Page 107 - Metal Hammer Issue 334 - UK (May 2020)
P. 107
From coffee shops to Wembley
– you name it, Polaris will play it
ROAD TRIPPIN’
2000TREES FESTIVAL WITCHCRAFT, GRAVEYARD, BRANT
CREEPER, KNOCKED LOOSE, DREAM BJORK, RAGING SPEEDHORN + MORE POLARIS
STATE, SHVPES, ITHACA + MORE MAY 1-3 LONDON Camden Various Venues
JUL 9-11 CHELTENHAM Upcote Farm
DOWNLOAD FESTIVAL Australia’s next big hopes bring a stacked bill
A DAY TO REMEMBER IRON MAIDEN, SYSTEM OF A DOWN, for a run of UK dates this May
MAY 23 HATFIELD Hatfield House KISS, KORN, DEFTONES, DISTURBED,
MAY 24 LEEDS Temple Newsam KILLSWITCH ENGAGE, MASTODON, You opened Wembley Arena with Architects last year. How
MAY 25 GLASGOW SSE Hydro ALTER BRIDGE, GOJIRA, VOLBEAT, did that feel?
MAY 27 CARDIFF Motorpoint Arena BABYMETAL, OF MICE & MEN, THE Jamie Hails (vocals): “It was incredible! I kept going out every
MAY 28 NOTTINGHAM Arena WILDHEARTS, BARONESS + MORE five minutes and the crowd just kept growing, I was wondering
JUNE 12-14 DONINGTON Park where all these people were coming from. We played an
AEROSMITH arguably well-packed room and it was a huge room, too!
JUL 15 LONDON O2 Arena EVANESCENCE & Especially in the style of music we play, not many bands ever
JUL 18 MANCHESTER Arena WITHIN TEMPTATION have the opportunity to play such an iconic venue – that was
APR 7 LONDON O2 Arena a massive tick in the book for us.”
ARCTANGENT APR 28 GLASGOW SSE Hydro
OPETH, TESSERACT, SWANS, APR 30 LEEDS First Direct Arena What’s the strangest venue you’ve ever played?
IHSAHN, CHELSEA WOLFE, LEPROUS, MAY 5 BIRMINGHAM Arena “There was a little venue in Wollongong called Yours And
AMENRA, PERTURBATOR, ROLO Owls which was a tiny 70-capacity room that was actually
TOMASSI, OATHBREAKER + MORE FAITH NO MORE a coffee shop they’d open up as a venue in the evening. You’d
AUG 20-22 BRISTOL Fernhill Farm JUN 10 MANCHESTER O2 Apollo see the wildest shows in there because the band sets up on the
JUN 11 GLASGOW O2 Academy floor and the crowd is right in your face. I remember the first
BLOODSTOCK OPEN AIR JUN 13 IRELAND Punchestown Sunstroke Festival time we rocked up to that place years ago saying to ourselves,
DEVIN TOWNSEND, BEHEMOTH, JUN 15 BIRMINGHAM Academy ‘Are we really playing in here? How the heck is this going to
JUDAS PRIEST, SKINDRED, PARADISE JUN 16 LONDON O2 Academy Brixton work? Where do we load in? There’s only one door through
LOST, HATEBREED, SAXON, ORANGE the crowd in the tiny little cafe area!’”
GOBLIN, BURY TOMORROW, JINJER, GUNS N’ ROSES
LIFE OF AGONY, VIO-LENCE, SACRED MAY 29+30 LONDON Tottenham Hotspur What’s been your proudest touring moment with Polaris?
REICH, DIAMOND HEAD + MORE Stadium “On our last headline Australia tour, we played a Sydney
AUG 6-9 DERBYSHIRE Catton Hall JUN 27 DUBLIN Marlay Park venue called Metro Theatre where we’ve seen so many of our
favourite bands play over the years. We’ve been lucky to play
BURY TOMORROW HEALTH there supporting bands but being able to headline it was
APR 2 LONDON Underworld JUNE 2 LONDON Studio 9294 absolutely unbelievable. We’re playing an even bigger venue
APR 3 LONDON Pryzm on our next tour and that will probably replace it but Metro
APR 4 BIRMINGHAM HMV Vault HELLOWEEN Theatre holds a special place in our hearts. We never thought
APR 5 SOUTHAMPTON Joiners OCT 4 MANCHESTER Academy we’d be playing the level of shows we do, we never even
APR 7 LEEDS Headrow House OCT 5 LONDON O2 Brixton Academy thought we’d get to the stage where we released a full-length
album and now we’ve done two.”
CORROSION OF CONFORMITY IN FLAMES
SPIRIT ADRIFT APR 24 EDINBURGH Liquid Room Your second album, The Death Of Me, is out soon. How did
APR 25 DUBLIN Academy APR 26 LIVERPOOL O2 Academy 2 things work the second time around?
APR 26 BELFAST Limelight 2 APR 27 SHEFFIELD Leadmill “It was quite stressful because we realised we hadn’t left
APR 28 GLASGOW Garage APR 29 BRISTOL Thekla ourselves much time to work; we kept accepting tours for
APR 29 MANCHESTER Academy2 APR 30 WOLVERHAMPTON Steel Mill 2019 and the year was stacking up. Looking back, we could
MAY 1 STOKE Sugarmill have held off a bit longer to give ourselves less stress, but
DESERTFEST MAY 2 LONDON ULU things happen for a reason and it’s the best material we’ve
MASTERS OF REALITY, CORROSION MAY 3 BRIGHTON Concorde 2 ever created. Next time we definitely won’t book that many
OF CONFORMITY, ORANGE GOBLIN, MAY 5 SOUTHAMPTON Engine Rooms tours while trying to write – that was hell!”
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