Download the Fei Comodo way

Drummer Rob explains how it is for a band who are playing their first set at Donington - and also making their first visit to the festival

Fei Comodo made friends with Rock Radio DJ The Crack earlier in the year when he tipped them for the top. And he may well have the rights of it, because the upstarts are preparing to hit the Red Bull Stage tomorrow afternoon.

For drummer Rob it's a double first - he's never been to Download before, so it's a tall order to play it as well. He says he wasn't worried about it - until he got here last night.

He explains: "I was feeling fine - but then I went over to the tent because my mates Forever Never were playing. It was rammed... so I'm a bit nervous now.

"And Meshuggah were so tight when I saw them I thought I might as well quit, and get a proper job."

So what's the plan to get the iron resolve back? "I'm going to try not to drink too much because I drank too much last night," Rob says. "I need to mentally prepare. We're opening with Paul Potts' Nessun Dorma and it's so epic it makes you want to go out and kill people.

"We've only got half an hour, so that's five songs, and there's six tracks on the mini-album, so we have to drop one. The one we've dropped I didn't want to drop - but we have to play the single, then there's a song that links in... so you have to drop something in the end."

Sadly that proper job looms closer than it does for, say, Marilyn Manson. Rob explains: "I just got a job at Wickes, the DIY store - even though we obviously make loads of money at a band.

"But at least I can get all the pots and pans out at Wickes and practice..."