Ellie and Alan caught up with Arceye back stage at Bloodstock to talk about being unsigned, playing Bloodstock and much more.

First off could you please introduce yourself
Hey I'm Al from Arceye.
I'm Dave from Arceye the guitarist.
l'm Lee from Arceye.
And I'm Craig from Arceye.

How did Arceye begin their journey?
(Al) Well probably about 2004 me and Dave we just started to play together and started to form a band. It just started out as a bit of an arse around really, then we got some bigger shows, had a few members change and then ended up with these two unlikely bunch.

As a band who do you look up to, who are your idols?
(Al) Personaly for me and Dave I think it was the main Thrash scene like Metallica, Slayer those sort of bands.
(Dave) My influences are very wide really, I love lots of all the old heavy thrash too and I also love a lot of all the old classic rock bands such as Led Zepplin, AC/DC and so on.
(Lee) I love mostly the same things as these guys really, really like Opeth who are playing this weekend.
(Craig) I grew up listening to bands like Thin Lizzy and such who really influenced me.

Did you learn a lot from supporting bands such as Finntroll, Battlelore and Kataklysm?
(Al) Its all very like, you get in, you play the gig, you do sort of get to hang out with the bands. We supported Decapitated aswell, when your there and your in the moment its very hard to talk and learn stuff, but when you speak to the bands and stuff they are always there having a good time like ourselves.

How do you feel the show here went?
(Lee) Fucking Amazing!
I think the general rule with the unsigned bands is that, I think we only had a quarter of the tent full when we started playing by the time we got to the last couple of songs the tent was actually packed. I think luckily the way that Bloodstock have actually organised everything so that there is a clash of liking. When we played a band called Sonatica Artica played the main stage and we are quite a brutal thrash band where as they are a power metal band. I think the people who don't like what is on the main stage come to see what is happening on the other stages Since then we have had a lot of people come up to us and say how good they thought the set was.

What is your favourite song to play live?
(Craig) Mine is Time and Tide, because its a nice thrashy sort of number and its fun to play, the last section of the song we all muck together and do something interesting. So yeah I think think its one of our better songs
(Luke) I wish I could say something different but I love playing Time and Tide, I say for yesterday Slaughtered was by far the best song the crowd had all come in and it was rammed by the end.
(Al) I think for me it has to be The Divide, its the first track we always come onto, we have a huge build up to it and we are always fresh starting off.

Who have you seen so far and who else are you looking forward to watching at Bloodstock?
Yesterday we were just waiting for our set to come up but then after Meshuggah, Opeth, Onslaught and Ross the Boss.

How have the sales for your 2009 album "The Divide Between Chaos & Order gone?"
Yeah really good, we are on iTunes, Amazon mainly online places, we have been selling Cds here over the weekend after we have played. Its going really well but we are not the type of band who want to be very money hungry, I would prefer a fan to take a CD rather than sell it just to get our name about.

And how was it received by the media?
Yeah good, we have had a lot of reviews from press, we thought of ourselves just as a thrash metal band, we are having a lot of different views coming back to us. For instance we are very aggressive almost like Opeth, a lot of people have said we pull from our influences and make our own sound rather than being a duplicate of our favourite band.

Did you find it difficult getting the support and money to put an album out there?
Yeah with being unsigned that was sort of an issue but people back in the day needed a record label to release a record, noways people can get hold of the material and get hold of the money to actually get yourselves in the studio. Any unsigned band should just push themselves as far as they can like that until a record label can pick them up and say they can put them worldwide

What do you guys have planned for after Bloodstock?
We are supporting Beholder in a show next month, we have had the whole set filmed here at Bloodstock we are going to release that too. Festival season is nearly over now so we are going to try and get on some tours ready for the winter touring season.
(Al) I would be a zebra
(Dave) I would be a giraffe
(Al) Why?
(Dave) Because at festivals I can see the bands then
(Al) But no nobody lets fucking giraffes into festivals.
(Dave) Can get on all the rides too as you have to be above a certain height.
(Al) You would break your neck, I think zebra better they have a snazzier jacket.
(Luke) I kind of like zebras as they are like horses
(Craig) I'm going to have to say a zebra

Thanks for your time would you like to give a message to the people reading this?
Drink some beer.

Interview By Ellie Pockley