England/Bloodstock Wrap

Hello wonderful Patrons!

As many of you know, we just returned from a rather long trip to England where we attended our first metal music festival. We also got to meet many smiling faces (including several of yours!) and caught a few of the extraordinary sites. It was a ton packed into just 18 days, so I wanted to write a brief summary to capture the highlights.

First of all, London is an extraordinary city. British food may have a bad rep, but it’s totally undeserved! We had not 1, not 2, but FOUR afternoon tea times in the UK (because let’s face it - I simply can’t get enough tea). We also toured the National History and British Museums, Westminster Abbey, and saw particularly awesome views on the London Eye. To top things off, we got to spend time with both old and new friends (including fellow patrons Carl & Melanie) and enjoy the fabulous London sites and cuisine in good company.

Getting from London to the music festival was quite the adventure… on the wrong side of the road. Luckily Kirk was willing to drive. He somehow got us to our destination despite my navigation, and only drove (briefly) on the wrong-right-side twice. #tourist

Once at Bloodstock, it was a whirlwind of activity and sound. My first impression was that the setting was lovely - in a magnificent park with huge trees - which was only made lovelier by the genuine and kind people. While people may sport thick jackets and metal studs, they are practically plushie in personality. Everyone is just so nice! There’s even a surprising family vibe happening, like each person is looking-out for the well-being of others. To add to the already great personalities present, we also got to meet a number of our patrons and community members. Thank you to everyone who said hello - it was wonderful to get to meet you in-person!

I was very curious how such a massive event was able to keep that home-grown vibe, and my questions were soon answered in interviews with some of the family members who helped to establish and now run the festival. They are truly delightful people. We’ll be publishing a video soon with a summary of our interviews at Bloodstock - so keep an eye-out for that on YouTube next week.

We heard and saw many fantastic bands while at Bloodstock. It’s hard to keep track of them all - plus we also heard much of the good music from inside the media tent. Here are just a few of my favorites with why I thought they were so dang awesome:

• Punk Rock Factory - most surprising debut performance. Tons of energy, and super tight harmonies.
• Devin Townsend - favorite variety of tone quality, and genius-nerd creativity taken to a whole new level.
• Skindred - most surprising genre blend , plus best crowd involvement.
• Seidrblot - best extended vocal technique (subharmonics and multiple distortion methods). Also the best way to begin Sunday morning at a music festival.
• Gloryhammer - Unicorns everywhere, including a blow-up unicorn used for crowdsurfing… all inspired by Thomas Winkler’s extraordinary vocal powers.
• Judas Priest - Celebrating 50 years!! Wow. Just wow.

Getting to interview many of the singers was a dream-come-true. I’m so excited to share that with you all soon!

None of this would have happened without the organizers’ hard work. They made us instantly feel welcome and ensured that we had a good place for conducting interviews. They also helped us get access to many of the artists! Sending-out a special thanks to Michelle and Kirsten from Cosa Nostra Music for going above-and-beyond to make our first festival experience fantastic.

After Bloodstock, we needed to rest and recover… and what better place to do that than in the original spa getaway, Bath? On the way there, we stopped by Warwick Castle. Unfortunately, this was the most disappointing part of our trip. Kirk and I both felt that it was over-commercialized - more like visiting a theme park than a historic castle. That said, we did see the ruins of Corfe Castle later in the trip, which were delightfully crumbling and felt more like an authentic piece of history.

Once in Bath, we delighted in relaxing and mostly doing nothing for a day. We did visit the historic Roman Baths, which was my favorite exhibit from our trip. I loved how they have carefully uncovered the 2,000-year-old ruins and created a massive educational sight surrounding the baths. We even got to visit by torchlight, which added to the awe and charm. The audio guide was also excellent. I highly recommend the Roman Baths to all travelers in the UK!

We continued during our last few days to see a few other sights. Stonehenge was inspiring, the Jurassic Coast was chilly and beautiful, New Forest had adorable ponies, and Brighton had delicious food and the delightful company of  my fellow music YouTuber, Andy Guitar.

During our final day in London, we felt relieved to deliver the rental car back in one piece. After a lovely stroll with exotic water fowl in St. James’s Park, we met-up for one final tea time with Michelle and Kirsten. We reminisced on the extraordinary experiences had both in England and at our first music festival, and relished new friendships made.

Thank you to all of you who have been tracking with us throughout this journey! We appreciate your support immensely. Sending-out an additional HUGE thank you to Paolo and our team of patrons who helped to compile the Bloodstock band info spreadsheet. That was massively valuable, and key to securing some additional interviews. Y'all rock.

Raising a cup of tea to you all!

Elizabeth