SOUTHSEA FEST: The Editor’s View
Posted: September 20th, 2009 | Author: Matt | Filed under: Reviews | Tags: Abi Lanigan, B Of The Bang, Dan Smith, Emma vK, Gabby Young & Other Animals, Holdfast, Kill Kasper, Le Plat Du Jour, LoveLikeFire, Loz Bridge, Matt Merritt, Melodramas, Nat Jenkins, Sons Of Albion, Strange Death Of Liberal England, The Deads, Villiers Terrace | 4 Comments »
The Deads
Here is the first of our reports from Southsea Fest, but keep checking back for other people’s views of the day and some brilliant photos of the goings on
Many people mark down Bestival as the end of the summer festival calendar, but for those of us who dwell on the South Coast (and, indeed for many others too), there’s a one day event that really caps the summer off. Southsea Fest has been running for a few years now and, much like this writers waistline, it grows ever bigger. This was my first experience of it though, but after a day of being roasted alive, crushed, being told there was no more beer and missing more bands than I laid eyes on, I wouldn’t miss it again for the world!
By the time I arrived, collected my wristband and headed back out to the street the party was in full swing, bumping into one of Call Upon The Author’s favourite artists, Loz Bridge, I discovered he had been added at the last minute to the Gang Bang stage. Looking in we saw that The Deads were about to take to the stage, these Portsmouth garage rockers disappeared a few years ago, but are now back in force and played a blistering set that was as compelling as it was fun. Never more so than when the band poised themselves to launch into a new number only to realise that they couldn’t remember how it went!
Kill Kasper
Popping out for a few minutes we made our way to The Loft, but despite the joys of Villiers Terrace we left very quickly due to the baking heat in the venue, heading instead to The Wedgewood Rooms to catch another of our favourite, the almighty Kill Kasper. The Kolonel had been laid low with a particularly vicious strain of swine/man flu, but summoned all his strength to hit the stage and blast out some good honest old-fashioned rock! With the closing chords of Scenesters still ringing in our ears we dashed back to Little Johnny Russells to catch Loz Bridge, only to find him tidying his keyboard away, thankfully it wasn’t in vain as Hold Fast were next to the stage, playing possibly their most ferocious set to date, the band threw out their music so hard and fast that they shaved ten minutes off of their set time. Jumping down into the audience, Roberta didn’t miss a beat while the band rocked out and decimated the crammed in audience with old favourites like Lie and newer tracks such as Jaws.
It was across the road to see The Strange Death of Liberal England next and we were thwarted once again, though this time not by poor timing (by this stage, at about 4.30pm, most stages were running late to a varying degree) but by a queue, the venue was full to bursting, but from the street the band sounded great, as did The B Of The Bang who were playing on the stage we had just left.
Off it was then to The Fat Fox, for a quiet sit down, we caught just a snippet of Nat Jenkins, whose songs didn’t do enough to capture the attention. Back on the street we decided to go walkabout and see where we ended up, which was the Magic Bean Café, hosting a poetry/acoustic stage, this was a lovely little find and the only venue selling cake! Abi Lanigan was performing and rapidly became our favourite find of the day with some great song writing, (more of that later). As we stood outside and shared a beer with Abi’s bass player Ryan, we caught up with Alex from festival headliners Official Secrets Act who appeared to be having so much fun that he’d lost his socks. Meanwhile, back in the café Le Plat Du Jour played a strong set of laid back, fuzzy post rock musings.
Gabby Young
Back to The Wedgewood Rooms and Dan Smith was sat alone on stage with his keyboard, pouring out some intriguing tunes and leading us to make a mental note to check out more. For the second time in the day we poked our head into the Awesome Noise stage next door too, only to find that once again there was nobody playing. Were they hiding from us? We popped into another stage at The Wine Vaults, bumping into Greg from Melodramas who excitedly shared the bands new ventures with us (again, more on that ata a later date).
Back at The Loft, which had thankfully cooled down somewhat, we just missed Logan (Son of Robert) Plant’s band Sons Of Albion but we were just in time for Gabby Young & Other Animals. Built around Gabby’s powerful voice this set was a little treat from the Hong Kong Gardeners Club who were running the stage (if you haven’t checked these two ladies and their brilliant nights out, then you really should make the effort). For some reason Young & her animals even brought a puppy with them, which seemed to perk up the slightly flagging staff at the stage.
Across the road, and back to where our day had started, we caught the festivals only internationals, the brilliantly scuzzy LoveLikeFire, who were so great that we decided, on the spot to end our evening on that high, disappearing into the night in pursuit of Chinese food, while the rest of the festival goers delighted in the likes of The Joy Formidable and James Yuill.
many thanks to Emma van Kooperen for the photographs.
Those of you who keep up with events at Call Upon The Author will have already come to the conclusion that we’re big fans of Jelly Maid music artists The B Of The Bang. So it’s with excitement and just a hint of trepidation (when you’re really into a band, new material is always best approached with caution lest it be a huge disappointment – ask anyone who used to like the Killers and bought their latest effort) that I slip this disc into the CD player. There are old favourites here, ‘Alfred Light The Fires’ with it’s jaunty jazz beats, the trippy minimalism of ‘Alaska’ and the heart rending beauty of ‘Lung’ are all well known to fans of Wit and his collective of like minded minstrels. The album is punctuated by snippets of music, the titular ‘Beginning’, ‘Middle’ and ‘End’, but we’ll breeze past them and get to the meat of the new tracks, there are some great new tunes, from ‘Dolores’ with it’s almost upbeat feel and some great backing vocals courtesy of the lovely Roberta from Hold Fast, to ‘The Making Of The Making Of’, another minimalist effort that has echoes of a stripped back Divine Comedy. Pick of the new material though is the haunting ‘(We Used To Draw) Treasure Maps’. This song feels, in mood at least, like a companion piece to ‘Lung’, both of them propelled along by Christopher Whitear’s powerful but soothing baritone. There used to be a charmingly shambolic feel to The B Of The Bang, but on this evidence they’ve got their act together and, that being the case, they’ll be a force to be reckoned with.
We at Call Upon The Author have a great deal of time for Stiff Promotions, not only do they consistently put on top gigs, but they have a great reputation for looking after their performers too, so it was with utmost anticipation that we trekked to The Cellars At Eastney. Tonight’s bill sees The Dawn Chorus return from their short tour around the UK with The B Of The Bang in tow. they’ve invited some friends too, Holdfast and CM Arnold and the Delta Breaks, who are first on stage tonight. It’s front man Clym’s birthday and this seems to have fortified him with enough strength to bellow his vocals at the audience as his band play punchy blues rock and propel their vocalist to levels of energy not seen since the days of The Deads. This is good stuff indeed and a great way to start the night. Holdfast are next up, winners of The News’ Guide Award, they showed their quality with a truly beautiful set. Singer Roberta’s vocals wafted over some superbly crafted songs, this girl is the complete package, a talented musician with a truly haunting voice and enough charisma to spare. Bassist Ben and Toby on drums kept the tracks pumping with an often frenzied beat whilst guitarist Adam, the previously missing piece of the jigsaw puzzle, provided the lynchpin to their sound. These guys (and gal) were previously a band I really admired, but after tonight they’ve leapt into my absolute favourites! The B Of The Bang, old friends to this site already, were up next. It was a different set from these guys tonight, almost subdued by their standards, but in no way lacking the emotional punch they always pack. ‘Lung’ was particularly haunting with the slightly more sparse arrangement, and when Roberta joined Wit to sing ‘Dolores’ the hairs stood up on the back of this writer’s neck! Finally the returning Dawn Chorus took to the stage. I was a little apprehensive after seeing them at the Jelly Maid showcase, but tonight they showed just how foolish I can be! This was a superb set, bright and bubbly and sounding utterly lovely. In fact, on tonight’s evidence the band should go down an absolute treat on their forthcoming festival appearances! Track after track from their brilliant debut album soared through the venue, leaving the audiences beaming and toes everywhere tapping. Vocalist Kyle Evans sounded like he was having the time of his life and judging by the way the band were playing he wasn’t the only one. With the chiming trumpet of ‘The Big Adventure (Part Two)’ filling this listener’s head and sound tracking the whole of the weekend, I have spent the last couple of days wondering if this is the best line-up I’ll see on stage this year? It’ll certainly be tough to stop it!
Here at Call Upon The Author we’ve been keeping tabs on the good folks at Jelly Maid Music for some time. Last year we were dazzled by the debut release by Dawn Chorus and our thoughts on B of The Bang are well documented here. So, when we realised label boss Rich Tamblyn was putting all his acts on the same bill we thought it would be rude not to pop down to The Wedgewood Rooms and see what would unfold.
The B Of The Bang are, perhaps the most enigmatic of Portsmouth’s bands. Their lineup seems to be in constant flux, their sound is near impossible to pigeon hole and their frontman, Wit, is at once both a charismatic frontman and a seemingly reserved songwriter. All of this, of course, makes for a jumbled and ragged outfit and it’s in this dishevelled approach that the charm of the band lies. With this, their debut single on the Jelly Maid label, we finally see Wit and his myriad bandmatesmake a record that’s every bit as exciting as their live shows. Alfred Light The Firesis a beautiful track that shows a slightly mischievous side of Wit. There’s a hint of LozBridge in here too, fitting as Loz is one of the many musicians to crop up on stage with the band. The shifts in tempo and style seem strange at first, but with each listen the songgrows and spreads to the degree that I’m now very much in love! With a live version of the stunning Lung, recorded for Express FM, and a remixed take on Alaska this is a disc well worth investinga few pounds in. It certainly whets the appetite in anticipation of the forthcoming B Of The Bang album!
