Hevy Festival 2014 Review

Day one: Thursday

Rocked up at the site while it was raining feeling a little depressed as I didn't want it to rain all weekend, but after 10 minutes of being there it stopped a cleared over. Set up my tent in a field with no more then 10 other tents. After a couple hours the field slowly started to fill up. At about 6pm I decided to have a little explore around the site and have a look to see what Hevy had to offer, it took a hole 5 minutes to get around the whole site, thinking it would be a tad bigger then it was, but considering its so small the atmosphere is brilliant. 

Day 2: Friday
Finally woke around mid-day to a rather warm tent and the sound of the stages getting the sound ready for the first acts to go on. At around 1pm decided I should go check out some bands and see what the day has to offer. Checked out the clothing stalls and found a great stall called Skull and Cross Bone Boys Club bought a few new t-shirts, a hat and some shades, and had a long chat with the guys that own the stall and found to be the nicest bunch of lads. Also nice to see Violent Hearts Clothing here too, as they were founded just over the water from where I live. At 3pm I went to go shoot Heart In Hand and catch there set as I'm a fan of there's and caught them at Takedown Twenty14 earlier in the year. I fully enjoyed there set, I fell they should of been put on later in the day as the tent wasn't as full as I thought It should of been, but non the less they played a cracking set and everyone looked to be enjoying it to the full with a small circle pit going on in the middle of the tent for the duration of their set. Also they brought on Lead singer from Texas In July (JT Cavey) for guest vocals, which was brilliant. I'd give them a 10/10 for performance as I really enjoyed watching them and shooting them.

After catching HIH went for another little wonder around the site to see what else was going on and talked to some random people to see if they were enjoying Hevy this year, everyone I chatted to were loving the weekend and having a great time. After my small wonder around I caught Brutality Will Prevail's set, I'd never seen this band before or heard of them, but fully enjoyed it, they were very heavy compared to HIH but I felt it was a brilliant set, the crowd were wild throwing shapes and pitting to every song, so they went down well with the Hevy Crowd.

After BWP I went to catch Feed The Rhino as I caught them earlier in the day for a chat. This was my second time seeing FTR as I caught them a few years ago in London supporting WSS. FTR lead vocalist came out rocking a Skull and Bones Boys Club vest and owned that stage, during there second song he jumped onto the barrier to get the crowd singing with him, then jumped back on stage and climbed onto the speaker so everyone could see him while they finished the song. I really enjoyed there set and the crowd were loving every minute of it. After they finished I had a little wonder down to the press area to see how everyone was doing and how they were finding the weekend, they all were enjoying it and chatting about who they were looking forward to seeing and shooting, and who they'd already enjoyed.

At 8:30pm I went to go catch Deez Nuts as they are one of my favourite bands and been looking forward to them since knowing I was going to Hevy and they didn't disappoint as per normal, JJ Peters vocals were flawless and the music was tight and completely spot on, JJ managed the whole set with a tie-dye hoody on, in which I found crazy as that tent was so hot and under the lights was even hotter, but he pulled it off brilliantly, the crowd sang every word to there hit song Stay True, the pits stayed strong through the whole time they were on, only down side to the performance was that they should of been on main stage.

After the smashing performance from DN I wondered down to main stage to catch the Friday night headliner's FinchI wasn't sure what to expect from Finch as I'd never seen them live and to be honest not really heard of them. After sitting in the photo pit for about 15 minutes they all came on stage and started there first song to which I didn't have clue what it was but I enjoyed it.  During there second song the Guitarist took a slip and fell head first off the main stage (which was a good 6ft high) right in front of me, I didn't know what to do I felt so awkward as he landed straight on his neck and winded himself he looked like he'd really hurt himself and I stood there like "oh god this could be the end of there set before its even began" but like a trooper after a couple minutes to get his breath back and making sure he hadn't done any damage he jumped right up and ran around to get right back on stage and carry on performing. They played for about an hour and the crowd loved every minute of it and sang along to the songs, for a first time seeing them I thought they were great and no faults (almost). After all the acts played I decided to have a look at my shots from the day and was rather happy with them. Uprawr put on a party till 1am in which most the camp-site was there partying.

Day 3: Saturday,
Early afternoon we had our first interview with Dead Harts, which was a laugh as we'd met the band on Thursday as they also owned Skull and Bones Clothing so the interview ended up being a giggle, after the interview I went to catch there set to see what they were all about. Even though the tent wasn't full they played like they were playing to a thousand people the stage presents was brilliant and the crowd were loving them, a few members of the crowd were singing there songs and the lead singer jumped down to the barrier to get in with them and they all sang into the mic, for a band I'd never seen before I loved every minute of it, they put so much effort into there performance and didn't disappoint.

After the set I headed back down to press to have a chat with The Hell which was a tad confusing, and a little frustrating as all the questions asked were answered as a joke, so didn't get a whole lot of information from them, after they interviewed they had to jump on stage where I caught one song of theirs before having to run off and catch another band on main. The song in which I caught was rather good they were all dressed up in bandanna and faces covered with sunglasses and animal masks in which I found rather amusing, the small tent was packed out and crowd were enjoying the performance.

After The Hell was Me Vs Hero, another band I'd not heard of but really enjoyed there set, it made a nice change from just seeing a heavy band to go see a pop punk band with clean vocals and easy listening rifts. Their whole set was blessed with sunshine, so the audience were chilling out sitting on the grass while watching them. Definitely a band to go see if there playing near by. At 4pm I popped down to 2nd stage to get few snaps of Heights and to see what they we're like musically, I wasn't impressed with there performance over all I felt the lead singer was far to cocky and just acted like an idiot on stage and let the rest of the band down by kicking mic-stands over and thinking he was a massive rock star who could get away with trashing the stage, I only stayed for 3 songs while I got some photo's but left rather swiftly after that, so didn't catch the end to see if they'd buck up there performance. After that performance I went to see Capdown on main stage and was pleasantly surprised with there set the singer was fantastic, his voice was brilliant and what I liked even more was that he brought out a Sax and started playing amazingly and he was so modest when talking to the crowd, saying he was a normal guy with kids who loves to play music. These guys are a must see. Sadly I had to leave partly through there set to go catch a band I'd wanted to see over the weekend, which was Polar. 

I heard many good things about this band from friends and they were all right, the band were great, the stage presents was brilliant, the singer often jumped into the crowd to interact with them, the whole tent was moving and everyone singing along to their songs, for such a new band to the scene they are defiantly a favourite to watch. After rushing about all afternoon catching as many bands as possible I had a little time out in press to go through the photographs I had taken through the day.

At 8pm I went round to main stage to catch Reel Big Fish who were dressed very brightly and brilliant to watch as they were so much fun on stage with all the different types of instruments such as sax, trombone, trumpet, guitar and drums. The lead singer was dressing in a bright shirt and stripy sunglasses, the whole crowd danced to every song and sung there hearts out, they had to be the funniest band all weekend to watch and the music was outstanding they had to be in the top three for all acts over the weekend, defiantly worth seeing.

Only one more act to see and that was the headliner's The Vandals, this was also another band I'd not heard of so wasn't sire what to expect, the guitarist came on, in the brightest orange t-shirt I'd ever seen followed by the rest of the band. During there first song there was a cracking guitar solo in which the crowd loved and watching the guitarist was very amusing as he danced around stage through almost the whole hour odd that they were on. When they finished the crowd chanted for one more song, while banging on the barriers, and they got what they wanted one more song from The Vandals, and that was that Hevy Acts were finished till next year.

Hevy Festival is such an under-rated festival it was a brilliant weekend with some wicked bands playing, no matter how small it was it made the festival unique and I wouldn't want it to change or get massive like the rest of the festivals it just wouldn't be the same and don't think the atmosphere would be as good as it was, so anyone into the Scar,punk,hardcore,metal, just all round alternative music this is defiantly a festival not to miss next year! Also an awesome perk to this small little festival is that is was 5 minute walk from Port Lypme Animal Park in which was free to enter for any festival goer, so if you wanted a little break from the music, poping into the park was great to go see the monkeys, tigers, rhinos and lots more animals, which was great and so unique as no other festival has this facillity to use and enjoy!

Chasing Cadence Interview at Takedown Festival

I was at Takedown Festival and managed to get a few minutes to chat with singer Jack from Chasing Cadence. 

Where abouts are your from? We're all from Hertfordshire scattered around the place but all in that general area 

Did you guys grow up together? No we found each other online, when we were looking for new bands 

Do people back home support you guys? Yeah our friends and family are great but I guess a lot of bands say it but the music scene where we are is terrible but there are people are trying to build it up it just takes a long time 

What's the goal you wish to reach in say 5 years? We'd love to be touring, getting our music out there playing some cool venues and meeting new people. 

Claim to fame? We played with Taking Back Sunday what was awesome as we all really love there music 

Do you guys have any other activities outside the band? We all work a lot so that takes up a lot of our time but couple of us like football so we sometimes play bit of that here and there. 

Who's the biggest motivator or the group and keeps everyone in line? It's prob got to be Rob, he's been a bit grumpy last few days due to lack of sleep but he's normally the one who keeps up going. 

Does anyone have any bad habits? Alf snores really loudly, sometimes we have to put head phones in to get to sleep cause it's so loud. 

What do you miss most when on tour? Eating got food got lot of spots cause eating rubbish food, we always try to get accommodation when on tour as we're all really feminine and like to always be clean, baths as most places have showers and after show you ache so a bath would be nice. Home comforts we miss.

You can find the bands music and such at https://www.facebook.com/ChasingCadence

Black Futures Interview at Takedown Festival

I sat down with Black Futures and spoke to Stu who plays double bass and sings and also Paul who plays guitars and shouts.

Where are you guys from? We pull from all over the place but at the moment were in Guilford where our studio is. 

Do you guys get to practice a lot? Yeah as were all very close we get together and lot and write, we practice when we've got live shows 

What's the biggest goal you want to achieve? To play big venues, festivals, play shows where everyone is enjoying it and making the whole place just move 

Claim to fame? Playing with the Prodigy that was pretty massive for us 

What's the band got planned this year? We're going to be finishing our album and got some festivals, we've got Alt Fest and some others but can't say what they are 

Black futures music and such can be found at https://www.facebook.com/BlackFutures

Saint the Sinner Interview at Takedown Festival

Charlie sat down with James from Saint the Sinner at this years Takedown Festival to have a quick chat, check out what he had to say.  

How long have you known rest of your band? Known Pash since 2011, and rest from sort of around there, known Pash longest and I live with him

Biggest influences? Mines got to be like Blink 182, Black Dahlia Murder but it changes threw out the band really it's all very mixed. 

Do people back home support you guys? Yeah we get amazing support from all our friends, family. My mum will pretty much do anything for us. 

Who in group keeps everyone most motivated? It's got to be Pash, he's always writing, doing stuff on computer that sort of thing.

What is your guilty pleasure? Really cheesy pop music, Venga Boys, SClub7, Steps. 

What's have you got planned this year for shows? Got a big one with Local band called Griever that'll be fun, and it's Daves birthday for big old party, also we're recording and going to be touring at end of the year. 

Music and band can be found at www.facebook.com/SaintTheSinnerOfficial

Takedown Twenty 14 Review

I arrived at the site at just gone 12:30, people were queuing all the way up the courtyard of the venue waiting to get there wrist bands. 

Exploring the venue I found myself watching a band called The Smoking Hearts at the Southampton Intro Stage. The Smoking Hearts, A 5 piece rock and roll band from London UK. During there set they interacted with the crowd threw each song asking if everyone was enjoying their day so far. Their performance was all round very tight, sound and vocals where clear and sounded great, they also were really getting into it as a band, head banging, bouncing around. Was a smallish crowd, maybe 50 odd people watching but from what I could see everyone was enjoying it including myself. If you’re into your punk/rock and roll this is defiantly a band to look out for, music can be found at  www.store.bombermusic.com and also Checkout there Facebook Page at www.facebook.com/thesmokinghearts.

Next stop for me was to go a watch the awesome Heart In Hand at the Uprawr Stage. Heart In Hand are a Melodic Hardcode band from the South coast. Charlie (vocalist) sporting shorts and short sleeved shirt, with all his tattoo’s on show, the bands all round stage presents was great, all of the constantly moving around. The sound and vocals were tight and so clear. Crowd going completely mental mosh pits, odd crowd surf, everyone singing along to their songs and just all round loving the music. Between each song Charlie interacted with the crowd asking how everyone was and if they were enjoying their day so far and going to party. Through part of the set Charlie got into the crowd and got people to sing in microphone. I really enjoyed this band thought they sounded great live and had a fantastic stage presents and looked like they really enjoyed themselves as well as the crowd loving it.

After their set I managed to catch up with Charlie Holmes (Vocalist) for a chat and asked a couple of questions.

  • Biggest influences? (Charlie) “Generally it has to be life in general, also the band are big Deftone fans, even though we don’t sound like them really like their music, also liking the band Underoath even though they aren’t around anymore”.
  • Biggest achievement as a band? “Its probably playing Download Festival this year, we’re all looking forward to that”. Where do you see yourselves in say 5 years? “Who knows really, guess we’ll keep writing music till we can’t anymore, we’ve just finished recording our third album and going to working on the fourth soon, so that really”.
  • Favourite venue you guys have ever played? “We’ve played some massive venue in Europe that we can’t think the name of but they’ve been great, I really like The Joiners in Southampton, I prefer smaller venues there lot more intermit and lot more fun”.
  • Where are you guys most likely to be on a day off? “In bed normally
  • When on tour who/what do you miss the most? “Erm… it’s got to be my Girlfriend, three of us in band have girlfriends so it’s defiantly got to be them
  • I guess they don’t come on tour with you then? “No not really, two of our girlfriends are here today though, and it’s my girlfriends birthday”.
  • What are the plan’s for this year, album/shows/tours? “Well we just finished our latest album but can’t say when its out or what it’s called, we were meant to be touring but that’s been dropped sadly but hopefully come end of the year we’ll have something, atm it’s just Download Festival”.

Heart In Hand can be found at www.facebook.com/heartinhandukmh there are links to there web store, twitter and music.

Next band to watch on my list was a band called Idiom on the Uprawr Stage. Idiom are an Alternative Metal band from Exeter, they’ve shared the stage with such bands as Devildriver, 36 Crazyfists, Skindred and tons more. Crowd all cheering as they walk on stage and start there set. After their first song the crowd really get into it as do the band, they all sync head banged and bouncing around the stage, at one point the vocalist gets into the crowd and gets them to sing along in the mic. Towards the end of the set a rubber blow up shark was thrown onto the stage where the vocalist picks up and swings around before throwing back into the crowd, lot of crowd interaction between songs. Was all round a great set and everyone enjoyed themselves? Before the set I managed to catch up with the band for a small Q&A. 

  • Biggest influences? “Erm.. We don’t really have one, we should come up with one as a group really. Deftones we all really like them”.
  • How long have you all known each other? “We all grew up together in the same village and three of us went to the same high school just different years
  • So you all get along really well, don’t annoy each other or anything? “Nah we all get along pretty well” (Dan) “No one would want to annoy me, haha”.
  • Biggest challenge as a band? “Coming from Devon, as it’s so far out the way of everything, getting to places can be a pain
  • Do people back home support you guys a lot? “Yeah, back home we’ve got a pretty big following, they come to our shows so we hope they like our music”.
  • Favourite venue you’ve ever played? “HMV Forum was pretty amazing, Nottingham Rock City was awesome, Underworld London is always a fun and intense one”.
  • If you could describe your band in three words what would they be? "Fun, energetic and different”.
  • Anything big happening for you guys this year? “We’ve got our EP’s coming out this year and also we’ve got tour in May”.

Idioms music can be found threw there facebook page which is www.facebook.com/pages/IDIOM/12224761257

While walking around the venue I came across a band called Heart of a Coward. They’re a metal band from Milton Keynes, with influences such as Deftones, Pantera, The Acacia Strain, etc… While watching this band I was sat on the balcony looking down at the crowd and band, everywhere you looked people where moshing, pitting and having a good time. Lead singer Jamie Graham was wearing camo, cargo shorts and vest, with all his tattoos on show. During the song Deadweight Jamie asked the crowd to all put their arms round each other’s shoulders and the whole crowd erupted into song, singing back the lyrics. All the band got into it sync head banging and bouncing around the stage, also between songs talking to everyone in crowd. The music was tight and clear, I really enjoyed this band and would love to see them again. Music and other info on the band can be found at www.facebook.com/heartofacoward

Throughout the day I caught up with couple other bands to have a chat and Q&A. I had a chat with two of the guys from Yashin. They are a post-hardcore band from Scotland, formed in Greenock near Glasgow. I spoke with Harry (Screamer) and Kevin (Singer).

  • Biggest influences? (Harry) “It’s all really spread out to be honest, from like Limp Bizket to Deftones, so heavy side of things” (Kevin) “ I really like Panic at the Disco and Fall Out Boy”
  • Biggest challenge? (Kevin) “I lost my voice a little while back, so that was pretty hard” (Harry) “Being in a band is pretty hard, but also the best thing in the world”
  • Favourite venue you’ve ever played? “Err Rock City was good, but also ones in Europe, Hamburg”. (Harry) “I love the CoCo, cause it’s blood red theatre and really dark, so it’s really cool”.
  • Have you ever had anything embarrassing happen on stage? (Harry) “I fell off stage, I went to walk where there was nothing there and just fell off”
  • Was it a big fall did it hurt? “It was a big fall but I tried to make out that I meant to jump off, but it was quite funny” (Kevin) “You were just so confident walking into thin air”.
  • Favourite album right now? (Kevin) “Restoring Force the new Of Mice and Men Album, that’s pretty cool” (Harry) “I really like the new 1975 album. Architect’s new album that’s good, saw them the other day, it’s doing really well in charts too”.
  • Do you have any guilty pleasures? (Harry) “I like cars” (Kevin) “guilty pleasures… I like murders, hahahahaha” (Harry) “I like Candy, always eating candy
  • What have you guys got coming up this year? “We’re playing Sonisphere, recording our album, finishing that off in April. Also looking to do some support tours, headline tours and get out to other countries”.

You can find their music and other stuff at www.facebook.com/theyashin

Last band of the night to play were the massive Funeral for a Friend. The band were formed in 2001 in South Wales, they’re a post hardcore band, with influences from 90’s and 00’s hardcore, punk and metal with other bits and pieces here and there. The lead singer came on stage with the long sleeved shirt buttoned all the way to top and baseball cap, which I found very odd as it was boiling hot in the venue. Between songs there was a lot of interaction with the crowd, the room was filled to top with people watching, there was a mosh pit on front of me and people sitting on other people’s shoulders singing the lyrics to the songs being played. All the band members were moving around, jumping up and down, and enjoying the atmosphere. The more the show went on the hotter it got in the area. I thought the band performed great and the crowd really enjoyed it, so it was al all round good performance by the headline band.

By the end of the event the venues were littered with cups all over the floor but the party wasn’t close to finishing, I headed along to the after party and enjoyed some of the DJ sets and asked fellow Takedowner’s if they’d enjoys the day and it appeared everyone had a really good day and were ready to party the night away.

Photos courtesy of JPS Images @ Takedown Festival

Rise To Remain to replace Chimaira at Takedown 2014

Unfortunately, due to the untimely illness of Chimaira vocalist Mark Hunter they have had to postpone their entire upcoming UK/European tour, which included a headlining slot at this year's Takedown Festival in Southampton on Saturday 15th March.

Chimaira issued this official statement earlier this week:

'I'm sorry to say that Chimaira will have to postpone the upcoming European and UK dates. I am extremely sick at the moment with pneumonia and have been advised not to travel for a minimum of two weeks. The last thing we want to do is cancel. We are working to reschedule the shows and will have new dates set up shortly. I apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused and we hope to get over there ASAP. – Mark'

Fear not though as we have found, and are very pleased to announce, a worthy replacement in the form of London based metallers Rise to Remainwho will now be headlining the Total Uprawr Stage. Rise to Remain have made appearances at Download, Sonisphere as well as extensively toured Europe and the UK. They won a Kerrang! Award for 'Best British Newcomer' in 2010, and were voted 'Best New Band' at the 2010 Metal Hammer 'Golden God' Awards. In February this year Radio 1 premiered a brand new track 'Over and Over' from their highly anticipated 2nd studio album which they've been recently tucked up in a studio busy writing.  

We're excited to welcome Rise to Remain to Takedown 2014!

Tickets for Takedown are available now from www.takedownfestival.co.uk priced at just £30, or £34 including official after show party. 

Takedown Festival Twenty 14

Takedown Festival 2014 is being held at Southampton University on Saturday March 15th. Its a one day event that offers a alternative style of music to the south coast.

Bands are spread out over 5 stages throughout the day. In the time Takedown festival has been running it has been host to many great bands such as The Blackout, While She Sleeps, Don Bronco, Skindred, and many more, Takedown also been host to many local bands in the area such as, Our Hollow Out Home, Upon The Shore, Saint The Sinner, and lots more.

This years event will be host to Funeral For A Friend, Kids In Glass Houses, Yashin, Lostalone, and also local bands such as Saint The Sinner, Seasons In Wreckage, Our Hollow Our Home.

Bands to keep a look out for Heart In Hand, Feed The Rino, Hacktivst, Our Hollow Our Home and Saint The Sinner!

So if your up for a mosh and head banging this is the festival to be at this March!