The Heroes Of The Day
SOS Festival has been going for a good number of years now and through the years has been held in a few venues but seem to have found a permanent home in Whittles in a town called Oldham which is part of the Greater Manchester area. It was very late in the day when I was given the opportunity not only to attend but to be part of the media team as a member of CGCM Radio. This was brought about due to two people, firstly Beckie Jane Jaxon of Guild Productions (which incorporate such great bands like Square Wild who will be reviewed again as part of the Sunday bill, Until 9, We Three Kings and Deepshade amongst others) and one of the event’s organisers Lynne Hampson who deals with media matters. So a huge thank you to both of those for their kindness.
About The Venue And Festival
The event is over 3 days and the first is an evening session from around 6pm until around 10.30 band-wise (there is after parties for the strong and the mad as well). The venue is close to a tram stop called Oldham Mumps (about 3 mins walk) which I found out later in the day as I got off where Google Maps told me and ended up walking a fair distance.
There are 2 stages, one inside the venue where the main bar is (situated at the back) and the other outside in the courtyard where there are some shopping stalls as well as a food one doing a mix of easy-to-eat food from chips/burgers/pies etc to a curry with rice or chips.
Prices all round the site are really fair as well which I found pleasing. Both inside and outside there are plenty places to sit and even under cover in the courtyard area. The staff were friendly and easy going and so were the fans who came in all ages (in fact there were quite a few very young rockers around with inflatable guitars and greasepaint throwing horns like champions!) So that is a little about the venue, lets get onto the bands that played.
Opening Band
First band on the Skull Stage (the indoors one) were Shape Of Water who are quite different to almost everyone else around mixing heavy rock and even metal with electronics and in so doing making a very cinematic and engaging experience.
The band are a 3 piece with singer Rox Capriotti also playing bass and keys (he is the new Geddy Lee😀) and doing it with great aplomb. He has a very impressive range and in “Still Karma” especially as he almost went into another stratosphere! The mix of styles allows for a compelling listen in my view.
Subtleties
From the subtleties and mellowness of “Don’t Leave Me In The Dark” where they hold steady keeping a gentle electronic beat to the sheer Zeppelinesque riffage of “The Snoot” where they even threw in a manic metal breakdown at the end** (I wasn’t sure if it was still part of the track at first or a new short piece of music, I have been told it was an extra ending). “Starchild” had a fantastic keyboard solo at the start, Rox should have been wearing a cape, but when it kicked in during the latter half it grooved albeit in a very weird time signature.
** Quick update or correction, there is a heavy ending to “The Snoot” but that is on the recording, however on “The World Is Calling Me” which they played after that there was an extra ending not on the recording! Sorry for getting mixed up!
I kept thinking I was out of time, I was! It was interesting to see that most of the introductions were carried out not by the singer but by guitarist Luca De Falco. It was a great performance and got the whole festival off to an excellent start. If you want to know more about the band keep your eyes peeled as I was lucky enough to chat with 2 of the guys to get all the lowdown on the band. Coming soon here at CGCM.
Official Website // Official Facebook
Headbanging Metal
Due to said interview, I missed the next band (my apologies to them) and so next for me were Battle Born from Southampton (or perhaps as they claim instead “Windhelm, Eastmarch”). They were totally old-school heavy metal with songs about dragons, swords, blood, fire and the all-important metal! This is all accomplished with smiles on their faces. Plenty of fists in the air and headbanging, both on and offstage.
During the wonderfully titled “Down Your Drinks And Raise Your Swords” there was a party going on down the front with folks dancing and having a blast. There was plenty of crowd participation during “Power Force” with them getting into the chant of “power metal, power force” with enthusiasm.
The final song of the set “Bring The Metal Back” is almost a statement of intent. The crowd belted this mantra out pretty darned loudly. Not sure it ever really went away but they certainly want it to put it back up front. They made me smile (it was hard not to) and want to throw horns. So mission accomplished lads!
Official Website // Official Facebook
Fighting The Odds
It was outdoors to the Viking Stage for my first time seeing a band on that stage. By this point, the weather had turned shitty to say the least. Twister are no strangers to this site having been reviewed and even interviewed by us before so I was very much looking forward to catching them once again.
They didn’t have their usual stage set with them which I was surprised about. However, all became clear as singer Stevie Stoker explained their plight of getting to the festival. It seems there had been a fire in Newcastle which caused most of the roads to be shut. All traffic was having to go through a narrow road to get out of town. It took them ages. They arrived on site with not much time to get sorted so they got what they needed from the car and soundchecked. This could have thrown some bands off, but Twister have been working hard touring plenty so they took it in their stride.
Nice
I loved the introduction to “Don’t Play Nice” where they got us to do the “1 2 3 4” after Stevie said “1 2“. That worked nicely. “Monroe” sounded brilliant and I heard folks joining in near me. “Feeding Frenzy” went down well with the crowd joining in the “wo-oh wo-oh wo-oh” sections. To add to the band’s issues the bassist broke a string (“when does THAT ever happen? he said to me later).
Realising that he hadn’t brought extra strings or a second bass out the car he had to get the keys of the vehicle onstage from the singer to run and get them. That led to extra onstage banter including the comment “I never told him where I finally parked the car” leading to laughs. He got back and had the piss ripped out of him. They battled the traffic, the rain, broken bass strings and still won!
Official Website // Official Facebook
Worth Doing It All Again
Fahran were doing their first gig in 12 months. It was hard to tell with the way they attacked the stage. When I got into the venue they were blasting their way through “Pyre“. They said that they would be testing some new songs on us, road-testing them for a tour in 2024. So we were getting exclusives on the night.
Now I hope I have the titles correct, time will tell, but “Runaway” I noticed had a Led Zeppelin vibe, in fact at one point I felt there was a nod to “Immigrant Song“. The song mellowed a little in the second half. Opposite to that was “The Hope That Killed Me” which started very moody and atmospheric, in fact it was almost slightly proggy in my view.
Noted
I noted (I try to take notes as otherwise I cannot remember things, old age there) that I loved the heavier riff that went on at points in the track. “Darkness” had an electronic sounds at the start of it which was taken over by a big funky sounding groove. They had a moment at the end when one member kept playing when they shouldn’t have which led to knowing looks along with laughs and smiles onstage. It didn’t spoil the show that is for sure.
The new single to come called I believe “Hate Me” had a bit of a Rage Against The Machine riff in it. It definitely had a commercial edge but was still quite heavy. They finished with an oldie in “State Of Mind“. By the end the singer remarked that it was “worth doing this all again” and from the crowd response that was felt both ways. It is good to see them back.
Official Website // Official Facebook
The Friday Headliner
I admit I got caught up chatting with the Twister guys so missed the beginning of the headliners Gorilla Riot and due to not being sure of public transport (I needed 2 trams to get back to my accommodation and I had no idea about connections later in the evening) I left before they finished. I caught about 4 songs and what I did note was that there was a definite Soundgarden vibe at points with the singer Arjun Bhishma having a slight Chris Cornell inflection, especially in the lower-end register.
The band’s music is a mix of hard rock and grunge but they have some lovely grooves going on. Songs to move the body to. “Beat Your Bite” was more laid back but with interesting lyrics, certainly in the chorus. “Black Heart Woman” was quite bluesy sounding whilst still being quite grungy.
I found my head moving along with my foot due to the easy groove. The song after that I didn’t catch the title of but it sounded really good, a foot stomper with a very sweet melodic guitar solo. It seems that this was the drummer’s last gig with the band as he is moving abroad and he took some time at the mike to thank everyone for supporting the band whilst he has been a part of it as well saying that the band will still be his best mates even if he is no longer in the UK.
The band were on a jam when I left which was a shame as I was enjoying it but I couldn’t afford to get stuck going home to the hostel.
Official Website // Official Facebook
Final Thoughts On Day 1
So my first day or at least evening at SOS Fest and I had a great time. The bands I saw were all enjoyable and there was enough variety over the evening to keep things very interesting. The sound was good, wherever I stood I could more or less hear everything pretty clearly.
Despite some rubbishy weather at one point (I actually screwed up during Twister as I thought I had switched my phone off when I went to clear my screen of water and wiped my notes and the setlist for them! I managed to do a few notes back in the venue itself whilst things were fresh in my mind), but it didn’t put a dampener on the night in any way.
There was also an aftershow party which I imagine would have been a hoot! Maybe another time. As for the Saturday session I could hardly wait. That will be coming soon!
Check out my other reviews and articles here. Tom.
