Meet Kevin (Kev), Mat and Stuart, three fellas from Nottingham who together make BlitZ, and by the looks of it they’re taking on the City’s music scene one venue and recording studio at a time. Now they may have humble beginnings but these guys knew their way around guitars and drums, enough to make their own noise. Having formed back in 2015 they have seen Nottingham become a hotpot for emerging musicians who’ve gradually gone on to dominate the UK music scene. Here’s how they got their name (interesting story), who they listened to during their years and their journey so far…
So you’ve been going since 2015, that’s getting close to a decade, how did you guys all meet?
It all began when Kev, our guitarist, worked at a Nottingham rehearsal studio and I would go down there to rehearse, we got talking about wanting to do something more like the kind of bands that made us want to pick up an instrument in the first place, bands like Queen, Kiss, Van Halen, Cheap Trick, AC/DC, amongst others. Kev had a really cool Ace Freahley tattoo on his arm the picture from Aces first solo album that sparked the conversation, we were both in bands at the time but began writing together and demoing songs. We had Guitars , bass and vocals. We just needed drums that’s when Mat Davis walked through the door, in my day job i knew Mat as a one to one worker for vulnerable adults ( we both work in the care sector) he had a reputation locally for being an awesome drummer i gave him the demo of the songs we were writing and Mat put his own spin on them, he’s also an awesome backing harmony singer, we weren’t quite sure that he would get what we were trying to do as Mats from a thrash hard core metal background but we fitted together perfectly, the rest is Blitztory.
Now it’s fair to say that Nottingham has seen numerous artists emerging over the past few years eg Sleaford Mods, Evil Scarecrow, Indian and Jake Bugg to name a few. Are you proud to be part of the region’s scene?
Of course, we spent our younger days seeing bands at Rock City and of course attending the legendary Rock City nights there and immersing ourselves in the scene. When Kev worked at the rehearsal studio Jake Bugg used to rehearse there he would come down with his dad’s true story.
I’ve also seen numerous shows at various venues e.g., Rock City, The Bodega, The Contemporary, Rescue Rooms and The Pit and Pendulum. Does it give a sense of pride knowing that these venues have witnessed some amazing shows?
There are some incredible venues in Nottingham and we need them more than ever now, venues are closing and bands are finding it hard to get exposure, we all have to show up and support the scene if we want it to continue and thrive so there can be amazing shows and cool places for bands to play.
BlitZ, an interesting name for a band, how did it come about?
We get asked that a lot, when we talked about the music that made us pick up instruments i mentioned being a real kid and hearing Slade and Sweet on the radio, the first single my brother would play over and over again was Ballroom Blitz by Sweet we just knocked off the Ballroom and became Blitz, nothing political or deep just looked great on a logo.
Growing up what music were you checking out?
All three of us have very diverse tastes and influences, Queen, Metallica, Kiss, Prince, Bowie, Megadeth, Pantera, Alice Cooper, Abba, Nirvana, Billy Idol, Van Halen, good music is good music, a good song a good song supposes it’s all personal and subjective.
And what music inspires the band and how much of it is from Nottingham?
Our big three would be Queen for their arrangements and musicianship and of course Freddies showmanship, Metallica for their hard-edged innervation of the thrash genre, Kiss for a pure Vaudevillian show.
Andy Sneap and his many projects inspire all Nottingham bands and musicians through his own work in music production and his work with Judas Priest he’s certainly put Nottingham on the map.
Now Nottingham has played host to well-known music events such as Hockley Hustle and MacMillan Fest, have you ever appeared at these?
No unfortunately not but we’d love to bring a Blitz show and help make a difference for these great charities.
And have you also attended them as a gig-goer?
No unfortunately, but we have performed as a headliner for the suicide awareness festival SavFest and the Mosh for Rossi Cancer Trust, also Dementia awareness Fest all awesome events spreading positivity and much needed awareness and fund raising, always count Blitz onboard.
It’s 2023 and you are releasing your 3rd studio album, Kicking up a Storm, can you tell us more about it and what we can expect from it
Our new album, KICKING UP A STORM, is a real labour of love. We’ve worked really hard on arrangements, production and putting together an album that is a true representation of who we are and where we are musically right now.
You can expect big production courtesy of Mat Ellis of Axis Studios fame known for his work with Massive Wagons, Black Spiders amongst others.
Fresh and modern sounding, there’s a song on the new album called Shell Shocked that has the mother of all snare drum sounds Mr Ellis is still trying to recreate. It’s so good.
The album contains massive Blitz anthems with a few extra colours on the canvas, you can also expect our signature artwork by our resident artist Dave Hurst inside the albums 12-page booklet and a sumptuous photo cover by award winning photographer Heather Burns.
We still do hard copies due to the demand; people seem to love to lose themselves in the visuals, lyrics etc.
And with your previous album, Take no Prisoners, from 2022 was a live album. Would you say that there was more of an energetic buzz seeing as it was live as compared to a studio version?
Take No Prisoners is a very special album for us as most of it was recorded at Nottingham’s Alberts venue, sadly Alberts no longer exists so to hear the crowd singing along partying with us is awesome, the buzz was immense that night.
Quite a number of artists release music via their own labels, as you in your earlier days, did you see this as more challenging as you’d have had to do more than usual?
Of course, there are different challenges realising via your own label distribution, shipping to other countries, sending out to review timing your release so the promotion and media coincide, greenlighting your own artwork, photography, proofreading set out and layout for hard copy C/D checking everything is of the correct spec for printing.
But we are very lucky we have a really good network of people around us who just want us to do well, Kev our guitarist is the main driving force when it comes to logistics and planning Gene Simmons has nothing on him lol, he’s awesome, our drummer Mat does all the C/D layout we have our own resident artist Dave Hurst and Heather Burns does all our photography we are truly blessed and thankful.
Within the past few years, you’ve gained a big following, especially in Europe. What’s the European music scene like there as compared to the British one?
Europe can be very Rock friendly and there are some awesomely talented bands doing great stuff out there, our first album WELCOME TO THE ROCK SHOW was released through a European label and we learned a lot from the whole process, the UK music scene is a lot more fragmented and it’s virtually impossible to get onto main stream FM radio unless you’re on a big label and that rarely happens nowadays.
You have to be bull headed and stick to your guns and most importantly love what you do, it’s all about the journey don’t forget to enjoy the ride.
As we’re progressing slowly towards the end of 2023, and with 2024 not far away, what can we expect from you?
You can expect a big production video from Jay Hillyer, the same guy who has filmed videos for Black Star Riders, Wayward Sons, the song is called Freddie Said and is a loving homage to all things Queen and Freddie. We filmed it at Nottingham’s Boddington Theatre, the song is on the new album.
You can also expect lots of live shows playing at the HRH Festival with Ywingie Malmsteen, Quiet Riot, Jizzy Pearl this November.
As always with Blitz you can expect an awesome live show with powerful melodic monsters of songs and three guys giving their all, to quote something that is said at the beginning of every Blitz show “ We’re Blitz so you don’t have to be”.
Lastly, where can fans catch your music?
https://www.facebook.com/blitzrockbanduk
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