Interview: The Bloodstock Tapes – Dakesis

We catch-up with Birmingham metallers Dakesis to discuss the community of Bloodstock, live-streaming their way through the pandemic and how many rhinestones a budget can stretch to for maximum sparkles.

I’m here with Dakesis. And we’ve got with us…

Gemma: “I’m Gemma on vocals.”

Matt: “Matt, guitar.”

Adam: “I’m Adam on drums.”

Amy: “And Amy on bass and backing vocals.”

So how’d it feel for the band to be taking to the Sophie Lancaster stage at Bloodstock 2023?

Amy: “Really special.”

Gemma: “Amazing. A big step. We figured… We realised that it was like three albums, three stages. Next album, maybe the Main Stage beckons. You know? That’s how it’s worked out so far. Every album has been another step. This is the one that got us on the Sophie stage.”

How many years have you played Bloodstock as a band before?

Gemma: “As Dakesis, this is our third performance but we’ve also played with Women Of War, we have performed with Heavy Duty, which is a Fury/Dakesis kind of rock covers band that played the VIP a few times. So we’ve performed quite a lot, but as Dakesis, yeah, this is number three.

This is home. Bloodstock is home. We were coming together as friends before the band even existed. We come every year. It’s where all our friends are over in Midgard in a big campsite, and I can’t wait to go and see them. You know it’s part of the year. It’s meeting all our people.”

So what do you think it is about Bloodstock that appeals so much to fans?

Gemma: “This community, these people obviously. That’s it, at the core of it, isn’t it? I always see it as the one… I make all these friends on the road around the country and around the world, right? And this is the one place when they’re all in the same field at the same time.”

Amy: “It’s the biggest heavy metal meet-up that the UK has. I mean we’ve got Download, but that’s a slightly different kind of target audience. But Bloodstock is one of the biggest festivals for people into our kind of music and a lot of the people that come here have been coming since the very beginning. So it’s really nice to see that evolution and see all the new people come along too.”

There’s a really, really good community feel to it and it just feels like home. So your most recent album ‘Fractures’, you released that in 2020 and then you were all going to tour, and then COVID happened. So no touring – how enjoyable is it to be able to get out and actually tour again?

Gemma: “To play ‘Factures’ live is so cathartic on so many levels that I think we’re still getting such a thrill from playing those songs live because we had to keep them to ourselves for so long. And then, you know, releasing the album and not getting the chance to perform it was the most surreal and unpleasant experience. We did put on a live stream – we run a recording studio, so we were really privileged to have the facilities to be able to say, “Well, okay, we can actually put on a show for you guys at home”. And that kind of helped a little bit. But there’s nothing like getting up in front of a crowd of people and singing the songs you wrote for them, you know?”

Matt: “It’s a bit of a ritual as well, playing the album from start to finish once it’s done. So, having to sit on that for years, after you have put all this emotional effort into it, it’s kind of a big deal for us.”

Gemma: “We played the album in full on our hometown stage with all our friends and family and people who come all over. And it was so emotional. These people have been holding on to these tickets for two years, at this point, and to see them there and to be able to be able to give them the whole concept in one lump – that’s why you write a concept album or that’s why we write a concept album is to give you the whole thing. So being able to actually get around to finally perform that was really special.”

So with those intervening years where you weren’t able to perform live, did it give you a chance to take stock of your live show and then come up with some ideas that you wanted to try for future things?

Amy: “A little bit, but also we all work in the music industry and we’ve got our recording studio and for us the work shifted to keeping ourselves afloat and alive in that time. It was so hard for the music industry and we put all of that effort into trying to keep our recording studio afloat with our live streams. So, whereas a lot of other people were creative within their own music, we were literally just trying to survive and keep everything going that we’ve worked so hard for.

And it was a real struggle for us to not be able to be together as well because we all, although we live very close, the restrictions meant that we couldn’t be together physically. And it was really heartbreaking and quite depressing, you know, coming into our studio one by one, but not being able to be together and just going over and checking that nothing was on fire!”

Gemma: “I think we spent a lot of our time facilitating other people performing. So once we realised that we had the setup to do a live stream, we started inviting our friends down. So once it was legal, we’re like “mask up, come to the studio, bring a show and we’ll put it out there.” That was really empowering. But it did mean that Dakesis was on the back burner for a while because we had to pay our bills and we had to keep our friends’ heads above the water as well and we realised what an impact these live streamed events could have for people. People were going through it and to be able to then watch a Fury show in your living room… And people told me how that made them feel, so we really focused our energy on getting as much out as possible at the expense of the lockdown album we could have written.”

How well do you think your live streams of both your show that you put on, and also the ones for your friends, fans and other bands performed in terms of streams?

Gemma: “Some of them were great, some of them were really well attended. We did a donation pot; anyone could watch, but said, “Here’s a pot if you enjoyed the show” and quite a lot of money came through. People were happy to pay a gig ticket price, you know? It wasn’t mandatory, but those £5 did kind of add up.”

Matt: “It’s kind of a strange one because I know where some other live streaming things kind of cropped up here and there. However, I actually paid to watch one of them and they were very sparsely attended, but we just put the free one on with the donation link. It did a lot better than I think we anticipated, especially the Quest Fest.”

Gemma: “So we run a festival and our festival obviously got cancelled, so we did the same thing. We did a live stream, we got all the bands that were gonna play to do home recordings or like studio recordings and then just broadcast a little mini festival. It was great.”

Let’s go back to Dakesis and your shows. How would you describe your ultimate show? If you could, let’s say money no object?

Gemma: “Ohh, there would be like raising platforms. There would be pyro and fire and dancers and the biggest light show you’ve ever seen.There would be ten costume changes each. We live for the production value.”

Amy: “It’s very theatrical. And very dramatic and very emotional, like you’re going on a journey and we want to encapsulate people in that. We want them to feel everything that we felt when we were writing the music.”

Gemma: “But unfortunately, our budget doesn’t stretch that far. So you’re gonna get a couple of rhinestones and a nice little light show if you’re lucky!”

Good, that’s what we like. Lots of sparkles! So we’ve already mentioned it’s been a few years since the last album. Any new music coming up?

Gemma: “Yep. We seem to have a four year old album cycle. We’re not as far along as we would be. We do have another album in the works.”

Amy: “It’s most of the way there. It just needs, you know, a little of us getting together and working through it. But there is new music being worked on, on the horizon that is coming soon.”

And I suppose keeping with the four year cycle, we’re looking forward to it in 2024?

Gemma: “I really hope we can get it out in 2024. I like patterns and I like traditions and rituals. And the four year thing has been a bit of a long running joke, so I think we’ll push it out just to keep in the cycle. That’s the motivation we need to get it done, you know?”

So as you’ve got new music on the way if you can have a dream guest appearance, alive or dead, who would it be?

Gemma & Amy: “Russell Allan from Symphony X.”

Amy: “And Floor Jansen. And maybe also Tom England.”

Adam: “Maybe Jem Godfrey?”

Gemma: “Ohh yeah, Jem Godfrey can play keyboards for us anytime.”

Thank you so much for speaking with Devolution. It’s been an absolute pleasure – is there anything that you would like to say to your fans from Devolution?

Matt: “You are Kenough!”

Gemma: “You are Kenough! You are Kenough and we love you.”

We catch-up with Birmingham metallers Dakesis to discuss the community of Bloodstock, live-streaming their way through the pandemic and how many rhinestones a budget can stretch to for maximum sparkles.

I’m here with Dakesis. And we’ve got with us…

Gemma: “I’m Gemma on vocals.”

Matt: “Matt, guitar.”

Adam: “I’m Adam on drums.”

Amy: “And Amy on bass and backing vocals.”

So how’d it feel for the band to be taking to the Sophie Lancaster stage at Bloodstock 2023?

Amy: “Really special.”

Gemma: “Amazing. A big step. We figured… We realised that it was like three albums, three stages. Next album, maybe the Main Stage beckons. You know? That’s how it’s worked out so far. Every album has been another step. This is the one that got us on the Sophie stage.”

How many years have you played Bloodstock as a band before?

Gemma: “As Dakesis, this is our third performance but we’ve also played with Women Of War, we have performed with Heavy Duty, which is a Fury/Dakesis kind of rock covers band that played the VIP a few times. So we’ve performed quite a lot, but as Dakesis, yeah, this is number three.

This is home. Bloodstock is home. We were coming together as friends before the band even existed. We come every year. It’s where all our friends are over in Midgard in a big campsite, and I can’t wait to go and see them. You know it’s part of the year. It’s meeting all our people.”

So what do you think it is about Bloodstock that appeals so much to fans?

Gemma: “This community, these people obviously. That’s it, at the core of it, isn’t it? I always see it as the one… I make all these friends on the road around the country and around the world, right? And this is the one place when they’re all in the same field at the same time.”

Amy: “It’s the biggest heavy metal meet-up that the UK has. I mean we’ve got Download, but that’s a slightly different kind of target audience. But Bloodstock is one of the biggest festivals for people into our kind of music and a lot of the people that come here have been coming since the very beginning. So it’s really nice to see that evolution and see all the new people come along too.”

There’s a really, really good community feel to it and it just feels like home. So your most recent album ‘Fractures’, you released that in 2020 and then you were all going to tour, and then COVID happened. So no touring – how enjoyable is it to be able to get out and actually tour again?

Gemma: “To play ‘Factures’ live is so cathartic on so many levels that I think we’re still getting such a thrill from playing those songs live because we had to keep them to ourselves for so long. And then, you know, releasing the album and not getting the chance to perform it was the most surreal and unpleasant experience. We did put on a live stream – we run a recording studio, so we were really privileged to have the facilities to be able to say, “Well, okay, we can actually put on a show for you guys at home”. And that kind of helped a little bit. But there’s nothing like getting up in front of a crowd of people and singing the songs you wrote for them, you know?”

Matt: “It’s a bit of a ritual as well, playing the album from start to finish once it’s done. So, having to sit on that for years, after you have put all this emotional effort into it, it’s kind of a big deal for us.”

Gemma: “We played the album in full on our hometown stage with all our friends and family and people who come all over. And it was so emotional. These people have been holding on to these tickets for two years, at this point, and to see them there and to be able to be able to give them the whole concept in one lump – that’s why you write a concept album or that’s why we write a concept album is to give you the whole thing. So being able to actually get around to finally perform that was really special.”

So with those intervening years where you weren’t able to perform live, did it give you a chance to take stock of your live show and then come up with some ideas that you wanted to try for future things?

Amy: “A little bit, but also we all work in the music industry and we’ve got our recording studio and for us the work shifted to keeping ourselves afloat and alive in that time. It was so hard for the music industry and we put all of that effort into trying to keep our recording studio afloat with our live streams. So, whereas a lot of other people were creative within their own music, we were literally just trying to survive and keep everything going that we’ve worked so hard for.

And it was a real struggle for us to not be able to be together as well because we all, although we live very close, the restrictions meant that we couldn’t be together physically. And it was really heartbreaking and quite depressing, you know, coming into our studio one by one, but not being able to be together and just going over and checking that nothing was on fire!”

Gemma: “I think we spent a lot of our time facilitating other people performing. So once we realised that we had the setup to do a live stream, we started inviting our friends down. So once it was legal, we’re like “mask up, come to the studio, bring a show and we’ll put it out there.” That was really empowering. But it did mean that Dakesis was on the back burner for a while because we had to pay our bills and we had to keep our friends’ heads above the water as well and we realised what an impact these live streamed events could have for people. People were going through it and to be able to then watch a Fury show in your living room… And people told me how that made them feel, so we really focused our energy on getting as much out as possible at the expense of the lockdown album we could have written.”

How well do you think your live streams of both your show that you put on, and also the ones for your friends, fans and other bands performed in terms of streams?

Gemma: “Some of them were great, some of them were really well attended. We did a donation pot; anyone could watch, but said, “Here’s a pot if you enjoyed the show” and quite a lot of money came through. People were happy to pay a gig ticket price, you know? It wasn’t mandatory, but those £5 did kind of add up.”

Matt: “It’s kind of a strange one because I know where some other live streaming things kind of cropped up here and there. However, I actually paid to watch one of them and they were very sparsely attended, but we just put the free one on with the donation link. It did a lot better than I think we anticipated, especially the Quest Fest.”

Gemma: “So we run a festival and our festival obviously got cancelled, so we did the same thing. We did a live stream, we got all the bands that were gonna play to do home recordings or like studio recordings and then just broadcast a little mini festival. It was great.”

Let’s go back to Dakesis and your shows. How would you describe your ultimate show? If you could, let’s say money no object?

Gemma: “Ohh, there would be like raising platforms. There would be pyro and fire and dancers and the biggest light show you’ve ever seen.There would be ten costume changes each. We live for the production value.”

Amy: “It’s very theatrical. And very dramatic and very emotional, like you’re going on a journey and we want to encapsulate people in that. We want them to feel everything that we felt when we were writing the music.”

Gemma: “But unfortunately, our budget doesn’t stretch that far. So you’re gonna get a couple of rhinestones and a nice little light show if you’re lucky!”

Good, that’s what we like. Lots of sparkles! So we’ve already mentioned it’s been a few years since the last album. Any new music coming up?

Gemma: “Yep. We seem to have a four year old album cycle. We’re not as far along as we would be. We do have another album in the works.”

Amy: “It’s most of the way there. It just needs, you know, a little of us getting together and working through it. But there is new music being worked on, on the horizon that is coming soon.”

And I suppose keeping with the four year cycle, we’re looking forward to it in 2024?

Gemma: “I really hope we can get it out in 2024. I like patterns and I like traditions and rituals. And the four year thing has been a bit of a long running joke, so I think we’ll push it out just to keep in the cycle. That’s the motivation we need to get it done, you know?”

So as you’ve got new music on the way if you can have a dream guest appearance, alive or dead, who would it be?

Gemma & Amy: “Russell Allan from Symphony X.”

Amy: “And Floor Jansen. And maybe also Tom England.”

Adam: “Maybe Jem Godfrey?”

Gemma: “Ohh yeah, Jem Godfrey can play keyboards for us anytime.”

Thank you so much for speaking with Devolution. It’s been an absolute pleasure – is there anything that you would like to say to your fans from Devolution?

Matt: “You are Kenough!”

Gemma: “You are Kenough! You are Kenough and we love you.”

We catch-up with Birmingham metallers Dakesis to discuss the community of Bloodstock, live-streaming their way through the pandemic and how many rhinestones a budget can stretch to for maximum sparkles.

I’m here with Dakesis. And we’ve got with us…

Gemma: “I’m Gemma on vocals.”

Matt: “Matt, guitar.”

Adam: “I’m Adam on drums.”

Amy: “And Amy on bass and backing vocals.”

So how’d it feel for the band to be taking to the Sophie Lancaster stage at Bloodstock 2023?

Amy: “Really special.”

Gemma: “Amazing. A big step. We figured… We realised that it was like three albums, three stages. Next album, maybe the Main Stage beckons. You know? That’s how it’s worked out so far. Every album has been another step. This is the one that got us on the Sophie stage.”

How many years have you played Bloodstock as a band before?

Gemma: “As Dakesis, this is our third performance but we’ve also played with Women Of War, we have performed with Heavy Duty, which is a Fury/Dakesis kind of rock covers band that played the VIP a few times. So we’ve performed quite a lot, but as Dakesis, yeah, this is number three.

This is home. Bloodstock is home. We were coming together as friends before the band even existed. We come every year. It’s where all our friends are over in Midgard in a big campsite, and I can’t wait to go and see them. You know it’s part of the year. It’s meeting all our people.”

So what do you think it is about Bloodstock that appeals so much to fans?

Gemma: “This community, these people obviously. That’s it, at the core of it, isn’t it? I always see it as the one… I make all these friends on the road around the country and around the world, right? And this is the one place when they’re all in the same field at the same time.”

Amy: “It’s the biggest heavy metal meet-up that the UK has. I mean we’ve got Download, but that’s a slightly different kind of target audience. But Bloodstock is one of the biggest festivals for people into our kind of music and a lot of the people that come here have been coming since the very beginning. So it’s really nice to see that evolution and see all the new people come along too.”

There’s a really, really good community feel to it and it just feels like home. So your most recent album ‘Fractures’, you released that in 2020 and then you were all going to tour, and then COVID happened. So no touring – how enjoyable is it to be able to get out and actually tour again?

Gemma: “To play ‘Factures’ live is so cathartic on so many levels that I think we’re still getting such a thrill from playing those songs live because we had to keep them to ourselves for so long. And then, you know, releasing the album and not getting the chance to perform it was the most surreal and unpleasant experience. We did put on a live stream – we run a recording studio, so we were really privileged to have the facilities to be able to say, “Well, okay, we can actually put on a show for you guys at home”. And that kind of helped a little bit. But there’s nothing like getting up in front of a crowd of people and singing the songs you wrote for them, you know?”

Matt: “It’s a bit of a ritual as well, playing the album from start to finish once it’s done. So, having to sit on that for years, after you have put all this emotional effort into it, it’s kind of a big deal for us.”

Gemma: “We played the album in full on our hometown stage with all our friends and family and people who come all over. And it was so emotional. These people have been holding on to these tickets for two years, at this point, and to see them there and to be able to be able to give them the whole concept in one lump – that’s why you write a concept album or that’s why we write a concept album is to give you the whole thing. So being able to actually get around to finally perform that was really special.”

So with those intervening years where you weren’t able to perform live, did it give you a chance to take stock of your live show and then come up with some ideas that you wanted to try for future things?

Amy: “A little bit, but also we all work in the music industry and we’ve got our recording studio and for us the work shifted to keeping ourselves afloat and alive in that time. It was so hard for the music industry and we put all of that effort into trying to keep our recording studio afloat with our live streams. So, whereas a lot of other people were creative within their own music, we were literally just trying to survive and keep everything going that we’ve worked so hard for.

And it was a real struggle for us to not be able to be together as well because we all, although we live very close, the restrictions meant that we couldn’t be together physically. And it was really heartbreaking and quite depressing, you know, coming into our studio one by one, but not being able to be together and just going over and checking that nothing was on fire!”

Gemma: “I think we spent a lot of our time facilitating other people performing. So once we realised that we had the setup to do a live stream, we started inviting our friends down. So once it was legal, we’re like “mask up, come to the studio, bring a show and we’ll put it out there.” That was really empowering. But it did mean that Dakesis was on the back burner for a while because we had to pay our bills and we had to keep our friends’ heads above the water as well and we realised what an impact these live streamed events could have for people. People were going through it and to be able to then watch a Fury show in your living room… And people told me how that made them feel, so we really focused our energy on getting as much out as possible at the expense of the lockdown album we could have written.”

How well do you think your live streams of both your show that you put on, and also the ones for your friends, fans and other bands performed in terms of streams?

Gemma: “Some of them were great, some of them were really well attended. We did a donation pot; anyone could watch, but said, “Here’s a pot if you enjoyed the show” and quite a lot of money came through. People were happy to pay a gig ticket price, you know? It wasn’t mandatory, but those £5 did kind of add up.”

Matt: “It’s kind of a strange one because I know where some other live streaming things kind of cropped up here and there. However, I actually paid to watch one of them and they were very sparsely attended, but we just put the free one on with the donation link. It did a lot better than I think we anticipated, especially the Quest Fest.”

Gemma: “So we run a festival and our festival obviously got cancelled, so we did the same thing. We did a live stream, we got all the bands that were gonna play to do home recordings or like studio recordings and then just broadcast a little mini festival. It was great.”

Let’s go back to Dakesis and your shows. How would you describe your ultimate show? If you could, let’s say money no object?

Gemma: “Ohh, there would be like raising platforms. There would be pyro and fire and dancers and the biggest light show you’ve ever seen.There would be ten costume changes each. We live for the production value.”

Amy: “It’s very theatrical. And very dramatic and very emotional, like you’re going on a journey and we want to encapsulate people in that. We want them to feel everything that we felt when we were writing the music.”

Gemma: “But unfortunately, our budget doesn’t stretch that far. So you’re gonna get a couple of rhinestones and a nice little light show if you’re lucky!”

Good, that’s what we like. Lots of sparkles! So we’ve already mentioned it’s been a few years since the last album. Any new music coming up?

Gemma: “Yep. We seem to have a four year old album cycle. We’re not as far along as we would be. We do have another album in the works.”

Amy: “It’s most of the way there. It just needs, you know, a little of us getting together and working through it. But there is new music being worked on, on the horizon that is coming soon.”

And I suppose keeping with the four year cycle, we’re looking forward to it in 2024?

Gemma: “I really hope we can get it out in 2024. I like patterns and I like traditions and rituals. And the four year thing has been a bit of a long running joke, so I think we’ll push it out just to keep in the cycle. That’s the motivation we need to get it done, you know?”

So as you’ve got new music on the way if you can have a dream guest appearance, alive or dead, who would it be?

Gemma & Amy: “Russell Allan from Symphony X.”

Amy: “And Floor Jansen. And maybe also Tom England.”

Adam: “Maybe Jem Godfrey?”

Gemma: “Ohh yeah, Jem Godfrey can play keyboards for us anytime.”

Thank you so much for speaking with Devolution. It’s been an absolute pleasure – is there anything that you would like to say to your fans from Devolution?

Matt: “You are Kenough!”

Gemma: “You are Kenough! You are Kenough and we love you.”

Interviews by Lee Carter

Photo by Rebecca Bush