Spontaneous last minute decisions are always great, so to have gone to Bloodstock as a photographer for Cypher16 for the day was an even greater spontaneous experience.
Cypher16 played the second stage at Bloodstock, not bad for growing band with an ever growing fanbase, and it’s definitely something to be proud of.  Everything that the band has done has led to this point of their career.
If your day starts off with a Guinness at the bar that’s located at the back off the van, you know that’s gonna raise the bar to awesome for the rest of the day and I wasn’t wrong. Hanging out with the band and crew was an insight on to what band life was like, there’s the busy aspect of it, and also there’s the constant random moments that spew out of nowhere which is hilarious to me.  It is clear, that music is a passion for all of these guys and it shows in their music, their friendship and everything else in between.
Cypher16 were the underdogs at this festival, but that isn’t a disadvantage by all means, it just shows that there’s sense of unity and showmanship here with the audience that comes to Bloodstock, they understand that and it is a refreshing to know that as it just gets tiring with all the negative bullshit.
Highlights of the the show in general was Jerry the drummer in a horse mask (even though he didn’t play with it through out the show), the charisma from each and every member, if you’ve been to any Cypher16 shows, you know that Carl whips out a bunch of epic faces as he plays the bass.  Songs such as Scientist and Giant walls got the crowd going, grabbing their attention and it was moments like that, you know for certain they grabbed a handful of potential fans.
Afterwards , Jack and I had a conversation on the elitism that happens in Metal, it just shows that it is being noticed and it’s becoming a problem over the years. There’s still an obvious love for this genre but it gets harder to talk to people about it because of the judgemental shit that comes with it.
With everything that had happened , it has only given me more confirmation that I want to keep doing this  to revolve myself around music, to keep my goals as a  music photographer, and that one day , opportunities will constantly be around. I promise that I will keep working hard and be on this path.

Thanks for everything, Cypher16 and crew,  it was fun.

Sarah Tsang