Wholesome portraits of mosher families at Download Festival 2022
Photo: Chris Bethell
Music

Wholesome Portraits of Mosher Families at Download Festival

Families who rock out together, stay together.
Daisy Jones
London, GB
Chris Bethell
photos by Chris Bethell
BC
photos by Bekky Calver

For the vast majority of us, family holidays consisted of sitting in a caravan somewhere like Wales or Great Yarmouth while it pisses it down, or being made to go on walks to see some ancient stones and a tea room. This is not the way for all British families, though, and it was made apparent at Download Festival last weekend, where moshers and metalheads brought their little mosher and metalhead babies and kids to enjoy the UK's biggest rock event of the year. 

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Download isn't automatically thought of as a festival for children. There are lots of big beardy dudes barrelling into each other, and bands with names like Bleed From Within and Dying Fetus on the lineup (the latter of which has lyrics such as: “Chop their heads away and die with me / Step within the circle / Let the fear slip away / Ripped apart you'll fulfil as you join the dead”). If I had heard Venom Prison when I was six, I probably would have had to hide under my bed afterwards.

That said, Download is also super wholesome. Moshers and metalheads are, surely, the friendliest and most sincere of subcultures. Plus, there was loads of face paint, jumping about, ice cream and happy people, which are basically all kids’ favourite things, right?

With that in mind, VICE photographers Chris Bethell and Bekky Calver went around and took portraits of mosher families at Download. Scroll below to see some very cute photos.

Mosher families at Download Festival 2022
Mosher families at Download festival 2022
Mosher families at Download Festival 2022
Mosher families at Download Festival 2022
Mosher families at Download Festival 2022
Mosher families at Download Festival 2022
Mosher families at Download Festival 2022
Mosher families at Download Festival 2022
Mosher families at Download Festival 2022
Mosher families at Download Festival 2022
Mosher families at Download Festival 2022
Mosher families at Download Festival 2022
Mosher families at Download Festival 2022