Saturday 22nd August.
Review by Dave Martin and all photographs by Carol Henson (aka Lady Gigger) for Jace Media
Today should be an interesting day, as there are seven bands playing, and we have only seen one of them.
Kicking off the proceedings: The Alrite Jimmy’z.
How do I describe these guys? Absolute nutters. Pink wigs, all kinds of fancy dress paraphernalia, one dressed as a cowboy, another an American Indian. They had played here before and the hall was absolutely rammed.
They are five guys who just like to have fun and give people a great time and they certainly do that, despite jokingly knocking themselves this is a band of accomplished musicians who know their stuff.
An impressive cover of Dick Dales Misirlou immediately showed their musicianship.
If you ever want a band for a wedding or a party then I thoroughly recommend this band, but I wouldn’t book them for children’s parties, they are very adult themed, just check out the title of the tour.
They played all the favourites to keep people clapping and dancing.
Many of the audience were wearing Jimmy’z bucket hats which sold out very quickly. They ended with a homage to Ozzy cleverly incorporating Elvis’s Burning Love into the melody.
It was a masterclass in how to have fun on a stage and not take yourself too seriously, although I have already said they are a very clever bunch of musicians and deserved their huge applause at the end of their set.
Set List
Misirlou, We will Rock you/Tainted Love, Dancing with myself, Basket Case/Chains, Get it on, Ghost Thunder Busters, Everybody Wants to rule the World, Wild Boys, Frankierama. Ant Music, Paranoid/Burning Love.
Links:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/the.alrite.jimmyz
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thealritejimmyz
The Flying Symbols were next and the lead singer, whose cool name is Odin, looked very nervous as they started their set. Many had left to sit outside and listen, so they didn’t have a big crowd to see them. Odin had a beautiful custom-made flying V which he told me later he and his dad had worked on.
They have had two albums On Our Own, and AWAKE.
They play rock with a big blues and psychedelic vibe at times. The crowd weren’t really feeling them for a while but they soldiered on undeterred. Odin was bouncing and jumping around enjoying it, and eventually won them over. I like the way they went from classic rock to grungy to bluesy mixing it up.
I would have liked to have seen more people in the audience and felt for them a little.
Odin Long – vocals and guitar, Jimmy Proud – lead guitar, John Clements – bass, Matt Drewing – drums.
Set List
Serial Killer, Blue Sky, Nightmare, Karma, Stalker, Till I Die, I Feel Alright, Indestructible, Ride of Sleipnir, House of the Rising Sun.
Links:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheFlyingSymbols
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/flyingsymbols_official
A young four-piece band hit the stage next: Sun Machine, who describe themselves as a rock, prog band, yes! The songs are long but I heard a lot of deep doomy grungy bass there as well, so I put them more into that sound.
They play a lot of the songs with an ethereal soundbite, for me it was confusing because a lot of the time I was hearing the darker side of metal but without the roars of growls. The singer had a mellow voice, not a powerful one for this sound. On Heart of Gold, he actually belted out a couple of decent screams but it needed more of a spark to the set. I loved the harmonics the guitarist was pulling out but I wasn’t getting any prog from them.
They were good but I think missed a chance to set the stage alight with more emotion
Set List.
Spine, Wake, Sociopathic, Heart of Gold, Mercy Killing, Blindest Eye.
Links:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sunmachineband
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sunmachineband
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@bandsunmachine
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/3KuPS3ujK5GcTXWpiyRTH9?si=4jURRG5DQhiIOEjPuG0rfg
This next band for me were the stars of the whole festival, Regional One.
Simon Ball, vocals and theatrics, Stevie Lees, guitar, Callum Mitchell bass, Aaron drums.
I hope you agree but when people come and see a band, they want to see a performance. Well these guys do that in spades.
Think back to Queensryche’s Operation Mind crime and that is what you are getting with this band, a concept situation that takes you to pure theatre, a dystopian future called Regional One.
Each song begins with a soundbite of a female voice taking you more and more into this world.
Simon with mannequin star makeup on his eyes is a wonderful showman and also with the voice of the festival in my opinion: loud and powerful but also sweet sonorous tones when they needed to be.
Immediately getting the small audience to raise their hands, it was a mystery why this room was not rammed; they were missing something special.
Beginning the journey with Control, and ending with Hero.
I can seriously see big things happening for this band; they had great harmonies, and the bands’ introduction was a bit different too
As Simon called their names they came individually into the middle of the room and played a little solo, obviously apart from Aaron on the drums who was up there bashing away on the skins while the others took their well-deserved bows.
Just an outstanding performance, I look forward to seeing you again.
Links:
Website: https://www.regionaloneband.co.uk/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RegionalOneBand
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/regionaloneband
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@regionaloneband
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@regionaloneband
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1Wv2gqhCw3oPW7bokStamP?si=SZqD-tCcQdeHNowS2AUktw
Changing the tempo completely with some what I can only call cowboy rock and roll: Dead Hombres.
Husband and wife team on a beautiful white Gretch Guitar and bass guitar respectively. and a drummer, who right from the off was having problems with sound: giving poor old Chris on the desk a right old ear bashing.
They brought a totally different atmosphere to the room and it was just a little bit too sombre for me at times. The sound outside the room was ok but Mr drummer even asked the audience if it sounded as bad as it did to him. With many interruptions you couldn’t really get into the set.
The song Crazy People had some of the audience and when the sound was sorted there was a little bit of dancing as well so it all ended up happily.
Set List.
Under Your Skin, Street Walking Zombie, Baby from the Black Lagoon, Guns, Gamblers and Ghosts, Hearts in Flames, Rockin’ Horse, Crazy People, Hombre, Baby Moonrider, Hell Bound Ghost Train, Killing Machine, Rumble.
Links:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/deadhombres
Bandcamp: https://deadhombres.bandcamp.com/album/guns-gamblers-and-ghosts
Now for the band that we have seen a few times and are good friends with their charismatic singer Ryan, Liberty Slaves.
A five-piece hard rock band from Huddersfield, Ryan has a Lemmy-esqe raspy voice and knows how to milk a crowd. I was pleased to see the room filling up, in fact it was the busiest it had been since the Jimmy’z this afternoon.
“We’re just going to play tonight till they tell us to f*#k off”, says Ryan to loud cheers.
The audience danced away all through their set and the beaming smile of Ryan at the end said it all: they came, they played and they conquered.
Set List
Devil in Me, Hell on Wheels, Heavens Above, Cat got your tongue, Everyman for themselves, Aint that a Bitch, losing my Touch, Power, Queen Obscene, The Struggle is Real, Sin City, Never Enough.
Links:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LibertySlaves
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thelibertyslaves
Some good old what I call Punk and Roll next with a sextet from Bristol: Adam and the Hellcats.
Along with the lead man guitar/vocals we have the wonderful Cirwan, sharing the lead vox, Steve on keys and bvs, Zac guitar and bvs, Eddie on bass, and Tony on the drums.
Beginning their set with She’s a Vampire and I immediately see a B52’s influence with Cerwin’s woooaaas. Adam has the craziest mad eyes and stare looking like he wants to rip the audience’s heads off (I met him later, he’s a pussycat, and he will hate me for saying that lol). Man is this band good or what?
They play a mix of genres and were only added last minute to the fest when a band had to pull out.
Adam and the band were loving it. They have a nice tight rhythm section with Eddie and Tony and the keyboard guitar brought an extra element along.
Cirwan has an incredible vocal range: one-minute sweet, next she’s almost operatic. A full room saw a fantastic set mixing Rock and Roll with punk/indie sounds. If you get a chance to see them live, take it! You won’t be disappointed.
Set List
She’s a Vampire, Queen and Country, Blackwitch Bomb, Demons, Traitor, Go Easy, Cover Band, The ballad of Mary Jane, Another Sad Song, What the Cat Dragged in, Peace, Love, Rock n Roll.
Links:
Website: https://www.adamhellcats.rocks/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AdamandtheHellcats
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/adam_and_the_hellcats_official/
Bandcamp: https://adamandthehellcats.bandcamp.com/
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5UctV0dspZCB9PmPfcrqfF?si=rmRTZE5UTz6H1aiW9aQNuw
Final band of the night all the way from Germany, Sweet Electric, and fronted by none other than the crazy and delightful Brad Marr. We have covered and I have had some great interviews with him and his previous band Massive, I just know this is going to be a fun set.
Brad, wearing a shiny silver jacket looking like a spangly tortoise shell, in Brad’s words to me I’m going to look like a Glitter ball on that stage, not wrong either mate.
The first song was almost like a rap. There were so many words in the lyrics spoken at breakneck speed it would be impossible to sing along too.
There were a bunch of female fans up front of the stage dancing along. Brad and the guys had only the night before played a set at the Stonedead festival, but he’s like an energizer bunny: he just loves to perform, especially to a smaller, more intimate venue.
They are super tight and have plenty of riffage with this band. I was always impressed with Brad’s voice, but it seems to have got even more powerful since seeing him last.
Then he starts spinning all around the stage so that doubles the glitter ball description. We also witnessed what I think was the drum solo of the festival: this guy was just tremendous.
The band has a funk rock sound at times and the crowd were lapping it up.
A long day for everyone and the band must have been pleased to see so many hang around to see them play.
Links:
Website: https://www.sweetelectricofficial.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SweetElectricOfficial
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@sweetelectricofficial
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@sweetelectricofficial
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/2I2JaAstxZhlU1fmnRZSEm?si=m5jjLKxARNOUfszVReR5vg
More entertainment and good music tomorrow, the final day of this brilliant festival.
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