Another impressive outfit from the land of the red dragon has emerged in the past year and stamped themselves upon our scene with some fine performances, 28 finally dragged the boys from the pits and held them down long enough to gain access to the new boys on the B&H block!
Some people are under the impression that Blackout are a new band but they have been around for many years. Could you give us some background information?
Blackout was formed in the early 90's by Andrew Stinko Lewis. Original members were Stinko, Miffy, Acky and Roger on vocals. Blackout gigged with such bands as Violent Storm, No Remorse, Squadron, Skullhead and also Celtic Dawn from Ireland. After the untimely deaths of Violent Storm, Stinko folded Blackout and along with Miffy, Billy and Clarkey went on to form Celtic Warrior.
Originally there were problems finding a line up, What's the current line up and was it hard to gain interest to get the band back up and running?
Blackout reformed again in the late 90's, members then were Stinko, Freeman on drums and Brad on guitar. We recorded two tracks for The Voice of Britain Volume 1 Cd, which were very well received. Unfortunately, due to Stinko's untimely passing Blackout were once again put on hold. Freeman and Brad made a promise to Stinko they would carry on the Band in his honour and one day record the unfinished songs that Stinko had written. It was pretty easy to gain interest in reforming the band due to the strong tracks on the Voice of Britain Volume 1 Cd and therefore Blackout resurfaced again in 2005 with its current line up, Brad on vocals, Freeman on drums, Eggy on lead guitar, Steve on bass guitar and Mart on rhythm guitar.
Many of the members have played in other groups in the movement including Celtic Warrior and Brutal Attack how does Blackout compare and what does it mean to you?
Despite band members having played in some well-known Blood & Honour Bands Blackout is quite unique in its approach to the current scene having quite a diverse range of material. Blackout is very dear to our hearts and in many cases personal to us due to our close friendship with Andrew Stinko Lewis, who we miss greatly, who has always and will always be our inspiration!
Blackout seem to have built a good following in a very short time and response has been very positive, what are your thoughts on this and did you expect it ?
Firsly of all we would like to say we appreciate the support we have had so far very much. We seem to have built up a strong following in a short space of time, which was completely unexpected. The Blood & Honour Scene in Britain is very strong and positive at the moment and we seem to have slotted in nicely.
Which gig has been the highlight for you so far?
Without a doubt, Stinko Memorial 2006. We felt we played a really tight set and the overwhelming support really spurred us on at such an emotional time.
When will the debut cd be out?
Blackout are entering the studio early December. We hope to release a Cd early 2007 on Rampage Records. We would like to thank Rampage for having faith in us and offering to put our Cd out.
There`s talk of a Blackout ballads set/cd is there any truth to this?
We do have some ballad material which we hope to release in the future but as yet there are no plans to do Blackout ballads live.
You've had lots of offers to play abroad but your drummers a girl can you see it happening?
Yes, we feel honoured to have been offered so many gigs in Europe. Unfortunately, we have had to turn them all down due to some band members not having passports but now due to the demand from European organisers, passports are now being applied for and hopefully we will play some parts of Europe next year so anyone who has asked us in the past... feel free to ask again in 2007. Cheers.
Final thoughts.....
Many thanks to Blood & Honour for asking us to do this interview. We know the scene will go from strength to strength and we hope to play a major part in its continued success.
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