Live Review : RockWich Festival on August 27th 2023

Sunday morning and it’s raining, a lot. This doesn’t affect the festival though as it’s indoors, and the lovely people at the venue even put on breakfast for the somewhat soggy campers. Let’s be honest, everything is better with bacon, right? (Veggie options are available!) Being indoors, rain cannot stop play and before we know it it’s lunchtime and the main event is kicking off.  

This year the first band up is King Voodoo. Now I’ll be honest here I thought I'd seen these before a few years back and not been impressed. Today however King Voodoo were a classic blues based rock band with a cute bass player and they gave us a solid start to the day, They had decent clean vocals and decent melodies. OK there wasn’t anything outstanding, but at the same time it was done well and I enjoyed it. Oh, and they have a pointy drummer so they get a couple of extra points for that! There were some nice harmonies on the penultimate song and all in all it was a pleasant start to the day. 

Zac And The New Men had some sound issues to start with. There was no guitar and very little vocal for the first couple of songs, the bass and drums were good but they were all I could hear! It did eventually get sorted out and once the full sound kicked in it's ok. This band are very young, and they appear to have been influenced by their grandad’s record collection and their grandma’s wardrobe, but once you get through the fur coat and sea of paisley they did a kind of retro funky version of Led Zeppeilin’s ‘Immigrant Song’ and then turned into Radiohead for the rest of the set. Odd musical bedfellows but they worked it well, and their energy and enthusiasm lit up the room.  

When Kinstrife take to the stage I think they must be Irish, but it turns out they are actually from Somerset. There’s a definite Celtic tinge to their brand of hard rock, a bit of a folk or even pirate vibe and also a fair bit of Thin Lizzy influence. This gives them a gritty sound and I like it. They're down to earth and solid and every now and again they chuck a hint of Southern rebel rock into the mix just to confuse me. They're not breaking any boundaries but they're a capable bedrock of a band and I enjoy them very much.  

The Dukes of Bordello offer something different. They have a stand-up double bass and they cross their metal edge with some good old rock and roll. It's catchy sing-along stuff, whoop ass music. In places it’s almost like Motorhead but played in country! I do notice at one point that the riff from ELOs ‘Don't Bring Me Down’ sneaks into one of the songs but it doesn’t last long, it’s soon submerged into a faster, crazier chord progression. There’s a song dedicated to and all about Wilko Johnson, it's proper Stray Cats rock and roll now, and I spot a certain Mr Burke in the crowd dancing his pants off to it. The whole set is a welcome change from the all-out rock that makes up the rest of the bill, and it’s nice to have something just a little different to watch and listen to.  

A’Priori are all flying hair and gorgeous riffs again. I've seen them so many times now I'm running out of words to describe them! A hard-working hard rock band who can stand up and hold their own with the best of them seems to cover it quite well actually. There are a couple of standout tracks (‘Halo’ and ‘Nah Nah Nah’) and the rest of the set is blues heavy riff loaded rock. They’re not exactly a party band, but they always bring a good time. There's lots of audience participation and it's just fun all the way to the end.  They really get the place jumping the last song ‘Wasted Years’ (no not that one) ends the set on a high note and with a bit of a flourish. 

Lords Of Ruin have risen from the ashes of Cumbrian Metalli-heads Die No More, to give a blast of Very Metal to the proceedings. Vocalist Dox sports some nifty corpse paint and a decent vocal range, including some screaming and growling, so things are suddenly pretty serious. Suddenly we are in the presence of Evil, and the devil made us do it. It’s not all bludgeon though, there’s a lot of melody going on as well and in places they even dip a questing toe into Jovi territory. There’s some superb twin guitar duelling and exchanges and again the crowd is very eager and enthusiastic. There's a ballad ‘Walk The Line’ (no not that one either) and the room is swaying and loving the change of pace. I like this side of them but I also like the pounding hard edged metal up your ass side too, its good to see a band who can switch it up so easily and do it so well.   

Daxx and Roxane are up next. I love this band, they're bouncy and upbeat and just totally smiley. The guitarist is the most un-rockstar-looking looking rockstar ever but when he starts to play magic happens. It's all high energy fun, hard rock at its finest. There's a brand new song ‘Faceless’ and it's more of the same, it makes you bounce from foot to foot with the classic timeless sound. There’s hints of Kiss I think in the music and it's so well performed. It's stirring and I need to go and have a sit down now because my feet hurt! 

Takeaway Thieves are also high energy but in a more sleazy kind of way. Again for the first couple of songs the sound is a bit dodgy - the vocals are very low in the mix and there seems to be a lot of feedback on the guitar. It’s soon fixed though, and we get back to getting our dancing feet working. Getting a whoah-oh chorus right is something of an art form in rock and these boys have mastered it to perfection. The music is like a gentle caress with a cudgel; you know it could hurt but it's done with love so it's more of a tickle! The crowd is thinner at the back but dangerous and engaged at the front, and it’s hard to see the band for the forest of waving arms and air guitars. I marvel that a band who move so much manage to fit on to what's a relatively small stage, but somehow they manage to finish the set without twatting each other – just!  A new song gets aired ‘Sundance to Sundown’ which I really enjoy except that the bloody hook and chorus is still swirling round my head some 2 days later. They finish as always with ‘This is Rock & Roll’ and I say it every time but it is, it really is.  

Twister is another cracker of a hard rock band. I've watched them grow and mature over the last five or six years, and it’s been quite a journey for them. The lineup still hasn’t stabilised and tonight another new guitarist is debuted (the fourth one this year I think?) but he looks good, he plays well and he seems to fit in with he general Twister ethos so it’s all good. This is a band who write anthems not just songs. It's commercial and radio-friendly whilst retaining a sharp edge. Although singer/guitarist Stevie is the focal point, the stalwart of the band is drummer Jack who sits at the back keeping the beat and basking in the heat. Here we have another band who do a decent line in whoah-oh sing-along choruses and get a great crowd response in turn. They finish with their anthemiest anthem ‘64 White Lies’ which skirts along the edge of metalcore in places. I can see this band having a really great future in front of them, they're very dedicated, very hardworking and very very good. 

She Burns Red are a band that should be familiar to me but somehow whenever I have been in the same place as them so far I seem to have somehow managed to miss seeing them so tonight I’m viewing them with fresh eyes. My first thought was that they're quite AOR, and then they kind of strayed more into Pearl Jam early 90s territory. Those two influences are strange bedfellows indeed but somehow the band manage to weave them together seamlessly into a sound that’s actually quite unique. There's a lot of jumping which is a little bit worrying because frontman James McCullough is a very tall man and Witton Albion FC’s clubhouse has a very low ceiling. Thankfully the tiles and his head remain undamaged and we continue with twin vocals, twin guitars and an awful lot of power and emotion. It's quite an intense set and the crowd response is good. The enthusiasm is like a wave, and I feel like the band are even a little taken aback in places when their lyrics get sung back to them or along with them. Based on this performance I am really looking forward to seeing them again when there are a few less other bands playing and I can give them a bit more attention and immerse myself further into their music.  

Next up is South Of Salem, my perennial favourite goth-glam rockers. They smash into ‘Let Us Prey’ and it's immediately obvious that this band have outgrown venues of this size. The room is rammed, front to back and side to side there are just heaving bodies moving to the music and flowing into it. For the first time today I think every festival attendee is here for this performance. Yet again the sound was a little bit off to start with but it soon got fixed and once we could hear the guitars we were reminded again just how bloody good this band is. I’m really running out of words to describe them, how they weave humour-tinged horror lyrics with tight melodies, driving rhythm and amazing showmanship. How they do nothing new but present it so professionally and cheerfully that you get carried along on a wave of adoration. They have been working on a new album “Death Of The Party” which is due to be released in January, and we are treated to airings of both the title track and another new song ‘Static’. Both sounded pretty good to these ears, and received a rapturous response from the capacity crowd. I have a feeling that gigs like this will be moments to cherish in the future - seeing a band of this calibre in a venue of this size is something that's very special indeed when they're playing arenas we'll all be able to boast about how we were there at the start for them! The favourite old songs are played too, and go down equally as well. ‘Pretty Little Nightmare’ and ‘Cold Day In Hell’ work magic and this is an absolutely awesome performance from a band who have a fantastic future in front of them. All power to them, I'd love to see them get success that they richly deserve. 

So how do you follow that? Luckily for Hollowstar they are something of a contrast, a different proposition. They are a very tight and together band that consists of absolutely excellent musicians but I would have to be honest and say they leave me a little cold. I don’t dislike them, and I have nothing negative to say about them at all. Their songs are well-crafted, they pack a powerful punch and the slightly reduced crowd are really getting down with them, but I don’t see it myself. There songs have deep meaning and send a powerful message, all wrapped in a package of killer chords and some blisteringly hot guitar solos. There's a couple of songs they do that I really enjoy, they do a cover of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s ‘Simple Man’ that is just beautiful and their whole set is a powerhouse of classic rock tunes. I just preferred some of the other bands, sorry guys!  

By now we are feeling a little rocked out, so it’s just as well that tonight’s final band is The Treatment. You know what you’re getting with these boys, and that is basically a party. It’s simple but effective, they throw shapes, they do flying hair, they do power chords. Tom's fake US accent is a little amusing at first, although his normal native twang kicks in later on as the rock continues. The crowd is enthusiastic but I have to say it's probably about half the size it was for South of Salem. One of my only complaints about this particular festival is that they pack so much good music, so many good bands into a single day that by the end of it we are all totally knackered and despite their brilliance it’s hard to muster the enthusiasm The Treatment deserve. The band let us know they're going to be supporting Buckcherry on their upcoming UK tour so that's something to look out for, should be a hell of a night. They are giving it their all and it's good but I have to be honest and say they just essentially got blown off the stage. They started the set with ‘Let’s Get Dirty’ and finished with ‘Shake The Mountain’ and kept the energy fizzing and the rock flowing at all points in between. As an encore we all got our ‘Party On’ and sang and danced like the floor was on fire even though by this point the party was nearly over. The crowd sing back for the chorus was loud enough even though slightly diminished and the evening ended on a fabulous high.  

So there we go, I made it back to Rockwich and it felt like coming home. There are bigger festivals, there are probably better ones but somehow this little corner of Cheshire manages to rock hard enough for even the most dedicated music fan. Prometheus Promotions have created something that is small but perfectly formed, and I can’t wait to see what they have in store for us in 2024.