Bloodstock 2018 – Band Feature/Interview: Ethyrfield

This year’s Bloodstock Festival is shaping up to be one of the best ever with a line-up that spans all genres of rock and metal. If you haven’t picked up your tickets yet, what are you waiting for!? Check out our five reasons why you should go there.

Taking the stage on Sunday of the festival, Ethyrfield are a young three piece rock band from Newton Abbot in Devon, made up of Zach Cornish (bass and lead vocals), Ben Cornish (lead guitar and backing vocals) and Dan Aston (drums).

The band formed in 2014 and were originally called New Project before changing the name to Ethyrfield in 2017. In February 2015, the band took part in the national Rock the House competition in London and won the under 19s category which gave them the opportunity to play at the American Ambassador’s residence.

In 2015, Ben took part in Sky Arts Guitar Star and reached the finals of the rock guitarist section. During the competition, Ben was mentored by Tony Iommi, who still mentors the band.

The band’s first EP (called Ethyrfield) was released in October 2017 and in January 2018, Ethyrfield played on the Introducing Stage at the Giants of Rock Festival at Butlins, Minehead. There, they were voted winners by the audience, so will return to play the main stage in January 2019!

In July 2018. Ethyrfield won the Metal 2 the Masses competition for Devon and Cornwall and earned their spot on the New Blood Stage at Bloodstock!

Find out even more about Ethyrfield over on their website, Facebook Page and Twitter. You can pick up their music via Apple Music above, Spotify and Amazon below.

Interview

1. Congratulations on your victory in the Devon and Cornwall Metal to the Masses. How are you feeling about getting to Bloodstock and up on to that famous New Blood Stage?

We were extremely pleased when we found out that we had won Metal 2 the Masses as there was some really good competition. The stage looks really good, we are really excited to play on it and we are hoping there will be a good crowd there to watch us.

2. How did you find the whole Metal to the Masses experience? You had some pretty tough competition.

The whole competition was held at Livewire in Saltash which is an amazing venue so it was great to play there throughout the heats. Even if we hadn’t won it would have been worth it to get to see all these great bands

3. Do you plan to stay at Bloodstock for the whole weekend? If so, what band’s are you hoping to catch while you are there?

We can’t get up there until the Friday, but we plan to stay for the rest of the weekend. We really want to see Judas Priest, Suicidal Tendencies and Mr. Big but there are loads of other great bands playing that we would love to watch.

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4. For anyone who doesn’t know you, what can we expect from Ethyrfield at a live performance? Why should they come and check you out?

Our music is a mixture of 90s grunge and prog rock – anyone who comes should expect an energetic performance and some new and exciting music.

5. You guys are mentored by Tony Iommi right? How has/does that help you? It sounds like an amazing opportunity.

Ben took part in the Sky Arts Guitar Star TV show and got the chance to jam with Tony Iommi. Since then, he has kept in touch and given us advice on how to improve our songs.

6. Your self titled EP has been out for a little while now so should we expect any new music in 2018/early 2019? Any other plans, like tours, coming up?

We would like to record another EP sometime soon – we have got plenty of new music to record but no confirmed plans yet. We’ve got some great gigs coming up including supporting Oliver Dawson Saxon at Ilfracombe Rocks in November and playing the main stage at the Giants of Rock at Butlins Minehead in January as well as lots of other festivals. You can check out a full list of our gigs on our website here.