MOSHING! MARRIAGES! MEAT HOOKS!
As Download turns 20, we meet some of the people who have helped make it the greatest metal festival on the planet
WORDS: RICH HOBSON
Bragging rights for life!
THE FIRST EVER MAIN STAGE BAND
UK sludge merchants Murder One were the first band to play the Main Stage at the inaugural 2003 Download. Paul Catten was on the mic
Paul Catten (Murder One vocalist): “I never got to play Monsters Of Rock, but I’d go see bands like Iron Maiden there. As British rock musicians, when we got the chance to play Donington, it was a big deal. For bands like Murder One, you’d have to go abroad if you wanted to play a festival.
“Ian Glasper of [UK hardcore band] Stampin’ Ground called me, because we’d both been booked to play the Radio 1 Stage. To me and [sadly late drummer] Jammer, that was fine – we’d been to Monsters Of Rock, we were going to play Donington. But Ian calls and says, ‘We’re both going to be Main Stage now, they’ve canned the third stage!’ To this day, I don’t know how we escalated from early doors on the smaller stage to opening the main stage.
“DONINGTON HAS THAT MAGIC ABOUT IT”
PAUL CATTEN
“We had to be there really early. Standing there on the stage, seeing that iconic tyre, it felt exciting. Jammer and I had a big hug before we went on, took a shot of Jägermeister, and then we started. It was like the tide coming in – this stream of people running down as the music started. Until we got the sound right, it felt a bit like we were just rehearsing with a bunch of people in a field, but when they appeared I just went for it – ‘DONINGTON! HOW THE FUCK YOU DOING?’ It gave me flashbacks to reading Metal Hammer when I was a kid, seeing W.A.S.P. and Metallica playing that same stage.
“I’ve got an interview knocking around somewhere where I spoke to a local paper when [our previous band] Medulla Nocte were starting out, and I said, ‘Yeah, we’re gonna play Donington some day’ and the reporter snorted! But then we got to play it – I still send out reminders on our Facebook page: ‘I was the first fucking singer!’ Ha ha ha! Donington is still the home of metal festivals. Hellfest and whatever are fantastic, but Donington has got that bit of magic about it.”