20-10-2014

What The Fest?!

Seeing as I write everything way overdue these days, let's recap my WTFest 6 experience 2 weekends ago.

After travelling to Southampton, South England, UK, and arriving at my friend Andy's place, I was pretty stoked on a weekend of punk music, booze and friends old and new.

After a couple drinks in a short amount of time, including a chilli vodka which was the first vodka I actually liked, we went to Unit Club for the Thursday night show. More of an alternative/ska line-up so I wasn't particularly stoked.
My slight chance of enthusiasm was put into the deep ends of the universe when The Bitter Town Hounds played. A very, very awful mix of punkrock powerchord riffage, melodic nu-metal-ish guitar melodies and a rhythm section that did anything but pull it together. Oh well.
Up next were Arid Wave, a young band of Nirvana lovers. I don't know what's the deal, but apparently everyone thinks grunge is cool again? Cool band, definitely, but grunge for me stops at Nirvana and maybe Soundgarden, cause every other grunge band sounds like either one of those two (or, as I will point out later, Hole). So, enjoyable but boring.
Skipped Ghouls in favor of pizza. I don't know if it started then and there, but me and my good friend Joe started a running gag that kept on during the weekend about all things "pop punk". We'd try to be tru pop punk by wearing tie dyes, backwards caps, cat/pizza prints, being posi, eating pizza, being pumped/stoked and the likes. It was ectremely entertaining, although it probably doesn't sound like it was.
Back to the venue to see a bit of Tyrannosaurus Alan, realise there's trombones playing and have a beer in the smoking area. Not in the mood for ska.
Afterparty at The Hobbit with some Germans we accidently met. I love punk.

I awoke on Friday at 8am with Joe's hand grasping my chest. It was adorable. We went to the store to buy pancake ingredients and Lambrini wine, the worst wine ever made. Needless to say I started drinking at 9am and didn't really stop. Oops. I hung out with Joe all day and we got to the venue when Happy Accidents where supposed to play. They were running late apparently so Milk Teeth started off the night. Remember that thing about grunge I said earlier? Well, Milk Teeth is probably one of the few bands that are inspired by both Hole and Nirvana. They started off strong, especially loud, but at one point they played a quieter song and everything just kinda fell apart. They were really good and tight on the loud, screechy songs, but not as much when things took a mellower turn.
I'm not sure if Bleach Blood or Happy Accidents played next, but I am sure I have no idea if I saw Bleach Blood. I have no memory of it. Happy Accidents I sorta remember, they were really quirky and fun, so obviously I'm into that.
New supercombo Creeper, with members of Our Time Down Here (aka the English Alkaline Trio) and Hang The Bastard, took stage and drew such and extensive (local?) crowd that I couldn't get a good spot in the venue so I just went drinking by the bar. The venue, by the way, was The Joiners this time, which is a lovely L-shaped, small and cozy room.
I drank enough so I was super excited to see Great Cynics again. Danciest pop/punk/rock-trio ever. I danced mùy butt off and even partook in one of those classic UK human pyramids. So fun. It's so weird that it's such an Island folk thing to do, out here on the continent it doesn't happen that often, right? But it's a real fun time. Great Cynics were great as always (what's in a name?) and you know me, I can be cynical (what's in a -- oh, the joke's over). So yeah, good show. Scarier Area is one of my favourite songs in the world.
I stood outside for most of Moose Blood's set. Didn't really drag me in either. Good band, and according to Gregory they have a good song about a sweater, but yeah. Not my cup of blood.
Apologies, I Have None killed it. Good show as always. I have so little left to say about this band. This was the first show I saw them play without the scarf-wearing bass player. Good show though. I don't know who was on bass. It was a good show.



Friday night killed Saturday fun. I was sick more than once Saturday morning, including gagging reflexes and the whole shebang. I crawled out of bed at half past 1. Feeling a bit like something only Blake Schwarzenbach could describe, I went back to Joiners. Doe were just starting out as I arrived. No drinks for me though, I was still feeling bad. Doe were great fun though/doe. No bass player, kinda weird but it worked out and wasn't really noticeable unless you paid attention top the instruments (which is something people probably pay attention to at shows).
Pale Angels were the second bands that was part of the Specialist Subject Tour, and dang did they rule. Super groovy, nasty, fast and melodic punk rock with a hint of Husker Du. I think Mike Yannich usually plays in this band, but I reckon he had another band to tour with so they had a line-up variety. The Swedish god-like dude from The Arteries apparently plays in this band as well, really cool to see him on stage again.
Bangers were up next. Great fun. Surprisingly, at least I think so, this might have been the first time I've seen Bangers. Then again that seems like such a weird thing so it might not be. I have no idea. Anyway, great set, lotsa bangers and also some mash (stupid UK joke, sorry). They concluded the Specialist Subject Tour and went along to London with Doe and Pale Angels for another show in London apparently.
Harker played next. Never heard of them, pleasantly surprised. Powor pop/punk tunes with a great edge to the songs. Fun set, definitely enjoyed it.
Last show for the matinee, before the snack and beers break, was by my friends, hosts and all-round lovely people Misgivings. It was funny seeing them play last at this show, but I guess it made sense because the first three bands had another show and stuff. I literally told them they're not as good as those bands, and they even agreed, haha. Anyway, they did play a fun show, their former drummer watched them and sang along to all the songs, I sang along a bit and danced a bit and watched all of them being pretty anxious and hungover from anight of sleeping outside in the parking lot (but that's a different story). Fun band, great friends, I hope they get some cool support slots or whatever so people can get into them.

My first plan to get a bite was something greasy, like fried chicken or fish and chips. However, I stepped into the fish & chips store and got nauseous, went back to the venue bathroom and puked like hell. It did good though, my stomach was empty and I didn't feel as bloated and "about to throw up" anymore, caus I threw up. I decided to get a small meal at the pub and went for tomato soup and a grilled cheese, and that sort of hit the spot. I didn't really drink for the rest of the night though, just out of precaution. I'm becoming a responsible adult. Tee hee.

Back at the show I caught half of Dear Everyone, an acoustic duo with lovely voices and lovely songs but not enough P0NX to keep me interested. I'm v. punk. Muncie Girls was up next and seeing as they're probably my favourite band in the world I was most excited to see them play. They did really good and as per usual I loved the show. They play Crossbonefest this year as well, that's gonna be fun!
Onsind came up after that. I'd heard some songs and a lot of praise but yeah this was something else. Very good, extremely good. Also I didn't know these guys played in Martha as well. Great set, full house as well so I guess they're really liked. Amazing vocal melodies and harmonies
Next to Muncie Girls I was probably mostly stoked (what a pop punk thing to say!) to see Caves. Their Betterment LP is amazing, the other releases are great as well, and upon writing they've had a new record called Leaving since a week or 2. As for the show, lotsa fun. Lots of crowd reaction, singalongs and the likes. It started off pretty quiet, but Jens decided it was time to turn up the noise and pushed me into the "pit zone" was I Don't Care, I Don't Care kicked in. Amazing show start to finish, loved it. Not perfect, but really on-it and just pretty punk.
Andrew Jackson Jihad closed the night. I decided to watch from the back. They played for like an hour so after 20 minutes I got side-tracked to bar hangouts and drinks. It was fun to see/hear though. They're a great band.
Aftershow beer at some sketchy metalbar. Afterparty at Andy's house with Youtube videos.

I was feeling way better on Sunday. Good. Let's get partying one more time. I got some KFC for breakfast and found my way to Unit Club again. I missed Maria Kalavera's set, who I met earlier that weekend and she's a lovely lady. I did see and was impressed by Break-Ups. Intense, fun and gritty punk rock band not unlike many, but really good.
Dearly Beloved was really not my cup of tea. River Jumpers are always fun though. They're solid every time I see them, very consistent.
I was really excited to see Despite Everything, basically based on one track of them that I dearly love. They played a stellar set full of melodic punk jams, really good English and cloased off with If You're Going Through Hell (Keep Going), my jammmmm. Loved it.
Astpai were great as per usual. They really put on a great show and as some of the hardest working bands in the Europeon punk scene I can only applaud their gigantic discography. Above Them closed off the matinee show but I wasn't too into it. Mid-paced punk just doesn't transfer to my spirit as well in a live performance as it does on record. But it did set the mood for a soon to come Menzingers show (mid-paced punk supreme).

To be honest, I'm not that big on the Menzingers (anymore). I really liked some songs off of Chamberlain Waits, and some off of the first record, but didn't care enough to keep track of their records. Anyway, they were headlining so first I got to see the exciting trio The Holy Mess. Fast, loud, snarly (is that a word?), high-energy and just a tiny bit eclectic. I want to see the songs stick in your head immediately but it doesn take like 3 or 4 listens to really get into them. Anyway, show was great, great vocals as well.
The Smith Street Band is another hyped up band I never heard before. But they're super catchy, fun and anthematic so singing along and dancing was no problem. Don't fuck with our dreams ans the likes. Just a really fun and sweaty show. The Joiners gets really hot.
The Menzingers started off with that song about Assholes, played I Was Born and a song about fucking shit up, and then I kinda gave up. I heard Time Tables being played near the end of the set but I had decided pretty soon-ish to get gin-tonics at the bar. Good songwriters and talented band, just a tad boring to me.


08-10-2014

Stoned Dive

As always I'm way behind on blog stuff. I do wanna talk about this High Dive show I saw last month. They're one of my favourite current bands and amazing to see live so yeah there's that.

After a day of fishing with my co-workers I headed to Diest to check out High Dive at JH Tijl. I missed the first band but was right in time to check out The Liberation Service, a band I had never heard of before. Apparently they're from Austria. And apparently they rule. I was absolutely stunned by their set, thinking "this is the best thing I will ever see". That's how good they were. Absolutely fun, energetic, and with a bunch of cool violin parts in there it definitely grabbed my attention. Bought the CD, haven't gotten a proper listen but I think it's a good one. Loved it.

It was my second time seeing High Dive and my third time seeing Toby and Ryan play together. They haven't disappointed me yet and neither did they that night. A lot of new songs though, I think they played through the chole new EP (which is very good). The addition of Ginger Alford and Richard Wehrenberg to the band have definitely done them good. Layered guitar parts, relevant synths and an all-round good approach to alternative pop music. The lyrics still revolve around similar issues as they did before and the songs are still catchy and clever.
They did an encore of Tennessee, not really because they wanted to, mainly because they had to. Jens saying "Die gaan hier ni buiten voor ze Tennessee hebben gespeeld! Ik doen het hier op slot he!" killed me. Anyway, Amazing song and amazing ending to an already well-received set.

Great fun.