BLOODSTOCK INTERVIEW: Puppy
As we near the end of our epic Bloodstock Festival coverage, we spoke to one of the more out of place bands at this years event. PUPPY stride the line between heavy riffs and massive choruses, all whilst adding a grungy spin onto their music. We sat down to speak with bassist Will Michael and drummer Billy Howard to speak about being a band that’s so odd as well as getting an update on their anticipated debut album.
PUPPY are the only band that comes to mind who have supported bands like CONAN and CREEPER in the same year, so how does it feel to be that band?
Billy: To be that boy…
Will: It’s honestly what we set out to do.
Bill: I think Glastonbury was our last festival, Glasto, 2000 Trees, this, if we can maintain that, cause we love a lot of bands that play there and we love all the bands playing here so it’s a nice dichotomy.
Is Bloodstock the type of festival you’d be coming to if you weren’t playing?
Will: Absolutely mate, yeah.
Billy: I’m gutted I couldn’t come last year, I was watching GOJIRA’s set and it was immense. They’re headlining next year here aren’t they? I’m gonna be here.
Was the Bloodstock crowd any different to other festivals you’ve played?
Billy: The thing about Bloodstock is that everywhere you look, you see a gnarly metal T-shirt on. There’s a real community vibe going on, if you play Glasto or Reading, there are gonna be people watching you who hate metal, or hate heavy music and wont like what you’re doing. Here there is much more of a scene for it.
Does playing heavier shows make you wanna write grittier music?
Will: We try to walk the line. We want people who like heavy music to listen to us, but we always want people who aren’t really versed in heavy music to be able to use us as a gateway into heavy music, I’d love that. If someone was listening to bands I’d have never heard of that they got into through us, that would be the dream.
What bands do PUPPY listen to then?
Billy: It’s a pretty diverse melting pot. I think our sound is an attempt for us to emulate the music we listen to. So some quite poppy stuff, and some classic rock stuff. I don’t really think we reflect hip/hop music, not yet anyway though.
Will: Our favourite bands are probably everyone’s favourite bands. We love WEEZER, we love METALLICA, DEFTONES, like big bands but we also grew up listening to a lot of shit.
Does the release of Beast suggest a debut dropping soon?
Billy: Beast was actually a really old song that we re-recorded cause we never got a decent version of it, it was on a special release of our EP Vol. II. We’re actually about half way through our album, we’re looking to put out our whole record next year.
How has the recording process been for the album?
Will: Really good. We went straight from our set at Glastonbury to the studio to start tracking, and we did five tracks at the Rockfield Studios, where they recorded Definitely, Maybe.
Billy: Bohemian Rhapsody was recoded on a grand piano in the room we were in.
Were you trying to harness the power of Freddy Mercury?
Billy: And Liam Gallagher.
So you guys toured with another really strong, fresh British band in CREEPER, is there any form of rivalry between young bands sharing a scene?
Billy: Yeah it’s vicious!
Will: Well, we were the first of four bands on their tour so I think we have a long ways to go before we catch up, but watching their fans and the fanaticism of their fans was incredible
Billy: Yeah, that would be an amazing thing to emulate. They had fans with tattoos, fans queuing outside the venue for 7 hours before the show, everyone was singing all the words right back at them. If we could emulate even a fraction of engagement then it would be incredible.
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