BANDS from across Northern Ireland are preparing to rock Europe and the UK to its foundations in a campaign that will see hard rock and heavy metal acts bring the noise to thousands of fans.
Germany, Slovenia, France, Finland, England, Wales will all be hit in an eight-week assault of distorted guitars and pounding drums.
Opening the rock raid is Lisburn-based crew The Crawling when they play the Metal Days festival in Slovenia, after wowing the audience at last year’s Bloodstock festival in Derbyshire, England.
With their critically acclaimed album, ‘Anatomy of Loss’ earning plaudits the band have earned their place at the festival.
“The summer has turned out even better than we hoped” said Andy Clarke of the band. “We are honoured to play at Metal Days, which is just unreal!”
With Slovenia no doubt shaken to the core by The Crawling the Garden County of England, Kent, will see a triple attack from Northern Ireland acts at the prestigious Ramblin Man Fair in Maidstone, which attracts more than 23,000 avid rockers.
Appearing with the likes of ZZ Top will be Trucker Diablo, the Screaming Eagles and Blackwater Conspiracy.
For Trucker Diablo Ramblin Man will be one of a series of appearances over the summer months as the band’s singer and guitarist Tom Harte explained.
“On the live front we will be starting off at the excellent Amplified festival, which we can’t wait for, after that we are playing FUEL in Cardiff, so that kicks thing off nicely before we return to the mountain of rock and the much loved Steelhouse festival before rounded things off at the epic Ramblin’ Man Fair,” he said.
The band is also preparing to release their latest album.
Equally Screaming Eagles are set for a hectic summer.
“We’ve got SOS Fest, Ramblin’ Man Fair and Rockwich coming up over the summer along with some local performances at Sunflowerfest and Linenfields,” said guitarist Adrian McAleenan.
Given the high energy shows the band deliver they are also planning a live album before their next full length studio album.
Blackwater Conspiracy have already played at Download Festival this summer, opening one of the largest stages at the show.
With their album ‘Shootin The Breeze’ hitting the charts Phil Conalane said the blues infused rock is ready for more airing.
“It was great, we had an unbelievable audience for our set at Download with many, many thousands turning out to see us,” he said. “We got a great buzz out of it and the songs went down great with the audience, thankfully.”
After their slot at Ramblin Man the band plan to maintain their momentum.
“Our plans for the rest of the year is to play a few more N.Ireland/southern Ireland gigs, do a UK tour , keep writing songs – we never stop writing anyways,” said Phil.
France and Finland are the targets for metal band Terminus, and as bassist David McCallum explained the first date is in Torreilles, France on September 9th is a case of unfinished business.
“The band had to cancel the scheduled appearance last year at this great festival in France and are honoured to be asked to play this year on what is a sterling bill for metal maniacs everywhere,” he said.
Having conquered France Terminus will be heading deep into the frozen north for the massive Heavy Metal Cauldron in Helsinki, Finland.
“Yes, as we head into winter our next festival slot will be at the Heavy Metal Cauldron, which is headlined by Venom Inc and Exciter. It’s fair to say that the band is looking forward to playing these dates!”
In the same as The Crawling, Rabid Bitch of The North and Zlatanera rocked Bloodstock last year, death metal act Shrouded are planning on lifting the roof of the Hobgoblin stage.
“Being given the opportunity to play in England is a big deal for any band in Northern Ireland,” said Shane Hughes of the band. “But when your first time going to play across the water is at one of the UK’s biggest metal festivals then it’s really something incredible!”
“Being announced that we will be playing Bloodstock back in May was easily the highlight of our musical career thus far, especially since the talent display in this country right now is phenomenal. We couldn’t be more excited – in fact it’s safe to say we are all counting down the days!”
Hard rockers, Maverick are putting work on their next album on brief hold as they plan to play two nights in the heart of Europe.
Front man David Balfour said: “We’re performing a double header in Europe, starting with Tennwill Rocknacht in Switzerland along side Eclipse on September 23rd and then followed by our first ever International headline show spearheading the Metalapolis label fest in Ludwigsburg, Germany the following night.
“This is a big moment for us, especially to go back to the fantastic Rock Farbrik venue where we enjoyed our largest crowd and warmest reception to date just a year earlier.”
There’s no doubt that hard rock and heavy metal is alive and well in Northern Ireland with the likes of the Diamond Rock Club in Ahoghill and shows laid on by The Distortion Project.
And, now Europe will hear the excellence of our local bands.