Festival Review: Maid of Stone 2024 Part 2 – Sunday 21st July

As December Falls (c) Bracken Hake

And so, on to Sunday’s festivities. I made my way to the Firestarter Stage, hair of the dog in hand, and expected to see Big River cranking up but no… the rumour was that they had to pull out for personal reasons (hope all is ok now guys). Medway trio Gianni Scalera and The Jury had admirably stepped in to plug the gap and proceeded to entertain us with their brand of hard rock. They did a good job, considering they have only been together for a couple of years. Nottingham metallers Phoenix Lake had obviously had a quiet word with the sound desk as they were very loud. It suited their music in my opinion, reinforcing the power of the bombastic drums, accompanied by crazy solos and Lana Phillis’ impressive, almost symphonic, vocals. She seemed to be pushing herself to the limit on occasion but this was a very good set. Interestingly, the text style of their ‘Phoenix Lake’ backdrop was very similar to that used by After Forever (Nightwish’s Floor Jansen’s previous band) and they played in a similar style with plenty of melody between the bludgeon. Back to the Firestarter Stage for Dublin rockers Brake Loose. Well, they say they are from Dublin but they are an international band with Irish, Brazilian, Lithuanian and Venezuelan members who have come together to provide us with a gleefully hedonistic helping of sleazy rock. Poetic one minute and potty-mouthed the next, frontman Alex Murillo comes across as all kinds of crazy, with his leather shorts and frantic tambourine work. He put in an energetic performance with plenty of gurning to the cameras and tongue wagging, even styling out slipping flat on his ass near the start of the set. They coaxed some sing-alongs out of the assembled crowd and are a good fun band to watch, although I could have done without the cover of Rebel Yell, to be honest.

And now a quick shout out to ERB (Emerging Rock Band Magazine), who seemed to be running the merch stall and were otherwise involved in every aspect of the Firestarter Stage. They did a great job and it’s good to know that there are still organisations out there who continue to fight the good fight, promoting new and up-and-coming talent, when it comes to live music. Like Moshville Times too, of course.

Seething Akira (c) Bracken Hake

I caught the end of Preacher Stone’s set and they seemed to be enjoying the response they had received from the MoS crowd on the main stage. These good ol’ boys play perfectly serviceable southern rock, which can be a bit pedestrian at times, but they do what they do very well. Their sound was in stark contrast to the next band on the Phoenix Stage though. Pompey boys, Seething Akira were absolutely outstanding and worthy contenders for band of the day. Fans who had heard them before knew what’s what but there were a lot of, let’s just say ‘more mature’, punters who were really getting into the groove as well. The band were clearly loving the fact that they were getting to perform to a new audience than they would have been used to; one of the dual vocal attack, Charlie Bowes, didn’t stop smiling from the start to the end of their set. The same goes for a large section of the crowd, who were pleased to see and hear something completely different from all that had gone before. Seething Akira’s music is a mash up of electronic beats, metal guitars and drums, forging a powerhouse of rave-infused metal, overlain by a mixture of metal roars, machine-gun raps and clean vocals. And it all fits together brilliantly. There is most definitely “Something in the Water” as both frontmen took a turn in the moshpit at some point in the set. I nipped over to the Firestarter Stage to see Black Roze, as I had made a note to check them out, after watching the video for “Not Your Whore (Anymore)” online. Singer, Viixen, was sporting a nice Miss Whiplash outfit, complete with whip and leather hat and they played hard hitting rock/metal with touches of Skid Row and goth rock. Given all that, I still had to go back to Seething Akira I’m afraid (this was reinforced by the fact that Black Roze started to cover “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)”).

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Living Colour (c) Bracken Hake

These Wicked Rivers were unable to play today due to a family emergency, so Oli Brown and the Dead Collective stood in at the last minute. Again, I hope things are on the mend. They played a set of fairly standard rock and blues, which gave everyone the chance to calm down after Seething’s set. I made a brief visit to see Twister banging out some rock tunes on the Firestarter Stage (this is the UK rock band, not the Brazilian pop rock band from 20 years ago). With plenty of fine guitar solos and catchy hooks, they went down well. One of the bands I was here for were up next on the Phoenix Stage: premier league purveyors of guitar-driven pop punk As December Falls. As proclaimed by bassist, Timmy Francis, the band is proudly independent and refuses to relinquish control to record labels or managers. This is an admirable sentiment and entirely possible in the modern music industry. With Ande Hunter on guitar, Lukas James on drums and the, ever so bright and bubbly, Bethany Curtis on song writing duties and vocals, they make a beautiful and uplifting racket. Highlight tracks were “Go Away”, “No Money” and “Little By Little”, Bethany’s pitch perfect delivery and cheerful enthusiasm keeping the crowd’s energy levels high throughout. I noticed that they had invited some of the photographers onto the stage, to get some different shots in amongst it, which is a great promotional idea and the kind of thing I would expect them to do. Yet another contender for band of the day.

Drew Dixon was a completely different kettle of fish. I have to admit that he wasn’t on my list of acts to see but I’m so glad I took the time to see the second half of his set. I found myself being totally drawn in to Drew’s world of soulful southern rock and blues, partly due to his rich smoky vocals and partly due to the genuine emotion and love of home being expressed (e.g. “South Carolina”). There were some American gothic undertones to some of the songs which made them even more compelling. I was inspired enough to find out more, so I hope he tours the UK again soon. Apart from the sound bleed experienced whilst watching Drew Dixon, I just caught a glimpse of Jared James Nichols‘ set. Now, the guy clearly loves his guitar and played an absolute blinder (I suspect he can bench quite a bit too!) but some of the blues-rock/country songs felt a bit uninspiring to me. Rounding off with a top-drawer version of “War Pigs” was inspired though and left me liking him and his band a bit more.

Jared James Nichols (c) Bracken Hake

Airbourne-inspired Lancashire tykes Massive Wagons (or just ‘Massive’ as lead singer, Barry Mills, joked due to the low slung nature of the backdrop) was another contender for band of the day. I don’t mean they merely follow a similar musical style to the Aussie rockers (some tracks do and some don’t – a bit of the Quo even creeps in to some songs too) but they inspired the actual formation of the band. Today’s show proved what a great live band they are (I already knew about their mighty fine recorded output), encouraging crowd participation, particularly during the really catchy choruses. A case in point is new single “Missing on TV” which, in a sane world based on merit, would be number one for several weeks/months. What a song! Barry has some good patter and a dry sense of humour, if a bit sweary (check out “A.S.S.H.O.L.E.” and… ahem… “Fuck the Haters”). Their metal-tinged rock won (or retained) a lot of friends at MoS today. I never particularly followed Living Colour in their heyday (generally accepted as being the late 80s/early 90s), although I’m pretty sure I have Cult of Personality on tape somewhere (enter ‘cassette tape’ in Google kids). I was told, on good authority, that they are great live, however, so I settled down to enjoy the show. They play a real mix of musical genres, some mashed up together but some played straight, including rock, funk, metal, hip hop, jazz and alt rock. Pick the bones out of that lot! Well, it’s best to sit back and let it all flow over you for the best results. Lead vocalist, Corey Glover, can be quite opinionated (not necessarily a bad thing in my book) but I saw comments on social media moaning that he had slagged off Elvis. I must have been taking a comfort break when that happened but I understand why some people don’t treat The King in quite as a revered way as others. Personally, ‘his’ music has never made its way into my playlists or collections. The slapped bass suits the funk aspects of Living Colour’s music perfectly and I didn’t realise that bassist Doug Wimbish toured the UK with the Sugar Hill Gang back in the 1980s! The set included a nice airing of “White Lines” and the MC5’s “Kick Out The Jams” (which went down well) and was rounded off with a rousing rendition of the classic “Cult of Personality”, of course. So yes, still a good live prospect. I snuck across to see why so many people had flocked to the Firestarter Stage to see The Karma Effect at one point but, whilst they did remind of The Answer and Black Crowes a little bit, I wasn’t overly impressed with their ‘dirty, sweet rock’n’roll’.

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Preacher Stone (c) Bracken Hake

I then had to face my next major clash as I wanted to see Larkin Poe, as well as Skarlett Riot, but there was a significant overlap. Although Larkin Poe are one of the acts which many people that I spoke to said should have headlined the day, I admit that I had not heard of them before they were announced for MoS. Their American roots rock (country rock to most people) is played faultlessly, Megan Lovell’s lap steel guitar being played excellently, hung on a horizontal sling (something a bit different for sure), accompanied by Rebecca’s perfect vocals and the rest of the band. I will have to earmark them for a future Maid of Stone (which seems likely). Skarlett Riot and I go back some ways, so I had to show my support, regardless of the competition. Arriving late, due to traffic problems, they had to drop tracks from their set but they remain one of the UK’s best purveyors of metal/alt metal, especially live. Critical acclaim and the level of success they have achieved to date has come from years of hard work, perseverance and learning to adapt and diversify to make ends meet and fund the band. Their songs have plenty of chug, with masterful guitar work, pounding drum fills and frontwoman, Chloe’s impassioned singing. Some of the songs tackle emotional topics, such as loss, or feeling disenfranchised, which makes them all the more special. Others are a call to stay strong and united in the face of divisive powers. All require an enthusiastic banging of the head. They join the others on the ‘band of the day’ rostrum but there are so many now jostling for the crown, I just can’t do it. Main headliner on the Inferno Stage was Mr Big. Playing songs such as Cat Steven’s “Wild World” and their smash hit from back in the early 1990s, “To Be With You” (think of Extreme in terms of ballad style) , they eased us out of a great festival. I indulged Peter Gilbert’s guitar solo for as long as I could and then left to the accompaniment of Nick D’Virgilio’s drum solo (I can’t believe bands still do that).

Photos by Kraken Media

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