Rising To The Masses: Space Pistol

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Before the first riffs echo through the fields of Catton Park, we are diving head first into the pulse-pounding world of the New Blood Stage at Bloodstock 2024. So grab your backstage pass, tune your senses, and join us as we explore the stories, inspirations, and the relentless drive of the bands who are rising to the masses! Introducing Space Pistol…

How would you describe your band to someone who’s never heard you?

Alt-rock, grunge and ADHD-infused madness with the right amount of heavy!

Tell us about your band’s origin story. How did you all come together?

We came out of lockdown. We had a desire to hit hard and make some faces screw and we found there was a desire for it! Before we knew it, we’ve got our first EP out and we’re gaining traction. It’s now been 2 years, the momentum hasn’t stopped, and we have our first album out!

What song would you recommend for someone’s first listen of your band?

Describe your songwriting process. How do you create your music?

Dan is our main musical driver. He’ll come with a concept, a lyric, a riff and we’ll build on that until we have a finished piece. Ash is starting to come to the table with more material now too. There is still so much to explore!

How do you handle creative disagreements within the band?

The beauty of the tripod! As a 3-piece, a decision is always made. 2/3 wins!

What are your musical influences?

90’s and 00’s rock, grunge, and metal are always a cornerstone of our DNA. Bands like Nirvana, Queens of the Stone Age, System of a Down, Marilyn Manson, Rage Against The Machine you can hear in there. But run that through a few brains riddled with ADHD and add a few more modern twists and you can get a little closer to Space Pistol.

What’s the story behind your band name?

Space Pistol was picked out by Joe from a long list of mental band name ideas Dan had on his phone. Space Pistol could represent paraphernalia, stepping up as a person, or the TP-82 soviet combination gun. Take your pick and decide but it sounded good to say and seemed to match the chaos of the music regardless of what it represented at the time.

What’s your guilty pleasure music outside of metal?

We are fans of any female fronted 80’s and 90’s pop. Minus the guilt. Don’t be surprised to see us walking on stage to Total Eclipse of the Heart or Girls Just Want To Have Fun!

Tell us about your most memorable live performance or tour experience.

Crikey! There have been a lot of ’em! There’s been some good boob flashing. One time someone came on stage dressed as The Hitcher from Mighty Boosh and gave the crowd a double D show, haha!

What’s the most challenging aspect of being a metal band in today’s music industry?

Booking tours can be tricky. Especially at our stage. We’re not quite there to be doing headline tours, so we’re booking our tours in batches of shows. The difficult part is the struggles of live music venues at the moment. So many have shut down, leaving such high demand for booking at the remaining venues, who are still on their knees. Live music is so important, but it’s struggling. So all we can say is, go watch live and local music! It’s how your next favourite band survives!

Any advice for other aspiring metal musicians?

You do you. Don’t stress and have fun with it. If you like it, nothing else matters.

What’s next after Bloodstock for the band?

We’ve just released our debut full-length album, ‘Leave With Everything’. We’re currently on tour promoting the album. Bloodstock is a dream stop that we couldn’t believe we could add on the list. We’re touring until the end of September and continuing the album promo train!

How do you choose album artwork or visuals for your releases?

Di Shorleson did the original art for our album ‘Leave With Everything’. She’s amazing! We then just put our bits on top and boom! Artwork done!

What’s the most unexpected inspiration for one of your songs?

A song on our album called ‘Paper Dragon’ is inspired by Dan’s 8-year-old daughter’s talent for making origami paper dragons. They both wrote the lyrics. Don’t’ worry, she’s credited on the album.

What’s the best gig you’ve attended as a fan and why?

The best gig we’ve attended as a band is one we played for an underground music promoter Buttonpusher in Nottingham at JT Soar with Dutch Elm and Pink Footage. Big love to all those people! Also our boys at Vandalism Begins At Home in Luton for keeping underground music alive!

Have you faced any challenges as an unsigned band? How do you overcome them?

Finding the balance as an unsigned band is always tricky. Hell some may argue there’s more challenges as a signed band. But we’re lucky that we’re gaining organic momentum, fans, and followers whilst keeping it sustainable.

How do you stay motivated during creative slumps?

Well, there is no shortage of creativity. We’ve got a huge backlog of songs and music that could fill out the next few albums. The trick is putting together a collection that works and flows together.

Space Pistol are set to play The Hopical Storm New Blood Stage On Sunday 11th August 2024.