Featured image: Steve Dempsey
Playing the Ronnie James Dio stage on the Saturday, we caught up with Jane from Russian-born symphonic metal band Imperial Age to see what it means for them to be playing Bloodstock 2026.
Is this your first Bloodstock? Have you or the band been before?
Last year I was here as a guest, just to enjoy the festival. But yeah, this year is my first time as an artist so it’s very exciting – we’re all very excited about it.
You’re the only band on the main stage who is unsigned. How does that feel for you guys?
Well, first, I would like to say that all the credit goes to our fans because as an independent band, we understand that everything we have – every bit of our success, every show, everything – is thanks to our fans, because if not for them, there would be no band at all. So to be here on the 25th anniversary… I can’t even begin to describe how it feels.
You’re producing your newest album through crowdfunding and fan support. What does it mean to have fans who will support you and back you no matter what?
It’s very humbling on one hand, but it also gives you a lot of strength. You start to believe in people, especially in the metal community, because people are really supportive and to be able to have this connection with the fans, it’s something you can only earn after many long years. It is something that you should cherish and keep.
Where did the band originally begin? What’s the origin story here?
Well, speaking about style, we originally started as a symphonic band because Alex, our main composer, is a fan of this grand, cinematic orchestral music. But now, thanks to one of our friends, we fell in love with heavier stuff, so it kind of shifted in the direction of extreme vocals and down tuned guitars. We didn’t want to drop one thing and go and play another thing, so we decided to combine it. We want to take symphonic, operatic, power and combine it with heavy riffs, down tuned guitars with something from metal or death core, and people nowadays, bands especially, have started to combine different genres.
What would you say is your biggest musical influence?
The music which I listen to is either gothic or very heavy – so completely different from what we play. I can’t really come up with any particular names, I just listen to a lot of music and then just a lot of ideas come to my ear.
I can hear the gothic influence in the dramatic lyrics. Who writes the lyrics – or is it a mixture of you all?
For most of our albums, the music and lyrics are composed by Alex. But the new album is going to be something new in [every sense], and also music-wise. It’s the first time we did the lyrics for the new song together with Alex. So, for me, it was like the first time going deep into the lyrics. We really spent a lot of time checking every single word, making sure that everything is perfect.
Would you say you’re all perfectionists?
Unfortunately, yes. We are all super crazy perfectionists, and it creates so much tension for us.
What was the first album you ever bought? What got you into music?
Into metal music? Uh, oh! That would be the band called HIM. Yeah, they got me into metal, which is quite absurd because before that I was an insane fan of Eminem. So that was the turn!
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