SOS FESTIVAL / WHITTLES@TOKYO OLDHAM – Saturday 6/7/24
I survived the night in Oldham and I must thank Simon, who I’d spotted earlier in his ‘Wicked Rivers’ bucket hat, for sharing a taxi back to the hotel. It’s a biggie today, 13 bands are playing and again there’s a decent mix of genres to keep us all happy. After saying hi to the ‘Kinstrife’ lads, who were already set up indoors, I went outside to watch the first band of the day.
LUNA MARBLE – Another band based in Manchester, these young rockers formed back in 2020 and are inspired by the 70’s wave of psychedelia. Classic Rock with modern twists, it’s good to see bands taking the basics and writing with a new approach. The rain descends as they open with an interesting intro ‘The Beginning’ and a short drum feature. A damp start but the black clouds soon pass over and the punters gather down the front for ‘All Of My Love’. I can see the attraction, this is deep groove with retro jazz and blues being major influences. Even their logo and choice of outfits are like a walk down a 1970’s Carnaby Street. Lead singer Maria is from Spain, hence the flamboyant stage presence, while guitarist Dragos is from Romania, the two jammed together during lockdown cementing the initial birth of Luna Marble. To date they have released about 4 singles and the more melancholy ‘Sea Of Sorrow’ is up next. Strong bass from David and mournful vocals allow the song to gain the psychedelic essences they strive. While Dragos supplies a monster of a solo. Another new single ‘Redemption’ lightens the load, it’s more funky and upbeat. These guys can not only play but have complied some technically satisfying music. The guitar strikes again to introduce their last of the day, ‘Running’ which reverts to the moody and soulful theme. Great stuff, can’t wait for a debut album.
Luna Marble
KINSTRIFE – I gave Mike Hoskins a big hug when I saw him first thing this afternoon. It’s well known among fans that he’s decided to hang his mic up at the end of the year, there will be a few tears at the ‘Kinsmans’ gig in Hereford on December 21st. That’s when this era of Kinstrife ends, a line-up that has given us some brilliant music including the awesome ‘Fools And Monsters’ album. ‘Intervention’ is off that LP and the introductory song today. There’s something about this Hereford band, the emphatic energy that emits from Mike and the robust guitar of Alan ‘Kinstrife’ Tigger, makes them rise way above a lot of their contemporaries. ’Sticks And Stones’ rallies the fans and the heads are nodding around the room, I like how Mike manages to smile so often when he sings, such a happy fellow. ‘Get Away’ and then the haunting beauty of ‘Fear’ comes next, it’s a magical few minutes, you could cut the air with a guitar string. The heavier ‘Ground Hammer’ is a call to arms, with screeching chords and hollering. It all ends with ‘Make Me’ again off the album and it’s delivered with all the majesty Kinstrife are capable of. It will be sad not to see Mike fronting the band next year but they are carrying on and currently auditioning for a replacement.
Kinstrife
LaVire – There’s quite a deluge of females performing this weekend and this Lincoln based 4 piece are led by another, Chloé, who is more forthright and aggressive than those who have graced the stage before her. LaVire ( La-Ve-Er) appear on the Viking stage and hit us with ‘One Way To L.A’. Full of attitude and having noise it’s no wonder they were chosen to appear at ‘Call Of The Wild’ and have a support slot in Grimsby on July 23rd with Aussie heroine ‘Cassidy Paris’. The grungy and gothic, ‘Welcome To The Freak Show’ and ‘The Wall’ which is a toxic dream of a song, are from the EP ‘No Truth To Tell Part 1’ there’s a ‘part 2’ as well ! ‘Save Yourself Kid’ and ‘Fair weather Friend’ like the opener, form part of the menu for the latest EP ‘Chasing Sunsets’ all EP’s are highly recommended. ‘Fall From Grace’ is a mass of wonderful chaos and the vocals get awesomely guttural. They have woken up the Oldham crowd this afternoon, no mistake.
Lavire
ROCKABYE REAPER – This 5 piece from South Wales are on the Skull Stage as I come back inside, it’s a packed room and they are already into their first song ‘Primary Focus’. Heavy riffing from the dual guitarists and it’s a pressurised sound, exploding on occasion with the vocals from Keeley Shobbrook, being intercepted by the growls of Dafydd Jones, who’s other function is rhythm guitar. ’Tell Me’ and ‘Does It Matter’ continue the plot despite Daniel Thomas-James having a technical issue that sees him leave the stage for a few moments, fortunately Mr Appleton is able to fix the bassists problem and Daniel returns with a cheer from the band and apologises. ‘Betrayal’ is brutal and the guys pull out all the stops for this new single, which is getting a load of air play and praise around the radio stations. ‘No Time For Talking’ is the last of the set and they get a lot of applause. Gritty stuff, although I’m still not sure about the gimmick of the lads wearing shirts and ties, to play their destructive shredding. I hope it gets them noticed though, as they do have a lot to offer.
Rockabye Reaper
HEARTBREAK REMEDY – The Cumbrian groove kings are up on the Viking stage and the weather is staying dry as they dive into ‘Hair Of The Dog’, a track off their eponymous EP way back in 2014. The guys add more ‘laid back’ songs to the day, welcomed by those of us who enjoy more bluesy rock with kick. ‘Rock Me’ from the 2023 ‘Let The Good Times Roll’ continues the mellow drive, while fellow album song ’21 Kings’ starts to rock the Oldham ground a little harder. They go up a gear with the hooks of ‘Back To You’ and now we are in full awe of these 3 sharp dressed men. The new single ‘Working Man Blues’ was produced by that legend of the North ‘John JJ Watt’ ( City Kids, Thirteen Stars ). It’s time to slow it up with vocalist and bassist Matty Penn showing us his ability to wallow in dirty Southern style lyrics. There’s some showmanship by guitarist Luke Blair, to add flavour to the rumbling and as it progresses it gets even more messy, love it. The brilliantly titled ‘White Line Suicide’ changes the pace and it’s a fierce piece of rock and roll while resilient drumming from Stephen Jackson maintains the rhythm. ‘Life’ was a superb EP in 2014 and helped Heartbreak Remedy gain popularity, the title song is a poignant one and they strum it with perfection today. Only takes ‘Keep Rollin’ to up the mood with it’s free-fall chords and the slick sleaze of ‘Just A Disease’ rounds it all off perfectly.
Heartbreak Remedy
ZAC & THE NEW MEN – All the way from Swansea, these young men blew me away at Sharkfest back in April last year. So fresh and such immaculate music, that is vibrant and captivating. The debut ‘Reinvent Me’ is widely repped tonight and ‘Birdcage’ is the opener. It’s apparent that many haven’t seen the band before, as I notice a few punters transfixed from the start, that’s the effect Zac Davies and his crew have upon you. It’s not only the exotic retro clothing, their boundless and pushing style of rock, gets into your system and there’s no antidote. ‘That’s Ok’ is a delicate song and Zac raises his voice to a higher octave, which is on choirboy level. They do like to mix it as ‘Atom Bomb’ embraces lower groove and has powerful bass from James Dye, who has the longest blond locks you can imagine, he has to be of Elvish blood ! The four friends got together during lockdown and ‘Reinvent Me’ came along in 2023, the title song is another that stirs the influences, so many varying moments on this wonderful piece, strong vocals, waxing chords that grind and a grip of a melody is also thrown in. They are getting so many cheers after every song, it’s rewarding to see. We get an outstanding ‘Lenny Kravitz’ style on ‘Say It’ while ‘The Lesson’ has one thunderously heavy riff, surrounded by fast and unstoppable vocals. I do like ‘Deeper’ with its catchy riff, a sugar rush tune if ever you hear one. They end with ‘Off To The Moon’ and the cheers are deafening. See them on home ground at Steelhouse where they will shine on the mountain.
Zak & The New Men
WILD FIRE – Coming down from Scotland we now have another band of young bloods ready to go on the viking stage. The lads from Galashiels produce high octane rock and can write sumptuous lyrics, that really define the spirit of their music. The new EP ’Rapture’ is still wet off the press and they get into their rhythm with three from it ‘Against The Tide’, ‘Blackened Heart’ and ‘Scattered’. I do like Mikey Roberts, he has a decent range and stage presence. Backed by the guitar of Keir Ballantyne, Wild Fire know how to attract and ’Stronger’ is evidence of that. They decide to cover ‘War Pigs’ which takes around 5 minutes out of their original set, it’s a good version but I want to hear Wild Fire ! On the whole a good performance and they are sure to get more notice now they have released that very promising EP.
Wild Fire
WEBB – The 3 man combustion engine from the Southwest are already in full throttle when I roam in from outside. They are playing ‘Nights In White Satin’ the Moody Blues classic, which also features on the bands ‘Deadly Sins And Virtues’ album. This was always a dramatic anthem of a song but Ryan Webb takes it by the scruff and the finish is hypnotising. They follow on with ‘Spread Your Wings’ and ‘Hate’ both filled with the weight of hammering metal that Webb are so renown for. Going back to 2021 with ‘When Darkness Falls’ gets the heads banging, a ‘Metallica’ vibe is in the room which carries into ‘Can’t Break Me’ and Stay Alive’ another brace from last years album. With loads of experience between them and a variety of past projects, Webb know how to thrill.
Webb
ETERNAL BREATH – These 5 Belgians have been walking around all day, looking so cool and relaxed. They are up on stage now, taking their time sound checking to ensure everything is spot on for their set. Founded in 1996 they still have original vocalist Andy Polfliet on board, who also manages the band. These guys deliver heavy metal in true old school form but have incorporated new elements of thrash that allow them to stand proudly among modern contemporaries. With a new album out called ‘Road To Insanity’ it’s only fitting they brandish 2 tracks off it, ‘War Games’ and Phantom Brain’ to begin the proceedings. Andy is a transformed character upon stage, the quiet unassuming man I saw earlier is a frontman on a mission. Loud and courageous vocals with us festival goers joining him in raising our glasses, clapping when orders dictate and singing along to an easy chorus. In-between new songs they give us the riff packed ‘Fire’ and ‘Mass Domination’ both see guitarists Robin Vancasele and Jen Verstraete demonstrating shredding and fret sliding of epic proportions. ‘Back On Track’ features ‘Cage’ singer Sean Peck on the new album, he’s not here today but the song stays true to the recorded version, with all the ‘Whoa’s’ and us shouting ‘hey’ in unison. ‘The Joker’ strikes like hot irons in the coals, ravishing metal that has unstoppable guitar, they end with ‘Need For Speed’ and naturally it’s not a slow finale. Eternal Breath caught numerous new fans today, loving their energy and likeable stage manner.
Eternal Breath
APRIORI – The 3 Blackpool amigos are on the Skull stage blasting out ‘Watch The World Burn’ I believe it’s them who’ve set it on fire ! The home town album launch for ‘Voodoo Love’ in September is already sold out, so is their show at The Giffard in Wolverhampton and that’s with the ‘Dead Daisies’ playing over at KK’s the same night, impressive to say the least. Grab a ticket for one of the remaining shows if you can. Whittles is packed and as the older ‘Wasted Years’ and ‘Better Man’ serenade us with grunge ridden groove and fast tapping chords from Tony Lang, I’m reminded how good the ‘Black Church’ album was. That goes for ‘Halo’ as well, love this song. I lose count of the A’priori merchandise being worn and with over 9K followers on Facebook alone, it just proves how highly they are regarded. Back to the ‘House Of Cards’ album to finish on, with ‘Shotgun Blues’ and solid drumming by Mouse Lang, then again for ‘Making Love To The Devil’. Outstanding and a well deserved ovation from the SOS crowd.
Apriori
IMPERIUM – We gather outside for these London based thrashers, unaware of the pulverising assault, that’s just minutes away from our ears. The five make their way onto the Viking stage and vocalist Ben Porter dives straight into ‘Desperate Screams’. This is metal with precision engineering, the Kramer guitars are favoured to slay riffs by Hardip Sagoo and rhythm guitarist Scott Lomas and ‘Deceived’ lashes out next. We hear all 4 tracks from the self titled EP, with ‘Iron Thunder’ the only song separating them. This is really smooth for thrash, there are melodic partitions to reel you in and haunting guitar solos that could charm the devil himself. ‘Ragnarök’ comes into being, a slow onslaught with another dose of warlike vocals. However ‘The Passing’ heralds another side to Imperium, yes they can turn it down and Ben can also sing with soul. This is polished to the bare ore and they resist the invitation to break into the usual middle 8 shredding, leaving the faster strings to the end, awesome song. The thrashing returns for ‘Here Comes The Night’ and there’s gripping leverage here, amazing that Stephen Mussett is only standing in on bass duties today, he’s doing a grand job. ‘Capable Of Murder’ and ‘When Kings Meet’ are the last songs of the set. The latter being the title of the 2023 EP, we also heard all 4 from that today. Remarkable band, we were playing the latest EP on the drive home, so impressed with them and no wonder they left shrapnel on Bloodstock’s New Blood stage in 2022.
Imperium
TOM KILLNER BAND – This is a welcome change of genre, taking nothing from what’s been heard before today, but it’s a chance to sit down and wallow in some Country Rock or ‘Soul Drenched Americana’ as Mr Killner’s social pages describe his music. I spot Andy Mewse of ‘Silverjet’ up there with him, that’s a pleasant surprise. The new album is called ‘Borrowed Time’ and it takes up 90% of the set, beginning with ‘Cosmic Sounds’ and ‘Devils Gate’ It’s a soothing brace of gentle chords from Tom and he has the voice of a modern day crooner. ‘Home’ came out as a single in 2022 and it’s a nod to bluegrass. A tale is told with drawl and the guitar slides to add a touch of Southern swamp. Back to the album tracks and ‘One Day At A Time’ has a slow melody, keys with a gospel vibe and harmonies, superbly pitched to allow us to soak it all in. It gets more barn storming with ‘Ride With Me’ which has rising vocals and finger picking notes. ‘On The Other Side’ is messy and the guitars are held loose as it flows along unheeded. I look around and the audience are relaxed and enjoying this festival and for some it’s probably the first time they’ve seen The Tom Killner band, who are receiving cheers after each song. ‘Light It Up’ rocks with a more weighty tone, if there was room to dance I could see a few getting up for this ! It only leaves the album titled ‘Borrowed Time’ to end this captivating set.
Tom Killner Band
FURY – Outside and the weather has held for the headliners who have travelled up from Birmingham. Fury are well known for their energetic brand of rock and the opening song ‘If You Get To Hell First’ is fast and furious. They are vibrant to watch as well, alongside vocalist Julian Jenkins and providing additional vocals is Nyah Ifill, who has enormous stage presence. The guitar is loud, the drums have equal space and Becky Baldwin is the coolest of bass players. Following ‘Prince Of Darkness’ which is around 10 years old, yes they’ve been going a while now, are a few newer songs from the ‘Born To Sin’ album. The drums of Tom Fenn beat ferociously for ‘It’s Rock ’n’ Roll’ behind the screaming lyrics by Nyah and Julian. ‘Hell Of A Night’ lets Tom Atkinson produce lowly guitar chords alongside Becky’s bass, turning this into quite a stormy tune. There are a few off ‘The Grand Prize’ LP on the setlist and ‘Galactic Rock’ is the first to surface, it’s looking good up there and the crowd are in mutual appreciation. The break in the rhythm comes with ’Shadows And Dust’ which is superbly delivered by Nyah. A power ballad with empathic lyrics and more caressing strings from Tom. ‘Rock Lives In My Soul’ turns the volume up, it was a single in 2021 and featured ‘Kim Jennett’, tonight it’s a full on and a boundless rendition. ‘Upon The Lonesome Tide’ is another soul breaker, a haunting intro slowly falls away and then additional harmonies bring it together. They play ‘Burnout’, ‘Road Warrior’ and finally ‘Casino Soleil’ another three from ‘The Grand Prize’ to end the set, I also liked the raging ‘Dragons Song’ which appeared amongst them. Great live band and another superb choice for headliner.
Fury
It only leaves a short after-show back inside by the crew, Aka ‘Capt Sack Blabbath’, to finish the evening off. It’s been a long day but one with loads of brilliant music and again I have found new bands that have been outstanding to watch. I chatted to the ‘Eternal Breath’ guys who were so friendly, bought a ‘Heartbreak Remedy’ shirt and discussed all manner of stuff with friends afterwards ! Day 2 is over already, amazing how fast these festival weekends fly.
Capt Sack Blabbath
Photo Credit – Neil Jackson of Flaming Pint – Full Gallery HERE
Feature Pic – Kinstrife
Special Thanks to Lynne Hampson, Simon Houghton and Neil Jackson
