sonisphere.co.uk

Papa Roach’s only UK festival show of the summer occurred today at Sonisphere. How was it?

“It was our first Sonisphere. We normally do the other one.

This is only our second year.

“I know. We found the crowd really into it and eager and there were quite a few pits. It’s a big-arse stage. UK crowds are always going to be great though.”

So are you coming back next year?

“I can’t really comment, but I think it would really help us with the new record and Sonisphere is great.”

Imagine trying to walk through a crowd with Metallica? Or Maiden? Or Motley Crue? Forget about it. We weren’t even walking through the throng with Cristina Scabbia from Lacuna Coil. We were just in the artist area and it took close to two hours to get to a place we could talk about Sonisphere and shoot pictures of Cristina wearing one of our T-shirts she liked. So many people wanted their photos with her it got a little bit silly.

“I had a fantastic time. I was a little worried as we didn’t get enough sleep last night, but the crowd was so warm and had their hands up in the air for every song.”

So, after their only UK festival appearance of the summer, what’s next?

“We’re putting together ideas for the new album. We’re still collecting ideas, but hope to put out a new at the end of next year. It depends on touring.”

His head was sheared off with a guillotine, he was whipped, injected by poison and hung the old-fashioned British way. Oh, and among a lot of other borderline lunacy, he ended up snogging a rubber doll. Just another regular Friday night for Alice Cooper then.

He only had one complaint: “The crowd weren’t quite close enough to get any blood on them.” It’s been almost 30 years since our Friday night headliner played a festival in the UK. Why did he take so long to return?

“I don’t know. We played at Reading in the eighties, but I think promoters were just scared of something theatrical,” he says. “I think tonight showed they didn’t need to be.”

“Thank God this festival has promoters with balls,” as one happy punter put it after a stunt-packed set that begun and ended with ‘School’s Out’. “There were so many people out there I just couldn’t see,” says Alice. “I normally focus on people to sing to, but not tonight.”

Will you come back to Sonisphere? “Oh, definitely.”

After Alice’s set the party in the Bohemia tent hosted by Bizarre went into overdrive and got a little out of hand. One women (with a prosthetic penis) paused her simulated buggery to spray the crowd with milk (at least we think it was milk) from fake breasts strapped to her backside. Then there was a mechanical horse shooting fire out of its hind flanks, some flying bug women spinning down into the crowd from the ceiling and a Zebra dominatrix or two who just couldn’t stop wrestling.

Bizarre employ the kind of performing girls (or guys or gender-confused people) that you’d imagine would go out with tonight’s headliners Rammstein. In fact it wouldn’t surprise us if some of them hang around for Rammstein’s after party. Apparently they’ve ordered two grand’s worth of vodka, booked Hertfordshire’s leading 80s pop DJ (he also does weddings) and according to one of Sabaton invited some fire-breathing midgets to serve the drinks.

Earlier in the evening, Terrorvision played a set packed with their hits including stand-out versions of ‘Perseverance’ and ‘Oblivion’. They dedicated ‘Alice What’s The Matter’ to Mr Cooper and ended with an explosive rendition of ‘Whales and Dolphins’. Before Alice Cooper Gary Numan served up one of the heaviest sets he’s ever played. Appearing at his first real metal festival he established himself firmly with the rock community.

And so to today, Sabaton are currently playing an inspirational battle metal set. “That is scary,” our photographer just told us. The kind of thing to wake up and work into a frenzy anyone still lazing in their tent. Anyone who wasn’t already alerted into action by Family Force 5’s basslines that set off car alarms all across the site. Later there’s Corey Taylor’s second-ever UK solo set, Motley Crue, Placebo, Anthrax, Good Charlotte and, of course, Rammstein with their first-ever UK festival appearance. See you in the pit!!

Ahead of only his second-ever solo set in the UK Corey Taylor talks about Stone Sour’s new record, the writing process and why UK festivals are better than US ones.

Tell us about the new Stone Sour record?
It’s really, really, really fucking good. Head and shoulders above everything that we’ve done prior to this. It’s got everything that we’ve ever wanted to try on an album. Musically it’s so diverse. I cannot wait for the world to hear the whole thing.

Previously you said it was going to be a lot darker than the last record?
It’s actually a lighter vibe than I was expecting. While not being overly saccharine or sugary or anything like that it’s coming from real spots lyrically just there’s a sense of melancholy that just kind of goes into all those little bits and what not.  The main difference is we were afforded the time to make this album. The first album was recorded in five weeks, the second one was done in about six and a half. After ‘Come Whatever May’ kind of blew up and was a huge success we were given the opportunity to have more time and really put it together well. With pre production and rehearsing and recording it was about five months. And because of the confidence we had from ‘Come Whatever May’ we weren’t afraid to try different things and just keep pushing the boundaries. I mean the proof’s in the pudding man, when the album comes out people will see just how fucking good this album is.

What was the writing process like?
Everybody in this band writes. We have five writers. Rory really got a chance to shine and brought his music in for the first time and his songs, it was almost like that missing link man and it tied so many different things together for us.

What’s the first single about?
With ‘Say You’ll Haunt Me’ that instead of just going with the woe in me my heart is broken blah blah blah. I really wanted to go for something that’s like I really found a person that I wanted to be with and I love her so much that if she died I would want her haunting me for the rest of my life basically. It’s very positive, but also has a lot of attitude to it and when we did it in the studio I mean it exploded and it really came into itself. When that song really showed its face in the studio we were like there it is there’s the fucking first single right there.

What are your main influences when you write lyrics?
Just right from the heart and not trying to write any certain lyrics or do anything a certain way. I’m in my mid thirties if I was talking about shit from high school I would sound like an asshole now so to me it’s very much about the stuff that I’m going through now in my life

How have you enjoyed the Sonisphere tour so far?
The Big Four were the fucking soundtrack to my teenage years. There were a lot of bands that I listened to but they weren’t the only music that I listened to but definitely in the upper echelon. There were also bands like Suicidal Tendencies that I listened to, Testament bands like that. And then there was the hardcore punk scene that I was really into like Minor Threat, Black Flag bands like that and then when you go further back it’s the punk bands of the 70s like the Buzzcocks, Clash, Sex Pistols, The Damned. So I grew up with a great sense for melody but also with a great sense for attitude as well and I think that kind of formed how I write music and pointed me in the direction I wanted to go.

What do you find the biggest difference is between playing festivals in Europe and the US?
One of the biggest differences is the music appreciation. In the States it feels really commercial it feels really specific. You couldn’t do a festival like this over in the States, and if you did it would be several of the same bands over and over, people want what they know. Here the love for music is so universal and so diverse and you can do festivals like this and never know whose going to be on. And the fans they eat it up, they love it, they don’t care about musical boundaries. They just want to come and enjoy the day and listen to great music. I really wish we had something like that in the States because I think some people would really, really dig it. Maybe some day.

You’re playing a solo set at Sonisphere for only the second-ever time in the UK. Last year everyone loved it. What have you got planned for this year?
I got a few surprises. Hopefully my guitar works this year I had some technical difficulties last year, but we got through it and had a good time. It’s probably just going to be a straight acoustic set this year. Get up, play some covers that I’ve been working on and doing really cool acoustic versions of a couple of different songs and what not.

Any clues?
Nope. I’m not giving anything away you’ve got to come and see to find out.

Corey Taylor plays the Bohemia Stage on Saturday 31st July. The new Stone Sour album Audio Secrecy is out on September 7th.

Sonisphere opened up with a Time Warp. The idea was to set a new world record for the most people doing the dance at the same time. With more than 6,000 people participating and the current record set at 4,000 we probably smashed that. The only problem was that in all the excitement no one actually counted and the person supposed to be doing the video was so busy performing their own pelvic thrusts while filming they clean forgot to turn the camera onto the crowd. So it’s one of those seminal events that only the people that were there will remember.

We’re incredibly impressed with the Rocky Horror inspired costumes the crowd have put together for the Bizarre party in the Bohemia tent. Not quite sure if The Smurfs, a mummy and a gorilla were in the original film, but they looked cool.

Iron Maiden’s only UK gig in 2010, Rammstein’s first-ever UK festival appearance and the only place you can watch Alice Cooper trying to avoid hanging, impaling and strangulation in his Theatre of Death. These aren’t the only exclusives we’ve got in store at Knebworth. Nowhere else in the UK this summer will you be able to experience Slayer, Good Charlotte, Papa Roach, Alice in Chains, Anthrax or Funeral For a Friend who are playing their last-ever show with their founding guitarist. Or see The Cult, Lacuna Coil, Skindred Karnivool, Madina Lake and Therapy?, who are performing Troublegum in its entirety for the first time.

We’re so excited we’re having trouble breathing, let alone sleeping – not that we’ve really got time for it. Team Sonisphere have experienced and achieved a lot since Europe’s only touring festival roared into action six weeks ago. We’ve put on eight festivals including the biggest gigs Poland and Turkey have ever seen, watched on in awe as Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth and Anthrax collaborated on the heaviest cover you’re every likely to hear and made history so many times we’ve begun to lose count.

Along the way we’ve mingled with thousands of the biggest metal fans you could ever care to meet, seen magnificent performance after magnificent performance and worked hard to be put on the best show we could in each and every country we visited. In the UK we’re accustomed to putting on festivals in fields. Across Europe we ripped up that rulebook. Instead our travelling metal carnival crash landed in an abandoned military airbase, an ornamental garden, an airstrip, a couple of football stadiums that looked like they might collapse amid the crunching riffs, an Eastern European conference centre and a village school atop a nuclear bunker.

We got lucky with the weather. The sun shone everywhere. Well apart from in Switzerland. After being rained on for 36 hours solid and taking more than one mudbath it’s hardly surprising we found our selves sharing the odd shot of Grey Goose with ex-Pantera and Hellyeah drummer Vinnie Paul at 11am. The Swiss didn’t seem to care about the rain though. In fact one couple were getting so deep, down and very dirty in the mud at midnight they were oblivious to the unsuspecting forklift driver who was inches away from running over them.

Of course Team Sonisphere aren’t averse to the odd bit of debauchery. In the Czech Republic the locals plied our promoter with so many 20p Jagermeisters his blood turned black and he started his own one-man circle pit. At the Big Four’s pre-show party in Poland some of Team Sonisphere allegedly sloped off to a (ahem) gentleman’s club with a couple of the more famous faces in attendance and then had the cheek to cage a lift in Metallica’s police motorcade the next day. And we still shudder whenever we think about what our chief rigger got up to in Turkey.

But amid the fun and mayhem we’ve experienced some sadder moments. In many ways 2010 has been a difficult year. The passing away of Ronnie James Dio had a deep impact on a lot of people in the rock community including us. It’s hard to believe that just 12 months ago he was performing at Sonisphere. We all miss the star of the masquerade. The death of Evile’s bassist Mike Alexander last October and then Slipknot founding member Paul Gray a mere week after Ronnie left us was similarly difficult to accept. Then at the start of this month Madina Lake bassist Matthew Leone was hospitalised after heroically intervening in a domestic dispute. Our thoughts will be with him when his band take to the stage on Sunday.

We wish him a speedy recovery and we’re sure you do too. That’s the best thing about Sonisphere. The hundreds of thousands of metal fans we meet at each and every event. You’re a special breed with a sense of solidarity. You know it, we know it and so do the bands. Without you the people that perform on our stages simply wouldn’t be there. Don’t forget it. Anyway, it’s time to make even more noise than last year. See you in the pit!

We’ve interviewed a lot of bands on the tour. You can read some here:

Metallica’s Lars Ulrich on the future of Sonisphere

Stone Sour plans and the future of Slipknot with Jim Root

Corey Taylor’s plans for Knebworth

Metallica’s Rob Trujillo on bass playing and music tips

Richard from Rammstein talks fire

On returning to Megadeth by David Ellefson

Talking about the new record with Bullet For My Valentine

Scott Ian from Anthrax on the Big Four

Ripping up bibles with Behemoth

You don't need to bring one of these to Sonisphere!

PC Tools are coming to Sonisphere and are making themselves decidedly useful. Armed with a big bag of festival booty, they’ll be giving out around 10,000 torches, bottle openers and beer coolers. They’ve also mobilised a 40-strong tent-erecting taskforce, so if you arrive and realise you haven’t got a clue how to put your tent together (or just can’t be bothered to do it) track down one of the PC Tools’ crew. These guys are tent specialists. Apparently the algorithms involved are very similar to those they employ in anti-virus software.

Tent aside, it might be worth remember to pack the following:

• Your ticket
• A waterproof
• Wellies
• An open mind
• Toilet roll
• Spare socks
• A sense of humour
• Alcohol
• Water
• Money
• A useless, but funny mate
• Cereal bars
• Contraception
• A stupid hat
• Your favourite t-shirt
• A big flag
• Sunglasses
• Mobile phone
• Sun cream

Nothing is more important to us at Sonisphere than your safety and we are working closely with Hertfordshire Constabulary to make your experience both as safe and fun as possible. Superintendent Simon Hawkins here would like to share a few tips with you on ways you can help us ensure this. He knows what he’s talking about!

Simon says: “We had some excellent feedback from those who came to the festival last year and we’re looking forward to being involved in the event this year.

“We know most people coming to the festival are there to have a good time, enjoy the music and what the site has to offer and the community feel to last year’s festival will be seen again this year.

“Sadly we do know some people target these types of events to commit crime and although there were few crimes last year, we’d like to ask anyone coming to Knebworth to consider some crime prevention before and during their time on site.”

Before you arrive:

The best advice is to pack light and leave valuables at home where possible, but we know people will want to bring items with them. Have a think about what you’re bringing:

Do you need an iPod with all the other great music you’ll be listening too?

Do you need a really expensive camera or could a disposable one do?

If you are bringing expensive items, before you come to Knebworth, take a bit of time to register any property so if it is stolen and recovered it can be returned to you.  The best thing to do is register your property at www.immobilise.com. Immobilise is a national property registering site that all UK Police services can access to check against property they have found/seized:

• Helps UK police services to identify the owner of lost & stolen goods thousands of times every day
• Combats the sale of stolen property, alerts the second-hand trade, and updates the stolen goods database
• Provides a FREE service to the public

When you get here:

Vehicle Crime:

• Where possible, do not leave any valuables in your vehicles
• If you do have to leave items in your vehicle make sure they are hidden before you arrive in case anyone is watching
• Open your glove compartment to show that there is nothing of value left in the vehicle
• If you have a Sat Nav, make sure you move it out of sight and get rid of all suction marks on the windscreen.

Your valuables:

The best advice is to leave valuables at home but we know most people will want to bring items of value, so:

• During the day use lockers provided on site to store your valuables. These also have phone chargers in.

• Postcode your property – if it is stolen or lost and recovered it can be returned to you (property marking is taking place in the car park so please visit officers to find out more)

Tents:

• Lets hope the weather is nice but if it’s not the only thing a ten will do is keep your possession dry. Either way, don’t leave any valuables in unattended tents.
• Leave your tent untidy don’t make it easy for thieves to grab a bag with everything in it
• At night secure your valuables in a bag at the bottom of your sleeping bag. There will be a great community style feel to the event so watch out for each other. If you engage and introduce yourself with enough of those around you, you will quickly identify anybody who is unfamiliar. If you see something suspicious tell a member of staff or a police officer.

Personal Safety:

• Remember, there is safety in numbers – stay with friends especially at night.
• Don’t show off what valuables you have– it could make you a target for criminals.  Put money, tickets, credit cards and mobile phones in a zipped pocket or use a money belt
• If you’ve lost or found property please visit the Welfare tents to drop off item’s you’ve found or to ask if anything has been handed in.  After the event call 0207 399 7070
• It is your responsibility to ensure your personal welfare however we would advice that is it’s hot, make sure you drink plenty of water and if you are drinking alcohol know your limits and drink responsibly.
• Welfare points are located around the site for further information on personal safety
• In the event of an incident follow instructions from stewards and police.

Stay safe and have an amazing time!

Tickets are now priced at the following ‘door rates’, available via the usual online outlets (for collection at the on-site box offices) as well as from the following local outlets: Coda Music (Stevenage), David’s Music (Letchworth), City Sounds (Welwyn Garden City) and Machine Head (Hitchin).

Tickets bought from any of the above, after 9am on Thursday 29th July will be priced as follows:

*Please not subject to booking fees if paid on credit / debit cards

Click here to benefit from cost savings by buying your tickets in advance.

After 20 years on the live circuit, Therapy? are about to do something at Sonisphere that they’ve never done before on stage. They’re going to play a set consisting of a single album – the 1994 classic Troublegum – from start to finish, creating another slice of rock history at Knebworth in the process.

“With it being the band’s 20th anniversary we wanted to do something a bit different, so we got together with the promoters and thought this might be an interesting setlist for the audience and a bit of a challenge for us,” explains bassist Michael McKeegan. “Some of these tracks we haven’t played for more than 10 years. There’s actually one song on there I think we’ve only ever played live once before.”

Of course, focusing on one album in its entirety means excluding certain classic tracks like ‘Teethgrinder’. Do they have any special plans for an encore?

“To be honest, we’re quite old-fashioned in that way and we think encores should be earned, so we don’t plan them. I’ve seen bands write out set lists with three-song encores on them, but it’s not something we do. If the crowd wants one, we’ll do an encore, but we won’t plan it.”

In the early-to-mid nineties Therapy? were selling a lot of albums, playing high-profile festival slots and hugely hyped. Somewhat unusually for an award that tends to avoid acknowledging the heavier end of the musical spectrum Troublegum was even a Mercury Prize nominee in 1994 (for the record M-People won). Armed with radio-friendly melodies and the approval of the hard-rock fans that championed them in the first place Therapy? appeared a contender to become one of those bands that marries metal with the mainstream. But, although the fact they’ve been going for two decades is testament to their longevity and appeal, things never quite kicked on into megastardom. Why?

“I’m not really sure to be honest,” says Michael. “Perhaps if the next record after Troublegum, Infernal Love had been Troublegum mark II it would have happened, but that’s not what we wanted to do. And, maybe if that had happened we wouldn’t be doing what we’re doing now. I think if you listen back now you can hear us moving to a more textured diverse sound.”

Does he think the music scene is worse now than in the 1990s?

“No, I think the music scene has never been healthier. They’re so many great bands around, although not necessarily in the charts or spotlight. Guitar-wise there’s Kvelertak whose debut record I love and an American band called Black Breath which reminds me of my late 80s tape trading days. I just got the Ghost Of A Thousand’s latest record and it’s fantastic. It’s a pity we’ll miss them at Sonisphere.

“Outside rock there’s a dubstep artist called Cogent a friend turned me onto. It’s less blistering bass and more atmospheric and I just heard a record by Wisp on the Aphex Twin label, really nice melodies and the usual skittering beats. There’s plenty of good music out there if you want to dig a bit.”

At Sonisphere, Michael says he particularly wants to catch some of the acts playing the Bohemia Stage alongside his band.

“I’m definitely looking forward to Gallows and Corey Taylor who I’ve never seen doing his solo thing before. I’d like to catch Enforcer who are on earlier in the day, but we might get there too late for that. And then depending on time I’ll have a wander around the other stages. I’d like to see Fear Factory.”

Although understandably their anniversary year has resulted in a certain amount of retrospection, Therapy? are now turning their minds to new material. All the band are working on music in their home studios, which they’re testing out at sound checks. And, as long as they’re no unexpected interruptions, once they’ve finished this run of shows in mid-August, Michael says they’ll look at turning these ideas into songs in the studio. They have some live dates in October, but he says the plan from August onwards is to concentrate on a new album that they’ll put out in February and March next year.

But finally, looking back after two decades what does he think their proudest achievement as a band is?

“Of course they’re certain milestones with selling records and so on, but I think the thing I’m most proud of is that we’re still here, we’re still mates and we’re still sane, at least relatively so. That’s what I’m most proud of.”

Therapy? are holding a signing session at the Kerrang! Signing Tent at 6pm, Saturday 31st July at Knebworth.