Merthyr Rock/Hit The Deck – apparently better than Reading Festival

I may just be digging my own grave around here, but I’m not a fan of huge festivals. I’m all for the live music, overpriced chips, getting a bit tiddly in a field with my mates, but trying to sleep in a tiny rustling pod next to a tent full of rutting scene kids just isn’t my style. I like cut price chain hotels, kettles and tiny sachets of coffee. And to that end, mini day-festivals are fast becoming my favourite summer past time. In 2011 the gods made it so that the UK was gifted with a veritable plethora of day festivals. Thank you benevolent unseen beings, thank you.

Although I couldn’t get to half as many as I wanted, two particular tiny festivals made such an impact on my well-rested and showered self, that I feel compelled to share their merits with the world. They’re also both running again in 2012 with equally as good line-ups, so why not book a nearby hotel room and get your party on!

 

Merthyr Rock

As the summer draws to an end and the UK’s largest festivals have come and gone, leaving a wave of blurry photographs and fabric wristbands in their wake, outdoor music tends to go into hibernation until the next year. While those attending Download, Sonisphere and their indie brothers plough money into huge week-long camping excursions, those left behind either through money or travel constraints are left with a certain bitter taste in their mouth. And that is when Merthy Rock comes into play. For little over twenty quid, you had the opportunity to spend a wet September day in a tent in a Welsh field… wait. Okay, perhaps it’s not the most glamorous location in the world, but the lineup soon silences any disparaging comments. While the small, tent-free outdoor stage ultimately suffered at the hands of the Merthyr weather, the main tent provided an exhaustingly wonderful string of bands, none of who could be said to have given a half-arsed performance. With signing sessions throughout the day and burger vans that didn’t require you to sell a kidney in order to afford a tray of wilted chips, it’s a small festival that really deserves to pick up momentum and continue for many years to come. While 2011 was a two-day festival, with sets from Ocean Colour Scene and Goldie Lookin’ Chain on the 3rd, understandably more attention was showered on the day of the 4th where home-grown heroes The Blackout were headlining. Before the Welsh wonders took to the stage, we were treated to solid, quality performances by the likes of My Passion, Young Guns and Skindred to name a few. While all other bands were well and good, The Blackout stole the show with one of the most powerful and emotionally-charged performances I’ve ever seen. Definitely a ‘Woodstock Moment’ for all waves of Blackout fans.

 

Hit The Deck

Hit The Deck, hosted in Nottingham’s veritable rabbit-warren of a venue, Rock City, was a particular musical highlight of 2011. A one-day, cripplingly wonderful ‘alternative’ spectacular spread over three smaller venues, Hit The Deck proved its worth in booking some of the hottest new bands on the UK scene and secured its future success. While hosted in a run of the mill, rather unremarkable venue, Hit the Deck festival managed to comfortably secure its own identity and enthusiastic following. Rather surprisingly, on the whole, it was an incredibly well organised set up with clean rotation on the merch tables, smooth switch-overs between bands, good scheduling and an expert grouping of genres. With mini competitions for small unsigned bands to play opening slots, it also felt very inclusive, accessible and an achievable aspiration for future young groups. Personally, my highlights of 2011 included a beautiful little surprise set from rising stars, We Are Fiction, a performance by Young Guns which proved so compelling that the venue had to operate a ‘one in-one out’ policy and a triumphant show by Deaf Havana who continued to prove that they didn’t need a screamer to tear the roof off the building. With yet another promising lineup in 2012 (Including Kids in Glass Houses and Yashin), you’d be a fool to miss out.

So go on, part with your cash and get adding to that wristband collection!

We Are Fiction – Prince of Wales Leamington Spa, 14/10/11

The Prince of Wales in Leamington is a charming “pub lounge” at the end of Warwick Street. It’s got kooky decorations (including a very weird lampshade with naked Barbies attached to it), comfortable and stylish seating and a nice little conservatory space at the back. This space regularly gets overtaken with rowdy bands. Tonight was We Are Fiction’s turn.

Rewards and Revenge were support for this show. They were alright. Well, okay, they were more than alright, but they were also pretty much just a covers band. If they had any of their own songs, they blended so much into the covers material that they were doing that it was just unnoticeable. There were indeed a lot of fun covers – a bit of Blitzkrieg Bop, I Fought The Law and Kick Out The Jams went down very well – but ultimately, they borrowed too much of the 70s and 80s and didn’t bring their own twist to it. However, they were perfectly accomplished with a clear talent for performing. Perhaps in time, they’ll come to find their own sound and no doubt when they do, it’ll be pretty impressive.

We Are Fiction… oh my. At the beginning of the set, vocalist Phil warned everyone to keep back because they like to move and my gosh, do they. The band have so much energy and were thrashing about on the floor and jumping off unstable sideboards like there was no tomorrow. They played an average length set – about 40 minutes – but looked as if they could have played all night, which is actually awesome because it’s great to see a band really loving what they do. They played a mixture of old and new songs (which were thankfully described in the right way – although I have listened to the band before and enjoyed them on record, I’m not totally up to date with it all) which went down well. Finishing on old favourite Sail On was a great move as the crowd had microphones shoved in their face and Chris tried to sing in tune. Bless. The dynamics between members were fantastic – the dual vocalist approach that everyone’s after these days has been perfected in We Are Fiction, with Phil’s rasping scream being perfectly countered by Marc’s impassioned clean vocals. The band are really together, no doubt aided by Tom’s incredible drumming; dubstep beats? No problem. But most importantly, We Are Fiction are so much fun – they banter, they throw themselves into each other while remaining perfectly on task and they rule. Simple as.

The US has its own particular brand of post-hardcore coming out at the moment, with bands such as letlive., Touche Amore and Tiger’s Jaw all contributing to “The Wave”. Britain certainly has its rival wave, in bands like Deaf Havana, Lower Than Atlantis and of course, We Are Fiction. It’s difficult to determine whether we or our American friends have the better scene at the moment, but at the very least, We Are Fiction are at the forefront of ours and they deserve all the accolades you can throw at them. That was probably one of the best performances I’ve seen all year. Make sure you don’t miss them when they hit up your town.