Bloodrust. Interview with Richard Keenahan

Interview by Andrew Stanton

Bloodrust is a cool Death Metal solo project from The Falklands. Andrew Stanton talked to him about his new album A Legacy of Vengeance.

- Can you tell our readers a bit about your history, please?

“My name Rich I am the person behind the band Bloodrust, currently based in the Falkland Islands. I write all the music and lyrics for the band as well as play all the instruments, programs the drums. Only thing I can’t take credit for are the guitar solos, only two songs have my solos on. I grew up in various places in Germany and the UK following the army around and found music and books to be a constant companion. I first started out on bass back when I was 14 but when I realized I couldn’t sound like Steve Harris straight away I gave up. Picked up a guitar at 16, had a few lessons but again put it away and it wasn’t until about 2006 that I picked up a guitar again and played in a covers band called Hollowpoint. My first original band was back in 2009 called D e a d Trails where I played bass and I left in 2010 to move to Germany and that is where Bloodrust started back in 2010.

After putting the project to one side due to family commitments and playing in a few small cover bands I found time and the desire to start writing again which is where 2020s album Burning of Aeons came from.”

- What bands did you like growing up?

“Growing up I think the first band I got into would have been Queen as my uncle was a big fan and after that it would have been Maiden. That was the first Metal band I really got into after that it was the usual Metallica, Guns and Roses and Megadeth. I moved back to the UK from Germany and a friend gave me copies of Sepultura’s Chaos AD, Xentrix for Whose Advantage and Bolt Throwers Realm of Chaos album and it was all downhill from there. His old bands got pushed to one side as I got heavier bands, Testament, Paradise Lost, Therion and Obituary.”

- Why the name Bloodrust? It sounds like a Cyber Metal band.

“The song comes from I think the he Penultimate track on the Haunted’s debut album. I’m a big At the Gates and The Haunted fan and I loved the song and thought that no one else would use that song title as a band name so I used that back in 2010 and put my first few demo songs out in 2011 on song cloud as Bloodrust. Little did I know that last year I’d come up against another UK band with the name and we managed to sort it out and they changed their name and I didn’t.”

- What are your lyrics about?

“My lyrics are either based around Warhammer 40k either in themes or characters but these are just ways of telling stories. Once called brother despite being about a character is also about betrayal. Those we’ve left behind is about the waste of war. I do touch on other themes with Novichok Death Squad being about the assassination attempt in Salisbury by the Russians. When I’m in the UK I live in Salisbury so that was something I wanted to write about. A Legacy of vengeance follows this with similar themes of war but also of people not standing for what you believe in and when you do say something you’re the only one left as the others have been taken away or silenced. The next album will have a song called Vermin which is about the far extremes of society, people that are happy to pit hatred out there either through political views, social views and those that push those extreme agendas out through their music. I’ve had issues where I’ve called people out for promoting National Socialist bands through radio stations or websites. Listen to what you want in private but not through your support for these bands out there by actively promoting them.”

- Tell us about The Falklands scene, please?

“That’s an easy one, there isn’t. Not many Metal heads in a country with less than 5 thousand people. There are a few Metal heads there but not many.”

- What other Falklands bands should our readers check out?

“I’m the only one.”

- When you live in a small country, is it easier to get noticed?

“I’ve had some good publicity over being from the Falklands but I think that was more of a ‘Wow there is band from there’, than anything else and to be honest I’d rather be recognized for putting out good music over where I’m living. I’m not an islander I’m there for work and have the fortunate position to have time to put into making music. I am very much looking forward to returning to the UK and getting other people involved. I’ve had great support via social media platforms and I think doing what I do the region you come from doesn’t matter, it’s getting your music out there, which when you are behind the social media curve is easier said than done.

UKEM have been great at putting my debit on their YouTube channel which I think from my own simple look it’s got one of the highest views for a band of my size. Jay at Masters of Kaos in Colombia has been a great support and pushing me. There are many others as well into the Combine podcast and their Discord group have supported me as well putting my 2nd album out on cassette through one of the hosts labels Desolate Sound Productions.”

- Are you planning a tour anywhere?

“At present Bloodrust is a one-man band but going forward once I’m back in the UK I’d love to play some shows and see how the music goes over in a live context.”

- Does singing in English alienate you from the rest of South America?

“English tends to be the default language used in Metal so no issues as of yet. I’ve always tried to have my vocals decipherable but it’s Death Metal so most people think it’s just grunting.

- Do you have a message for our readers?

“Thank you for your support, go check the first two albums out online at the usual Platforms. Album 3 is being written with 6 fairly done with the aim of having 8 tracks on the album. I think the songs are some of the best written and show a progression in my songwriting ability, but we all say that though don’t we. The album should be ready for release at some point next year. I’ll be looking to shop it to labels maybe at the end of this year so yeah stay tuned.”