To any of the uninitiated, Voodoo Six are one of the primest cuts of modern hard rock, providing the ultimate sustenance to any and all who feel theyve gone without a battering-ram-sized riff or throaty foam-topped vocal-line rammed down their throat for too long. We just have fun, twin-lead guitarist Matt Pearce tells me before the gig, as the attitude within the Voodoo camp is that of righteous good times and a workingmans attitude. Having just come off one hell of a summer touring with none other than Iron Maiden, there are a few humorous things that stick out as comparisons between flying around with one of the biggest bands in the world, and then trundling back up the M1 in a van. We always enjoy these kinds of shows, were big fans of these kinds of shows. But the scale is huge says drummer Joe Lazarus. Pearce chimes in, In Stockholm we played to about 60,000 people, and the night before we played this tiny little club to like 100 people, and yknow you were just right there! (laughs) But we enjoyed it just as much. Wed been out about a month or so, and it just reminded you, these gigs are great too. Yeah, we just love the sweaty vibe! concludes Lazarus. The catering was amazing too, just amazing food all-round, three meals a day! he laughs, as next to him Pearce munches on a dry cracker. By refusing to simply walk the pathways of yesteryear without boots so worn with purpose their own marks are easy to see, they utilise a heady mix of bluesy-grooves that sit somewhere between Motörheads most aggressive and something as contemporary as Black Spiders or Maylene & The Sons of Disaster. Sufficed to say with twin-lead guitarists Matt Pearce and shredder Chris Jones trading off on stompy blues riffs or regular duelling guitar lines, its pure headbang-territory for the entirety of their set. Me and Chris have this kind of, dual-personality guitar-thing where his is more of a modern influence, mines more old school, so that makes a nice mixture. It kind of sums up the attitude of the band really, plus Joe is very much this modern drummer as oppose to the classic guys like Bonham says Pearce. When asked about the state of the industry at the minute and their placement among the wealth of rock bands that seem to be part of a revivalist movement, Lazarus noted, been knocking on our door for a while now, and weve got that contemporary mix of the old school. I think we can appeal to both sets of people, its really down the middle. Pearce adds Weve got more of a metal or hard rock edge to , we can go out there do like Maiden crowds, but we could also go out and play with AC/DC or something, but youve got to have the mixture, and thats hopefully an advantage we have. Too much retro is maybe just a bit too twee these days. in a bit of a bad state at the minute, but who knows what its gonna bring tomorrow yknow? You have no idea, adds Lazarus. Its true, I mean live music is bigger than its ever been, its not like music is going away, people still love music its just figuring out different ways to do it, thats all it is, evolving as a musician says Pearce. We always look forward to just getting out and playing, adds Lazarus cheerfully, theres nothing like going out and just being on the road. Thats the only way to make money these days is just going out and gigging. Its great to be in the studio and have an album at the end of it too I cant see bands ever not producing albums, says Pearce after ruminating on the state of flash-in-the-pan singles-explosions. The irony is, technologys made it so much easier to put a quality piece of work together and get it out there, but because of that youve also destroyed the structure of making money off it, so its a strange thing. To wrap up a thoroughly nice chat with the guys before they headed on-stage, they were asked to use one word to describe what it was like touring with Iron Maiden, and one to describe these more regular back-to-basics shows. The Iron Maiden word? Instantly the guys said Terrifying. Yet the cast iron workingmans gigs, that took some more deliberation. Eventually they settled on the one description that unites all great gigs large or small: Sweaty.