Newbury rockers set to beef up Download festival
A local band have been invited to play at one of the UKs largest rock music festivals and they feel ‘unbelievably honoured and excited’, they tell @newburytoday
Newbury-based band Number of the Beef have been invited to play at Download festival in Castle Donington. They will be playing on the District X stage the day before the festival starts proper.
Download Festival is a rock festival held annually at the Donington Park motorsport circuit in Leicestershire.
How do you feel about playing Download festival?
Just unbelievably honoured and excited.
We're still in a state of disbelief about it, it's a momentous shift from our usual gigging environments but one that we cannot wait for.
Indeed, its a massive step up. How are preparations going?
It is a massive step up, only a couple of years ago we’d just done our first gig in Basingstoke.
We're practicing the set for it constantly and working on perfecting it up at Studio 91. We have two more warm up shows on our road to Download.
The next one up is at The Facebar in Reading as main support to The 900 with our good mates in Revenant opening the night, it's also the release party for their highly anticipated debut EP. May 24, The Face Bar, Doors at 7pm, BE THERE!!!
Wow, that sounds like it'll be a great night?
Absolutely it will.
In terms of artists you'll be playing alongside at Download, are there any you’re really looking forward to seeing?
Yes there are, Newbury’s own Smiley Dave is hosting Panic! At The Bingo on the Thursday as well as Chop Suey who are an immense System Of A Down tribute band. Tom has played Download a few times with his band Malefice but their drummer is also playing in his new band Urne.
Some of the guys are also really looking forward to catching Pantera on the Saturday.
Oh Smiley Dave's there too?! Thanks for letting us know! He's always great at all the local events he hosts, he's doing stand up shows at Brighton Fringe currently isn't he?
He is! They're going great too, strongly recommend going to see one of his shows if you can.
What are the details of your set at Download?
So we are playing on the Doghouse stage as part of District X on Thursday, June13. We're on at lunchtime/early afternoon though stage times are subject to change.
You’re playing a themed set aren't you?
We are indeed! We're playing a set covering the tunes from the Radio X radio station from Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.
Which includes tunes by Soundgarden, Danzig, Depeche Mode, Faith No More, Alice In Chains, Guns N' Roses and more.
You don't hear bands cover Soundgarden and Faith No More often.
That you don't, we have found out the hard way that doing so is kinda tricky, especially Soundgarden. It was a lot of work to get it sounding good, Rest In Power Chris Cornell, one of the greatest vocalists there ever was.
Thanks for your time! Are there any people you'd like to thank or give a shout out to?
Thank you for your time also!
We have so many thanks and shout outs to give. Our families, our wives, girlfriends and friends for supporting us through this convoluted midlife crisis, Magda and James for inviting us to play at their wedding last year, Smiley Dave, Chris Sheen, Matt Hudson, Jme Pants, Laura Renton of Redtop Images for the many great photos she's taken of us, Studio 91, Johnny Marter, No Good Sons, Revenant, Moretallica, Jen Behaving Badly, Small Town Saviours, Awesome Welles, Cluster Truck, Rude Not 2, The Lion in Newbury, The Bacon Arms in Newbury, The Golden Lion in Basingstoke, The Face Bar in Reading, The Acoustic Couch in Bracknell, all the fine folks who run and attend FREAKjam at Mr Bumble in Blackwater and anyone who has helped and supported us along the way in any way whatsoever. We’re incredibly grateful to you all for your support as without you guys we wouldn’t be where we are now and have this incredible opportunity.
One last thing: do you guys have social media pages to follow?
We do indeed! Follow Number Of The Beef on Facebook and @numberofthebeef on Instagram
