Underground Festival is one of the most exciting music events to occur in Gloucester. It’s been running for 7 years and it’s aim is to showcase the best in new and upcoming bands, with a few old favourites returning to head up the bills.
Since it’s inception it’s seen sets from bands who are just about to take off including Bastille, Lower Than Atlantis, George Ezra and Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes.
On top of the national (and sometimes international) touring artists that flesh out the lineup, the festival has always ensured that it does it’s part for the local music scene with bands from Gloucester and the surrounding area peppered through the day.
The festival takes place at Gloucester Guildhall, one of the counties best music venues, and is split across two stages including the main hall, which houses around 400 people and the more intimate cinema stage.
2018 sees the festival expand from it’s regular Saturday and Sunday split with an extra half a day on Friday, headlined by Mallory Knox who first headlined the festival back in 2013.
Friday – 28th September
First up, is local band Elessar, who start the weekend off swinging with a perfectly executed set of melodic, post-punk music.
Immediately after over in the cinema stage to catch Snog The Dog, a local band that have been at pretty much every venue around Gloucestershire that you can think of, they deliver a solid set with a sound reminiscent of the 90s and bands such as Soundgarden and Rage Against the Machine.
The rest of the day sees performances from All Ears Avow, a band from Swindon, just outside of Gloucester, with a set that shows why they’re continuing on their rise on the live circuit with impressive vocals from lead singer Claire Sutton backed up ably by the rest of the band with lots of huge riffs and crashing drums.
Midnight In England from Cheltenham take the intensity down a bit from the heavy bands that have come before them but their set is delivered with sincere passion.
One of the weekend’s standout bands Bloody Knees take the main stage next. The band explain that they only just made their set after being pulled over by multiple police vehicles on their way to the venue. It’s a good job that they did though, as the band play an extremely confident, brash, tight set of pop-punk that shows that they’re going to be a band to keep a close eye on as they’ll be selling out venues twice this size very soon.
Headlining the cinema stage on Friday is Fangclub. The Dublin band are already making a lot of noise on the live circuit and it’s easy to see why – their raw, melodic sound that manages to effortlessly blend pop-punk and 90s grunge.
The main attraction for Friday, however, is Mallory Knox. Since their last set in 2013 they’ve seen the departure of lead singer Mikey Chapman, but this doesn’t seem to phase the band with bassist and co-vocalist Sam Douglas has stepped up to take centre stage. The band seem to have a new found confidence and you can see they are truly enjoying themselves up on the stage. They showcase new songs and play old favourites such as “Lighthouse”with the same amount of vigour as they did when they were last here.
Saturday – 29th September
Opening earlier on Saturday, the first band on is Cheltenham-based Fawner, who list their influences as Marmozets , Frank Carter and The Rattlesnakes, Basement and Dinosaur Pile-Up. The set they play however shows that they have shaped their own bold sound and we’re excited to see more from them.
On the main stage throughout the day there is Bridges, with a tight set of soaring, charismatic, indie songs with a Kings of Leon vibe. Only the Poets, who have been getting a lot of attention on Radio 1 from Huw Stephens and Nick Grimshaw, put on a performance of a band that know they’re going to be huge. Lead singer Tommy doesn’t stop moving and is a captivating front man – their songs sound huge, familiar and yet original. You can tell that they’d go down an absolute treat on the Radio 1 stage at Reading Festival with massive songs such as “Ceasefire”.
The only solo artist throughout the entire weekend takes the cinema stage late afternoon on the Saturday. Charlotte Carpenter plays an absolutely beautiful set and captivates the audience with her searingly intimate and honest songs.
Over on the main stage is the surprise of the weekend.Before the festival, we’ll always try to listen to as much of the line-up as possible but one band made that pretty difficult with very little social media presence – all we could find was an image that says “Who Are The Mysterines?”, no songs online and just a handful of live shows played. This band is The Mysterines. The set they play is one of the best sets from an upcoming band that I can remember, with their heavy, grungey, blues-based rock that absolutely fills the room. Lead singer Lia Medcalf ‘s vocals are massive, intense and ferocious. The band are incredibly tight and play like they’ve been doing this for a long, long time. If they’re not huge once they release an album then we, collectively, need to take a hard look at ourselves.
Back at the cinema stage sees Watercolours offer up a refreshing sound, with their dream-indie-pop mixed with a hint of psychedelia, their songs. Their set feels a bit more of a breather, after all there are no gaps between the bands, but this isn’t a detrement. They’re a band that you need to focus on to truly appreciate their sound, with well constructed layers and smooth vocals.
Late replacement JUDAS are over on the main stage, are another band who just feel right. They ooze confidence and charisma, the songs are lyrically rich and the sound is crisp and ready for bigger stages than what they’re playing currently.
The penultimate band of the Saturday on the cinema stage is Cheltenham duo BAAST. Their sound is completely different from the rest of the line-up of the entire weekend but their electronic dark-pop and social concious lyrics make for a stellar and powerful set – they’re well worth listening to.
One of the biggest bands of the weekend Gengahr are over on the main stage and they play a selection of tracks from their two critically acclaimed albums but their set is unfortunately rather short for a band of this calibre. Nevertheless, their cinematic, dream pop sounds brilliant and their set is tight and professional.
Headlining the cinema stage on Saturday is Our Girl, a band which is led by Soph Nathan who is also in The Big Moon, a band this writer discovered at this very festival a few years earlier. Our Girl is a completely separate beast however, with drummer Lauren Wilson and bassist Josh Tyler filling out the lineup. Their self titled debut album was released to much praise earlier in the year and it’s exciting to see them in such an intimate setting. They play an exhilarating set showcasing tracks from the album that sound even better in a live setting than they do on record.
Closing the day is a band that have been round for nearly 3 times as long as most of the bands on the line-up.. American indie band Darwin Deez come out to darkness where the band line up and start with a slick, syncrchonised dance before getting straight into a faultless performance of their upbeat, quirky indie music. Whilst the buzz that surrounded the band during it’s inception may have fizzled out, the band have released continuously solid albums and their performance tonight shows that they’re still playing at the top of their game. It’s such a confident set that they leave out their biggest hit “Radar Detector” and the set as a whole is still an absolute blinder.
Sunday – 30th September
As seems to be the trend with Sunday’s at Underground Festival the day is catered more to the hardcore music fan. Opening up the day is post-hardcore outfit Modern Error who have an intense stage presence and their melodic hardcore sound is lapped up by the crowd.
Starting the cinema stage of is Hot Beige, another local Cheltenham band, whose set manages to blend elements of folk, emo and lo-fi 90s garage rock into one entertaining set. Modern Rituals are next up over on the main stage who’s alt-rock sounds like it needs to be heard like this – loud. They’re not as “heavy” as some of the other bands from the rest of their day and have a sort of slacker vibe which helps to add a melodic depth to their tracks.
Grief Ritual play a suprisingly short set over on the cinema set but what we do get a taste of is the heaviest tracks of the weekend. The band don’t seem to face the audience for the majority of the set and this adds to the intrigue of their set, making you pay attention as the thrash of their music barely gives you time to breathe.
Palm Reader seem to have attracted a lot of people that are purely here for them and they treat the show like a headline one. Josh Mckeown commands the stage like he owns it and it’s an absolute treat to watch. The band set themselves apart from the average hardcore band and seem to definitely have that “something special” that the buzz around them at the moment suggests they have.
Back at the cinema stage, familiar people take the stage. Floorboards contains some of the members of Hot Beige but the sound is entirely different this time. The diversity of the sound between the sound of Floorboards and Hot Beige showcases what a talented group of musicians this is and their post-punk sound is just as captivating.
Georgian post-hardcore outfit Microwave are next on the main stage and their sound is angsty, honest and catchy – another band that we can see being a lot bigger based on the performance they put on. Headlining the cinema stage for the day is I, The Lion. The band are a local favourite and it’s easy to see why. Their sound, even in this tiny room, is HUGE and their set is visceral and electrifying.
The two final bands on the main stage seem to be the main draw of the weekend. The first of the two is LOATHE. There’s a delay with the band starting so the main doors are shut, the entire crowd is outside waiting to get in and you can feel the anticipation in the air. This isn’t just unique to tonight’s performance, they seem to be a band that have a lot of people talking about them. Once the doors finally open and the crowd swarms in, the room is dark, bathed in a red light and there are TVs with static on the stage. You can tell already that LOATHE are about to give this their all. Kadeem France emerges from the barrier onto the stage wearing a, frankly, terrifying mask. From the start their set is absolutely brutal, the lighting is intense, with only flashes of light showing the band and the sound is heavy. It’s a true tour de force set and the band absolutely own it.
Closing out the band is THE live band of the moment. Black Peaks. The energy in the room was electric and I’d heard many people throughout the day say that they had heard that Black Peaks were a phenomenal live band. They were absolutely right. Frontman Will Gardner absorbs all the energy in the room and spits out right back, he takes control of the stage and from the start to the finish never lets go. The gigantic riffs from guitarist Joe Gosney perfectly back up this performance and their set is spot on. Each member of the band shows their competence and the sheer dexterity and talent from the performance tonight cements that Black Peaks are going places – catch them whilst you can.
All photos by CJS Media – Full Set available here.
