‘WASHED OUT FESTIVAL’, BRIGHTON: DAY TWO 14.4.18
57 modern punk, emo and hardcore bands today! ‘Washed Out’ festival in Brighton goes full-throttle in delivering an aural assault on the eardrums.
The ‘Washed Out’ festival is sure living up to its name as after managing to grab a load of just 10 of the 57 speed merchants on offer, I am literally feeling totally washed out!
Add to the 4 bands that I saw yesterday on day one, I managed to see 14 full sets of the 67 on offer. Credit must surely go to Apple Shampoo Events for organising such as terrific event across six venues in Brighton town centre (The Quadrant, Sticky Mike’s Frog Bar, The Prince Albert, The Hope & Ruin, The Green Door Store and East Street Tap).
The ‘Washed Out’ two day festival highlights what’s going down on the heavy underground scene here locally in Brighton and what else is currently active within the UK and even internationally.
I chose to start day two at the Prince Albert for one band and then toddle on over to the Hope & Ruin for the remaining nine acts. My ten choices were Daggermouth, Ducking Punches, Evertim, Gender Roles, Harker, Hora Douse, Lost Avenue, Scarecrow Boat, SummerSlam 88 and The Burnt Tapes.
So kicking off day two, the running order was…
The Burnt Tapes: These four geezers (Phil, Pan, Jo and the unforgettable big guy Tone) are surprisingly coming out of Greece, but now are based in London. They played an excellent set which is akin to Blink 182. Their setlist was: ‘Alterations’, ‘Wayne Regretzky’, ‘Codename’, ‘Oh, Marie’, ‘Bocelli’, ‘Birds And Birds’, ‘Go Drunk, You’re Home’, ‘The End Of Airlie Gardens’, ‘Things Get Weird’. Listen to them here: https://burnttapes.bandcamp.com/
Scarecrow Boat: Toby, Dom, Joe and Tom make up this young Southampton based four-lad outfit who should be releasing a record soon. They come across as a modern day Buzzcocks and jolly good they are too. Their setlist was: ‘Woes’, ‘Loved’, ‘Jerk De Soleil’, ‘Proper Chorus’, ‘Tap Tap Revenge’, ‘Han Solo’, ‘Pathetic’. Listen to them here: https://scarecrowboatpunk.bandcamp.com/
Lost Avenue: Out of Derry in Northern Ireland, this trio of Dylan Bradley (vocals, guitar), Dualta Lewington (bass) and Charlie Cairns (drums) actually released their debut album ‘Fears’ on the day of the gig. Dylan applies shouty vocals and altogether they make loud fast punk music. Their setlist was made up of eight of their ten album tracks: ‘All My Wins’, ‘Audrey’, ‘Reinvent Yourself’, ‘Heard You Say’, ‘Uncool Ethan’, ‘Self Esteem’, ‘Homesick’, ‘The Start Of The Show’. Listen to them here: https://wearelostavenue.bandcamp.com/
Hora Douse: An unassuming but loveable trio of three Manchester lads (Tom Lee, Jonny Russell, Reece Gibson) who flit between post-punk, grunge and melodic hardcore. They have just released their terrific single ‘Outgrow/Anything’, which addresses mental health and how it affects you. Their sadly short setlist was: ‘Wither’, ‘Buried’, ‘Outgrow/Anything’, ‘Crash’, ‘Bored’, ‘Speak’. Listen to them here: https://horadouse.bandcamp.com/
SummerSlam 88: Are Brightons very own thrash merchants who tend to enjoy it fast and short. Tonight was a rare outing for Luke, Gary, Luca and Matt and they made the most of it. Their setlist apparently was: ‘Intro’, ‘Lloyd Dobler’, ‘Greater Than Signs Don’t Work In Song Titles So This Had To Do…’, ‘My Other Band’, ‘Popular’, ‘The Prawn Don’t Know’, ‘YOLO’, ‘When I Break’, ‘Tinylittlesmallsong’, ‘D.I.Y SOS’, ‘Last Song’, ‘Jerry Wong’. Listen to them here: https://summerslam88.bandcamp.com/
Gender Roles: Brightons very own long-haired Nirvana-esque globetrotters had whizzed back home from an EP promoting gig in London in just two hours to play for us today. Tom Bennett (guitar), Jared Tomkins (bass) and Jordan Lilford (drums) were well on form and can next be seen live in Brighton at The Great Escape. Their setlist was: ‘Gills’, ‘Chemicals’, ‘Plastic’, ‘Always Hanging Up’, ‘About Her’, ‘Watered Down’, ‘Teeth’, ‘Skin’. Listen to them here: https://hangerrecords.bandcamp.com/album/planet-x-ray
Evertim: Another Brighton band that are doing rather nicely on the emo pop-punk front thank you. The personnel is made up of two girls Georgia Challinor (drums) and Phoebe Constable (bass) with two boys, Ben Foxhall (guitar) and Alex Tuck (vocals, guitar). They had tons of energy and were jumping around the stage like mad men, as they had battery packs with their guitars and thus they didn’t need plugging in and so no wires to get in the way. Their next gig is headlining the Green Door Store on 6th May. Their setlist was: ‘Clouds’, ‘Let Me Go’, ‘Second Bite’, ‘The Road We Claim Our Own’, ‘Knots’, ‘Tuesday’. Listen to them here: https://evertim.bandcamp.com/
Harker: Brighton’s very own USA influenced fuzzy punk rockers Mark, Phoebe, Tony and Matt sure put on an energetic show for us lucky punters. They were plugging their lovely new coloured vinyl album ‘No Discordance’, which is a very enjoyable listen. On stage towards the end of their set they were strangely accompanied on vocals by ‘the white gang’. Their setlist was: ‘Station Approach’, ‘Plague Your Heart’, ‘Black Dog’, ‘Lower Ground’, ‘Caught Up’, ‘23’/‘Hellion’, ‘Drive At Night’, ‘300 Cigarettes’. Listen to them here: https://harker.bandcamp.com/
Ducking Punches: Are a 4-piece punk rock band hailing from Norwich and who have impressively played nearly 1,000 live shows. Their storytelling songs weave between love and death, friendship and mental illness. Tonight they were mainly performing songs from their excellent new album ‘Alamort’. Their setlist was: ‘I Was Uncomfortable’, ‘Distant Shadows’, ‘Inoy/Fun Fun Fun’, ‘It’s Been A Bad Few Weeks’, ‘Sobriety’, ‘Big Brown Pills From Lynn’, ‘Je Vais Mourir’, ‘The Club With No Name’, ‘Six Years’, ‘God Damn Coward’, ‘Smoking Spot’. Listen to them here: https://duckingpunches.bandcamp.com/
And finally…This was always going to be something very special and a most memorable final act for me at this years ‘Washed Out’ Festival.
Daggermouth: Well what can you say about these Canadian boys first ever gig in England? It was bound to be absolute mayhem and indeed it was. The crowd went absolutely mental. The band played songs faster than it takes you to say each song title and to cap it off the singer overheated and threw up on stage right in front of me! Luckily he obviously hadn’t eaten anything beforehand!
Their setlist was: ‘Abracadabra Holmes’, ‘Lassie’s Last Dance’, ‘Glendale PD Hates Daggermouth’, ‘I Dance To Trance In Garbage Bag Pants’, ‘Fact: Mike Peecher Rollerblades’, ‘Hit ‘Em High, Hit ‘Em Low, Don Flamingo’, ‘Texas Johns Sweet Herbal Remedy’, ‘Ramen Noodle Doodle’, ‘Hey Nelson, Go Jump On The Garbage’, ‘This Is Where The Chocolate Cheesecake Would Be If We Had Any…Whammy’, ‘Sing It Again Rookie Biatch!’, ‘Hawt Lixx’, ‘Too Late, No Friends’, ‘Springtime’, ‘Dan Don Get Off Your Fu**ing Phone’, ‘You Do This As A Fad, We Do This As A Lifestyle’.
Listen to them here: https://daggermouth.bandcamp.com/
Listen to the ‘Washed Out Festival’ Mixtape HERE.
