Pilot Promotions have been putting on nights at Southsea’s Fat Fox over the space of a good few months now, however today the pub allowed the venue to be used in its entirety for the first annual Feedback Festival – showcasing eight bands from across the local music scene and a night which due to various line-up changes, would end up being headlined by the Underground Pilots themselves.
First up then were Bittertown Mary’s who got the day off to a great start with main singer/guitarist Sam Jones taking on a presence similar to that of Queen of the Stone Age’s Josh Homme, whilst this would then be balanced against second guitarist Ben Jones occasionally taking to the microphone for the rawer vocals.
After a while it became almost a set of two halves as the band then morphed into a couple of Karma to Burn style tracks that focussed on the instrumental side of Bittertown Mary’s and as such had the bar set high for the rest of the days performances.
Old Sarum continued the proceedings with their 70’s sounding riffs, Sabbath-esque bass lines and another band with stoner rock tendencies. There’s a groove to Old Sarum and one where you find yourself nodding along in approval, at times hard n heavy whereas other tracks have the slow and dirty Black Sabbath feel whilst lyrically there’s plenty of references to witches and setting spirits free.
I’m a sucker for a pedal board and Battery Hens have three of them, which gives you an idea of what to expect and these guys are often faultless as a live act. However whilst their Sonic Youth driven noise is always a pleasure to experience tonight the Hens fell victim to technical issues and the curse of the faulty cables.
Despite these initial hiccups Battery Hens muddled through and once fully up and running ended their set on a high with plenty of weird effects layered under the fuzzy guitars making the early problems just one of those unfortunate moments that could happen to anyone.
Although it’s nice to experience something new and exciting there are also times when you just need some good old fashioned rock n roll, Foxer are exactly that with a decent slab of hard rock. Playing their recent self-titled EP in full, tracks such as “Otherside” and “the Great Brain Robbery” offering some great guitar riffs and soon enough Foxer had put in a solid performance.
Reaching the halfway point it was then time for Kill Kasper, who led by Kolonel Jamie on guitar and vocals have built up a strong local following with their array of classic indie rock songs, whilst their release ”Stuck Between the Devil & the Blues in Drop D” is also being well received.
Drummer Sean Kenneally slowed things down as their set came to a close, taking to the keys to demonstrate that whilst Kill Kasper have some tracks that are more straight forward and well suited to the live performance they are also capable of quality song writing along the way.
Next up were a band who were the more experimental of the day, the Doppler Shift have been playing together for a while and with the use of synths and electronic effects on the live drums show their love for Radiohead, whilst the haunting vocals of Joe Ross are between that of Thom Yorke and Matt Bellamy of Muse.
They may well be heavily influenced by those previously mentioned but the Doppler Shift provide the afternoon with a contrast to what had come before them and an opportunity to witness the diversity that the Portsmouth music scene has to offer.
It had been a while since the Melodramas had played live, but as always it was an animated performance with the likes of “Elephant” and the equally catchy “Three Crosses“ from their “Kids” EP sounding as good as ever.
Towards the end of their set the Melodramas turned the title track from the “Kids” EP into something of a mash up, with an epic guitar solo that would give Lynyrd Skynyrds “Freebird” a run for its money before the song naturally kicked in to a cover of the Doors “Break on through” making the Feedback Festival a successful return to the stage for the south coast indie-rockers.
So alas the day was almost over, compare and DJ Carl Wood had kept the atmosphere going throughout and it was down to the Underground Pilots to bring it to a close with their stoner rock making for a fitting way to round it all off.
Although this was my first experience of the Underground Pilots live, I had however already had the pleasure of hearing their mini-album “Another Part…” on record, so it was good to hear these and other tracks in the flesh.
In keeping with all the best stoner rock bands the Underground Pilots have plenty of sludge-covered riffs as the duel guitars are backed with a tight back line, whilst the vocals were a mixture of Kyuss and the delivery of the late Alice in Chains frontman Layne Staley – a combination that suits the band both musically and visually, making the Underground Pilots performance worthy of headlining their own day out and ended the festival on a high.
As the crowd started to disperse the Feedback Festival had been a triumphant success for all involved, not only had there been a great selection of local talent but somehow it all managed to run on time in the process!
Good work everyone.
Mr Teeth
