It’s hard to believe it had been a whole twelve months since the last Southsea Fest and with the rather successful Victorious Festival having taken place on our beloved sea front only a few weeks earlier there was a definite sense of occasion when stepping into Albert Road, ready for another day filled with a vast selection of music.
Having started from the humble beginnings of two pubs back in 2007, the annual non-profit event has grown to over a hundred performances across thirteen venues – and all within walking distance of my little ole flat, so what better way to spend a Saturday than checking out as much as possible over the course of the next twelve hours.
With several venues opening a little later than normal the eager festival goers amongst us descended upon the One Eyed Dog, resulting in the Andrew Fairweather Band playing to a decent size crowd despite the early stage time. Having made the trip down from Exeter it must be hard to kick off proceedings but the warm reception gave it a proper gig feel as the band provided some great indie-rock to get the day started.
It was then off to the 5th Hants Volunteers where the Lion and the Wolf, the pseudonym used by Thomas George, was to provide one of the days early highlights with some beautifully depressing songs and friendly banter. There are many solo acoustic artists who can often sound much of a muchness, but with the Lion and the Wolf there’s something special, a voice that makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up and lyrics that come from a deep and honest songwriter.
So from the intimate setting of the 5th Hants to the Victorian grandeur of the Kings Theatre ready for local favourites Kassassin Street and their trip back into sixties psychedelia to get the festival really going.
I never tire of seeing Kassassin Street for the combination of baggy indie with led zeppelin style bass lines, sweeping guitars and an animatic drummer along with programmed dance beats show they definitely have a sound that’s not likely to grow old in a hurry.
From something that’s going to appeal to the masses to a band who have a very direct approach, if you like your grindcore and group such as Napalm Death then you’re going to love Joythief. It’s all very silly and songs are over in a matter of seconds, but even when vocalist/bassist Damo Mapson is asked if they’re singing actual words the reply “on the most part” means you can’t help but raise your horns, smile and enjoy the moment.
With a quick turnaround it was time for some Zombie Sharkcore with The SLM, a band that take all things zombie and shark related turning them into fast skate-punk anthems… with the odd song about the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and a couple of covers thrown in for good measure.
The quick dash to the Wine Vaults stage, hosted by Southsea’s Pie and Vinyl Café, to see Rickyfitts show other two piece grunge acts how it’s done properly was a worthy diversion en route to see Deluxe Flamingos at the Social Club.
It’s the diversity of Southsea Fest that makes it such a great day out and with Deluxe Flamingos the music had taken a different turn, their 80’s synth inspired electronic beats having the afternoon crowd dancing whilst the live drums and guitars help to fill the room with a wall of sound.
Whilst the Social Club has dancing, back at the Loft and almost each member of hardcore outfit Employed to Serve were crowd surfing at some point during their set. When not being carried overhead vocalist Justine Jones stormed the crowd screaming in the faces of the audience and soon enough the pit was getting hot and sweaty again.
Back to the Wine Vaults and Bloody Knees were bloody great, bringing the grunge of the nighties back to life, raw like early Nirvana/Mudhoney but with hooks that have helped make the scene progress through to where we are now – with some of the surviving Seattle bands from yesteryear still sounding this good and with Bloody Knees having played the likes of Reading festival earlier this year, keep an eye out as I can imagine them being around for a while.
From nighties grunge to a brief encounter with Lu’Ami over in the Magic Bean Café, one girl looping vocals and playing flute, it came across more of an art performance than necessarily something you’d listen to musically but an intriguing interlude before the manic attack of Teef.
Where one venue saw people watching politely the Loft had tables and drinks flying as the mosh pit took no prisoners, the aggressive hard-core of Teef whipped the crowd into a frenzy and after a set not much longer than fifteen minutes it was all over and we could breathe again.
My break in schedule resulted in catching a bit of the Pheromones who (by their own admission) were all playing out of tune, no wonder then a quick exit meant catching a bit of Nicholas Stevenson as well as Lucky One Dies First and the Teenage Fanclub inspired The Proper Ornaments before heading off to Pixel Fix at Little Johnny Russell’s.
Another rammed venue and Pixel Fix were definitely a great shout, an array of pedals and sweeping effects from Oxford, kind of a soundtrack to a movie with indie vocals – a band that would work well with Kassassin Street from earlier and one that are no doubt receiving much well deserved praise as they perform around the country.
I only just about made it in for Alpha Male Tea Party at the 5th Hants, standing in the doorway as the Liverpool three piece certainly had a large fan-base in the small pub. Long drawn out math-rock instrumentals mixed with a few vocal lead tracks and even though there wasn’t much visibility at the back of the room, the music spoke for itself.
Then it was time for Ed Harcourt at the Kings Theatre, providing a great backdrop to another of the days’ highlights, starting off behind his grand piano there’s a very Tom Waits feel, part musician, poet and visual artist.
At times beautiful piano pieces, then acoustic folk songs followed by producing a recorded backing track live on stage using drums and xylophones, before taking to the floor to serenade the front seats, Ed Harcourt was the perfect headliner for this particular venue and whilst running over time finally bowed out with a romantic song about a serial killer.
The evening was far from over though and with more hard-core managed to catch the majority of the Goodtime Boys set, which again was hot and sweaty, vocally Goodtime Boys are half spoken word and half the obligatory sreaming, it was an unexpected and rather enjoyable stop gap before Dinosaur Pile Up down at the Fat Fox.
I’m glad Goodtime Boys were on it, as Dinosaur Pile Up seemed to spend more time trying to get sound levels right rather than actually playing… I had been really looking forward to them but all the tuning and requesting levels in the monitors to be tweaked every five minutes meant they lost momentum, but alas you can’t win them all and it was on to the Wedgewood Rooms to end the night.
With the live music drawing to a close it was one in one out, but by all accounts Pulled Apart By Horses were running late so with a sold out Wedgewood Rooms the alternative rockers had the crowd all fired up and didn’t disappoint with an energetic performance.
It’s always nice to see a band enjoying themselves and Pulled Apart By Horses genuinely looked pleased to be headlining the festivities, great stage presence and tracks such as “Lizard Baby” providing the audience with a memorable way to end what had been a long old day.
With DJ’s Lemon and Spikey Mark left to play out to those still standing, Southsea Fest 2014 had been a truly amazing experience – one that continues to deliver year after year and another festival that I’m honoured to have been a part of… so here’s to doing it all again in 2015 and in the meantime thank you Southsea, you’ve made us proud.
Love music, love life.
Mr Teeth x
