Charisworth Farm, Blandford Forum
I rise early Sunday, take in breakfast and pack a bag ready for the day ahead. I pick up my co-pilots Bexy and Chinners and we head to Day three of Teddy Rocks Festival. Drizzle greets our arrival and once onsite it turns to rain! Oh well, half of my day at least will be spent in tents!
First stop is the Vocalzone Stage for Southampton Indie quartet Myriad. I had a little listen pre-Teddy and they win me over early doors with their chiming guitar-driven Indie. Their sound is driven by the heavy snare pounding and clear audible vocals. Set highlight “The Joker” ups the tempo while they display no obvious influences to me. “Walking Thru Oceans” preceeds new single “Moving To L.A.” as they now begin to own the stage this early in the schedule. The singer has an interesting attire, notably his ‘technicolour dreamcoat’! He is also the lovechild of Ian Broudie and Fergal Sharkey. If that alone doesn’t seal a recording contract sometime soon, then I don’t know what will?! A great start to the day.
A brief coffee stop is taken in the Expressions Lounge whereupon I am summoned to the stage to perform for one of the entertainers – a feat that involved securing said act in a straight jacket before chasing him around the tent!! If any footage of this event is available then it will all make sense. Once I get my breath back we stick around for the next comic, who gave us a wonderful 20 minutes about children and drugs!
Datura are up next in the Vocalzone Tent. This Rock quintet have pulled a decent sized early afternoon crowd and deliver a mostly original set with a couple of well known covers. We catch them covering Fleetwood Mac, before they settle in with some original material. The vocalist has great range, matched to confident guitar intricasies and an unfussy bass. The bassist is so laid back he looks like he just turned up, put on his bass and started playing! “Veil” is an early highlight while “Illuminate” is more melodic. “Wild” is frankly wilder (sic) and they depart us on “Rockin’ in the Free World” which gets a great reaction.
Our first venture to The Merry Woodland Stage sees our old friends and festy regulars The Jimmy Hillbillies tuning up. This sextet are well known around these parts for bringing the Hoedown party and getting people dancing. A wonderful mix of originals, mash-ups and re-appropriated covers keeps the area buzzing to their Hoedown beat. Leading rabble-rouser Ski spends time out in the pit encouraging wild dancing and the now legendary “Chicken Train” is in full swing today as the sun briefly makes an appearance. They depart to tremendous applause as we head back over to the Vocalzone for Park Lane whose no show means a double shift for Myriad. Once again they do the business as we head off for lunch.
A quick pit stop at The Ted Newton Stage (Main Stage) for me as I take in the stadium-sized delivery of The Fillers (The Killers) tribute. These guys have pulled a very large crowd and entertain with all the bangers amongst others. Chinners thinks the lead singer looks like Paul Whitehouse…
I however am here for the smaller acts so it’s back to the Vocalzone stage for Fake A Smile, who are employing the Reytons/Arctics template to good effect. Strictly anti-fashion in attire and dour in demeanour their songs are decent. The singer has a lazy drawl and the drumming is snare-heavy, but frankly there is nothing original within their sound and I depart their set on a woeful Rolling Stones cover.
We head to the Woodland Stage for a Rock Regeneration Rendezvous, on the smaller stage James Haynes delivers some heartfelt lyrics through his cannon of love songs with real energy.
But, once again I’m drawn back to the Vocalzone Stage for Crystal Tides who are making a huge Indie racket. Despite the chiming guitars and once again heavy snare (a seemingly ever present theme on this stage), we are treated to a rather ironic Killers cover! The singer asks if The Fillers have actually finished their set?! “One Night In Paris” is their set highlight, I just wish as a collective they’d all lower their guitars? Then again I’m not a musician so what do I know?! I guess that’s why they’re on stage and I’m down here?! They depart to great applause from an enthusiastic crowd as we head to the “Big Man Big Top Stage” for some Premier Ska.
The line-up at this point sees a clash with The Foo Forgers’s (Foo Fighters tribute) on the Main Stage and a new band to our ears on the Woodland Stage. We stick around long enough to hear The Decatonics latest cover, Radiohead’s “Creep”. It’s another great interpretation which should see it become a firm favourite. Their late afternoon set once again sees them pull a sizeable crwod, and much like last year they deliver. All the usual staples – The Specials (sic) and The Selector being their highlights. We reluctantly leave to catch the end of the Foo’s set where the singer delivers a throaty “Everlong” and “Pretend”.
Foo Forgers
A short walk over to the Woodland Stage sees us arrive in time to catch the 2nd half of The Pagans SOH. This Brummie qurtet are new to our ears and deliver a ThRashy/Rappy/Festy-vibed Rock mash-up. Whilst energetic and entertaining I can’t decide whether the vocalist is singing in English or is multi lingual?! They certainly get the punters in the zone with their stagecraft and delivery. Song titles are in short supply but one can’t ignore them. The guitarist could play in any Thrash Metal band but the bongos man behind him looks like he’d rather be somewhere else! They too leave to great applause.
Back to the Vocalzone Stage now for the rather appropriately named Girl Band. While I’m not blown away by their output they do have great stagecraft and personality. The bassist can’t keep still, pogoing throughout, while trying to encourage crowd participation. The singer on the other hand has a vocal reminiscent of Jane Weidlin (The Go Goo’s) – Google it!! More huge snare bashing and throbbing basslines are a match for the great vocals. They receive great applause as they take their bows.
Over in the Big Top are Last Resort. Not the London-based Street/Punk band but a duo. I don’t know if it’s a factor but they are literally playing to about 10 people. At this point it would be understandable if they just put down their guitar and drumsticks and had an early night. But no, they carry on regardless with their Royal Blood-inspired sound. I feel for them but I guess every band goes through this at least once in their career.
Now, at this point we find ourselves at the Main Stage once more for Guns 2 Roses. Anyone who knows me knows I am not a fan of Hair Metal and particularly Guns n’Roses. But,I will give credit where due – these guys have nailed it to a tee. Their Axel guy has the voice, the mannerisms, the stagecraft and most importantly the swagger. Their Slash guy has the guitars note perfect. One punter next to me says it’s almost too precise? I thought that was the point?! So to sum up – for a non fan, Guns 2 Roses played a blinder.
Another short walk to the Woodland Stage sees Millie Manders and The Shut-Up getting everyone involved early doors. With an energetic vocalist cajoling this early evening crowd during “I’m Bitter”, they set their stall out early. There’s no shortage of crowd/band interaction and while they often get lumped into the Ska or Ska/Punk bracket, I feel they offer more than just that. They depart on the excellent “Your Story” and take the plaudits.
Back to my 2nd home for the day for Scouse quartet The Kairos. These guys nail it from first song to last. They remind me of a Scouse version of The View, all choppy guitars and hooks with an unapologetic Scouse twang in the vocals. Altho mainly Indie they are multi genre it seems. “Bone To Pick” is Bluesy while “Punchline Fist Fight” is straight up, hard-edged Post/Punk. They are definitely ones to watch and while the purists might say they are “just another Indie band” they do have a real sense of what they are. Confident vocals, great musicianship and above all else great songs!!!
Now, I really don’t favour slating bands for the sake of it but there is so much I didn’t like about the headliners. QE2 are a Queen Tribute, they dress like the band (minus the ‘No Fear’ T-shirt) but for me it’s all about the music. To sart with many punters (myself included) said it wasn’t loud enough? Once they sorted that out I just didn’t think “Freddie” had the range. The moves yes, energy yes – but the vocals, not for me.
A short trip to the Woodland Stage is taken to see our old friends Electric Shakes. With most of the punters at the Main Stage there’s about 30 punters here but the band are undeterred, playing a stellar set of songs old and new. Swelled to a quartet these guys have gone back into their inner 70’s Rock selves and come up with a bigger, bolder sound. Just a shame then that so few punters are here to witness it.
And that folks was our Sunday at Teddy. Once again the festival delivers in spades, all the volunteers earned their corn and hopefully a decent sum of cash was raised for this wonderful cause. Even the sun briefly came out around 7pm! We all know we’ll be back again next year but for 2024 thats it’s a wrap!
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Words by Ross A Ferrone
Article, Pictures & Media by David Chinery (Chinners)
Media & Photography by Becky Crothall-Brown
