I get to do many cool things here at Alternative
Vision, go to gigs and feed my fire with my hunger
for photography, I get to meet many great bands
and have a chat, then write it up into an interview,
I also get to check out the occasional festival
and enjoy a full weekend of bands, music and photography
and this weekend is no different. This weekend
I got to check out one of the newer festivals
around; Merthyr Rock!
 I
arrive at Merthyr all set to go on the Friday
afternoon, we park in the college car park and
talk a short walk up to the festival site to see
it’s in the middle of a public park with
fence’s put up around to stop people who
haven’t paid from entering, its big enough
to hold two stages and quite allot of people plus
the usual merch and food stalls and after a few
drinks you forget you’re in the middle of
a park and really soak up the festival atmosphere.
The nice thing about Merthyr before I get into
the bands is the staff and security, there’s
allot of helpful smiling staff around and a good
amount of security who know what they’re
doing and are keeping an eye out, but at the same
time are letting people have a good time which
is always refreshing at a festival.
So lets get into the reason your reading this
review the bands, first up is Buckinghamshire
band The Futures (2.5/5), they
start the festivals main stage with a good bit
of energy, rocking out some great tracks, unfortunately
their set is not really too memorable, but they
sound great which always a plus.
 The
People The Poet (2.5/5)are up next over
on the James Mclaren stage, these local boys where
formally known as Tiger Please, and go about getting
the crowd worked up with their indie rock styling’s,
singing songs about abortions and romance, it’s
clear to see they have good song writing skills
and they do entertain the crowd, but it’s
a bit to bland for me. On a side note, singer
Leon did extremely well as he had been hobbling
about on crutches throughout the day, and he didn’t
use them once on stage.
 Saves
The Day (4/5) are (to my knowledge) the
only non-British band on the bill, but it doesn’t
stop them from playing a great set, with an hours’
worth of material. The last time I saw them, I
wasn’t impressed at all but this time they’ve
stepped it up, the set is rocking all the way
through, there is a point towards the end where
I find it getting a bit samey, but they push through
and make it fresh again, they play some great
songs like 1984 and the obvious ending to their
set; At Your Funeral.
 Razorlight
(4.5/5) are tonight’s main headliner,
which in amongst allot of Rock and Metal might
seem a bit odd but this doesn’t faze them
they come out on stage and tear the roof down.
They play a great set that includes all of their
singles which makes for allot of sing a longs,
as they’re back catalogue is more familiar
than you might expect. Pumping out songs like
America and Stumble and Fall, they’re a
band who know what is to be done and they do it
well. I hope for a Razorlight revival as they
definitely have allot more to give.
Saturday
 After
a faff the night before due to setting up tents
in the dark seeing as the camp site is 4 miles
down the road, we decided to stay in bed a bit
late then grabbed a taxi to get down in time to
see Manchester’s finest;
Sonic Boom Six (4/5), erupt onto
the main stage and drop some heavy dub and ska
beats whilst playing a great set list including
Other Side Of The Street and Kids Of The Multi-Culture.
They have been going for a long time and keep
and building there fan base, and with energetic
performances like this I can only hope they get
bigger and that 2013 will be Sonic Boom Six’s
year!
Bastions (3/5) are up next and
bring their own brand of hard-core to the quite
big crowd that has assembled. They rock out some
good sounds whilst jumping around the stage. Singer
Jamie McDonald is a good frontman and keeps the
crowd entertained whilst he talks about his love
of British hard-core and how he’s proud
that people come out and support something he
feels so passionately about. Aside from an idiot
in the crowd punching someone in the pit causing
the band to jump out to the front of the stage
and make sure he was escorted away, there set
went down with no major hitches and was well received.
 After
a break doing an interview with Skindred, I get
back to the bands and I’m glad that I don’t
miss
Rise To Remain (4/5), this Metal
band from London, really put on a show with singer
Austin Dickinson running around the stage not
keeping still, along with the rest of the band
swapping places and moshing like there’s
no tomorrow. They sound great and blast out heavy
guitar riffs and big drum fills to a busy tent.
 Gavin
Butler and Neil Starr (3/5) are changing
the mood now with some acoustic songs from their
debut album ‘Ghosts and Echo’s’.
The duo are from The Blackout and Attack Attack
and so are local and well loved, seeing as all
the members off The Blackout are here at the festival
milling around and checking out the bands they
get an extra special reception. They play 2 covers
from their main bands which go down a treat, this
is not really festival music but the crowd love
it never the less.
Yashin (4/5) are here and are
yet again bringing rock/metal to the masses with
their catchy double singer combo and great riffs
that set the stage alight, as you don’t
have a clue where to look as there’s so
much going on. I’ve now seen Yashin 4 times
since last November and they keep bringing the
rock every time, they sound great and play some
great songs including the hit single New Year
Or New York which gets the entire tent moving.
I take a break in-between Yashin and LTA for some
food so only catch Save Your Breath from affair,
but they put on a good show and are a band I will
keep an eye out for in the future.
 Lower
Than Atlantis (4/5) set alight the main
stage, by jumping into their two latest singles
from their upcoming album Changing Tune; If The
World Was To End and Love Someone Else. Which
go down great, they then go into their normal
routine of playing there hits along with a nice
Foo Fighters cover. Lower Than Atlantis have not
always got the greatest reviews here at Alternative
Vision, but I personally think they sound great
live and have a great stage presence which comes
across every time I’ve had the chance to
see them. They could probably move a bit more,
but it is hard when the singer also plays guitar.
 Pulled
Apart By Horses (4/5) are a band that
I’ve always wanted to see, I’ve heard
great things about their live shows, about how
they climb up rigs and throw up on themselves,
but tonight they just played a great show, which
is awesome but when you’ve been told all
these great stories you go away a bit disappointed
even though they never did anything wrong. They
played a great set of loud rock and roll with
blistering vocals and allot of attitude, it’s
a shame there was no antics but I guess I’ll
just see if I get lucky next time I see them.
 Skindred
(5/5) are the band to close the day,
the band walk out to some loud dub music and all
get into place and start rocking out, then singer
Benji Webbe casually strolls out in a brown outfit
which was lit up with LED’s so you could
see him with the lights off. They play a killer
set of old and some new (from the album they’re
about to go and work on), Benji is a great frontman
and knows how to get the crowd even more worked
up than they already are, by casually talking
in-between songs whilst also breaking out into
dances and at one point the entire band stop so
the DJ can play Beyonce’s Single Ladies,
to which everyone dance’s and Benji asks
who all the single ladies and blokes are and why
they’re not together! They put on an amazing
show with some killer riffs and heavy beats.
Sunday
 Sunday
starts off for me by catching the end of Buried
In Alaska who’s big noise has to wake this
early afternoon crowd up.
Shadows Chasing Ghosts (3/5)
are the first band I catch in full, and they are
keeping on with the good work they did when I
last saw them two weeks previous, with their big
riffs, screechy vocals and energetic stage presence
they are one to watch.
 I
catch a bit of Blow Goat and wish I’d seen
the whole set as singer Paul swags around the
stage casually hitting himself in the head with
the microphone as the rest of the band frantically
pump out there self-described drunk rock.
Straight Lines (4/5) are from
just down the road so don’t have to take
too much time off their day jobs(farmers) to come
out and play an awesome set. They come out rather
casually to some local welsh singers pumped through
the PA, and then jump straight into their party
rock songs, along with classics like All My Friends
Have Joined The Army and Set Me On Fire And Feed
Me To The Wolves they play new singles Commitments
and Half Gone. I’ve now seen Straight Lines
about 6 or 7 times in the past 3 years and every
time they bring the rock, they entertain the crowd
and have fun whilst the crowd sings and dances
along, this time they even got a conga line going.
I recommend if you haven’t seen them yet
go out and see them later this year as that’s
going to be a fun tour.
 Marmozets
(4/5) are a band I’ve heard about
over the past year but have yet to get the chance
to see. They are made up of 4 young guys along
with female singer Becca Macintyre, well I say
singer she sings, she screams, she roars and it’s
not in the same way that Rolo Tomassi singer Eva
Spence goes about things its more in your face,
its more physical, it’s a sight to be seen.
The band blister out songs that last 5 minutes
a time, all well written and rehearsed then they
go out on stage and jump off the amps, fall over
each other and kick things about whilst still
playing and sounding ace. If you want to see a
band live, then I highly recommend Marmozets,
they are powerful, entertaining and different.
 Don
Broco (4/5) are up next, and a few months
ago I was really psyched to see them, but was
thoroughly disappointed, aside from some stage
jumping they sounded poor and lacked anything
that made them great on cd. But today, I went
in expecting the same and was pleasantly surprised,
they had either upped their game or when I last
saw them the sound at Birmingham was poor, but
they totally rocked today, they came out to hit
single Priorities which was sung back to them
by a huge crowd that new every single word. There
set was the same as a few months back but they
truly kicked it up a notch, they sounded amazing
and out on a great show.
Page 44 (4/5) are local to me,
here in Birmingham, and I first heard of them
back at Hevy last year when they were on the Red
Bull Bedroom Jam stage and performed really well,
now a year has passed and they won the Red Bull
competition, have been on tour with the Blackout
and have opened up Download Festivals 2nd stage,
to name just a few things. They’ve come
a long way and are still on a big path to getting
big, so a nice afternoon slot should be just the
thing to win over a few new fans and they don’t
disappoint. They play a stonking set of accessible
rock songs starting with the punky single Let
Me Fade. The sound is wicked, they have nice crowd
banter in-between songs and put on a great show.
Keep an eye out for Page 44 as they’re just
going to get bigger and better.
 After
Page 44, I had to go and interview Kids In Glass
Houses, so I missed the majority of The Proxies
who were entertaining but a bit too loud for me.
I did catch part of Future Of The Left, and I
was gutted to miss part of their set as I had
no idea that they are made up of two members of
Mclusky a great garage style band who played angry
rock and roll with a hint of humour. They sounded
amazing, and even played a few Mclusky songs in
their set, so I will be keeping an eye out for
the next time they play as they were outstanding.
We Are The Ocean (2/5) were great
when I last saw them at Hevy Festival last year,
but tonight they seem lacking and its only afterwards
when I find out that one of the singers Dan Brown
had left the band that it made sense, they were
lacking the back and forth between the singers
during the songs like What It Feels Like and The
Waiting Room. They do put in some effort but it’s
the first band that I’ve seen this weekend
that are not up to scratch. On the other hand
the crowd seem to be having a great time so it
may just have been me holding onto memories of
them sounding different.
Canterbury (3.5/5) are up on
the James Mclaren stage next and brighten my mood
up, by blasting out great sounding song after
song. They have come a long way since I first
saw them 2 years ago, they have a stage presence
and have their songs down to a tea. They  keep
everyone entertained and I look forward to seeing
more from them. 3.5/5
Deaf Havana (4.5/5) also bring
the noise, setting the main stage alight with
songs from their latest album Fools And Worthless
Liars. This is a band that had to get over a member
leaving and have done that really well, they are
a different band than what they used to be and
instead of staying with what they were like, they’ve
transformed into something completely different,
something that this busting tent can’t get
enough off! They play songs like Leeches and Little
White Lies which bring the house down. They also
through in a few old songs like an acoustic version
of Friends Like These which makes for a massive
sing along. Deaf Havana have raised the bar for
today and with only 2 bands left its going to
be hard to beat.
 ‘A’
(5/5) are back and are playing Merthyr
as their UK festival exclusive, they haven’t
practised for today and are just going on stage
with a set list and the hope that it will still
work the way it did 4 years ago. Funnily enough
it does work and they rock so hard it hurts! Singer
Jason Perry’s vocals still sound great and
unique; Marc Chapman still rocks the guitar with
solos that put most bands to shame. Drummer Adam
Perry and Keyboardist Giles Perry keep the rhythms
flowing with heavy hits and synth sounds that
are a key feature in A’s songs. Finally
Radio 1 Rock Shows own Daniel P Carter rocks the
bass like a mad man, flinging himself all over
the stage as he rocks the dirty background noise.
A look like they haven’t been away for the
past few years, they may be older and have their
kids rocking along on side stage but it doesn’t
mean they’re not one of the best live acts
the UK has ever produced. They play a stonking
set list covering all 4 albums, along with classics
The Distance, Starbucks and Foghorn. In between
songs Jason talks allot to the crowd, maybe because
he’s nervous or maybe because he doesn’t
care what people will say as they’re not
doing this day to day, he chats about them having
meals early in the day for just £5 which
amazes him and says how he’s trying to show
off to his mate Shaun Smith from The Blackout
who is watching side stage, and who comes out
to help finish their stonking set by helping on
the vocals to Nothing. It has to be said that
I love A but the reaction of the crowd was amazing,
A went down a treat and where definitely my highlight.
 Kids
In Glass Houses (4.5/5) are the final
band of the weekend and who have the tough job
of sending this tired crowd home on a high, and
I think they just about manage it. They play a
stonking set of about 15 songs that cover all
3 albums. They keep the energy up through out
there set whilst jumping around and flinging there
instruments around. I do think that KIGH are one
of the best live acts around at the moment, they’re
hard working and it shows on stage as they sound
amazing and keep the crowd entertained with sing
alongs and stage antics. They are on top form
tonight but I don’t think they had that
excitement that A had, they did dedicate a song
to the sadly passed away James Mclaren who was
a pioneer in welsh music. They end the show to
massive applause as the band leaves the stage
they can be proud of their performance and we
look forward to hearing a new album in 2013
Overall Merthyr Rock was a massive success, lots
of great bands with only one disappointment music
wise for myself. I hope that it continues next
year and beyond as it’s great for Wales
and it’s great for British music in general.
The only things I hope will be improved would
be onsite camping as even though there is a free
bus to the campsite at night, it’s still
a 4 mile trip and you can’t nip back to
your tent for an afternoon drink/snooze due to
the distance away. So I look forward to next year’s
event and hope that the line-up will be as epic
as it was this year!
Review By James Daly
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