Hit The Deck festival was born in April
2011 when the festival took over Nottingham on
the 17th April, now two years on Hit The Deck
is celebrating its third year as a festival and
for the first time ever the event is a duel sited
festival stopping off in Bristol and Nottingham.
When Hit The Deck 2013 was originally announced
I was instantly exciting by the line up with the
likes of Don Broco, We Are The In Crowd, We Are
The Ocean and Army Of Freshman being amongst the
first set of bands announced, as the months went
by more bands got added to the festivals line
up with the likes of Pure Love, Natives, Mallory
Knox and many others catching my eye and from
this moment I just knew that I had to head down
to Bristol on the 20th April to see what Hit The
Deck is all about.
We arrived in Bristol around midday and headed
straight down to the Thekla to get our wrist bands
and when we got there we were greeted with such
a smooth and quick process where you got a wrist
band to prove you were over 18 to help make the
bar staff’s job easier and then you went
on to get your festival wrist band, this was done
in the matter of seconds being the quickest and
most efficient wrist band exchange I have experienced
at a festival.
We headed straight down to the Academy and outside
there were signs up saying that first band on
Black Eye were not playing the festival as they
have split up and that the first band on would
be Attention Thieves at 1.30pm so we waited around
for a bit before heading in to check out Attention
Thieves.
Attention Thieves (4/5) are a band who I have
heard a lot about over the last couple of years
and have even had the pleasure to review their
EP ‘Look A Little Closer’ and most
recent single ‘Can’t See The Light,
the band have been hyped up across the board for
their hectic touring schedule and solid live shows
and tonight just proved that the hype is justified
as Attention Thieves sounded tight as hell from
the start and a couple of songs in they managed
to turn a stale looking crowd into a happy crowd
as front man Alex Green encouraged the crowd to
clap and mosh along and at one point even a mini
circle pit broke out in the middle of the Academy
to the delight of Attention Thieves as they smashed
through ‘Can’t See The Light’.
We decided to stay in the Academy 1 and wait for
Mallory Knox (5/5) and before we knew it 30minutes
had passed by and Mallory Knox were taking to
the stage, now Mallory Know are a band I have
enjoyed the music of for some time now but have
never managed to see them on the live circuit
and today I was in for a treat as Mallory Knox
opened their set in good fashion with their single
‘Wake Up’ and it certainly lived up
to its name and brought the crowd in the Academy
to life, as the set progressed Mallory Knox played
the likes of ‘Hello’, ‘ Oceans’
and ‘Death Rattle’ with the later
of the 3 seeing Mikey Chapman jump off the stage
and get closer to the crowd, yet it was the outstanding
‘Lighthouse’ which closed the set
and left me wanting more songs from Mallory Knox.
After Mallory Knox we went for a quick walk around
Bristol and it was a great experience as the streets
were busy with various different things going
on and it was also a pleasure to see the likes
of We Are The In crowd, Natives and various other
bands just walking around the streets of Bristol
doing a bit of shopping and mingling with their
fans.
We got back to the Academy in time for Sonic Boom
Six (5/5) who absolutely blew me away, now I have
listened to various different Sonic Boom Six singles
and videos on the likes of Kerrang and Scuzz tv
but I have never experienced them on the live
circuit until now and after the amazing performance
they put on today I am kicking myself for not
checking them out sooner, the whole 30 minute
set was like a big energetic workout for the band
especially vocalist Laila Khan who totally owned
the stage dancing in a way that looked like she
was leading a gym class whilst laying down some
killer vocals. Now if you have ever had the pleasure
to see Chase And Status live Sonic Boom Six are
like the ska-punk version of them as they have
the same energy on stage and a similar vibe with
the fact that the mix ska, punk, metal, dub step
together to create an big in your face catchy
sound.
During their 30minute set Sonic Boom Six managed
to play about 7 songs with ‘Bang!, Bang!,
Bang!, Bang!’, ‘Piggy In The Middle’
pleasing the crowd but it was the likes of ‘Virus’
which had a bit of Limp Bizkit ‘Rollin’
thrown in at the end including the well known
dance movements which had the crowd bouncing in
the air and also recent single ‘Keep On
Believing’ And regular set closer ‘For
The Kids Of The Multiculture’ which set
the mosh pit alive.
After Sonic Boom Six we headed upstairs to the
Academy 2 where Evarose (3/5) had just started
their set, now Evarose are all female four piece
band from Oxfordshire who have been on the scene
for a couple of years now, when we walked into
the Academy 2 they were half way through their
single ‘Changes’ and straight away
I thought the sound wasn’t right and as
soon as the song came to an end vocalist Dannika
Webber was asking for the sound to be corrected,
luckily this happed straight away.
Pretty much for the whole set Evarose played
in darkness now I don’t know if this was
because the Academy2 has a poor lighting system
or because the person on lighting duties chose
the lighting but either way Evarose didn’t
let it bother them as they went on and played
a mixture of songs from their debut EP ‘Creation
Divide’ and their most recent EP ‘Elements’,
with one of their first ever songs ‘Glass’
gaining a good response from the crowd in the
Academy 2.
We headed straight back down to the main Academy
next for Attack Attack! (2/5) now I know since
they formed back in 2007 Attack Attack! have had
a rollercoaster ride and it seems that today they
brought that rollercoaster ride to Bristol as
from the start they ran into sound problems with
new vocalist Phil Druyor’s vocals not coming
through loud enough for the first couple of tracks,
however this did not stop him storming the stage
like a mad man and looking at the size of the
man anyone would be a fool to of got in his way.
As the set progressed Phil Druyor spoke to the
crowd to say that they have had problems and that
a few days ago they didn’t think they would
have a full band to play their UK tour but luckily
they drafted in some friends to help out, this
in a way was good as the fans of the band still
managed to see their hero’s hero’s
perform the likes of ‘The People’s
Elbow’ and ‘Sexual Man Chocolate’
which sounding brutal live, yet the majority of
the set sounded poor and there was a lot of waiting
around between songs, I just hope that Attack
Attack! go away spend time clicking as a band
and come back and play the music to the standard
they originally wrote it.
Now Hit The Deck was a really well organised
festival but there was one big criticism and that
was the lack of food stalls, the only one I saw
was a Pieminister stand by the Thekla so after
Attack Attack! we headed down to the local Weatherspoon
to get so much needed food after the best part
of 5 hours of live music.
We then headed down to the Thekla to check out
Bowling For Soup’s old favourite touring
partners Army Of Freshman (4/5), now for anyone
who has never been to the Thekla it is easily
one of the best music venues in Bristol and it
is set on a big cargo ship in the heart of Bristol’s
floating harbour, when we walked into the venue
Army Of Freshman were already well into their
set and were playing to a maximum of 50 people
yet they didn’t let this put them off as
they performed on stage like they were playing
to 1000’s of people as they laid down their
poppy-punk sounds.
Next up are Canterbury (4.5/5) a band who formed
back in 2005 in Farnham, Surrey who have enjoyed
a very successful journey in the music industry
including the release of their debut album ‘Thank
You’ which saw Canterbury trial a pay what
you want method for the album which allowed people
to download it for free if they wanted to, since
then Canterbury have released album number 2 ‘Heavy
In The Day’ and are set to head into the
studio to record album number 3 any time now.
It is clear to see that their time as a band
has paid off as Canterbury are on top form tonight
playing a 45 minute set which featured the likes
of ‘Calm Down’, ‘Something Better’,
‘Wrapped In Rainbows’, ‘Heavy
In The Day’ and also new song ‘You
Are The One’ which gave vocalist James Pipe
to talk about their forthcoming untitled third
album.
Towards the end of their set James Pipe made
a good statement about UK rock music being back
alive and kicking and right at the top and he
also went on to say that it was down to good bands,
good fans and good festivals like Hit The Deck
and I personally couldn’t agree more.
After Canterbury there was a long and painful
wait for Pure Love, the band that I had been looking
forward to the most all day, lucky after headed
outside the venue for a bit of air and a drink
it was time to head back in for Pure Love.
Pure Love (5/5) took to the stage slightly late
and blasted straight into ‘She (Makes The
Devil Run Through Me)’ which also happens
to be the opening track from their debut album
‘Anthems’ and instrumentally the band
sounding solid but Franks vocals sounding slightly
broken and different from how they sound on the
album however as Frank progressed through the
song his voice settled in and he was on top form
and within seconds guitarist Jim Carroll jumps
into the crowd for a quick crowd surf whilst playing
his guitar.
As the set progresses Pure Love cause mayhem
with Jim Carroll crowd surfing at every opportunity
and when he is not crowd surfing he is climbing
on the bar playing his guitar or generally charging
through the crowd, whilst Jim is doing this Frank
is charging through the crowd like a bull on the
loose, he heads to the sound desk and has a word
with the staff there, he then progresses onto
the bar and try’s to order drinks for the
whole crowd but the bar staff are having none
of it so Frank heads back to the middle of the
venue to continue with ‘The Anthem’.
When ‘Bury My Bones’ opens up the
whole venue erupts with everyone jumping up and
down with joy and before you know if Jim Carroll
and Frank Turner are on a crowd surfing mission
again and this time Jim Carroll crowd serfs and
manages to get hoisted up to the upper deck of
the venue, and Frank follows suit showing that
he won’t be out done by his partner in crime
Jim Carroll.
The next couple of songs are played with Jim
Carroll and Frank Turner in the upper deck of
the venue whilst the rest of the band are on stage
rocking out, we are treated to new track ‘Hurricane’
which instantly sounds like a classic Pure Love
song and moments later ‘Handsome Devil’s
Club’ where Frank tells everyone to get
their best friend or loved one on their shoulder
and within seconds this happens leaving the security
looking around with a concerned look on their
face.
Towards the end of the set the drummer moved
his kit to the middle of the crowd and straight
away a circle pit breaks out around the drum kit
with Jim Carroll who has just returned to the
floor joining the circle pit running around playing
his guitar whilst trying to avoid hitting any
fans with his guitar, moments later Pure Love
blast into their final song ‘Riot Song’
which features Jim Carroll playing guitar with
a 12 year old fan sat on his shoulders who also
goes on to experience his first ever crowd surf
as he his passed over the crowd through the venue.
I first saw Pure Love live when they played Bath
Moles back in July 2012 this was their 10th ever
show as a band and now they must be in triple
figures and it certainly shows as tonight’s
set was fantastic and unlike anything I have ever
seen before, when you go to a Pure Love show it
is best to go expecting the unexpected as tonight’s
show proved that just about anything can happen.
As we left the Thekla we could hear many Pure
Love fans singing “woaaah ooo woaaah”
as they relive ‘Riot Song’ on their
walk home.
Overall Hit The Deck 2013 has been an amazing
experience, like every festival there were clashes
and I missed many bands that I wanted to watch
such as The Front Bottoms, We Are The In Crowd,
Don Broco, Decade and many others but clashes
are never going to be avoided no matter what the
festival is especially when you have the choice
of 4 venues and 7 stages to visit. In general
the festival was organised really well and there
were no problems or queues getting into any of
the venues which I was expecting.
11 hours of music, 4 venues, 7 stages and nearly
70 bands for £25 you really couldn’t
go wrong, Hit The Deck Bristol 2013 was a success
and I feel slightly jealous of anyone who is heading
to the Nottingham leg of the festival today, here
is to Hit The Deck 2014 which I am sure will be
even bigger and better.
Review By Trigger
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