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Push to Fire Review: Slam Dunk Festival 2009
Next I headed down to the Fishing For Eskimos stage, this was located in a room more suited for live music. Opening this stage were Young Guns, a London based quintet whose sound was much like many American screamo bands of the late nineties / early 2000s.
After a quick listen to Young Guns I decided to check out the Punktastic stage down in the depths of the basement and was greeted by Save Your Breath playing to a packed room, a good sign for a band playing early in the day. SYB hail from Wales and play a catchy blend of pop punk, guaranteed to get people dancing and singing along - and they did, loud and passionately.
The first band on the more hardcore Dropdead stage was Outcry Collective. The Dropdead stage was in a small bar room, this was really well suited to the bands playing on this stage and the crowds gathered to see them. OC played their set to a decent crowd, and their combination of fast paced balls out hardcore and more slower gruff sounding tracks was a good mix.
The next band I went to catch was All forgotten (Eskimo stage). AF's sound reminded me of some early Alexisonfire, but with a more annoying singer. The guitars were nice and technical, but there was little movement from the band, and the crowd just seemed to stand and watch.
Following SYB was Me Vs Hero (Punktastic stage). MVH treated their crowd to more bouncy pop punk, their sound was very reminiscent of early Drive Thru records bands like The Starting Line. MVH again pulled a sizeable crowd of fans eager to see them perform.
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Next on the Dropdead stage was Defeater, who started their set with the singer playing the first track on an acoustic guitar, and singing without a mic. After this brief introduction the band kicked into a more heavier thrash assault on those in the room. There was a great interaction between the vocalist and those at the front of the crowd, especially one fan in particular. Next on the agenda was Birmingham band Farse (Vans). After a few years of playing in other bands, and other projects these guys are back. Their sound was a bit heavier than I remember from seeing them previously, but they played to a large crowd, and seemed to go down well with loads of kids dancing along. Although I missed it I have been informed that they did play their classic track 'Hopskotch'. Moving back to see Ruiner (Dropdead), a band I'd heard about, but not actually listened to, I found a small crowd again gathering around the front of the stage. Ruiner play a fast paced and technical hardcore which reminded me in parts of A Wilhelm Scream. |
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After a small break I headed back to the Vans stage to catch a bit of Sonic Boom Six. This is a band who I've seen countless times and always enjoy watching. In case you don't know, they're from Manchester and blend ska, punk, drum 'n' bass and hip-hop styles all into one. Another solid performance from them. Tonight Is Goodbye were the next band I caught on the Punktastic stage. TIG's sound was quite like that of the other bands who had played earlier on this stage, but had more dynamics including louder heavier parts. The band played with plenty of energy, and the crowd seemed to really enjoy their earlier tracks. | |||
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Next up was The Slackers (Vans) who were playing two sets today, the second supporting The Specials (down the road in Millennium Square). The Slackers sound was a really chilled out reggae, and had the heads of everyone watching nodding along. This was the perfect soundtrack to the summer weather just outside the door, and there was a small crowd gathered there watching them. Playing at the same time as The Slackers was Polar Bear Club (Punktastic) so I headed to catch the end of their set. I was really impressed by this band, being another I'd heard of, but not heard anything by. PBC had a really tight melodic hardcorey poppy punk sound, and despite the large crowd for the other stages, they pulled a sizeable number into the room. This is a band to certainly look out for in the future. Hexes (Dropdead) were also playing at the same time as The Slackers and PBC, and to say the least didn't pull in quite as many as other bands who played in the Dropdead room. The sound for Hexes was really poor, and I just couldn't get into them. This is a band who I've seen play well in the past, but today it just didn't get me. I decided to catch a bit of Silverstein (Eskimo) on the way to the main stage. Being a band I first heard a few years ago I was keen to see what they were doing these days. Their sound was pretty much the same as it was before, and that's just purely screamo, can you see a trend emerging from this stage? There was a large crowd here to see them and their energy was second to none. |
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| The first band that I saw on the main stage was Cobra Starship who started playing around 8:30 pm, so I'm sorry if you're reading this hoping to hear about all the big bands! Cobra Starship play a pretty unique blend of electro punk, featuring the old vocalist from '90s pop punk band Midtown and a key-tar (keyboard / guitar combination). There was a mass of people here to see this band, and they went down well.
After Cobra Starship I wanted to catch some of Devil Sold His Soul (Dropdead), who again I'd seen before but quite a while ago. DSHS played to a large crowd in a small room, and their raucous noise came across very well. Moving from the main stage I tried to catch some of The King Blues, but failed as I couldn't even get in the room! It was packed front to back, with the sound spilling out the back doors. From what I could hear the band sounded ok, and I'm sure all know what they sound like, if not check their advert out on your telly. After this failure I headed to catch Welsh band Attack! Attack! Formed from the ashes of, amongst others, Adequate 7, and to be featured on the next Guitar Hero video game. The band played a solid set of catchy pop punk and went down well to a sizable crowd, despite so many people being upstairs for The King Blues. At the back of the main room was the smaller Relentless UK Now! stage. The only band I managed to catch on here was In Case Of Fire. They provided a really tight and raw post hardcore sound, with some melodies thrown in for good measure. This is another band to look out for in the future. | |||
Headlining the Eskimo stage was another Welsh band, The Blackout. This band have played Slam Dunk before and have some along way since then. Their dual vocal assault went down well to the packed crowd, and there is some real emotion hidden within the lyrics. This band have got a lot to look forward to, be sure of that! Anti Flag were the headliners of the Vans stage, and judging by the crowd sizes I'd have been tempted to swap their place with The King Blues. The room was only really about half full, but there was plenty of dancing going on, both on and infront of the stage. AF's political punk always seems to go down well with their fans, and I'm sure that people came today just to see this band. The audience were treated to a new song from their next album, and really, it's just more of the same. Politics and scissor kicks. As with most festivals all the main bands were playing at the same time, so I had a quick trip to the main stage to check out You Me At Six. They were a suitable headliner, having played Slam Dunk before and being very popular with the press including Kerrang! they pulled a very busy and lively crowd, and gave it their all on stage. Being such a young band I can't see what can stop this band. The Ghost Of A Thousand was my next stop headlining the Dropdead stage. TGOAT played their passionate hardcore to a decent sized crowd, and their technical aspect was well received. When watching this band I realised that many of the people watching had been in this room all day and watched pretty much all of the bands. Their set was complete with a stage invasion. The final band I saw was a band I remember listening to about ten years ago, that band is Hundred Reasons (Punktastic). They played to a smaller crowd that many of the previous bands on this stage, and their sound is more post hardcore than pop punk. Those in attendance for HR's set were the older more mature members of today's audience, many of whom seemed to have been into the band for sometime. The band played from their hearts and went down a storm, mixing new tracks with older classics. A fitting end to the festival I'd say. All photos are copyright Suzy Witts 2009: top image of Polar Bear Club, second image down of Defeater, third image down of Cobra Starship and bottom image of You Me at Six. For more photos from the day head over to the Slam Dunk photo album. Thanks go to out to Ben for letting Suzy take photos and Simon review the festival. | |||
