Woodstock has been a great friend to me and Whatever68/PP Promo he does the art for our Making A Scene Compilations He is also great support for the music scene in the reviews he does to the shows him and his band book bringing locals together he is an inspiration to me and a great support for the music scene worldwide. Check out his band Born To Destruct
Punk Globe: Hello and thanks for chatting with us again can you give us a little history of yourself and the band?
Woodstock: Hi Punk Globe thanks for asking me to do this, Born to Destruct started in 2007, I had played in bands since my early teens until early 90s when I stopped to raise my daughter and concentrated on promoting bands, whilst doing this a chat with an old friend led to forming the band, originally just to do a couple of gigs haha, the current and strongest line up by far I feel is Priest on drums, very talented drummer coming from Black metal bands in Moscow, fueled by sambucca, now been with the band nearly 4 years, Dr dirt on Bass, in the band from the start, originally on drums for the first few months then switching to bass after the first album(First steps to Destruction) then we have Tap on guitar and vocals, my partner in crime, chaos and fun, he has been in the band 7 years and allows me to be who I want to be, shares the front with me, we complement each other perfectly, and share a lot of the same loves, always pushing me further haha, fueled by glitter and Alfred Lambs spiced Rum (some say it’s a Bromance, I do regard him as my bro so in that sense they are right, but no need to be jealous all are welcome haha) lastly me, Woodstock, I started this and I never expected it to become what it has, it’s my demon child created with love and passion from Rock, Punk, Metal, Glam and a yearning to entertain, have fun ourselves and give people something to remember and enjoy, I cannot begin to thank the other 3 for joining me and allowing us to become the band we want to see, no egos, always supportive, contributing ideas, helping craft the songs and pulling me up when I am in doubt, we have never taken the easy road, never played the game or trod on anyone to achieve anything, we have done it our way, always moving forward, always throwing in curve balls and always proud of those that have supported us and still do and now having just released our 11th album which is being hailed as our best so far what a ride this continues to be, with a full measure of integrity we hold our heads high and Roar!!!!
Punk Globe: Right now we are all in a stay-home order how are you doing through this and what's keeping you busy?
Woodstock: Well I am still working as I am a key worker so my days are partly the same albeit more stressful, when not at work I am at the Punk rock Castle (home) ( which you are more than welcome to visit, anytime, once this is over of course) have started writing songs for the next album, have been trying to promote the latest 2 releases and thanks to the roarsomely supportive fans, spend some of my spare time packaging up CDs and tshirts etc to send out, with the beautiful weather also enjoying the grounds here at the castle and keeping in touch with the rest of the band, family and friends via phone, video calls etc...like everyone else, stay safe everyone, look out and help each other where you can, stay positive and don’t sink into this growing trend of hatred and vile behavior that seems to be rising...
Punk Globe: You are releasing some new music can you tell us about the making of it?
Woodstock: after doing the 9th Album God of Destruction (still a few of these left if anyone is lacking one in their collection) which came in a standard and super sized version, super sized was 24 tracks haha, I had said that the next album would be just a normal length album, I genuinely was aiming for that, but quickly I realized that not only were people eager for new material as always but also for updated versions of some of the songs that are still in the set after years of playing, so are suggested the idea we took 6 of the set favourites we still play (originally recorded 4 to 10 years ago) and recorded up to date versions of these, Tap, Priest and DR Dirt all thought this was a great idea, so we added those to the recording list, we also incorporated 2 brand new songs that on completion fitted perfectly with the 6(one of which was a part 2 to an old song called get ya wiggle on, some of you may remember that one) and Book of Destruction Rock n Roll was thus created and at the same time we recorded the 11th album Destructageddon, 13 brand new songs as always threw in some curve ball tracks and moments(a little known fact on this record there are 2 tracks that up until recording I had never sung, other than in my head when writing them and so no one, not even me had heard them completed) i have always been involved in the mixing etc , but this time much more so, with tap joining me when he could, so I feel this is the best overall sound and feel of the band we have had so far, as always still room for improvement, but this record is Roarsome haha
Punk Globe: I know you had some shows lined up for the release since that's out due to the Stay in orders across the world how did the release go?
Woodstock: haha yeah originally the 2 albums were to be released 28th March 2020 with several dates booked to promote it, including a launch party at one of our favourite venues The Rock Den, but as this got closer and the situation changed this was as you say not to be, so as soon as the Cds arrived etc I put together a package called The Positive in all this negative Kit haha, consisting of the 2 cds, the brand New Shield shirt and some stickers and mini artworks and put out for the bargain price of £15, to be honest I wasn’t really expecting many sales as with everything going on people have far more serious things to consider, but I was wrong I found that people were desperate for an escape from what was going on, a brief moment of how it used to be and so sales of the kit and the cds individually as well have been very good, which pleases me both because I want people to hear this as we are very proud of it and I love the fact people might get a moment of escape from the current situation(still available now although some sizes of shirt are running low and a couple sold out)
Punk Globe: BTD has been around for a while how many members are original and what keeps you going?
Woodstock: There have only been 9 members in total in BTD over the 13+ years and 2 are still in the band, Kat the original vocalist gets up on stage with us whenever she is at a gig which is always good fun, we had planned something a little special with her for the album launch but this will have to keep till we are back on the road..as for what keeps me going, I love this and what we do and I still get immense pleasure out of all the aspects from taking the skeleton of songs to practice and then the 4 of us moulding them into the finished songs, the recording process is just an extension that to which I also love, gigs are adventures as well as the journeys are always fun, the people we meet the bands we play with are all in the main amazing, obviously the odd things aren’t but they get the time and attention they deserve as Tap always tells me, which is F**K all..
Punk Globe: I saw you have a new shirt design can you tell us about it?
Woodstock: yes always new tshirts haha, as you know I always used to design all the artwork and although I still do some, I have met and become very good friends with the most amazing artist/musician Kev ‘Destruct’ McHugh a genuinely wonderful human being, I cannot put into words what a roarsome guy he is, but we hit it off from the first moment and now, when it comes to artwork he is THE MAN!! I have always wanted to be at the center of everything BTD, not in a me,me,me, its all about me way but because I truly do love, live and breathe this band, so when I find people that even though they are not in the band, they have that same passion and so I regard them as being in the band, well as I said to Kev after the first piece of artwork he did, “you know you are gonna be doing a lot more artwork for BTD” his reply “can’t wait” haha, so after the mammoth task of 2 lots of CD artwork this time (which he had to try and fit in his crazily full workload anyway) which as always consisted of a list of ideas from me of possible elements to the projects, not only did he as usual seem to take everything I suggested on board and incorporate the key elements, but also house them within a design that was so far beyond what I had visualize, it left me almost speechless haha, almost, he told me the foldout centre page spread inside the destructageddon cover took 2 days!!! Wow, how is that for dedication to the art, but on top of this he also took some ideas I had for a possible tshirt design and created 5 designs haha the first of which is The Shield shirt, I had said that If possible would like a sugar skull to tie in with some jewellery we have on the merch and so he took that and created a sugarskull design of our mascot the schnugg and to tie in with the destructageddon cover schnugg put it on a shield and as they say the rest is Roarsome, the shirts are going quick and with Kevs 4 colour design having been printed perfectly by the roarsome Inkclan Nation its no surprise, plus of course anyone in one seems to look twice as gorgeous as normal...it’s a fact haha
Punk Globe: Tell us a memorable band moment?
Woodstock: Been so many over the years, we have been very lucky, but here are a couple, getting so many people on stage to do Louder than you with us, that Tap and I had to conduct it from off the stage haha, whenever I see someone in a BTD shirt that I don’t know, having so many people dancing that the stage was bouncing, having Gene simmons and Paul Stanley(well they looked like them) watching our set and joining in on Louder than you, stage invasion at the Vic, air guitar crew at the Rcok Den, looking out on the Crowd at Nice n sleazy festival dancing, singing and waving the inflatable toys etc we had thrown out, watching trex crowd surf at many gigs and the list goes on.......so many roarsome moments
Punk Globe: During this time of social distancing how is the band is staying connected any online practises?
Woodstock: Haha we are too loud for online practicing, we are keeping in touch as everyone is through the wonders of modern tech and waiting with baited breath for when we can start the destruction rock n roll machine up again....
Punk Globe: How is your music scene handling the current world situation?
Woodstock: I think everyone is doing what they can to get through this and those that are not getting involved in the blame and hate spreading are doing whatever they can to keep us all going, i have watched some great online at home up close and personal performances by a variety of people, not even this virus can quieten the rock n roll
Punk Globe: Without the band where would you be?
Woodstock: I wouldn’t be
Punk Globe: Any other interests or hobbies besides music of course?
Woodstock: Quiet a few, Tap and I have recently (although obviously on hold at the minute) started up The Buffet boys(https://www.facebook.com/buffetboysuk )which is where we go round Chinese buffets and eat in and review them haha, Love walking in the countryside, movies etc, hanging out with family and friends, cooking for other people, entertaining, just getting into video editing and the list goes on
Punk Globe: Where can the readers find your music?
Woodstock: we have the following
https://www.facebook.com/borntodestruct
https://www.reverbnation.com/borntodestruct and all our albums including special editions etc are thanks to the Awesome Distrokid available on all the streaming sites including spotify, itunes, amazon music, you tube, instagram, deezer, tidal and over 150 others, the full history can be listened to and you can see how we have progressed and moved ever forward, the new albums will be up there in the coming months
Plus we have CDs and other merch available
Punk Globe: Any shout-outs?
Woodstock: Right there is a massive list so i will just name a few here to save the readers getting bored, firstly Tap, Priest and Dr Dirt without whom I couldn’t do this anyway, to wives, partners etc for their support and understanding over this couple of months hobby that is now in its 14th year, Kev McHugh for artwork and friendship, Loderunner Studios for putting up with us recording in there studio for quite a few years now, Lock up rehearsal rooms for saving us a fortune by being the cheapest and most reliable rehearsal rooms that we have used now for 12+ years, Hendy and inkclan nation for tshirt printing in recent years but also to Phil formally at awesome printing for doing that job before Hendy, vp online for reproducing our cds and artwork quickly and very reasonably priced as always, Fox Logan my good friend, guitar tech, teacher, technical advisor and guest guitarist on M.A.F, people like Andy rogers, Mary, Beryl always there to help if they can, others like Babs and sam (BTD tag teamchamps) the Rowdy sisters, plus Fungalpunk, Louise, Jeff and others that have taken the time out of there busy lives to review our Music, Stu, Julie, sausage, Tiger, kev, pete, Nigel, Andy, Eileen, Adam, Clare, Lisa, Deano, Su, Gaye the list is sooo long, so I will just say every other person who has shown us Love, support and taken the time to be part of this with us, even Fraser who is secretly a fan, must also mention Adrian who once even sold the BTD shirt off his back, because someone really wanted it and we didn’t have any left haha, all the venues, promoters and sound men/women, festivals like Hard drive and Nice n sleazy, all the bands that we have shared stages, equipment and drinks with and anyone else that has/is and will be part of this journey, sorry that was supposed to be short.
Punk Globe: Thanks for the interview, your friendship and continued support and thanks to all the readers
Woodstock: I know it’s something people hear all the time But honestly with hand on heart I cannot thank people enough for the love and support they have shown us and continue to do, it is truly humbling and still blows me away, when someone goes out of their way to give you an honest opinion, do a review, have a chat, buy a cd, wear a shirt, come to a gig, dance, sing along, get on stage with us, ask us to do an interview, play our music and genuinely show interest and love, it really means a lot, we have always been honest, reliable and committed from day 1 and we have always been and continue to be there for anyone we can, the wonderful, misfits, mongrels and those fighting the dark, we get the same and more back, thanks everyone, makes us smile xx
