UK Heavy Metal Promoter, Bloodstock Open Air Director Vicky Hungerford

0:04 Hey, you learn too, Yes, that's true. For see why for you? This is the pipe Man here on the Adventures pipe Man W four C Y Radio and I'm here with Vicky Hungerford. Yes of Bloodstock. Oh my god, it's. Great, so much better where you say it? Do I? Let me hear you say it. Let's hear it. Stuck on. I've been screaming so much because of the music. And yesterday I had Machinehead I work at this morning, I'd completely lost my voice. I know that feeling I've done. I think it was like thirty one interviews before this one. Oh then oh no, over the music and I'm sucking on those vocal zones.

0:52 Yes, yeah, I'm trying and it's not coming back. So every time I try and get a high note, it just disappears. Right. But for machine Head it was worth it, right absolutely. If you're going to lose your voice, do it to machine. Head, no doubt. And I was there in the pit for machine Head yep, after being in here all day, and boy that was a way to end the day there. But then I went to Static X too, but it. Was incredible, Oh amazing. Is to go from machine Head to Static X is fantastic. A machine head set for anyone that obviously wasn't there was unbelievable. Oh, we've never had so much production. This is the thing from a festival point of view, production wise, with the headliners this year, we have never in twenty four years had this much production.

1:37 Well, let me tell you something, somebody that does all the US festivals, UK festivals, European festivals, I love Bloodstock probably the most. And this year you're right. The production, like Trivium set was like the best they're from near me. Yeah, it's the best I've ever seen Tripa. Everybody said that the press around it has been show they've ever seen. And when they were bringing special guests out, I was like, because I knew a couple of them, but I said to Matt Heathy, don't tell me anymore because I want a surprise, right, And then they were like another guest came out and somebody else, and I was like, this is incredible. Honestly, I have never had so much fun. And I say that every year we're going to top it, but I've genuinely partied hard this week.

2:23 Well for the anniversary next year, you have your work cut out for you to outdo this year. But that lineup, yeah, I was sold as soon as it said death Angel. I went up to Cure so I'm like, Okay, can I apply for my credentials right now? Aha, We've had a lot of that. I'm bizarrely, Brina, We've never had this before. We sell tickets at the box office, We've always done that with no booking fee, and we're six to seven times up on tickets last year on the box office. It's ridiculous. Wow, we're really pleased. And I have to tell you, going back to Machine Head, I thought I was going to lose my shit last night when he started doing that. Day came to Michelle, Oh don't I didn't know that was coming. I always have an inside joke with Rob and my husband now that when that song comes on, Rob doesn't normally a bit of a monologue about things.

3:10 It's what he does, and I didn't know that was happening. So then when I saw the screen splash up with Michelle and him on the photo, I instantly just started crying. And it was absolutely beautiful. Michelle would hate that much. She'd be like, oh, stop it right exactly, but yeah, that was the most beautiful dedication ever, and I message Rob to say thank you. Rob. That was incredible and he probably didn't need the thanks because he felt it. You know, you could see it in his face, like, yeah, I don't even know how he got through the song, to be honest. No I don't, and none of us did. There wasn't a dry out of all of us who were just hugging each other, crying her eyes out, but in a good way. I miss Michelle every single day, as everyone does. She is the most badass person and he said it, she's a badass bitch, yeah.

3:58 You know, and she would love that because she was and she is. Yeah, And I love how he said she could drink anybody under her table, like he would have to tap out. Yeah, I love that bit. I was smiling at that because I have fond memories of being on I can't remember what festival America we were, but Michelle out drinking everybody and the bands just crawling back onto the tour buses when me and Michelle were like, she was still going so yeah, that was great. Oh you got to love that. Yeah to the end. Yeah, totally the end, superstar, Oh totally. So what other surprises do we have? For the twenty fifth anniversary, well not surprises because we don't want to reveal one that. We've got all sorts ofquing. It's a big year and obviously when it's an anniversary, people expect a lot. We announced twenty five bands and we've got over.

4:45 One hundred and ten. Wow'll still go. And I've got my next announcement ready pending to go September time, so I want to get another load of bands out. But there's a band potentially special guesting to priest now I've been trying to get for years that have never played Bloodstock. So I've not told anybody this, and we are so close to getting it confirmed, so hopefully it's in the next week. It's okay, so I'll get it out pretty quick. It's going to be great. There's a lot to come. Oh so excited. I think everybody should come to Bloodstock because even talking to bands, like every single band talks how great you guys run the festival, how they're treated, and it's not always the case. No, no, no, it's not.

5:33 You know, at the end of the day, we're a family, so we're independent. It's no machine behind Bloodstock. It's literally my family. And the crew are amazing team and crew, and we wouldn't have anybody working the festival that had egos or the attitudes. We don't like that. That's not how we work, right. And it's example my dad who's got the gallery here at the festival before the festival opened. He's there with the hoover hoover in his own gallery and a lot of people would be like, get someone in the crew to do that. My Dad's like, no, I'll do it's my gallery. I love it. That just typifies why it's the nuts and bolts of what Bloodstock is. Yeah, why Yeah, And that's how we've always run. I think if we didn't run that way, you wouldn't get the same feel atmosphere feedback that we get and we appreciate. Like you guys as press coming to the festival, that means a hell of a lot to us because you're doing something to help promote the.

6:25 Festival, right So, and that's the way it should be. That's the way it used to be, yep. And in my country it's really not that way. Aim work right, like it, And so that's why I love coming over here because you guys do. I've told Kirsten playing times like, man, it's nice to be treated like press. Yeah. Absolutely, Like it's not. Even like you're being treated differently, You're being treated like press should be treated. Absolutely, And I say to Kirston every year, we're so humbled the fact of the amount of people the press accreditation that want to come to the festival, because that's a great thing, but it's people helping us get the name out there talking about the festival.

7:06 So to me, Press is a heart and soul of the festival. Yeah. So we love what you guys. Do, and we're even family in here. But I have more friends in this precedent than I have any of the US festivals, you know, because the here it's almost a competition like typical America. Yeah, yeah, you know, and here everybody's just working together. Cat always sends people over to me, I send people with her, and like, that's the way it should work. We should all be a. Community good And that's the key thing you're feeling it in the press tent. Yeah, that's how it is. Backstage, there's no them and us, there's no hierarchy. We're all working together for the same goal. We all love metal, we're all doing it for the same thing, that's the joke together, rather than have that attitude.

7:49 I really want to know, though, how you put on such a major production for a festival still being DIY, being family, because I don't think people realize what really goes on into putting together this festival. Yeah, it's interesting. This year we had to increase the size of the stage Wow, both in width and depth because of Gajira's production. I remember the very first open air that was so DIY. The backdrop fell off on the two thousand and five, So I look at that and see how far we've come. The scrims, which are the things on the either side of the main stage. When we had the first open air, they were so small they were half the size of the ones we've got in.

8:33 Our tented stage Wow. So it gives you an idea how big the festival has come, and you grow production with that, so each year you add to it. So we've got things this year. I've done videos which I'll put out on social media of the pyro and the firework production which we're on big machines at the back of the stage, things that we've never brought in before to that scale. So we're scaling up every single year. Nice. We're doing things like the entrance wave of the festival this year has got a huge stamp that's a new thing, so that when you come through the entrance you've got this giant stam. He talks to the fans with a deep voice, he blows smoke. It's just little things. It makes the festival fun, right.

9:16 And then the Assie War Oh, oh my god. Yeah, I was here last night signing it. Like I saw Ozzie every year since nineteen eighty. I mean I saw him at Randy Rhodes. Yeah, yeah, and like it's just it's amazing what you've done today, Kate to Ozzie and you know, even up on the screen. I think I went to tears when I walked in the first day and I saw Ozzie up on it, and before that main stage was open, just Ozzie Winsters up there. Yeah. Yeah. It's been very Assy centric for obvious reasons. The wall is like a seventeen meter wall and there's three beautiful photos of Ozzie on there, which are from the photographer Paul Harris, who very kindly said, you use these photos for the dedication. I went there this morning and it's absolutely stunning. It's full already by Friday. We opened it the arena Thursday night. By Friday morning, the wall was full, wow of signatures and dedications. So I say to people, if you've not checked it out or put some photos up, but go and check the wall out.

10:21 Oh yeah, let's talk about how much you do for the Sophie Lancaster Foundation. Yep, I got the shirt on that I bought. That love that could work. Yeah. It's funny too because I'm in the US and I'm like, let's have some a which day is the day we wear pink? And I brought like three pink shirts. Thursday was the day I wore my black Savage shirt that kind had pink in it. But it was like a host. I was like, ah, well, don't worry to pick the wrong day to the days. So if you do get the days mixed up, if you, for example, Dinosaur Day, if you get the wrong day for dinosaur, we won't hold you to it. So you're fine. You can do it any day. Yeah. So I've been wearing pick every day.

11:01 Since y bye, and that works for me. But tell a little bit about the story about then, why you guys are such avid supporters. So Sophie Lancaster happened over oh gosh, maybe fifteen years ago now, where it was a young girl attacked and killed. She was walking with a boyfriend through a park. She was killed by some people who basically felt she looked different, and it was the most horrific story ever. Her mum, Sylvia championed the Sophie Foundation in honor of Sophie to raise awareness and stamp out prejudice and hate. So for people that look different in any sector, not just the metal and Alternative center, that it should be acceptable to be accepted and to not be hateful and to not be prejudiced. So it made absolute sense that we named our second stage, which will forever be named the Sophie Lancaster Stage. I love it, and our entire ethos is for inclusivity, to make sure hatred in any sector.

12:02 This isn't just metal. Yes, it's relevant to metal because we're bloodstock, but it's relevant in any sector of the world. Metal heads shouldn't be that way towards R and B, hip hop fans and vice versa. You accept somebody for who they are, regardless, and that is an important message for us to keep drumming out, which we always will. Yeah, and every band that plays that stage is so honored, yeah, to play that stage. And it is a message that, like I try to and Thomas photographer over here, we try to bring back to these states because nobody really knows about it over there, and I think it's a huge message, especially nowadays, because there's so much hate in the world and we all grew up with it as metal heads or punks, you know. I know when I was a teenager, you had to worry about game beat up and you know, luckily still be here, like yeah, a lot luckier than Sophie, but it happened.

13:01 And the sad thing is you and I are of an age we didn't grow with social media, so it's even worse these days because you've got social media, you've got the bullying of online. We didn't have that. And I'm so thankful, I say to everybody, I'm so thankful that we grew up in age without social media, because now you can be attacked, bullied through socials where people don't think twice about what they say, make a comment, walk away from it, but it affects that person horrifically. It depends my mind what people say and do about that. Honestly, I can't fathom it. I've had it over the years. A few years ago, I booked a band that was headlining Partway Drive. I've often spoken about this and I got death threats because fans didn't like the bands. So, you know, they thought it was acceptable to do that and this.

13:49 But this is the world we live in. People Winstin's the nicest guy in the world. Exactly, but certain fans didn't want that band to play. What's the acceptable thing to do? Give the death threats? And you hear about that a lot. Somebody makes these flippant comments walks away who doesn't think anything about it. To the person I'm making it too, it's profoundly terrifying, so and horrible. So that is why we will always champion it because we've been affected as individuals. We all have you anyone working here at some point in their life, so it's really important we keep driving that message out. Well, it's funne you say about the social media because like my youngest door one time I was on the phone where I'm like, some days I want to just take my phone, my laptop and my iPad, drive and throw it out the window and keep driving. She goes, Dad, who you king? You're just as addicted as anybody. I'm like, yeah, but I lived there in time when we didn't have it, and it was a better time.

14:44 It sounds like we're doing that thing as parents, where we're saying when we were kids, it was a better time. It really was. And I said to somebody the other day, if I didn't have a festival that relied a lot on social media, I wouldn't have social media, right, because as much as it's amazing, there is a horribly toxic side which I hate. Yeah, totally, Like I have, like you, I have to do social media, but I'm out at the point, like I really would like to just get rid of it. Yeah, totally. But we rely on it for. Our exact businesses exactly. So it's managing it and it's constantly I'm thinking, if I'm going to do social media, I'll just hop on about the good things. Yeah, be kind to.

15:24 People, should be for the positive. I don't get it. We have enough hate, anger and bull crap going on in the world, and now we have politicians yeah my country, Yeah, use it for heat. Yeah, and This is why I'm like, if you can do something, have a positive impact, right, you know, be an inspiration in a fun way. Think about before you post something on anybody's thing, if it's going to be horrible, do you need to post that? Or could you just walk away? Right? Could you just go? I don't like that, but I don't need to say. What are you looking to accomplish when you say something or do something? Like you said, just ignore it apps.

16:08 I've often seen things that either I don't agree with or I don't like. I've scrolled on. Yeah, I've just scrolled on exactly. No, because this doesn't help anyone, and I just wish that was the world we lived in. Unfortunately we don't. But it's important for us. And that's why the Safe Lancas's Foundation is important. Yes, because that is the entire ethos behind it. We need it more than ever now when we need bloodstock more than ever now because of that. One hundred percent. Yeah, what else do you want to tell people about bloodstock that we haven't covered? That's really important? I think we've covered a lot of it. I would say that if you've never been it is a genuine and I feel like it's a sales deploy me saying this, but it's a genuine relaxed vibe. We're very accepting everybody. And I say it as well. I have a lot of friends that actually have never listened to metal.

16:55 That come and hang out of Bloodstock. I love it. Because they're into like pop and R and B and hip and they're like, oh, I'll come along and see what it's like. And now they come every year and it's that kind of thing. So if you've never given it a go, even just come one day for a day experience it. We have so many people who have done that and then come for the weekend. Right. And the other thing I'd just like to say is thank you for everyone's support, whether it's press, media, bands, fans. Everybody's part of the big thing. We're just the cogs that help put it all together. But we're not integral to it, right, fans, the bands, you guys are, So we're just very grateful. And I do talk to fans out there that they don't go to any other festival but this one for those exact reasons.

17:37 Yeah, And we're so humbled. We never take it for granted. I don't presume because we've sold out this year that we're always going to sell out. You can't ever put the foot off the gas, so to speak. So we're always trying to improve. And I always say to people, if there's a band announcement and you don't like the bands, give it a chance, or even check those bands out, because you might find something in that band live that you're actually like, do you know what? I didn't think i'd like this, but I do. What great point because so many bands that are my favorite bands are because I caught them live, not because I like them before they were live exactly. And it's that's what festivals do. Yeah, put a bunch of new people in front of fat bands they've never seen, and they get a bunch of new fans. That's why festivals are so good for bands.

18:21 And you have one really cool thing that silent disco, Oh my god, and I then with that the line for that, like everybody wants to go to that. Yeah, But the thing is what is cooler or weirder rather than maybe a silent disco because it's a strange thing to watch from an outsider, right because you've got people playing depending what channel they're listening to, it could. Be like the cheesy eighties pop to. Something heavier, so you never know, and it's great and it works great time disco would work. I know, right, it's a beautiful. Thing, weird concept, but it works well. I thank you so much much for putting this together and doing it for so many years. Is so much hard work, it though, Yeah, well, at the end, it's that unresult and how people feel and the way you make people feel with this festival, it's worth everything in the world.

19:18 Totally and honestly, thank you to everybody, including you for all your support, because without that, we just wouldn't have a festival. That's the end of it, isn't it. And even didn't come you know, the book them and they will come attitude. But if we didn't have the fans and people like you, we wouldn't be here. So and that's why you are probably the premier festival in the whole world. Thank you. That's a huge thing to acclaim. But thank you. You're welcome, and thank you for being on the adventures of Pipe Man and making this happen for all. Of us, and thank you for being here. And you're coming back next. Year of course that's the right. I wedn't miss it for the world, even if I do no festivals, which probably won't happen. But if I were to pick, you've held me to it now.

19:59 So listening nose, you will be. Back next year without the doubt. Perfect. And I have to say even here like you have one of the best press teams here. I've always loved Jazzmine before she even came on board. And Kirsten is like amazing. Free suites for the press test yes, and crisps yes, that's a bonus. That is definitely, and the drinks in there, you know, and then the lozenges so I can do interviews. See you think of everything. I know it's a bit warm, but we think of everything. It could be a lot warmer though I've been to some there a lot warmer. Yeah. I'm comfortable here, yeah, and that's for many reasons. And I will be back every year, and especially the twenty fifth anversaries will and all my fans and listeners they have to come or they can't listen to my show.

20:51 Aims absolutely, they can't listen. That's right. Thanks a lot, Vicky, thank you. Michelle Kerr was my press officer for my entire fucking career here in the UK, my entire career. With Machine D. She recently passed away and it was a very, very sad day. And I can tell you the reason that I'm gonna tell this story is because she was family. She was Bloodstock family. She was heavy metal UK family. Most of the bass that you know and love, you probably heard of because of that woman right there. Slive, Knots, Slayer, Machinehead, Trivium kills which engage, hey breed, you name it. She helped lift everybody up. Man. She helped lift everybody up, and in so many ways, she helped make this entire music scene, this incredible, beautiful community that lives here at Bloodstock.

21:56 Man, she helped make it. So, ladies and gentlemen, please make some noise from Michelle Kerr. Thank you for listening to the Adventures of Tatement on w for c u I Radio.