We caught up with Julian of Heriot at Slam Dunk Festival, who is currently touring the world in the name of heavy metal! He may have also teased a new album.
RAMzine: This is Lamestream Lydia here for RAMzine, we’re here with Julian from Heriot. How’s it going Julian?
Julian: I’m very well thank you, how are you?
RAMzine: I’m doing good. You guys came on pretty early today. It’s a pretty rude awakening, I’d say you’re one of the heaviest bands playing today.
Julian: Yeah, we had about four hours sleep last night coming from Birmingham after Hatfield to be here so we’re very tired but it’s all fun and games. We probably are the heaviest band on the bill and I don’t think anyone wants to listen to music that heavy that early in the morning but the tent was packed so that was great.
RAMzine: You’ve got to contend with that and that this is a pop punk centred festival and some of the music over on the Knotfest stage is terrifying. How are you getting on with that?
Julian: Yeah, it’s great. I didn’t get to watch too many bands yesterday so I’m gonna spend a lot of time seeing things. I think I’m gonna see Malevolence later on when they headline the Knotfest stage. We had a lot of friends down at South yesterday so there was a lot of mingling and stuff like that. I’m excited to actually see some music today.
RAMzine: You got the musician part out of the way and now you’re a music fan. I’d imagine that’s been difficult to do over the past few weeks because you guys have been touring non stop. I saw you guys last year with Zeal and Ardor. That was my first experience with you guys and like a lot of people I was like “what do I do with this horrible cacophonous beautiful noise”?
Julian: Yeah, we’ve been quite lucky with support tours we’ve done, we’re very heavy compared to Zeal and Ardor. We did the Boston Manor tour as well. We kind of like the challenge of opening for anyone who’ll have us but we play for a lot of audiences who wouldn’t normally listen to music that heavy I guess.
RAMzine: That’s the best part of being attached to these tours and this festival. People are saying “I don’t know what any of this is but let’s check it” and hopefully you’ll walk away from this festival with new fans.
Julian: We’re really happy with it because on paper, we really shouldn’t be playing Slam Dunk because it’s mostly a pop punk festival. When we got the offer we were surprised and happy but it’s gone really well, it’s gone better than we could have expected.
RAMzine: We’re very happy for you guys and your success, you absolutely deserve it especially considering how briefly you’ve been together. It’s been a while since I’ve seen a band blow up in such a small amount of time. How are you guys handling that?
Julian: Not gonna lie, it’s a lot of hard work but we put the hours in – but we haven’t had the chance to stop, take a step back and think about what we’ve done because we’ve been so busy. But it doesn’t look like we’re slowing down anytime soon which is great. We’re very lucky.
RAMzine: You’ve got to worry about that fabled follow up.
Julian: Yeah, we’re always working on new music but it’s just finding the time to get it done. We’re all pushed to our limits with what we can do but this is where we wanna be so we’re very grateful.
RAMzine: Absolutely and hopefully you guys take a well deserved break. I’ve been here for two days and I’m about to die. I can’t imagine what several tours across the UK would be like. Is it just the UK you’ve been playing?
Julian: Yeah, we did a headline tour about two weeks ago. It was our first headline tour in the UK. Then we went around Europe with Rolo Tomassi in February and straight after this we’ve got a week off and then we’re back in Europe for about twenty days doing festivals around the European circuit – and then we’re back here again for some UK festivals and then hopefully we’re gonna start working on an album.
RAMzine: It just doesn’t stop.
Julain: (Laughs) yeah.
RAMzine: You guys were one of our upcoming big picks to watch for the future and based on your set, I don’t think I’m even remotely wrong, it was incredible. Even if the turnout wasn’t what you’d want.
Julian: No, we were happy. It’s a big tent to fill (laughs). Like I said, I wouldn’t want to listen to a band as heavy as us at that time in the morning so thanks to those who did.
RAMzine: We’re gonna cut it here so we can all go see some music but this has been Lamestream Lydia and this has been…
Julian: Julian. Thanks for having me man.
