Carrying on the Slam Dunk Interviews Noise Addiction’s Emma Bowdidge spoke with lead vocalist Tim Lawrence from upcoming rock band Hildamay about the Slam Dunk Festival weekend, their recent tour with Set Your Goals/Make Do And Mend and an insight in to their upcoming debut album.

You opened up the Vans Of The Wall stage today – How’d it go out there?

It was really good yeah. We played yesterday at the Leeds Slam Dunk as well, opened up the Vans stage there as well and it was quality, but I think today was better. We were kind of surprised at the number of people that came to check us out, it’s really nice walking on and there were people there singing songs and singing back at us. It was really good and an honour to be apart of it and on the Vans stage as well.

How’d the crowd differ from your northern crowd yesterday?

There was more kind of movement and stuff yesterday. We’re not really a mosh pit kind of band but yesterday we managed to somehow get a moshpit which is really cool. I think we had more people singing along today so that was nice. I personally would rather see people singing along than pushing each other about.

You know they’re taking you in a bit more then heh.

Yeah that’s it and they’re appreciating the lyrics and the musical side of it rather than the actual show side kind of thing which is cool. Yeah, I think today was better!

Now you’ve played your set what’s the plans for the rest of the day?

Stay out of the sun! We’ve been on tour for the last week and it has been brutally hot and we’ve been really lucky, we’ve been on tour on the coastal towns so we’ve been down on beaches just catching rays. Today we had a bit of a nightmare with the van and so we’re all a bit stressed out so the heat is not going to be good for us today. So I think I’ll stay in the shade and eventually go check out all the bands that I didn’t get to see yesterday. We’re really glad we got asked to do both because it meant that we can see bands we didn’t catch yesterday. I’ll probably go and watch Taking Back Sunday again as they were awesome last night.

What bands are you most looking forward to checking out today?

I spent most of yesterday with a band called Canterbury and I’m hoping to go and catch them today because they’re really good dudes and I missed them yesterday so yeah hoping to see them. Obviously our friends in Deaf Havana, Lower Than Atlantis, Cancer Bats – There’s just so many good bands.

How’d your recent tour with Set Your Goals, Make Do And Mend and Spycatcher go?

It’s been a really good week. The tours we’ve done before we’ve headlined and it was more our shows where as these are obviously Set Your Goals/Make Do And Mend shows. We were the first band on so we really had to go out there and give it everything to win over people who had potentially never heard of us before, never seen us before. It’s been amazing – Made some new friends on the road which is really cool, not only the bands but the fans/guys at the shows as well. It’s been really good and we’re going to be sad to say goodbye to those guys. Make Do And Mend are friends of ours so it’s been amazing to spend the week with them to be honest and Set Your Goals are really cool guys as well. It’s nice that we all get on!

You seem to be constantly on the road – What’s the perks to touring so much?

Haha, are there perks?! I don’t know if there is perks. The perks are that we get to be away from home – We’d rather be on the road than not on the road so we definitely see ourselves as a touring band. We have done a lot of shows already this year and we have kind of played a lot of different places. The perks are meeting new people in different towns I think. It’s probably the best thing about being on tour and then you go back to a town a few months later and then you see places you were a few months ago, it’s really nice to meet new friends and meet new people at every show and, hopefully, they’ll come back!

And the disadvantages to it?

Six lads living in a smelly van is probably the biggest disadvantage. We just got a new van which broke today, we nearly didn’t get here on time which was a nightmare. We got stuck in Northampton. It can be a little bit stressful when you’re kinda on top of each other but we’d rather do that than not. It can be a little bit sweaty and a little bit horrible – I think that’s probably the disadvantages having to sleep next to our drummers smelly feet. That’s probably the worst thing for me personally.

You have a debut album in the pipeline – What can we expect from it and when will it be hitting the shelves?

We’re not 100% sure on the release date, it’s going to be sometime around this year. We’ve taken what we done on the EP and we’re very much interested in capsulating lots of different genres and musical styles. So we’ve taken what we did on the EP and kind of added to it. I think, again, from just being on the road and stuff like that we’ve honed our sound and found new things to put in there. We’re going in to the studio to record it soon – I’m really excited about it because there’s new songs we just want to get out and play. With the run up to the album coming out we can go out and start playing those songs in the set which is exciting because we’ve been touring the EP now for just under a year so we’ve kind of been playing the same sets, I mean we vary it a bit here and there but I’m really excited about getting some new songs in the set.

What other festivals will Hildamay be appearing at this summer?

We’ve just been confirmed for Boardmasters down in Nequay which is going to be amazing. It’s a really cool festival for us because it’s such a wide range of music. Some of my favourite artists are playing over the weekend so I’m really looking forward to that. We’re playing at Redfest in Surrey which is a couple of weeks, we’re doing Crash Doubt in Lincoln which is kind of a little bit heavier than this. Lots of hardcore/metal bands, but again really looking forward to that because there’s lots of bands we’ve met on the road we get to go and watch. They’re the main ones Redfest, Boardmasters and Crash Doubt. We’re just kind of in album mode so we’re just doing little bits here and there when we can fit them in around recording.

And lastly what tips can you give to festival goers?

Check the weather and make sure you’ve got suncream! Drink lots of water, make sure you’re hydrated. Just go down and make sure you go and watch the bands. There’s a lot of people who seem to go to festivals and just kind of sit around the back, sitting out in the sun and don’t go and watch bands. A thing like this, it’s an opportunity to see so many good bands that you might have never heard of and you got to go check them out because you might find your new favourite band. That’d be my tip – Go and check out as many bands as you possibly can!

Hildamay hit the Crash Doubt festival in Lincoln this weekend if you’re heading that way make sure to check them out. In the mean time for all tour dates and album news please visit their FACEBOOK.