The ship returned following a year off, this time with more venues and even more bands in what would potentially be a logistical nightmare of planning. Deciding who to see became a bit of a challenge this time around, in which British Sea Power would win the BSP/Smoke Fairies/Crazy Arm dilemma at the end of the night.
First stop of the day was the Honest Politician for local lads Noyo Mathis, despite the early doors Southsea Fest always gathers a dedicated following with plenty of festival goers determined to last the duration. The indie-rock trio played as though the festival was already in full swing, a tight performance and finger-tapping guitars adding a slice of math-rock, which along with the in-between song banter got things off to a great start.
Noyo Mathis
Whilst staying in the same venue for the acoustic singer-songwriter of Kelly Kemp, it was soon time to try out something new with Buddha Blood at the One Eyed Dog. Big sounds from Brighton combining shoe-gaze guitars with 70’s psychedelia, keyboards featuring heavily throughout making for a trippy vibe whilst the distorted vocals (which I’m not sure were intentional) helped produced an impressive wall of sound.
The Beats and Swing team were hosting at the Wine Vaults and the first act I caught was Just Millie, backed with a bass player and percussionist Millie started with a stunning yet standard cover of the Gnarls Barkley hit single “Crazy” before mixing it up with her own tunes. Whilst Millie has a beautiful natural voice it was when adding subtle effects to her vocals that made the set really work.
I then stopped off at the Wedgewood Rooms to catch some of NGod, who with a strong stage presence and sitting well on the bigger stage, were reminiscent of other indie bands such as Bloc Party and Everything Everything. Although they weren’t bringing anything new to proceedings, I could certainly see NGod making a name for themselves.
NGod
The addition of Coastguard Studios to this year’s Southsea Fest didn’t necessarily have the best sound of the day but it soon potentially became one of the noisiest with Cosmic Forces and Battery Hens. First up then were Cosmic Forces, a band combining chaotic garage rock with surf guitars and some fancy footwork from Rob Addison.
At times Battery Hens have a Sonic Youth, 90’s grunge appeal but when it comes to the new tunes, they’re seemingly longer pieces, drawn out and verging on self-indulgent but in a positive well-crafted way. Then as the drum kit was ripped apart, the set ending in carnage and their frontman rolling around the floor the fact it had over-ran didn’t matter, for this was the local underground scene at its finest.
You really need to be up close to fully appreciate the Fugitive Orchestra, so with some clever manoeuvring through the crowded Wine Vaults it was off down the front. James Tattington, the man behind the name, cleverly creates his own backing track live with an array of pedals and looping samples so it was a shame so many people were chatting over it, but for those paying attention Fugitive Orchestra remained entertaining as always.
Fugitive Orchestra
With the ever eclectic DJ Brandon spinning tunes between acts Shawn McGowan come on with an acapella number as a last minute replacement to Bear and the Woods. McGowan then strapped on the acoustic before getting into some great Billy Bragg style folk numbers, albeit with a less political agenda.
The hotly anticipated Shit Present were back at a busy Honest Politician, I’d gone on recommendation of others and whilst I couldn’t actually see anything they certainly lived up to the hype. Featuring ex-members of Gnarlwolves, Shit Present were far from the name would suggest and with the sugar sweet vocals of Lorna Cairns were somewhere between classic Portsmouth band the Cranes combined with Kim Deal’s Breeders.
Another new venue on the live circuit was upstairs at Trinity Church, courtesy of Pie & Vinyl. Happy Meal Ltd may be a rubbish name, but they soon became one of the day’s highlights as the bastard son of Ziggy Stardust and the New York Dolls. The post-punk experimentalists hid under low lighting and there were elements that sounded terrible, but with the shear guts and random stage attire making up for it, elsewhere in the set Happy Meal Ltd were both artistically and musically fantastic.
In contrast next on the same stage were Bad Breeding, another act hyped during the day and with Portsmouth having a strong underground hardcore scene itself I was sure these guys would feel right at home on the south coast. Maybe we set the bar high and are spoilt for choice, for I’m of course a big fan of loud shouty music but on this occasion I wasn’t really feeling it. With a singer who would stagger around the audience screaming into a microphone Bad Breeding were a case of just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.
Bad Breeding
So with the Pigeon Detectives and Mystery Jets having played elsewhere it was off to the Wedgewood Rooms for another of the big names of the day in British Sea Power. Playing in front of a capacity crowd, BSP would easily sell out the Wedge twice over in their own right. They brought with them a stage full of foliage and as always when the two giant bears emerged there was much delight, but aside from the gimmicks British Sea Power were on top form. Live favourites “Remember me” and “Waving Flags” were put early in the set, whilst we were also treated to a couple of newer numbers too in what would end the day on as much of a high as it had started.
I may have been a little apprehensive about Southsea Fest getting bigger, but when it came down to it this was a festival that’s always going to be an awesome day out and once again, the local music scene and the people of Portsmouth have done our city proud – there may be plenty of other festivals to keep us entertained, but let’s just hope the captain doesn’t take another year off and we get to do it all again next year.
Love life, love music and love each other.
Mr Teeth
British Sea Power
