The Bloodstock Interviews – Dendera

Written by Linzi A
Friday, 18 August 2017 03:30

Arriving at the almighty Bloodstock and setting up camp, my first interview of the weekend was with Ashley Edison, vocalist with Dendera, who were playing the Sophie stage later that afternoon. This was my second time catching up with him in the space of just a few weeks, the last time being when his second band, Power Quest, headlined the SOS Festival in Manchester.

Dendera

I was eager to see him in Dendera – and, suffice to say, they did not disappoint when I saw them later on!

Being a total Bloodstock virgin, I was eager to get a fresh perspective on the festival from Ashley’s standpoint:

[I’m] very excited to be here and to play here. We have always wanted to play Bloodstock. This is my first time even being here, to be honest; I’ve never had chance to step out onto these hallowed grounds! It’s a monumental opportunity to be given for any band to play this festival, and the way it’s been ran is just superb: they treat all bands like family and everything is a tight ship – so smooth, I have no complaints. The whole feel of the festival so far has just been amazing, as everyone has been so warm and welcoming towards us: it’s such a great vibe ya know.

When we got sent the offer through by the guys from Bloodstock we were all in agreement that we were taking this fantastic opportunity to be able to come here and play – and when we found out that they wanted us to play the Sophie stage, that made it all the more special to us. The Sophie Foundation is a great cause run by great people for those that need the support, be it [because] you’re alternative/dress differently; it is now allowing people to stand up and speak out and not be afraid to be different. It’s something people should be aware of and we are so humbled to be playing on that stage which has been put there in tribute to Sophie Lancaster; after the horrific things that happened, it’s something we feel very strongly about. They are doing fantastic work within the community, going into schools, teaching children about awareness of subcultures; I think it’s amazing.

Absolutely! The last album, ‘Pillars Of Creation’ was two years ago: how does it compare to your new EP, ‘Blood Red Sky – Part1’?

I’d say the newer stuff is a lot heavier. I know a lot of bands say this is this heaviest stuff that we have done so far, but I’d definitely say this is a lot heavier, with a more modern metal sound. We are really happy with it: it has a really slick feel to it, the production is fantastic… the way it has all been put together it has just been amazing to do.

You’re a bit of a Harry Potter fan, and have recently been to visit the Harry Potter studios, so we thought we’d throw a bit of a curveball question in for you today…

Oh God, this can’t be good!

Do you agree that Harry Potter is just a huge idiot that goes around terrorizing his friends with his own problems in life?

You know what? I was actually talking about this the other day with the guys… I really, really like the Harry Potter films – but i really don’t like Harry. I don’t really like him that much at all. I’m more for the bad guys.

Oh you prefer Voldermort and his minions?

Yeah, yeah. I like dark mysterious side of things… but, I’d have to say I agree that Harry is a bit of a dick.

Getting back to the new EP, how did the recording process go for ‘Blood Red Sky’?

Dendera artwork

Yeah, it went really well. We recorded all the tracks in London in Rogue Studios with my friend Alessio (Garavello). We had lots of fun putting it all together; between us, the crew and Alessio we had a lot of laughs. It was just a really high spirited time. All the mixing was sent over to Germany, where all the tracks were adjusted and blended together, balancing out the sound of the instruments/vocals to make them sound phenomenal, so the CD basically has the best quality audio.

Any behind the scenes stories you can tell us about?

Nothing really fun I’m afraid – just the usual: just us guys having a few to drink, one of us might get a bit drunk afterwards, but nothing particularly interesting really.

I’m very well behaved myself. I can’t get silly drunk, because if I ruin my voice then I’m screwed really, so I have to preserve my voice at all times. If I dug deep into the bands archives there would be lots to tell, but I don’t think they would appreciate me disclosing those stories.

‘What goes on tour stays on tour’!

Exactly, you get it.

The EP is available on Spotify and via your website, are there any other outlets where your fans can find your music?

ITunes, Amazon, Google Music, basically all the official digital distributers you can get our music from. We have hard copies on CD if anyone would like a physical copy.

We decided to self release this one instead of going through a label. We don’t know what is going to happen yet with the second one yet. We have had a few people approach and talk to us about it, so we will have to just wait and see what happens.

It’s been four years since your debut album ‘The Killing Floor’; do you think that the band has changed musically since then?

Yeah. I think if you listen to ‘The Killing Floor’ then listen to the tracks that we have put out now, we almost sound like a completely different band. My voice has changed over the years.

The new EP has got lots of drum kicks; it’s really thrashy and heavy. Before it was more like classic Iron Maiden/Judas Priest/Dio sound, [but] we wanted to evolve from that so people don’t pigeon hole us as “oh this band sounds like another band”; we want people to go “wow this band sounds like Dendera”.

I completely get that, you want to be unique and have your own sound and style.

That’s exactly it. In the new EP we made sure that there is nothing that people can say “oh, this sounds like that…”

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