Next month (7-10th August), the Teenage Cancer Trust returns to Bloodstock for their fourth consecutive year. And once again they'll be running their T-Shirt Amnesty so you lot can donate your unwanted rock and metal tees – or even pick up a bargain at their market stall. They'll also be holding a daily raffle to give away a Gibson Les Paul Classic guitar signed by Velvet Revolver, an exclusive Phil Lynott print, loads of Kiss goodies.
How does it feel for the Teenage Cancer Trust to be the chosen charity for Bloodstock once again?
This is our fourth consecutive year at Bloodstock and their continued support is absolutely amazing. The Bloodstock family and community have really embraced us as a charity and the work that we do to support teenagers and young adults with cancer throughout the UK. It really means a lot to us.
How has the reception been to the T-shirt Amnesty over the years?
Excellent. Everybody knows to come to us to pick up a bargain! We’re fortunate to have some amazing merchandise companies support us and it really helps us out around T-shirt Amnesty season. It’s probably the initiative that raises the most money for us at BOA.
What are the stand-out T-shirts that you can remember? Any particularly graphic or gory?
We’ve not had anything too graphic or gory – those that we have had tend to be your everyday Cradle of Filth shirt so it’s not too shocking. We always have fun with the death metal T-shirts where you spend 15 minutes trying to decipher what they actually say.
Are metallers a charitable bunch?
Yes, definitely – we always raise the most money at Bloodstock. They’re not only the most charitable but also the most friendly; everyone is really keen to come and say hello and support the charity.
Do you get much chance to enjoy the festival? Maybe jump in the mosh pit?
Unfortunately not! Last year I managed to see a little bit of Fozzy and a couple of years ago we packed away before Alice Cooper went on, but it’s always so manic that we don’t get much chance to watch the bands. Hopefully that might change a bit this year… we have a record number of volunteers!
You have a lot of cool prizes to give away from Kiss and Velvet Revolver, how did they get involved?
Gene Simmons has supported us for a while – he’s a friend of our patron Roger Daltrey. A few years ago he spent some time with a few of our young people and the cause really resonated with him. Since then he’s got the rest of the band involved by arranging things like meet and greets and auction prizes to help us raise money. Velvet Revolver donated the signed Les Paul to us on their final UK tour a few years back – Bloodstock seems like the perfect opportunity to raffle it off!
Do you think you can smash last year’s record?
Fingers crossed! It’s gone up each year but we’re also very aware that people have less money to donate. We have some incredible brand new T-shirts this year which we hope will help give the overall total a boost and we think the auction prizes are really cool so we just have to assume everyone else thinks they are too.
If you’re going to Bloodstock, keep an eye out for the Teenage Cancer Trust bucket collectors. You can also donate by texting FESTIVAL to 70300, which donates £3 to Teenage Cancer Trust. Texts cost £3 plus your standard message rate.
For tickets and info on Bloodstock head over here.
