Words: Smudge Smith
Pictures: Adrian Hextall \ MindHex Media
Friday 23rd
Has it been a year already? Crikey, time flies. As I pulled into the site entrance, it was all familiar faces with huge smiles that greeted me and welcomed me back. The press accreditation was nice and easy, and I was directed to the press area – yes, we lucky press people have a whole building to ourselves where we can interview people, download and post our images. After a catch-up with some old colleagues, we went for a stroll around the arena and decided it was time for a beer – an easy decision really.
Opening the festival were Scarlet Rebels, who I saw headline a stage at Call Of The Wild back in May. I mentioned then that I wasn’t sure if they were ‘big enough’ to headline a stage at a festival, but their performance changed my mind immediately, and their performance tonight only reconfirmed my decision. They oozed confidence on the big stage with guitarist Chris Jones making sure he used every inch whilst tearing out fills and solos as he pulled some proper rock star shapes. These guys have their heavy melodic rock chops refined, and they get better every time I see them. We got the news that their new album Where Colours Meet had entered the charts at number 15, and four new songs were aired tonight – opener ‘Grace’, ‘Streets Of Fire’, ‘Secret Drug’, and ‘It Was Beautiful’ alongside ‘These Days’ and set closer ‘Take You Home’. Scarlet Rebels have come a long way since I saw them support the Graham Bonnet Band when they were called V0ID; they were good that night, and it’s a pleasure to see how they’ve developed.
I saw Paul DiAnno and his band supporting KK’s Priest earlier in the year, and I thought they played an awesome set with DiAnno in fine voice despite his recent health issues. He was still in a wheelchair after recent knee surgery, but the voice was still strong as he gave us a set of classic Maiden numbers with a totally different band behind him. We got ‘Sanctuary’, ‘Charlotte The Harlot’, ‘Prowler’, the huge ‘Wrathchild’, ‘Murders In The Rue Morgue’, a wonderful ‘Remember Tomorrow’, and ‘Phantom Of The Opera’. He told us that he was playing on only about 4 hours’ sleep in 3 days and was none too complimentary about a certain hotel chain, but he was the consummate professional as he finished with ‘Iron Maiden’ and ‘Running Free’. A lot was written on social media about DiAnno’s performance, with literally half the people disliking what they heard and the other half saying he was awesome. Both myself and my erstwhile partner in metal, Adrian Hextall, agreed that he and his band sounded great.
Now, I have said it before – I was never a fan of The Quireboys, especially live, where I thought they were sloppy, drunk, and unprofessional BUT Spike has amassed a shit-hot band who tonight included Thunder drummer Harry James alongside his colleague Luke Morley, Willie Dowling from The Grip tinkling the ivories, and original Q’boy Nigel Mogg on bass. I saw them at Call Of The Wild and was mightily impressed, but tonight they were awesome. It was an evening of sheer fun and enjoyment with their brand of cheeky chappy Faces/Stones rock ‘n’ roll. Spike’s voice sounded clear and powerful, and Morley threw out those rockin’ R&B riffs like confetti, a big credit to Dowling too, who played like The Killer himself – Jerry Lee Lewis. ‘Jeeze Louise’ and ‘Can’t Park Here’ are perfect openers, and Hannah from Truro dancing next to me told me they were ‘bouncy’, as did her son Harry. Now, Hannah is a foster carer and she had her ‘ward’ with her – legally I cannot name him – but this lad was having the time of his young life. We got ‘Misled’, ‘Sweet Mary Ann’, ‘Raining Whiskey’, and ‘Whippin’ Boy’ before the crowd went nuts and sang along to ‘Hey You’. The good times continued with ‘I Think I Got It Wrong Again’, ‘King Of New York’, and ‘Roses And Rings’, which has a refrain much like ‘Some Kinda Wonderful’ before it was sing-along time again with ‘There She Goes Again’ and ‘7 O’Clock’. Hannah looked disappointed as they hadn’t played her fave – ‘I Don’t Love You Anymore’ and told me to deduct points, but after the calls of ‘one more song’, she got her wish. A wonderful opening night made everyone excited for tomorrow.
Saturday 24th August
Well, we tried the early start, but we were hampered by an accident on the A17 which meant a thirty-minute diversion. We ended up on a farm thanks to my poor local knowledge, so we missed the start of The Hot One Two, but what we caught was absolutely stunning. The crowd was vast despite the awful weather, and they lapped up the energetic high-quality rock ‘n’ roll that the band creates in their sleep. We walked in as they were halfway through ‘Feeling Good’ – yeah, we were – then we got ‘The Fray’, ‘Rolling Stone’, ‘Is It Hot’, and the huge sing-along ‘Tie Me Down’. I honestly don’t know how they create songs with such dirty heavy riffs and sweet melodies. In my opinion, they offer something quite unique, which is hard to do in these modern times. I urge you to catch these guys live. They don’t stop moving, and in Nick Manners and Kev Baker, they have a guitar duo the equal of anyone out there, plus Baker pulls the most wonderful faces even when he’s not playing!
Tailgunner stepped up and brought the NWOBHM screaming into 2024. They have a singer with a huge range who can also cajole a crowd, a rhythm section locked in tighter than a duck’s butt – especially in this weather – and a pair of guitarists who are virtuosos in their own right but also play telepathically together. And they’re from the UK!! After the ‘Zorba The Greek’ intro (yes, we did the obligatory dance!), they careered into ‘Guns For Hire’ and ‘White Death’ before the mighty ‘Beast In The Night’ where singer Craig Cairns took a tumble on the slippery stage but styled it out impressively, so much so that the guitarists didn’t even know what happened. It was classic metal all the way on ‘Warhead’ before we got a brilliant guitar battle between Zach Salvini and Rhea Thompson, which led into a metal version of Grieg’s ‘In The Hall Of The Mountain King’. ‘New Horizons’ and a rousing ‘Revolution Scream’ led to the foot-on-the-monitor-heads-down banger ‘Crash Dive’ before they bravely finished the set with an utterly awesome cover of Dio’s ‘Don’t Talk To Strangers’, a brave move which the crowd loved.
I’m not usually a fan of the sleaze/trash genre, but I was wholly impressed by the sheer enthusiasm of The Bites as they brought a whole load of Hollywood fun and sun to a dull grey day. Singer Jordan Tyler is camper than a row of tents and brought equal parts Jagger and Plant. They gave us the vast majority of their debut album Squeeze, which I will be purchasing ASAP. The songs tell the stories of the seedier side of Hollywood with ‘Knockin’ On The Door’, ‘Pretty Boys’, and ‘Dirty City’ being fine examples. A cover of Led Zeppelin’s ‘Good Times, Bad Times’ got the crowd going before some more tongue-in-cheek sleazy punky rock ‘n’ roll with ‘Good Love’, a tale about sexual encounters on the road, ‘Cold Clean Lady’, and the superb ‘Heather Leather’ – ‘heather forever, she wants to love me and I’m gonna let her..’ catchier than whatever Heather probably gave him! The title track of the album is just dumb-ass rock ‘n’ roll, as was ‘Fire In Hollywood’, then Tyler told us the next song was a ballad – and we believed him! Don’t buy a used car from this man! ‘Do Me A Favor’ was another simple catchy punk ‘n’ roll tune and a fine way to end the show. The Bites play serious rock ‘n’ roll, but they don’t take themselves too seriously. A truly unforgettable set.
Bonafide didn’t excite me in any way. They came across as a knock-off AC/DC, so I went off to mingle with The Hot One Two and took advantage of their free booze. Yes, I’m cheap and easily bought. I was excited to see Eclipse again, and they brought another level of performance and songwriting skill. Erik Martenson is a uniquely talented man with a gift for the riff and an ear for a proper catchy melody; well, he is Swedish, and they seem to be naturals with melodies. The crowd had thinned dramatically during Bonafide, but they soon returned as Eclipse rattled out their tunes. ‘Run For Cover’, ‘Bleed And Scream’ both had the right amount of melody and right amount of heavy riffage before the mighty ‘The Hardest Part Is Losing You’ and ‘The Downfall Of Eden’. ‘Anthem’ was an acoustic ballad masterclass before things got proper heavy on ‘Black Rain’ and the bouncy set closer ‘Never Look Back’.
Doro was always going to be great – how can you not enjoy her? She has the best stage presence of any female performer out there, and she has made herself a household name with her style of heavy metal. She did play a lot from her latest record Conqueress – Strong And Proud. ‘Time For Justice’, ‘I Will Prevail’ were proper heavy, then we got some audience participation on ‘Raise Your Fist In The Air’ before other newies ‘Children Of The Dawn’ and the rabid ‘Fire In The Sky’. Of course, we got her regular finale ‘All We Are’. Doro is perfect for a festival as she just loves playing heavy metal and getting a crowd going.
We all know the two big Ugly Kid Joe songs, right? Because of those two songs, I was always reluctant to discover them further, but now, on the strength of this performance, I will be rectifying that. Those two numbers are just not indicative of what they actually do. The first couple of songs – ‘That Ain’t Livin’’ and ‘Neighbor’ were absolute heavy rock bangers where singer Whitfield Crane had the crowd right where he wanted them from the off. They rattled through a set of quality heavy rock until they got to ‘Cat’s In The Cradle’, originally done by Harry Chapin, and although the crowd lapped it up, it just wasn’t the same – the energy of the previous songs disappeared. That energy returned in abundance when they ripped out a massive version of Motorhead’s ‘Ace Of Spades’ before their other big one ‘Everything About You’.
I have seen KK’s Priest a couple of times this year, and they really do deliver the goods (sorry). The two albums they have released show what an integral part of the Judas Priest sound KK Downing was, and enlisting Ripper Owens was a masterstroke. My only criticism would be the overlong intro, but once they fired into ‘Hellfire Thunderbolt’ and ‘Strike Of The Viper’, it was all forgotten. Downing and fellow axe man AJ Mills are a force to be reckoned with, and as for Ripper, the bloke’s voice is stronger than ever. ‘One More Shot At Glory’ got us to ‘The Ripper’, which for me is the archetypal metal song. ‘Night Crawler’ went into ‘Sermons Of The Sinner’ before the best Ripper era Priest song ‘Burn In Hell’. ‘Hell Patrol’ led us to ‘The Green Manalishi (With The Two Pronged Crown)’ and ‘Diamonds And Rust’ before the surprise of the night, a beautiful rendition of a deeper cut of ‘Before The Dawn’ off 1978’s Killing Machine. The Priest classic ‘Breaking The Law’ got the crowd going mental, then ‘Sinner’ showed what a great guitarist KK Downing is. They came back with ‘Raise Your Fists’ for some more crowd participation.
Saxon are another I have seen this year. I’ve said it before that they have reached a level of performance consistency that is quite frightening. They honestly never fail to deliver. Kicking off with ‘Hell, Fire And Damnation’, they mixed the set up with classics and newer material which sat perfectly alongside each other. ‘Motorcycle Man’ then ‘Power And The Glory’ took us to ‘Madame Guillotine’ off the latest record. ‘Dallas 1PM’ was stunning, and the two youngsters beside me didn’t realize that the song was about the assassination of JFK. ‘Never Surrender’ and ‘Strong Arm Of The Law’ got us singing, then it went straight into another fabulous new track – ‘1066’. Biff was in fine voice as usual and gave the crowd the choice of ‘Sacrifice’, ‘The Eagle Has Landed’, or ‘Broken Heroes’. Biff made the executive decision and gave us all three after his rallying cry of ‘let’s be fuckin’ havin’ you!’ Shit got real as they fired into ‘The Bands Played On’, ‘Denim And Leather’ oh how we sang along then ‘747 (Strangers In The Night)’ kept us singing. ‘Wheels Of Steel’, ‘Crusader’, and the superb ‘Princess Of The Night’ ended what was a fantastic two days of rock and metal music.
Well, that’s it for another year, but judging from the musicians I saw enjoying the two days, next year will be very interesting. Nope, no spoilers. Stonedead is a festival organized and run purely by volunteers. It’s friendly and welcoming with many people now regulars. Every year the team develops it to make it run smoother, so I say thank you and well done to Chris, Neil, and Louise for their dedication. Thanks to Tosh, Caz, and Mark on the press and photo side for all you do too. Lorna-Jayne, congratulations on your promotion, thoroughly deserved, and thanks to Carly for keeping that VIP area safe. On a personal note, it was great to meet up again with some faces: Craig and his son, Skidd and Stevie J, Debz, Charlie, Robyn, and Bradie (sorry hun – double hugs next time). Mogs and her new bionic hip, Claire you are a warrior, but Hanneka you should be ashamed of yourself – lightweight! Paul McWilliams, thanks for taking those shots, last but most definitely not least Mr. Adrian Hextall – thanks for driving and Raven misses you! Thanks too to all the musicians and punters who took the time to talk to us two. Stonedead, friendly, fun, and value for money plus a great spread of generations that are keeping this music alive. See you at the bar next year!
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