Bloodstock 2025 Band Feature: Waterlines

It’s the most wonderful time of the year! It’s Bloodstock time and 2025 is looking to be one of the best events the festival has ever put on, if we’re judging it by bands… which we are, of course.

Taking place at Catton Park, Derbyshire from August 7th to August 10th, Bloodstock Festival 2025 has not only sold out all its weekend tickets, but it also sold out day tickets for the Saturday and the Sunday and it seems likely that Friday will follow suit before the festival actually starts. Boasting a lineup that includes the likes of Emperor, Lacuna Coil, Ministry, Mastodon, Fear Factory, Static-X, Nailbomb, Kataklysm, Obituary, and headliners, Trivium, Machine Head, Gojira, and so much more spread across four stages, it’s going to be one hell of a weekend.

Waterlines

They’re back!

Self-styled ‘Northern dirtbags’, Waterlines make their much-anticipated return to Bloodstock following their lauded live performance on the EMP stage (then called the Jägermeister stage) in 2023. A performance that was so good, it ended up in our top 20 live performances of that year.

A show I summed up as being:

Star-making stuff and there is no way the Bloodstock organisers couldn’t have noticed what they did on this stage. Waterlines made an impact and left a big impression, one of the best shows of the entire weekend.

It seems as though as I right, as they’re back and on the Sophie Lancaster stage! Bully for Waterlines! It’s deserved though as they have just gone from strength to strength since their formation in 2022, rising from the ashes of a previous incarnation (doesn’t that feel like a lifetime ago?) and aiming for world domination. Not just by upping their game on stage, but by releasing banger track after banger track. All of which can be enjoyed in their nu-infused, EDM twisted metalcore style on their debut EP, ‘WDGAF Vol 1’. The sum of two years of hard graft.

It’s a beast of a record that features tracks like Prey and BRACE:

A dynamic blast of modern metal that fuses ‘core’ sounds with rap-metal energy and hits a melodic high in the chorus.

A track that will makes the heart race and begs to be pitted to.

Read our full review of the EP here.

There’s no excuse to not know who this band is at this stage, and rest assured, they’re going to bring everything they’ve got to Bloodstock this year. After all, they have to top that 2023 show somehow. We know they will, and we asked them what it means to be asked to come back and play on a bigger stage, what they learned from playing Bloodstock last time, how much of a boost playing the festival was, and what attendees can expect from their set this time around. This is what they had to say:

Well firstly, it’s absolutely massive to be asked to come back and play Sophie. It was our sole mission in 2023 to cause enough of a stir to be asked to come back (I actually think we stated it in our interview with you! Which I’m hoping you’ll ask us to do again). We fully intended to level the Jäger stage, and I think if you ask anyone who was there, we did just that. It’s hugely affirming as artists, to have the trust placed in us to perform at such a high profile time on such a high profile stage. We won’t let you down, Bloodstock.

I think the biggest lesson for me, personally was how eclectic the Bloodstock fans are in their tastes! We toyed with removing our Pretty Green Eyes cover from the setlist for days before our Jäger show, and good lord am I glad we didn’t! Look at Vengaboys at Download, or the success of Lloyd’s blood raves at Bloodstock. Metalheads are a fun loving bunch and we often don’t take ourselves too seriously when it comes to partying! Bloodstock taught me to remain unapologetically ourselves at any cost.

As far as a boost to the band is concerned, Bloodstock ‘23 was the biggest springboard we could have possibly imagined. Two years later, we still have fans coming to our shows across the UK (travelling miles and hours for the privilege) who first found us in the Jäger tent and never looked back. It’s an incredible feeling to have made that good an impression in 40 minutes. I’d argue not everyone can do that.

What to expect from Waterlines…

Well that would be telling wouldn’t it.

But I will say, a Waterlines show is not your typical metal gig. It’s about inclusivity and togetherness. We’re not gatekeepers, elitists or snobs, we want to play music that we love, gets our hearts pumping and gets the whole crowd involved. If you’re not sweating, smiling and aching, did you even Waterlines, bro?

Find out more about the band via the links below:

Website | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | YouTube