Welcome to KK’s Steelmill for the New Wave of Classic Rock Festival, my first time covering this event. As an amateur photographer and reporter, I felt like royalty and was treated like a VIP by Helen Biggs and the staff in the “green room”. NWOCR has a couple of double CDs on the market which celebrate and showcase the upcoming bands of the moment, some of these on the second CD are here for the weekend. It’s gonna be a blast!
Electric Black
Ali Shiach – vocals & guitar, Jonny Bryant – lead guitar, Ryan Trotman – bass, Matt Butler – drums
Electric Black take to the stage looking comfortable and full of confidence.
“World Ain’t So Heavy”, “Come On Over” and “Take The Roof Off” warm up the ever-increasing crowd nicely here at KKs. Ali informs us that what we hear tonight is from the forthcoming album. “this next one is so new, even some of us on the stage don’t even know it”. I think it was called “Grave“, and pleasingly the crowd loved it and it wasn’t obvious that some of the band weren’t familiar with the song.
Overall Electric Black were excellent openers for the Sunday, showcasing their version of cool classic rock tunes and they delivered the goods.
Loz Campbell
Loz Campbell -Vocals & Guitar, Steven Pickles – Bass, Will Price -Guitar, Tom Kirkby – Drums
Being an old git, I make no bones about not being fully au fait with all the NWOCR bands. I have found a few that I love but there are loads that I obsess about. I checked Loz out a couple of days ago on YouTube and whilst it was likeable, let’s say I wasn’t fully engaged or expectant.
Opening the show with “The World Was Made to Destroy You”, the vocal seemed a little low in the mix. I was expecting this to be a little light, even for me, maybe a bit poppy. Live, however, this “Bad Girl” is a different animal. Once the levels are sorted, Loz’s vocals sound cool, and sharp with a hint of aggression. Next up we get “Back Biting The Bullet”, “Evil”, and the catchy “Bad Girl” all delivered with meaning, passion and power. Loz let us know she’s currently working on the new album, we can do our bit by buying the album and all the merch, I suspect there may be queues.
We also get “Coffee Cup”, “Beautiful Liar” and a wonderful version of the Runaways classic “Cherry Bomb”. Yes, Loz Campbell and her band are definitely ones to watch, and I must confess, I didn’t see that coming.
Ethyrfield
Zach Cornish – Lead Vocals & Bass, Ben Cornish – Lead Guitar Backing Vocals, Dan Aston – Drums
Ethyrfield, hmm! What can I say about this three-piece? They may be a three-piece but they sound like a bigger band. “Drown” opens up the show and pours their brand of 2023 grunge metal sound onto the KKs audience. Hair flying all over the place, they look like they are enjoying the show too. I hear echoes of Soundgarden within their sound and I mean that as a compliment, there are also shadows of Alice in Chains. I don’t know the tracks and I didn’t really pick up on a lot of the names, as in, I was getting a bit riled by the lack of information with regard to track titles, and yes, I failed to see a setlist. We did get “Remembering” which is featured on the NWOCR Volume 2 CD and is a great introduction to the band, although I did find it a little proggy!! They also aired the excellent slow-paced punchy “Overgrown“ which wonderfully showcases the harmonies in the band.
I did pick up on “Serenity” which is anything but serene, blowing the cobwebs away and giving the walls a good old shake too.
Overall Ethyrfield put on a cool show but made me want to check them out more, you should do the same.
Syteria
Jackie Chambers – Guitar, Vocals, Julia Calvo – Vocals, Steph Dawson – Bass Guitar, Vocals, and Pablo Calvo – Drums, Vocals
I’ve seen Syteria a couple of times before and they never seem to grab me, that said, it’s probably not this old fool they are trying to grab. Once again a popular choice with the audience, they have quite a decent crowd here today. They kick off proceedings with “Guilty” and they appear to be on good form tonight, sounding good and looking like they are enjoying the atmosphere.
They follow on with “I’m All Woman” and “Breaking Through”. Standing listening to the band sounding really powerful, the sound once more is excellent tonight. “It Hit Me” follows on with the wonderfully titled “Plastic Fantastic” and “E.M.P.T.Y.”, Syteria are thriving in this environment tonight and appears to be going down very well with the Wolverhampton massive. Next up we get the really well-received “Pause for Peace”. It’s good to see everyone enjoying the show, the audience lapping it up, and the band encouraging the crowd to clap along. All is as it should be at a rock n roll show. “Make Some Noise” and “Scream Scream It’s Halloween”, finish off a successful night for Syteria.
Trucker Diablo
Tom Harte – vocals, guitar, Simon Haddock – guitars, vocals, Jim McGurk – bass, Terry Crawford -drums
Trucker Diablo eh! Trucker Diablo….Trucker Diablo is the epitome of Rock N roll, when you think your ass can rock no more….. enter Trucker Diablo. Here to blow everything away, these guys!!!! These guys play proper Rawk n Roll with balls and everything else, at this point my band of the weekend. Raucous, aggressive, melodic pure rock in a style that thrills. Do I like ‘em? Hell yeah!! Kicking off and kicking our proverbial asses (knew I shouldn’t have brought me donkey!)
We get “The Rebel”, the infectious “Rock Kids of the Eighties” and “Other Side of the City”, which we are reliably informed only took a couple of minutes to write. What are these guys doin’ so low down the bill, I would not want to follow Trucker Diablo. They kick it, seriously, blending melody with full-on guitars and a kick-ass sound. I dunno if it’s just me, but, I get a Molly Hatchet feel about these guys, rock n roll party machine and I love it. We’re introduced to a mini singalong intro and chorus to “Proud Mary” and off into my favourite territory “Drink Beer, Destroy” I think it was at this moment Tom suggested “That’s our Ace of Spades”……he may be right, great track. “Drive” is also aired tonight along with the emotional “Where Angels Fly”, a wonderfully poignant and heartbreaking song about loss and the struggles to survive. Anyone who has suffered loss must struggle not to feel this song, to soften and get that watery-eyed sensation when listening to the lyrical content, simply stunning and shows the versatility of this excellent band.
Every time I see this band they grab me a bit more, definitely my band of the weekend, and to be fair, there have been some brilliant performances.
The Fallen State
Adam Methven – Vocals, Jon Price – Lead Guitar, Dan Oke – Rhythm Guitar, Greg Butler – Bass Guitar, Rich Walker – Drums
The last time I was lucky enough to cast my eyes and ears on these guys was back in December 2022 at the Winter Rocks Festival in Sheffield. They open the show with “Hope in Revival”, taking the stage with a confidence borne out of knowing their craft, especially in this type of environment. The Fallen State is popular in these parts, making their trip up from North Devon a pleasurable one. Next in is “Sinner” and the wonderfully titled “Sons of Avarice” keeping the tempo moving, and the noise from their fans getting louder. “Standing Tall” and “Knives” make this show feel as though it’s passing too quickly. For me, the standout track of their set is the delicious “Burn it to the Ground”, Adam giving it everything. They finish the show with the slow and emotional “Nova”, now this track I really like. Great set, cool show from The Fallen State.
Laurence Jones
Laurence Jones – vocals & guitar, Jack Alexander Timmis – bass guitar, Ash Sheehan – drums
I’ve heard the name, but I didn’t really know what to expect. I certainly didn’t expect a young, cool, virtuoso blues guitarist sounding like an elder statesman. His playing is wonderful and a sight to behold. Adding to the variations in style on show this weekend, we get a full-on modern blues show that had other guitarists drooling. “You’re Not Alone”, “Bad Luck in the Blues”, and “Lonely Road”, show that Laurence is not only a brilliant guitarist but a great songwriter. Immediately, Laurence and the band have their groove on and hold the audience, mesmerized by the wonderful sounds emanating from the band. If you love the blues you’re gonna love these guys, catchy tunes, funky, dark, deep rhythms. Next up, “Lost and Broken”, a cover, and the really meaty sound of “Don’t You Leave Me This Way”. On this showing, Laurence Jones and his band have gained a lot of fans. The set includes more from the Bad Luck in the Blues album with “Out in the Distance”, and “Stuck in the Night”. Finishing with “Woman”, Laurence serves up and delivers a show full of style and panache.
Scarlet Rebels
Wayne Doyle – vocals & rhythm guitar, Chris “CJ” Jones – lead guitar, Josh Townshend – rhythm guitar, keyboard & piano, Gary Doyle – drums, Wayne “Pricey” Esmonde – bass guitar.
Scarlet Rebels hit the stage, headlining Sunday night and closing the festival. “I’m Alive” gets us started with jangly guitars to get you bouncing, foot tapping and singing along.
“Take You Home” and “You Take My Breath Away” follow on, the boys from Llanelli are flying the Welsh flag high and proud, here in Wolverhampton, especially when you bear in mind the Welsh Rugby side have just absolutely battered the Australian side 40 – 6. Someone in the crowd shouted out the score, and Wayne retorted ”That’s a lot of goals”. Wayne continues to give a heartfelt and sincere thanks to everyone involved in putting the festival together, especially NWOCR for shining a light on bands like us. The Rebels treat us to a storming rendition of…erm “Storm” and “Everything Changed”. I find myself having to rethink my band of the weekend as they really are sounding awesome tonight. There was a slight nod to Bon Jovi with a little “Wanted Dead or Alive” preceding “Part of Me”. Then we get treated with“These Days”, anthemic and descriptive of our time and environment, storytelling and questioning, in their own inimitable way, lifted from the excellent best-selling album, See Through Blue. Wayne also lets us know that it was never part of the plan to write protest songs but sometimes life happens that way and naturally, it comes out in the writing process.
“Save Me” is up next, dead catchy, keeping the momentum going sweetly, I’m having a ball, we’re having a ball and so are they. One of my friends commented I really love “Heal” and after “Let Me In” that’s exactly what we get. A lovely song, great version that has the whole of KKs entranced and enchanted “I just wanna help you heal” is such a wonderful line in a wonderful emotive song. Scarlet Rebels close the show wonderfully and KKs celebrates another wonderful successful festival.
Once again, I would personally like to thank all at NWOCR, The wonderful Helen Biggs, Mark Parsley and his family, all the organizers, staff, security, the bands, the Wolverhampton Massive, the sound guys and everyone involved in this wonderful event. Take care and thank you, til next time…..
Full photo galleries and Day #1 blog all found on CGCM Rock Radio: NWOCR LiveFest 2023 – Complete Coverage
