AN INTERVIEW WITH JUDAS AT AMP LIVE FEST - 12/10/2016



JUDAS - photo credit to Jack Kennedy
From left to right - James, Sam, John and Todd



This London based four-piece consisting of John Clancy (lead vocals & guitar), Todd Blackmore (guitar & backing vocals), James Phillips (bass & backing vocals) and Sam Horvath (drums) will be taking to the stage of The Rocking Chair, Sheffield on Saturday 8th October at 7pm as AMP Live Festival takes place.

 

I have now been waiting to see JUDAS for ages but haven't yet had the proper chance which makes me even more excited to see them during AMP Live Festival.



JUDAS - photo credit to Andrew Benge



How was it that you all first met?

 

John: 'Basically, I was in a band in Liverpool and that band broke up and I moved down to London and met Sam on grindr *laughter* no I met Sam on a band website king of thing and Sam went to college with these guys and then JUDAS was born.'

 

Where did the name 'JUDAS' come from?

 

Sam: 'Oooh good question.'

John: 'We've never had this question before. Sam do you wanna answer this one?'

Sam: 'Yeah right so before the gorgeous Todd joined the band we had a guitarist called Tom who also went to the same college and Tom, John and James are all names of disciples so we were gonna be called 'The Disciples' but then they were like 'Ah Sam' which is who you're looking at, right now is not the name of a disciple so they were like 'Ah we could have been called The Disciples but you ruined it, you're Judas' then we were just like 'Judas, what a boss band name that is' and that is where it came from.'

 

Do you have any pre-gig rituals? If so, what are they?

 

Sam: 'Yeah you missed it earlier.'

John: 'You missed it.'

Sam: 'We just sit in the van and put Snoop Dogg on, full volume, G's and Hustler's. We just get hyped up.'

 

How was it playing Soccer AM again and how was this received by people?

 

Sam: 'Soccer AM was immense, we had to get up at 5am to be at the soundcheck for 6:30 but we weren't even tired haha. We were chilling in the green room with Vinnie Jones, he was holding a pen and giving us all a look as if he was going to kill us all with it haha but we got talking and he was proper sound. We played at 10am, just as the show opened and it went as well as we could have hoped. We've had so much positive feedback from it, from fans, friends and family, they were all as thrilled to see us on tele as we were to be there. Haha the sky studios are unreal as well it's like going to the future. We finished the show around 12 ish then had a swift pint, and headed up to Sheffield for AMP Festival.'

 

How did you just find playing AMP Live Fest?

 

John: 'It was amazing to see all of our beautiful Sheffield fans again.'

Sam: 'There was more people than I expected actually.'

John: 'What do you mean? We sold it out.'

Sam: 'It was good. We've played with Aaron a few times but with this being the first AMP Festival it was good to be apart of it. Thank you Aaron.'

 

For those who haven't heard of many or any of the bands from the AMP Live Fest line-up, who would you recommend they listen to?

 

Sam: 'Glass Caves and SHEAFS.'

John: 'JUDAS.'

Sophie (myself - the interviewer): 'Near enough everyone has actually said Glass Caves and JUDAS.'

Sam: 'Really? Awwww'

John: 'That's cos we're the best.'

James: 'Glass Caves are actually really good, we've supported them a few times. They're good mates of ours.'

Sam: 'Yeah we're good mates with Glass Caves.'

John: 'They're our best friends.'

 

So this year you played Leeds Fest for This Feeling / Jack Rocks and you also got a mainstage slot when another band dropped out. How did you find out you were going to be playing the mainstage?

 

Sam: ‘He (John) told me and I thought he was winding me up and then I told Jay and he thought I was winding him up.’

John: ‘And it was true.’

Sam: ‘Yeah it was actually true. It was five minutes before we went onto the This Feeling / Jack Rocks tent stage.'

John: ‘A guy came backstage and went ‘where’s JUDAS’ manager’ and I was like ‘you’re looking at him’ and he said ‘a band’s dropped out from playing mainstage, do you wanna play’ and we were just like ‘whaaaat’ and we were so so psyched when we went to play our little show and then when we got off stage there were these Mercedes vans and all these roadies who got all of our shit and just sorted it all out and we just went onto the mainstage and it was all set up.'

 

How was actually playing the mainstage?

 

Sam: 'It was the best moment of my entire life.'

It looked like there was a massive crowd already there, how big actually was it?

 

Sam: 'It was huge.'

John: 'It's cos they heard we were playing so they all come, you could see them running. It was like an episode of Game of Thrones like when they're all running for a battle.'

 

Do you prefer your own shows or festival sets? Why?

 

Sam: 'Festivals.'

John: 'Festivals.'

Sam: 'For me its because you get to enjoy the festival afterwards.'

John: 'Yeah you get to enjoy yourself after, you don't have to drive home in the morning, most of the time.'

Todd: 'Silent Disco.'

Sam: 'Haha, yeah in two words, the words of Todd, Silent Disco. Oh and T-Off.'

 

What's T-Off?

 

John: 'It's a drinking game we play. It's basically just golf, you have 18 holes and say if you get like a par 5 you have to do 5 shots.'

 

Other than being in musicians in a band, what would your ideal careers be?

 

Sam: 'I'd be a sniper in the Army.'

John: 'That's dark. I don't know what I'd be.'

James: 'I'd play bass in a better band.'

John: 'I'd be a model for Playboy.'

 

 Throughout the rest of 2016 and the beginning of 2017, what can we expect from JUDAS?

 

 Sam: 'More of the same.'

John: 'But better. The best show you've ever seen in you're life times two. New music and new music videos in the new year. Might go get our hair cut too, everyone likes our hair.'

 

Why change your hair if everyone likes it?

 

John: 'Cos we've gotta be edgy. We're also currently on tour now, this is the first proper date.' 

 

You can catch the boys of JUDAS (and I highly recommend you do) on their tour at the dates below:

 

 

All music from JUDAS has currently been taken off music platforms ahead of a re-release so in the mean time you can listen to John and Sam from the band covering the Future Islands track 'Seasons' for Gigslutz sessions below:

 

 

Written by Sophie.