Based out of Newcastle Upon Tyne, Fast Blood is a melodic punk band comprised of musicians from the UK DIY circuit. "The band came about after the decline of my old band Pure Graft," says guitarist Dave Hillier.
"I had an itch to start something new, so demoed a bunch of riffs and got friends involved to try it out, and see if it worked. I had in sound in mind – something similar to Hidden World-era Fucked Up, mixed with a fast, snotty garage-punk style, kind of like the Carbonas. As is usually the case when a band has a specific sound they are going for, the songs end up sounding nothing like it, and Fast Blood is no exception."
Fast Blood has released their debut EP a week before the COVID lockdows, so momentum was lost, but they got back into action and played gigs alongside the likes of Toxic Reasons, Pegboy, and Mannequin Pussy around the UK. After their original drummer quit, the band injected some classic UKHC energy into the fold.
"We wanted to keep the momentum going, so recruited my mate Dave Allen, a veteran of the UK hardcore scene, well known for time served playing with Voorhees, The Horror, Natterres, and most-recently Parallel Worlds. Davey brought a more aggressive, hardcore-leaning flavour, which set the precedent for our songwriting going forward. Me and Dave actually played together many years ago when we were both living in Leeds - a fastcore/power violence band called Bonestorm."
Fast Blood's debut album, Sunny Blunts, was released back in May:
"To clear up any potential misconceptions, Sunny Blunts isn't a reference to smoking weed – it’s actually the name of a housing estate in Peterlee, County Durham, near to where [vocalist] Abi [Barlow] grew up. It makes sense that she wanted this for title for the album, as the lyrics within are very personal to her. Abi writes lyrics as a form of therapy: a vehicle for her to vent her frustrations and exorcise her demons.
"'Sunny Blunts' covers themes such as mental health struggles, anger towards corrupt politicians, small-minded attitudes, and the all-consuming exhaustion of feeling powerless, living in a declining modern society."
As mentioned above, Fast Blood have played with a wide array of bands, from hardcore/punk to indie rock ones. How have those kinds of crowds received them so far? "When we play live, it’s nice to see that people seem to generally dig what we are doing! I think it’s quite cool that we don’t really seem to fit into a specific genre.
"We can play (and have played) with an indie artist like Jeffrey Lewis, a band like Voorhees, or an intense noise rock outfit like Benefits, and still receive a welcoming and positive response from the audiences and bands. Although, when we played with Spaced in Manchester last year, Abi tried to get the crowd to 'start the fucking pit!' (her words), but they weren't having any of it," laughs Dave.
Things are truly coming full circle for Dave and Fast Blood. "I talk a lot about Fucked Up being a huge influence on myself and my guitar playing. So I was pretty blown away when we were contacted totally out of the blue by the band a few months ago, inviting us to open for them at a couple of shows on their upcoming UK tour. Obviously, we jumped at the chance. It kind of feels like things have come full-circle for us in a way. This is coming up later this month."
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Fast Blood on social media: Instagram
Upcoming shows:
October 28 - Edinburgh @ The Caves w/ Fucked Up
October 29 – Newcastle @ The Grove w/ Fucked Up
Tagged: fast blood, voorhees