Our journey towards BOA this year continues with Rowan Bradbury-Eason, guitarist from Stoke-on-Trent winners Lost in Lavender Town, an instrumental outfit and probably the first instrumental band to get through, who took time to work through our questions.
Paul: I started by asking Rowan to provide a brief history of the band.
Rowan: LILT (Lost in Lavender Town) was formed back in 2015 when a couple of nerds decided to take their badly named music projects out onto the stage. Combining ballistic boss battle beats and punchy progressive power-ups, the now six-man party from Stoke sets out to inspire novel and nostalgia in their journey onwards”.
Paul: Who is the current line up?
Rowan: Bowe – Guitar, Rowan – Guitar, Muni – Guitar, Rob – Bass, Jard – Drums and Jono – Synth/Piano
Paul: Describe the band’s sound and influences
Rowan: We all love our instrument orientated music – Lots of prog. What makes us unique however is that aside from that, individually we are very much into totally different styles. I personally listen to a lot of classic rock and metal. With us having such a broad spectrum of influences, we can create a really unique blend of styles/genres, and I wouldn’t liken our sound to anybody else’s.
Paul: Prior to Bloodstock, what are some of the highlights for the band so far?
Rowan: To be honest, the band has grown and changed so much over the past three or four years it is hard to define – Each “phase” having it’s own low and highlights, but having nailed our line-up and sound recently, for the first time I only feel positive energy in the band and it is really inspiring – Winning M2TM was the cherry on top!
Paul: Let’s move on to Bloodstock and your road to the festival. Please tell us about your journey
Rowan: After a good three, pushing on four years together as band at this point, originally having a vocalist, and even performing sans-drummer for a period, we felt we’d really nailed our line-up and sound and were ready to get the ball rolling – M2TM being the ideal platform for that! Who wouldn't want the chance to share music with more people?!
Paul: We know from our friends in bands that getting to the M2TM final is a great feeling. Tell us about the build up to your final and how you handled it
Rowan: The initial heat was our drummer’s first gig with us, so pulling that off in addition to getting through to the final was just mind-blowing. A lot of hard work and dedication coming to fruition. Additionally, seeing a venue such as the Underground pull off such an incredible final heat was very humbling. Having all played there in previous iterations over the past 10+ years it was a great.
Paul: What about when you were announced as winners? What were the emotions like?
Rowan: Being instrumental and not quite as heavy as some of our contenders I think we’d all resided ourselves to the fact that we wouldn’t make it, so when our name got called, we couldn’t quite believe it. So yes, initially bewilderment, but now a month or so on its generally huge excitement, with a dash of crippling anxiety.
Paul: So, moving on to the festival itself, what can we expect from you?
Rowan: I am told that we are one of, if not the only instrumental band ever to make it through M2TM, so quite possibly a bit of something different, a palette cleanser perhaps… A nostalgia trip, a musical journey. We don’t just plough through a setlist, we tell a story.
Paul: Which bands are you looking forward to seeing there?
Rowan: TesseracT!
Paul: Have you been to Bloodstock before?
Rowan: We are all veteran gig and festival goers, but only our bassist has been to Bloodstock in the past –So first Bloodstock visit for 5/6 of us, but more than prepared!
Paul: If yes, describe the three best things about the festival.
Rowan: I’d ask him, but his memory is probably a little “hazy” …
My thanks to Rowan for his time. Lost in Lavender Town play the Hobgoblin New Blood Stage on Sunday 11th August. Find out more about them at https://www.facebook.com/lostinlavendertown
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