There are some things in life that are inevitable. Never mind death and taxes, the important thing is that the open-air festival season in the UK gets going in May no matter what the weather brings. For some of us that means a trip to the badlands of Lincolnshire and a weekend in the company of Call Of The Wild Festival. Since 2019 this tenacious little independent festival has somehow clung on despite the pandemic, and as I park the Moho up and crack the weekend’s first drink I can’t tell you how glad I am to be back. 

The weekend starts with a bang on the Thursday night with a party for the VIP guests. This consists of 3 carefully curated bands, a late-into-the night rock disco and a bar with various discounts and special offers so as you can imagine, it can be a bit messy! This year’s bands were Liberty Slaves (with their cheerful and humourous party rock), followed by Mettle (a very talented and very young local rock band) and finally Guns N Yorkshire Roses (go on, guess what they do?) With DJs and tunes until the early hours of the morning the party got off to a great start for those able to attend. 

Friday then and we are into the festival proper. This year we are opened by Loz Campbell, a young lady who plays blues with a pop/rock edge and gets the day going nicely.  

She’s followed by We Three Kings, although today there are only two kings. There is however a skeleton in a fetching crown where a 3rd King would be, so that’s OK. They are heavy, riff-laden blues and they make a hell of a racket for just two people. It’s catchier that expected, and not bad at all.  

Artax are a female-fronted band in the style of Paramore. The vocals are good despite somewhat angsty lyrics, and the set went down well.  

I’m reading and re-reading my notes about The Heat Inc, which appear to read “Heavy blues and tangerine butt cheeks”. Erm. Anyhow, beards and ponchos abound and they have many people nodding although I find them a little plodding. Crowd faves though, so possibly worth another look next time they are around.  

Archy & The Astronauts meanwhile cross pop-punk with grunge and have all of the energy, all of the time. I enjoyed them. 

Muddibrooke is the current project of former solo acoustic balladeer Harriet, and it’s a loud and brash affair. The intent is fierce, although occasionally the vocals are a little ethereal, and the resulting sound mixes a blues heart with a bit of jangly americana. They too draw an enthusiastic crowd and leave the stage to a very positive vibe.  

Back in the Trailblazer tent we find Dead Fire, a greebo good-time rock band who put me in mind of The Almighty. Their honest simplicity, decent riffs and cover of “Ace Of Spades” go down really well, and I strongly suspect we will see a lot more of them following this appearance.  

LaVire also lean towards the grunge, but in a slightly Hole or Pearl Jam direction. Their singer has massive, powerful vocals and the set is done well although to a slightly sparse crowd as we are now eight bands in and all but the diehards are looking for chairs or squeezing into the marquee (where the bar is!) for the next Trailblazer act.  

This is Big Iron, a Maiden-inspired twin guitar trad metal outfit, even though I suspect most of them weren’t born in the 1980s. They have travelled from Glasgow to play for us, and although the vocals are a little hit-and-miss occasionally they have a good solid sound and I would be happy to watch them again in future. They cover Van Halen’s “Hot For Teacher” and make it fast and fun, definitely one to watch! 

Until 9 are probably the heaviest band so far today, they offer an almost schizophrenic mix of clean and shouty vocals and are pretty hardcore. There’s no pit, but there’s a good few air guitars out down at the front and they also seem to be a firm crowd favourite.  

Following them I am surprised to find that Loz Campbell makes a second appearance – while no-one questions the wisdom of her performing twice at the festival it does seem a little odd that both sets are on the same day! On the Trailblazer stage her melodic blues fizz with bounce and smiles. It’s a bit heavy on the intro tapes perhaps, but overall a very enjoyable performance.  

Which brings us to Dobermann. Oh. My God. Easy contenders for band of the weekend for me, and so early in the proceedings too! They flew in from Italy in a mass of curtly hair, skinny legs and guyliner, and they just blew the stage up. Finally some melodic sleaze performed with panache and style. The music was bright and summery, but also dark and sleazy. It picked you up and twirled you around, and just elevated the spirit to a height of ecstasy not so far encountered on these stages today. They throw out a tribute to Lemmy with a cover of ‘Please Don’t Touch’ and also for the second time today we hear ‘Hot For Teacher’ as they close with it, but in the meantime their own material is a vibrant mess of good-time rock, whoa-oh choruses and massive hooks. I loved every second of it. Oh and did I mention the fire-eating? No? Well that happened too! 

Phew, so how do you follow that? Well how about a fresh-faced bunch of decadent-looking French guys belting out a similar but also completely different brand of sleazy rock? Oh yes please, and that’s exactly what HARSH do. It’s a little harder, a little faster, and starts with an ear-shattering scream. After that it’s a blur of hummable uptempo songs with superb vocal harmonies and the almost inevitable whoa-oh chorus. There’s clapalong, there’s bare chests, there’s hair flying everywhere and it’s all a bit epic. There’s a bottle of Jack on the drum riser, which is generously shared with the audience and cups are eagerly passed forward and filled so we can cheer them even more loudly. Covers-wise they pad the set out with a handful of rock standards, but put their own lipstick-coated stamp on them. ‘Born To be Wild’ is followed by Michael Sembello’s ‘Maniac’ and they finish up by dragging Dead Fire back on stage for a truly raucous version of ‘Johnny B Goode’ that leaves both band and crowd breathless and sated. Wow. 

The return of She Burns Red is an interesting thing to behold. Having recently parted company with their tall, be-kilted bassist and shared vocalist under a bit of a cloud, they have managed to replace him with one of the youngsters from Big Iron and I’m curious to see how this pans out because can you keep a secret? I wasn’t a big fan of this band before, shhhh. I could see that they were good, but on a personal level they didn’t gel with me. I’m therefore happy to report that the new, invigorated She Burns Red are vastly superior. Their fast rock/metal is catchy as a fleet of Icelandic boats and the band themselves are a blur of movement and energy. They are joined briefly by a guest appearance from Beth Blade which is a bit of a delight to behold, and on the strength of this performance I think I am finally “getting” them.  

Scarlet Rebels on the other hand have long been a personal favourite, and tonight they pull out all the stops. A new album release is due from them imminently, and they are here to show us that although they have been away from the scene for a little while working on it they are back with a bullet. Their music is high-energy melodic rock, with superb vocals and just a touch of shredding from ultra-bendy guitarist Chris. It’s like Bon Jovi on steroids, but with Welsh accents, and as they punch through a set of old favourites and a couple of new tasters it’s like being greeted by an old friend. They are also kings of the heart-tugging power ballad, and their magnum opus in this field ‘Heal’ is tonight’s set closer much to the delight of the crowd.  

So here we are, first outdoor festival of the year, and it’s not rained yet. That continues as headliners The Quireboys take to the stage. It’s probably important to mention here that there are currently two versions of this band around on the scene. The Quireboys are the band as they were when a somewhat acrimonious split with charismatic singer Spike occurred. Tonight however, we are here to witness the rebirth of the man himself and this is Spike’s Quireboys, even down to the logo featuring his trademark carnation. He’s curated the band to meet his own needs so as well as the husky-voiced troubadour we have Willie Dowling on keyboards, original bassist Nigel Mogg returns to the fold after many years, and finally oh my days, guitar duties are competently handled by Luke Morley of Thunder. Wow. With this kind of pedigree you know you are in for an interesting experience, and from the opening notes to the final chords everything is just as expected. All The Quireboys standards are here, and all sound as good as they ever did.

The sound at the start is a little muffled and muddy and I’m not sure if it’s someone pressing the wrong buttons, the strong wind carrying it away, or the lack of the usual second guitar that is striking a slightly off note. It soon clears up though, and we see that Spike has lost none of his charisma, none of his slightly risqué humour and definitely none of his unique voice. Song after song is belted out, but as well as old favourites like ‘Whipping Boy’, ‘Mayfair’ and ‘Sweet Mary Jane’ we hear a track or two from the upcoming new album. Spike is, as always, in fine voice, and seems slightly more sober tonight than he often is. He trades banter with his slightly more taciturn compadres, and I note that the new songs are very much in the usual style.

A lot of people seem to sneer at The Quireboys, but as I look around me I see happy faces singing along to familiar tunes and as the final notes of set closer ‘7 O’clock’ and ‘I Don’t Love You Anymore’ fade into the darkness I feel like I am snuggled in a warm and comfortable blanket. Spike is back, and he’s doing what he does best – entertaining folk with music they can hum along to. As I said right back at the very start of this review there are some things that never change. Spike and his Quireboys are one of those things, but if it ain’ t broke why would you try to fix it? 

Once the bands finish there is an afterparty in the bar with rock DJs, cheap shots and (allegedly) a trombone, but my feet have had enough and I retire to bed knowing that old bands or new there is a plethora of great rock music out there ready to be enjoyed.  

Check the “In The Flesh” page for more photos!
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