealing with feelings of anger and frustration, but it’s also the sound of a band revitalised. When it all seemed to get too much, Barbarian Hermit wrote loud music, and the result of that can now be experienced to the fullest with this new album.

We spoke to guitarist Adam Robertshaw and bassist Rob Sutcliffe of Barbarian Hermit about the new album. The journey to this point, the highs and lows of the past few years, working with Simon again, rebuilding their name, refocusing on their goals, and so much more.

Find out more here: https://barbarianhermit.bandcamp.com/

Website: https://gbhbl.com/

Ko-Fi (Buy us a coffee): https://ko-fi.com/gbhbl
Big Cartel: https://gbhbl.bigcartel.com/

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Contact: gbhblofficial@gmail.com

Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/gbhbl
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5A4toGR0qap5zfoR4cIIBo
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/hr/podcast/the-gbhbl-podcasts/id1350465865

Intro/Outro music created by HexedRiffsStudios.
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKSpZ6roX36WaFWwQ73Cbbg
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hexedriffsstudio