AATR Catch in with Vast Slug after Goremaggedon 2025.
26th March 2025We took some time to catch in with Vast Slug after their performance at Goremaggedon in Manchester on the 22nd March. We had a quick catch up with Vocalist Ed and bassist Kieron to discuss how they felt their show went, their lighting production and the overall experience of this weekends events.
Hi guys, thanks for taking some time out to answer a few questions with us after your recent performance at Goremaggedon 2025.
Firstly, great performance as said before absolute loved it but over to you guys; What was your favorite part of the set? Any songs you particularly enjoyed performing last night?
Ed: Thank you!! I personally always love playing ‘Unidentified Flying Geezer‘ as it’s great seeing and hearing people’s reactions when they hear the Danny Dyer samples. The sections of the set which are like a quick fire round of 5-30 seconds songs are always great as well… CHEERS!Oh and introducing “Chris Benoit’s Family Values” always gets a giggle… or an audible shocked inhale. Either way… I love it.Kieron: ‘Vengabus‘ is always great fun! Other than that, every song was fun as the crowd were constantly moving!
How did you choose your set list for last nights show and in general how do you choose which songs make the cut?
Ed: Technically we could play our entire new album “Driving Music” start to finish and that has 30 songs… but I like to chat shit and interact with the crowd a bit so some songs have to be cut.It’s always tricky knowing which ones to cut, but crowd reactions over the years have helped make those decisions to be honest.
Was there a song you almost played but decided to leave out tonight?
Ed: We were going to play our cover of KoRn’s A.D.I.D.A.S which always goes down well, but it’s in a different tuning to the rest of our set so either needs tuning or bringing along 2 guitars… it’s a faff and we wanted to have a punchy set with minimal fucking about.
If you had to pick one song from yesterday set as the best representation of the show and that represents you guys as a band, which would it be?
Ed: That’s fucking tricky! I hate to say a cover song is a good representation of us, but I think our cover of The VengaBoys, We Like To Party (The Venga Bus) is a good one… shows our fun side, usually gets people hyped up and gives people a taste of what’s to come.
How does this show compare to others you’ve played recently?
Ed: This was the first show of 2025 and what an incredible first show!! We’ve played Manchester before and it’s always been amazing for us. We’re back again for the first date of tour with Scordatura and Foetal Juice at The Aatma on 28th of March.Kieron: As Ed said, this is the first show of the year and what a start! Manchester is always an absolute blast to play, excited to be back next week on tour!
With Star And Garter being a slightly smaller venue in comparison to most, would performing in a smaller or larger venue influence how you approach the setlist or energy?
Ed: Size of venue wouldn’t change the set we play or energy we put into it… we aways put maximum energy and effort into all of our shows. I guess the only difference would be for a bigger stage would give us the ability to move around more and pace the stage. I’ve always enjoyed playing little sweaty venues.Kieron: While big venues are wild, I tend to prefer smaller venues being packed out. Always great fun in a small room with people bouncing off the walls.
What did you think about the crowd’s reaction? Any standout moments for you guys during your set? Did anything happen unexpected that caught your attention?
Ed: The crowd were amazing start to finish! So much energy!! Wasn’t expecting to hear people shouting our song titles to be honest. That was a pleasant surprise – always nice to know people have checked us out before. And after asking who’d seen us before followed by a handful of people, to then ask who’s gunna come see us again and the whole crowd cheered!… goosebumps!!Kieron: Having people know our songs is always lovely, the crowd were phenomenal! Constantly moving which is great to see amongst the constant strobe lights!
How did you feel about the energy on stage last nights performance? Do you feel it match what you were hoping for?
Ed: No matter how tired we may be from traveling or anything, we’ll always pour every ounce of energy we have into our performance. We thrive off the energy from the crowd and they certainly hyped us up!!
The lighting was an interesting choice, loved the LED set list holders to be honest – absolutely brilliant idea also was a great laugh seeing the house lights be twatted off by a broom. How did you come up with the visual design/lighting for last nights performance? Is this something you guys do regularly at your shows or was this specific to Goremaggedon?
Ed: The LED set list holders was my brain child after doing our first band practice with the strobes and not being able to see a fucking thing. Haha. The strobes are a relatively new addition to our live performance. Our guitarist, Phil, spent hours and hours painstakingly programming the lights. Poor bastard. We wanted to try and step up the live show a bit to try and stand out from the crowd to other bands.
Is there anything you’d like to try differently in your next show, or any new ideas you’re excited to explore in terms of lighting or maybe visual props during your sets?
Ed: Currently all the lights are either on or off at the same time, but we might try to experiment with panning lights left to right and strobing different ones at different times (if we can persuade Phil to spend more time on them.) Maybe chuck a laser in the mix. Smoke machine… who knows. Not having a drummer does mean it gives us more space in the car(s) for visuals effects which is great… and more space for merch too. Haha. Besides experimenting with visuals, there’ll be new songs being written after tour, maybe a new cover as well.
After the show, how did you guys spend the end of your evening? Anything eventful?
Ed: After our set we all took part in an orgy with some ladies of the night – need to get tested now. Haha nah, I spent some time chatting to people and selling merch to everyone spending their hard earned money on us. We appreciate every single one of you. It means so much. Tried to watch as much of as many of the other bands as we could too.Kieron: Nothing too crazy! Had a few beers (Luckily I wasn’t driving) and chatted to people. Everyone was super friendly and had some really kind words to say about the set! Watched as much of the rest of the bands as we could before the long drive home.
What are your plans for future shows?
Ed: As I mentioned earlier, we’re off on tour with Scordatura and Foetal Juice hitting a few cities around the UK –(TICKETS ARE AVAILABLE >> HERE << )You can get tickets to all shows there as well as pre-save the link to our debut full length album coming out 07/04/25 – although you can pick up a physical copy of the album before then on tour!
And finally a nice light hearted question for the ending; What’s one moment from Goremaggedon 2025 that you’ll always remember?
Ed: I’ll never forget just how amazing the crowd were and how incredibly lovely they all were as well. Taking their time to chat to us, saying such kind things about our set and just how much merch they bought. We love you all! CHEERS!Kieron: We asked who had seen us before and a handful of people cheered and when we asked who’s going to come and see us again the whole room cheered, that was absolutely lovely!
Thank you for your time and answering a few questions about the show. As mentioned previously it was absolutely phenomenal to catch you guys live, let’s hope for some more experiences in the future!
