The three-piece alt goth band Bloodworm have wasted no time making a name for themselves, as they endeavor to put Nottingham’s thriving music scene on the map. Their singles such as the infectious ‘Cemetery Dance’ and the striking ‘Alone in Your Garden’ hark back to the golden era of goth whilst promising sonic innovation. Ross Williams caught the trio after they opened the rescue rooms’ stage at Dot-to-Dot festival. At home on the high-fidelity sound system, the set threw the crowd into a sea of jangle that ebbed and flowed with oscillating modulation effects. Sitting just beyond the old market square, George (guitar & vocals), Euan (drums) & Chris(bass) talk about how things are going.
You had your first London headline the other week, how was that?
Euan: Yeah, Shacklewell. That came from supporting spilt milk. I was sending out emails like ‘oh let's find a gig’, They never replied until I get an email like four months later and I'm like oh lads, sh*t. We went into it thinking, no one is gonna watch us, because it's London, who knows us. But it was a Friday night, free entry, it was amazing.
Do you still do DIY shows?
Euan: Yeah, we did a headliner at J.T Soar, we still do play these nice little venues where it's raw, raw
sound.
George: I like the raw sound.
Euan: But it's so hard to go from like amazing sound to like, oh shit, raw. Test how good you are.
Do you have a philosophy you adhere to when writing as a three-piece band?
George: I personally think, if the song isn't good with the individual on an acoustic guitar and the vocal it's probably not that good of a song. So, I kind of give them a rough idea and they figure their parts out.
Without giving too much away, what's going on in your pedalboards to get your sound?
George: It's all about chorus and flanger. As a guitarist, it's rare to not use reverb, but I use no reverb.
For me, I like having something that I can get a really quick attack with and then just cuts. So then
rhythmically it works really tightly with the drums. My guitar playing is based on the ideas of Keith
Levine from Public Image and the first Clash album.
Chris: George won't use reverb, but I'll use it though to give it more of like a spacey feel. My flanger
pedal, as well, which kind of gives it like a stereo effect.
Euan: I feel like there's like six of us here when we play Clairvoyant.
George: It's all about just placement of things basically. I just don't want a washed-out sound because
that's such a cliché thing with our style of music.
What drinks are you choosing as a rider at one of your shows?
Euan: We've never had a choice. If we proper had a choice, we’d go for our blue juice.
Chris: It's basically Dragon Soup.
Any hardcore influence when playing the drums?
Euan: I like hardcore, but I'm not purposely doing that. I started drumming when I was 10 and I got
taught as a metal drummer. This started as a grunge band and I just literally hit the drums as hard as I
could, double bass and just make noise. And I think George directed me to a vision of like, hey, there are other genres out there. He's converted me a lot.
George: My idea for drums is just kind of tribal elements which is influenced by Siouxsie Sioux and the banshees, because they had Buzzy playing tribal beats and I f*cking think that's sick on drums.
I guess its a common pitfall for bands to loose something in a wall of sound, beyond the technical
side of things, how do you keep the songs sounding so clear and coherent?
George: It's just about dynamics, just creating a difference between the verse and the chorus; I want the choruses to sound like you're getting f*cking slapped in the nuts & I want the verses to be brooding.
Any upcoming live shows you can disclose?
Euan: So we're headlining Waterfront Festival in Nottingham on the 1st of July, The Chameleon on the 7th of July alongside Duvet and Sex Toy Vending Machine and then a gig at J.T Soar on the 24th of July with Current Affairs.
How do you feel about the scene in Nottingham right now?
Euan: I'm excited for Nottingham right now, I'm a big fan of Marvin's Revenge, Otala, Dura Mater and Sex Toy Vending Machine (they're really new and insane). I'm really excited about a band called Penny Moon too. I think we're trying to help boom up this scene and it is getting f*cking good, it never was a competing thing when we came into it.
Ross Williams
Edited by Olivia Hannant, Images courtesy of Editor
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