We wake up early and make our way onsite as Johann joins us to take photos of the weekend and film my interviews. Everyone we meet seems fresh and eager to attack the day, hungry for more excellent tech-metal. For our Dark Overord there’s no easing in here, as once he’s grabbed his photo pit pass he’s thrust into the fray to cover Greylotus. The fun daytime TV show intro shows how cheeky these guys are, but belies how heavy and serious their music is.
Read MoreUK Tech-Fest is more than a festival – it’s a family and a community. It genuinely feels like returning home when you enter through the box office and get your wristband put on. It’s a festival that genuinely creates a feeling of welcoming, inclusion, passion and dedication. Add to that lashings of technically impressive progressive metal, infectious on-stage performers, enough merch to sink a battleship and plenty of booze, and you’ve got what is now my favourite festival. First seen in 2012 (and at Newark Showground since 2014), the not-for-profit festival has only been possible thanks to the tireless devotion of founder Simon Garrod and his annually returning group of volunteers.
Read MoreNot only have we given you our Stewart's thoroughly subjective view of the weekend (iron maiden fans for £20 you can happily have his home address), we can now give you a bonus additional sunday retrospective. You see our Alex was there too and this is what he thought:
Read MoreWell, that's went blooming quick. No sooner has it all started than the final day is upon us. But it is all good. The sun is still shining, there are still some alcoholic beverages available to purchase (it's cider but any port in a storm) and we have a brace of bands to watch. The first port of call is Bristolian symphonic metallers Control The Storm. Given the price of fuel these days they must have blown their appearance fee in the first track as there is an awful lot of pyro present.
Read MoreIt's Saturday morning, the sun is shining and the shuttle buses are shuttling. In fact, I have got very little to moan about, so let's go straight into the bands. Our day starts with Californian natives Dirty Honey who are playing their first show on the shores. Their retro-fuelled sound brings to mind The Black Crowes’ electrifying opening set on these very grounds thirty-one years ago. They share the ability to feel simultaneously authentic but also thoroughly modern. They have taken a much-trodden route and made it very much their own.
Read MoreIt's been three long years (whilst it was awesome Diddy Download doesn't count) but here we are reunited on the hollow grounds of Donington Park. The first point to make is how normal it feels. There is something weird about entering those gates and automatically you know where everything is. Dogtooth is over there, second stage is over there and the bars are there, there and there. The layout of the Download festival is so ingrained in our psyche that it actually didn't feel that I left in 2019. My soul's been here all the time hanging round that space where the dog should be just waiting for my body to return.
Read MoreUnfortunately, what I thought was a Sunday morning hangover turned out o be a bit more than that, and I missed a handful of bands at the start of the day as I struggle to surface on day 4. I’m not sure what the festival equivalent of Dheli belly is, let’s just say it’s the opposite of a rock block and leave it there. Anyhow, I wasn’t my usual sparkly self on Sunday and quite a bit of the day managed to pass me by. Johann was out and about with the camera though, so we have some decent galleries of the bands that I didn’t see even if there are no words for them.
Read MoreSaturday dawn is fresh and bright and today’s openers were Rxptors, metalcore times Maiden so you kind of got two for the price of one. Proper heavy if you like that sort of thing but it wasn't really for me.
Men In Black were also thrashy as anything but had hipster beards and side shaves. Competent, but again not really my thing.
Read MoreI realise as I am going about my morning ablutions that looking at the schedule there is no way I am going to be able to catch every band over the next 3 days. It’s already a late start for me (because bacon) so I decide to just roll with it and see as much as I can. Those I’ve missed, I will try to catch you elsewhere later in the year.
The first victims of the Bacon Incident are Steal The City, who sounded okay from the campervan! So the first band of the day for me was Twister. They play melodic hard rock and are from the north east.
Read MoreWhat have you missed most during what we are now thinking of the Lockdown Years? When you were sitting at home, doing your duty to your fellow man, where did you really want to be? For me it was this. Call Of The Wild entered our lives in a blaze of glory in 2019, and although small it was so well=organised that I was waiting eagerly for the following years where it would grow exponentially. And then? Boom. The world stopped. Festivals got postponed, rolled over. The brave people at Call of the Wild tried their best for us, we thought we might be able to get back here last October but sadly it wasn’t to be. So as I pull my (t)rusty campervan onto the site this weekend it seems impossible that it’s been 3 long years since the last one. 3. Long. Years.
Read MoreA bit scant on detail but better late than never…
Last month over 1000 people descended on the Lincolnshire Showground for Primordial Radio’s General Mayhem. It didn’t feel like five minutes since the last one in September, when camping was far more pleasant… brrrrrrrrrrr.
Anyway, I won’t go on too much about the venue, camping etc. as sadly this is probably the last time Primordial will be hosting an event at the showground but a special shout-out to Sean Ayling aka Sean The Brewer from Tom’s Tap and Brewhouse in Crewe who provided the alcohol. Always a delight and if you haven’t sampled his wares yet, or indeed visited his establishment, I heartily recommend.
Read MoreBy Mjolnir the mighty hammer of Thor I am out of my depth here! Due to other commitments I am only able to do the one day at Hard Rock Hell’s annual beard and helmet fest, and I have no idea what to expect. I mean it’s (supposed to be) Scandi-rock Jim, but not as I know it…… only of course it’s not. This is a rollover from 2020 and due to the dreaded ‘rona the line-up looks very different from the one originally booked. It’s all UK bands and I have no idea if they fit with the Viking theme as I’m a fish out of water here – I only know two of the bands playing. So let’s just play it by ear and see what happens right?
Read MoreDamnation Festival is at the end of the day a labour of love by a couple of fan boys who felt their distinct tastes in Metal were not be catered for elsewhere. Over the last sixteen years it has morphed, moved and grown, but it has never ever lost its deep-seeded independence. It is that independent spirit that has so connected it with its immensely loyal fanbase, to the point that the festival sold out in March this year, over nine months before the actual show. Damnation is not a corporate money-making exercise, it may now have a capacity of three thousand (soon to be nearer six) and command a headliner of Carcass’s stature, but it is still very much that labour of love for the organisers.
Read MoreWe ended our Damnation 2019 review by stating that we were already counting down the 365 days till the next one. Well, we got that spectacularly wrong, didn’t we? Damnation 2021 has been a long-time coming and has faced many hurdles during its elongated gestation period. But here we are back together once more at Leeds University Students Union.
Read MoreWe stand on the edge of the precipice. This time next week we will all be deep in the bowls of the Labyrinth that is Leeds Student Union. You see, even though it felt that it would never come around, we are now a mere seven days away from Damnation 2021. Well, what a journey it has been. For obvious reasons Damnation 2020 went off with the fairies and the bill that we will feast our eyes and ears on next Saturday bears little or no resemblance to the one that they launched late last year. BUT it is testament to the tremendous work of Gavin McInally and Paul Farrington that, not only, has it been sold out since March this year, but they have managed to put together a much stronger bill than they had at the start. There is also the small matter of an absolute cracker of an opening party in the shape of Night of Salvation (this Friday, tickets still available!!!).
Read MoreIt’s day three of Badgerfest and our Sarah has taken a well earnt early bath and gone home to put her feet up. I’ve taken on the reviewing baton and steel myself for a full on day of metal. As said, this is the third and final day and as an urban city-based festival it is always going to be a struggle to get punters out of their own beds/ hotel rooms / friend’s couches and into the venue for a 1.30pm start. The answer is simple. You stick the most hyped local band in decades into that opening slot.
Read MoreAfter my hotel booking for the weekend was randomly cancelled with barely any notice, I decided I would be more than capable of getting the train to Badgerfest each day. Day 2 and I am regretting that thought already, as I whizz through Warrington and Newton Le Willows, unable to get lost in my usual daydreamy train thoughts (todays is “They missed a trick last night not covering the Badger song”) as I am alarmingly close to Dave and his workmates having a staff day out and sipping their pre mixed G and Ts.
Read MoreWe all knew it was going to be a moment of pure joy, but words cannot adequately express the ecstasy of finally being back in a room with such a wonderful group of people and such an excellent line up of some of the finest UK metal bands.
Badgerfest’s opening day arrived in with a bang... that bang being John Badgers foot on the bass drum of the kit.
Read MoreSunday starts not with a bang, but more of a splat. There is an Issue with the toilets, namely that the company that was supposed to come and clear them out on a regular basis over the weekend hasn’t turned up. This has led to a bit of a crisis, as those of us camping are faced with (literally) brimming cubicles, and the arena can’t open for health and safety reasons. Thankfully after frantic ringing around a replacement pumping company is found, and the situation is relieved. As are the campers!
Read MoreIt’s an early start after a late night as we trundle along the M62 in the campervan. The weather is looking promising, and we arrive in plenty of time to get settled in before the bands start. This event has expanded from one day to 3 this year, to make up for having to roll over from 2020, and the campsite is busy but well-organised. You can pitch your tent next to your car (which is handy) and those of us in vans just park them up in an available space. Everything is compact, it’s a very short walk to the arena, in fact there are several places where you can sit outside your tent, car or van and both see and hear the main stage pretty well.
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