Yungblud has spoken to NME about the second edition of BLUDFEST for 2025, and ambitious plans for his incoming “fucking bonkers” double album. Check out our full interview below.
Returning to The National Bowl in Milton Keynes on Saturday June 21, the genre-defying festival – which is curated and headlined by Yungblud (real name Dominic Harrison) – announced its line-up last week and features the likes of Chase Atlantic, Denzel Curry and Blackbear alongside recent NME Cover stars Rachel Chinouriri and Peach PRC.
This comes after the hugely successful debut edition of BLUDFEST, which took place this summer (August 11), where the Doncaster punk star was joined by the likes of Lil Yachty, Soft Play and Nessa Barrett. Punk legends The Damned performed in the ‘Icon Slot’, which Yungblud revealed will be announced “very soon” for 2025.
Alongside two stages, this year’s BLUDFEST played host to a pop-up version of iconic Camden pub The Hawley Arms, free photobooths and the ‘Make A Friend’ tent, realising Yungblud’s ambition to make this an annual celebration of community, diversity and lifestyle that seeks to “break free from traditional boundaries in music.”
“That day heavily impacted my life as a person, and where I want to go next, artistically,” Harrison told NME, revealing he still hasn’t come down from the gravity of the festival. “The fact that everyone came together, out of the sole reason of believing in something mutual – and it became so much fucking bigger than us – blew my mind.”
“The most beautiful thing about Yungblud is the community itself,” he continued. “BLUDFEST is a movement – I think it’s the first generational movement in a long fucking time. It started as this young, angry, fucking beautiful act of rebellion, and it’s turned into this place of acceptance, love and unity. Rebellion in itself is acting in the name of love, especially in the world right now.”
He added: “My mouth was stuck from smiling, meeting people and saying hello. As soon as I walked out and saw that view, I just went, ‘What has this become? Holy shit.’ Honestly, I really needed to stop myself from crying or getting emotional. If I was good at painting, I’d paint a picture of [the view from the stage], because it’s just so much colour, life and fucking unity. I feel really lucky, because not many people get to see that shit.”
Harrison said that the spectacle of playing to 30,000 people at the iconic venue – just as the likes of David Bowie, Green Day and Queen had before him – wasn’t lost on him, but it was about far more than popularity.
“I can sit here and be all fucking ‘rockstar’ about it, but we’re doing it for the right reasons – I think that was the best triumph of the day,” he told us. “We had an idea to put a flagpole in the ground and say, ‘I believe the festival market is saturated, out of touch and stale’ – and we fucking did it.
“The coolest thing about Yungblud is that this fucking community follow me – and each other – into the complete unknown, in the spirit of making a difference. It’s gonna be a festival for the next fucking 100 years. This is a standpoint, and it’s a moment.”
Check out our full interview below, where Harrison told us about the announcement of the ‘Icon Slot’, plans for a new event space in London, when we can expect to BLUDFEST to go international, and progress on his new album.
NME: Hello Dom. Once again, the BLUDFEST line-up brings together such a diverse, defiant range of artists – how did you go about curating this one?
Yungblud: “I’ve got all my friends on it, and it’s going to be fucking biblical. Chase Atlantic and I once shared a tour bus on Warped Tour [2018] together. I’ve just watched their rise, as they’ve watched mine. We were playing to 150 kids a day, sharing a tour bus when it was damp. Now, should we go and play a fucking stadium together? Let’s do it! I think Chase are fucking dope, they’re individual, strange, crazy and bad.
“[Blackbear], I’ve known forever. I’ve got a song with Denzel Curry. Rachel [Chinouriri] is a fucking badass, man. Lola Young filled that space for us last year, and now she’s blowing up. There’s so many incredible, exciting female artists out there. Peach [PRC] and Rachel coming together is going to be mind-blowing.
“I think we have a crazy line-up that’s inclusive, genre-defiant – again – but it’s got the same fucking feeling. It’s got the same energy. When I look at the poster, that makes sense. It feels [like a] new generation, it feels young and exciting.”
What a perfect opportunity to bring out Blackbear and perform your 2019 song [with Marshmello] ‘Tongue Tied’ together…
“We’ve never performed it together. So me and Bear were like, ‘We fucking probably should do that, shouldn’t we?’”
Bring Me The Horizon once told NME it was a “nightmare” when they tried to curate a multi-genre line-up at All Points East in 2019. How do you pull it off – are music fans more open-minded nowadays?
“I think Bring Me The Horizon are the best metal band under 40-years-old, really, in the world. When they push the genre, they push it forward, they experiment in their field. Oli [Sykes, frontman] is one of my best friends and a mentor to me, and it’s been inspiring how he pushes his fucking genre to different places.
“With Yungblud, I’ve always been genreless from the beginning. I’ve done pop, rap, metal, rock, whatever the fuck I want to do under this umbrella. I dress the way I dress, I put my make-up on, and I fucking love rock ‘n’ roll music. Rock music is my passion, my ambition, but David Bowie was massive to me, and he was completely genreless. He was always a cultivator, and really interested in art and culture in the same way that I am.
“I learnt that from him and then embodied it myself. It works because it’s all about my community. Everyone’s positive, everyone’s down to find something new, everyone’s down to be shocked. I’ve said that from the beginning: I don’t give a fuck, I’m gonna try my best, and I’m gonna fucking make shit that I think is cool in the moment.”
When will the artist playing the ‘Icon Slot’ be announced for BLUDFEST Year 2?
“Don’t you worry, that’s the artist we’re holding on to. We wanted to come strong out the gates with the kids. I’ve already locked in the ‘Icon Slot’ for 2026 too because we couldn’t make it happen this year. But this year, I’m talking to three people who are down to do it, we’re literally in the final stages.”
A few days after BLUDFEST this year, you came out with The Offspring in Switzerland, who have since told us they “wish they could have Yungblud at every show”. Have you tapped them up for a potential ‘Icon Slot’?
“I tapped them up about it – they’re definitely down, they want to do it [in the future]. They’re not on BLUDFEST this year, but there is a name – just as fucking relevant [as them] – who is.”
There were issues this year with extremely long queues and some other logistical problems – have you hashed that out with the organisers for 2025?
“100 per cent. We have taken things into our own hands a lot more, because I was backstage, fucking screaming at people. One size for artists doesn’t fit all, that’s why I put this festival on in the first place. My fanbase turn up early. The people who were putting on the event weren’t prepared for that, they were used to people filtering in throughout the day.
“I was on the phone to Milton Keynes police, being like, ‘You’ve got to fucking open more gates!’ Biggest show of my life, and I’m fucking giving it – like the bird from EastEnders, in the pub – screaming at people! I’m very much in control of this festival this year – a lot more. Because we did it once, all the fuckers at the top [now] believe that we can actually do it.”
Are there any additions to the festival site this year?
“We’ve added another stage, so there’ll be three stages this year. Rachel’s going to headline it – she’s a fucking legend.”
When can we expect BLUDFEST to happen outside of the UK?
“2026. It’s happening. Confirmed. BLUDFEST international is coming, 2026.”
You also launched your new clothing company B.R.A.T. (BEAUTIFULLY ROMANTICISED ACCIDENTALLY TRAUMATISED) this year – are there any plans to incorporate that into the festival?
“We have massive plans for the company next year. I’ve bought a space in London that I’m going to turn into a music venue. We’re going to have a coffee shop, sell BludBeer, have a music venue downstairs. Don’t worry, B.R.A.T. Clothing is just getting started… it’s literally going to be a physical place all year round.
“After BLUDFEST [2024], I needed to finish the next album, take some time out to figure out what I want to do. But there’s a new album coming next year. There’s going to be a fucking building in London for people to come hang out in, and then BLUDFEST ’26 – it’s gonna be the biggest two years that we’ve ever had. We’re just pulling back the fucking slingshot right now.”
Charli XCX stole your thunder there with the whole ‘Brat’ thing…
“I fucking love it, man. We registered the [company] in 2019! It’s such a sick word, and it’s in the mainstream and I fuck with Charli XCX. I fuck with that new album. Great fucking minds…”
Did the “light” you saw first-hand at BLUDFEST 2024 inspire the trajectory of the new album, which you told us was “positive” and “flips the narrative” away from the darkness?
“The new album centres around the idea of self-love and self-reclamation that allows people to feel seen, and emit this light. You can be seen for who you truly are, no matter where you’re from or what you believe. It’s been at the centre of this culture since the beginning of it. Whoever you are, you’re fucking welcome here, as long as you are fucking loving. That’s what I needed to write an album about.
“A lot of people have had a lot of opinions about me, and I would lie to you when I said I wouldn’t give a fuck. But for the first time in my life, I think I’m starting to actually like myself. I’ve always written from a period of hatred towards myself. I made a fucking rock opera double album that has no limitations towards imagination.”
Hang on – a double album?
“Yeah, you got the fucking scoop on that. It looks like it’s going to be a double album.”
When the news of Oasis’ reunion tour with Richard Ashcroft landed, the Britpop influences on the album must have hit another level…
“It’s a full-on rock album. I’ve experimented, I’ve gone through different places, and I’ve enjoyed it …[but] what did I want to do when I was nine years old? Make an album like that. It’s a homage to British rock ‘n’ roll music.
“Oasis, they have the light in their songs. That buzz emits in your chest when those records are played, and that’s what I wanted to inject into this new album. You can fucking jump about, mosh, throw your beer in the air, but look at your best mate and say ‘I fucking love you, man.’”
Was the nine-minute opening track written with BLUDFEST Year 2 in mind?
“Can I tell you one thing? Nobody’s fucking ready for what’s coming. This is the master plan. BLUDFEST is going to have new music. It’s going to have a new world, a new adventure to go on. It’s going to be the first time we play anything new in the UK. The album’s fucking bonkers.”
BLUDFEST Year 2 will take place on Saturday June 21 at The National Bowl, Milton Keynes. Tickets are on general sale from 10am on Wednesday December 18 and will be available here.