Rock Regeneration

Mar15

Takedown Festival 2014

on March 15th, 2014 at 21:36

Southampton University

After attending the Takedown Festival in both 2012 and 2013 it was very difficult to turn down an invitation to this years event. The organisers have gathered a huge number of bands to perform over five stages, all under one roof on the University campus. To the usual festival goer this might sound like complete chaos, but with plenty of well marked directions and lists of times and no problem to get around and see all you want to. The festival is one of the biggest alternative music festivals ever put on in the South of England and this years event is even larger.

6 Minutes To Sunrise

The 1st act of the day on the Southampton Music Stage is local 4 piece 6 Minutes To Sunrise who use their melodic twin guitars to great effect, combined with Cameron Davidson’s unique sounding passionate vocals. The band create a fair bit of attention from the audience who show some early appreciation. The Bournemouth Posse arrive in the form of Voodoo Vegas and Western Sand on the Total Rock stage, who both create an early buzz with some typical guitar-based Classic Rock. Kent Punk Rockers “Ugly Love” draw a sizeable amount of loyal fans and they put in a really energetic crowd pleasing performance; with front man Tom Adolph’s very visual displays, that get the band really noticed.

Voodoo Vegas

Up on the Jagermeister stage the Fearless Vampire Killers look down over their fanatical fans and can be proud of what they have so far achieved in their short career. The fans know every word to every song and as each number is performed a beautiful noise comes from the faithful followers, who all sing together in beautiful unison. There are songs form the debut album like “Could We Burn, Darling” and “At War with Thirst”, as well as an impressive new number called “Danger”. The FVK’s are a band that have worked hard and dared to be different-love them or hate them you cannot have failed to be impressed with their showing here today.

Fearless Vampire Killers

My surprise discovery of the day are The Howling who absolutely owned the Total Rock stage. With a first class performance that combined raw crunching guitar riffs, bone-crushing bass lines and electronic synths that together with front man Blacky’s intense vocals; created something really refreshingly different. Blacky works the crowd like a true professional, getting plenty of reward with lots of very excited reactions.

The Howling

The energy created by them continues the momentum when Skarlett Riot arrive, who whip up the crowd further with a sugary-sweet injection of Rock N Roll. Vocalist Chloe Drinkwater belts out some impressive vocals, ably backed by her band who show they are definitely ones to watch.

Skarlett Riot

A huge crowd of the curious and the knowing arrive at 5pm on the Southampton Music stage to greet Dead! A local band who after a few years together seem to be gathering (at long last) some well deserved momentum. Blindfolded; they start their set like coiled springs, waiting to go off with huge amounts of nervous energy waiting to be unleashed on the excited crowd who wholeheartedly take in every note played. Front man Alex Mountford is lapping up all the attention and panders to the crowd with lots of hand shakes and high fives, as well as delivering some great vocals. They finish their short set with their live classic “Beautiful Broken Bones” with as much energy as they started with.

Dead!

On The Big Deal Stage 3 members of Essex rock band InMe can be found performing with a new metal project “Centiment”. Front Man Dave McPherson vocally pushes himself to the absolute limit with some really intense vocals, which are backed by his brother Greg and Gary Marlow on the heavily played melodic guitars. The five piece create a sound that is so far away from InMe it is unbelievable. They perform songs from their latest pledge music album “Street Of Rage”; including “Zero Tolerance” and “Defenders Of Oasis”, which has a sort of Thrash feel with some electronic trickery thrown in for good measure.

Centiment

Five piece Bristol band A Tale Of Two Cities bound on to the stage with an air of confidence; as well as some seriously well played melodic, twin guitars that really hit the spot. Performing tracks from their debut EP “New Horizons” show that they could; with time, be performing on a much larger stage in the very near future. The much anticipated set on the Jagermeister stage by Jamie Lenman does not disappoint. The Ex-Reuben front man has under gone a complete wardrobe and musical makeover, as well as releasing a new double album called “Muscle Memory”. Jamie and his smartly dressed Heavy Mellow band power through an energetic set of new and Old Skool style material; with Screamo style vocals creating a real buzz around the main hall, along with a few chaotic mosh pits.

A Tale of Two Cities

After a well earned break for a welcome sit down in the hospitality area and an energy drink to keep me going, it was back to the Total Rock Stage to give my ears the final work out for the day. Glamour of The Kill are a more than suitable band to warm up before this stage’s headliners arrive. Davey Richmond and co power through a near the edge set full of euphoric highs, with tracks from both albums thrilling every one in attendance. From the front to the back the crowd were seriously loving every minute with mass sing-a-longs to “Living For The weekend” and the Epic “Freak Like Me”. The set came to a close with “Feeling Alive” which was a fantastic description of how all the crowd are feeling after this showing.

Glamour Of The Kill

Can Heaven’s Basement follow a performance like this ? After a fantastic 18 months for them a headline spot was just what this band deserves after impressing every audience put in front of them. The whole band showed a real spirit with an amazing passion to deliver their songs as we were the 1st people to ever see them. Aaron gave the audience the respect they deserved, rewarding them the trust to crowd surf over them and sing the uninterrupted vocals while aloft in the air. The energy seemed endless, track after track are delivered perfectly to an audience who seemed to love every minute. With epic songs like “Fire, Fire” , “Executioners Day” and “I Am Electric”, Heaven’s Basement are fast moving up the ladder and look like making it to the very top.

Heaven’s Basement

So Takedown 2014, I missed some great bands like Funeral For Friend, IDIOM, Baby Godzilla, Ashes To Angels, Verses, Yashin, and many others – but the truth is you just cannot get around to see everyone. You look at the line up and make your choice. I think my aim was to see bands mainly that I have not seen before and in most cases I did just that. I cannot express how much of a pleasure it was to have a choice of bands like this to choose from. The Takedown Festival did all it was meant to do. A thoroughly enjoyable day was had by everyone who attended, so if this is the start of the Festival season-bring on more of the same and long live Takedown.