Andy Copping Defends Sleep Token's 'Download Festival' Headline Slot: "This Is a Band That Deserves to Be Elevated"

在接受 NME 采访时，Copping 谈到了导致他做出这一有争议选择的原因：“看到他们在过去两年中的迅速崛起让我想，‘这是一支值得提升的乐队。”

尽管 Sleep Token 最近声名鹊起，但他们作为明年“下载节”的三大头条人物之一的地位还是让一些人摸不着头脑。乐队的迅速崛起始于他们的第三张录音室专辑《带我回到伊甸园》中的单曲在 TikTok 上的病毒式成功。

然而，尽管该乐队在过去一年中人气迅速上升，并完成了一场售罄的巡回演出并转至 RCA 唱片公司，但一些粉丝认为其他乐队更值得获得令人垂涎的头条新闻。

昨天（11 月 12 日）宣布这一消息后，这些人在社交媒体上发出了自己的声音。现在“下载节”创始人安迪·科平 (Andy Copping) 已做出决定。

在接受 NME 采访时，科平解释了是什么导致他做出了有争议的选择。

“看到他们在过去两年中的迅速崛起让我想，‘这是一支值得提升的乐队。他们将在几周后举办一场门票全部售完的竞技场巡演，我们已经知道这将是一个值得一看的景点。”

他继续说道：

“我认为让新乐队登上新闻头条对于音乐节来说很重要。以前，我用活结做到了这一点。我和《七重复仇》和比菲·克莱罗一起做过。 2023 年，我们通过《Bring Me The Horizo​​n》做到了这一点。现在，世界各地的每一支乐队都被视为音乐节的头条新闻。

这就是我这次使用睡眠令牌的感受。感觉就像我们是第一个不畏艰险的重大节日，然后就走了，‘好吧，是时候了。这是睡眠令牌的时刻”。我知道这对他们、对音乐节、对粉丝来说都将是令人惊奇的。”

他后来补充了在现代举办如此规模的节日的压力：

“节日必须不断发展，因为人们的品味和期望一直在变化。不与时俱进，艺术节就会消亡，所以我们必须创新。我们必须了解社交媒体上正在发生的事情，并分析人们在 TikTok 时代消费音乐的方式。

所有这些都非常重要。幸运的是，我们组建了一支非常广泛且多样化的年轻团队，他们正在为他们认为的节日应该是什么样子提供意见。我们也一直与粉丝交谈，询问他们想看到什么。我们寻求有关我们做对和做错的事情的反馈。由此，我们找到了一个对我们有效的公式。”

Last year’s ‘Download Festival‘ felt the impact of social media due to a campaign waged by several bands that were booked to play the fest. Various artists, including the likes of Scowl, SPEED, Pest Control, Dying Wish and more all took to protesting the event and withdrawing from the bill in light of the involvement of Barclayscard being a primary sponsor for the event.

Those artists above took issue with Barclays‘ financial involvements in the facilitation of weapons used by Israel in the ongoing Israel-Hamas war. In response, ‘Download Festival‘ parted ways with Barclayscard.

As for Copping‘s stance on the growing need to elevate younger artists to headlining status, he’s certainly not wrong. Metal and rock have experienced a general decline in mainstream interest over the past two decades, with festivals now often being left to lean on tried and true evergreen artists to anchor their bills.

However, with the generation of guaranteed headlining artists slowly beginning to age out, there’s been a growing concern of the lack of suitable replacements to eventually take their place. It’s a worrying situation that Iron Maiden vocalist Bruce Dickinson publicly lamented earlier this year.

He cited several reasons as being potential factors in the situation, including the financial risks promoters face in taking a gamble on newer artists, the overall greed of the music industry, and a shrinking amount of smaller venues that allow artists the chance to build themselves up.

Next year’s ‘Download Festival‘ will take place at June 13th-15th at Donington Park in Derby, UK. The initial lineup announcement also includes sets from Weezer, Bullet For My Valentine and many more.

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