Friday’s Takedown Festival line-up had set a very high bar indeed! There seemed to be a lot more people here at the start of Saturday’s festivities though, more than last year even. Higher numbers bode well for the future of the event, although it made it more important for me to plan my day and be more selective as to which stages I needed to make my way to ahead of time.
For that reason I got in early to the Metal For Good (MFG) Stage to check out Monochrome. Hailing from the West Country, they play hard-hitting but melodic metalcore. The impressive clean vocals and backing roars make for a good combination of light and dark and they have become a very tight musical outfit, with effective soloing and solid compositions. The band seemed genuinely thankful that so many people had come out to see them open up proceedings but the effort was definitely worth it. I had previously seen Monochrome at Hammerdown Festival but their enthusiasm and passionate delivery has now been significantly bolstered by the experience gained from numerous live appearances since then, in my opinion. The last song was particularly impressive; they are definitely ones to watch.
Artio opened the Phil Campbell Kerrang (PCK) Stage with their radio-friendly rock sound. After a slow start, they hit their stride with “The Devil You Know” and invited Patty Walters (from As It Is) to join them for “Full On Fight For Fun”. They blend a healthy amount of electronica into their tracks and eased many people into the day. Talking to others, it appears that I made the right choice in committing to the Total Rock Café (TRC) Stage for the next act, avoiding the dreaded ‘one in/one out’ policy being operated when things got very busy around the bottlenecks of the TRC and MFG stages.
For Southampton’s Slackrr, smiling and bouncing along to their happy proactive pop-punk tunes is the order of the day. Scotty, Cait, and Connor clearly enjoy what they do and their extensive touring has served them well. They provided a pleasant break to the furrowed brows, gurning, and despair associated with many of the other acts at the festival. I’m not saying I don’t enjoy those things too but songs like “Holding On” and “Better Days” remind us to focus on what we can change and keep hope alive, even in the darkest of times. Slackrr were simply a joy to behold.
Next up on the PCK Stage were Zetra, who were new to me. The London duo play synth-pop / rock, overlaid with guitar and a gothic vibe. It was quite an easy listening experience but not to my taste really; they are clearly capable but inspired polite applause rather than an enthusiastic response from the audience where I was stood.
I stuck my head around the door to catch a bit of Vexed’s set on the MFG Stage and they had a strong start. “Anti-Fetish” showcased Megan Targett’s harsh vocals to good effect, backed up by electronically laced metal that hit the spot. “We Don’t Talk About It” continued the theme with some nice stompingly heavy breakdowns.
I was lured across to the TRC Stage by the promise of Alanya-Jade (of Pavé)’s gorgeous vocals. She really can sing and is a perfect fit for the hard rocking provided by the rest of the band. Some of the styling and song construction reminds me of Sypha a bit, who are another interesting band currently going from strength to strength. “The Weight of Letting Go” is a well-polished number and their classy approach continued throughout their set.
Lastelle play a well-produced mix of modern metal and middle-of-the-road rock music. They like to share vocal duties around, some being harsher than others, which keeps things more dynamic than they would otherwise seem. They clearly have their fans here today and they played well on the main stage, whilst not blowing me away. “Tired Eyes” gathered a bit of momentum and proved to be a real ‘grower’ of a track, building to a satisfying peak by the end. They finished their set with the emotional “Breathe Me In”, which was probably their best song and pulled all of their elements in together nicely.
If you like what we do, consider joining us on Patreon for as little as £1 per month!
I rushed down to the TRC Stage to catch Salisbury punks Carsick and ended up staying for the whole set. This four-piece have only been going for about five years and they like to joke about the fact that they don’t know what they’re doing—‘We don’t even have a setlist’—but don’t fall for it. They play fast-paced fun-fuelled punk rock with a cracking sense of humour thrown in for good measure. First song, “Violence”, enjoys some nicely rapped vocals from Joe, while “Gig Tax” offers some hilariously self-aware industry tropes—‘Great set! Didn’t see it!’ There was a Best Mosher competition during “Anaconda Frank”, with a DVD of Mr Popper’s Penguins up for grabs natch. Carsick are definitely a band for the must-see-again file.
Vower play typical modern metal in its currently popular style. They certainly have a heavy groove and frontman Josh Keown’s vocals command your attention, which is not bad going for a band with such a rich pedigree (Palm Reader, Black Peaks). Tropic Gold layer metal guitars over electronic beats with a pop sensibility. “The Angels Are Gone” and “Dead To All My Friends” supplied a satisfying one-two for a packed out MFG Stage area.
I headed over to the TRC Stage to get a fix of quirky Bristolians Mould, who played an entertaining set of eclectic alt-rock. Tracks like “Falling” and “Chunks” kept us guessing which way their style would twist and turn throughout the set. I had heard good things about Mouth Culture, who were next up on the main stage, and their billing was well-deserved as it happened. After a slightly shaky start, singer Jack Voss pulled it back and the crowd were only too happy to sing along to the likes of “Don’t Pull Up” and “Regret 101”. The band managed to blend several different flavours of modern rock and emo into a tasty mix and this was an enjoyable and well accomplished set.
The Bottom Line play exciting pop-punk and they play it well, injecting positive energy into the ears of all those gathered at the TRC Stage. There were plenty of clap-alongs and, even, some crowd surfing (by their frontman) during their collection of pop-punk bangers! I just caught the end of Saint Agnes, who I understand had major sound problems for most of their set. This is sad to hear for any band but the small snippet I did get to check out sounded like an interesting mix of Poppy-like vocals over a harsh electro-metal backing.
I have already mentioned my love of well-played pop-punk but I somehow managed to completely miss the rise of As It Is, who, I am told, were big in the mid-2010s. I’m not sure that is an appropriate label for their brand of saccharine sweet chart-rock though. They came across as a very well-oiled (if over-produced) outfit today but were far too generic to hold my interest for very long. The first few tracks were pleasant enough but then Patty invited someone onto the stage to help sing “Lose Your Way & Find Yourself” (I think?). I didn’t catch her name but when they started the track and launched into some kind of choreographed hand-dance that was game over for me I’m afraid.
This gave me the opportunity to grab some scran and get settled at the TRC Stage, ready for BEX. I saw them supporting Hawxx a while ago and enjoyed their weird but wonderfully entertaining set but wasn’t sure what to expect today. Now, I like quirky performers who bring something a bit different to their music and BEX does just that with a defiantly punk attitude. They brought plenty of energy to the set but continuous problems with the sound detracted from the experience, unfortunately. The delayed start, horrible feedback, “St. Anger” snare sound, and problems with the click-track did them no favours, which was a shame. I managed to squeeze in to catch a bit of Mason Hill and their driving hard rock was going down very well with the heaving crowd at the MFG Stage.
I have only seen electronic punks Wargasm once before but they were good value, from the point of view of getting a crowd all riled up. Milkie Way, Sam Matlock and their cohort brought a lot of energy to the main stage at Takedown today, goading and provoking the crowd into the biggest circle pit of the day. Wargasm’s statement of intent was emblazoned across the backscreen: ‘Angry Songs For Sad People’. They practice what they preach like a weaponised Prodigy but the dance beats are overlain with way more metal guitars and confrontational aggression. From “Bad Seed”, “Vigilantes”, and “Fukstar” through to the glitchy but very catchy “Do It So Good”, they played banger after banger!
Don’t fancy Patreon? Buy us a one-off beverage!
Much as I wanted to see Graphic Nature again, THE HARA won the coin toss. The delayed start allowed me to get in during the first song, “Rockstar”, and be impressed by the quality of the general musicianship right from the off. The riffs are heavy and the drums drive the songs along relentlessly in an alt-rock style, while Josh Taylor sings and screams his heart out, even finding the time to crack open a can of beer from the café fridge and climb the speaker stack during the show. The band are big supporters of mental health initiatives and song titles like “Trophy”, “Easier To Die” and “Bury Me” and the down-tuning in some tracks, particularly the latter, may reflect this. “Trophy” is one of the highlights of the set and gets a heartfelt response from those gathered. Unfortunately, the only scheduled overlap occurred towards the end of their set, as the main headliner started before they finished. The Hara put on such a good show, it only seemed right to me to see it out to the end. This meant that they missed the special guest though (Mr Panda). Great performance and I’ll be looking out for them in future.
Now it was time to head to the main stage and see what all the fuss and bluster was about: President. Congratulations to Takedown for snagging this act so early in their trajectory; they were clearly a massive draw for the Saturday punters, judging by the number of T-shirts being grabbed at the merch stand and worn throughout the venue all day. This was clearly excellent from a business point of view. However, President embody the age old question about Style over Substance? When the promotion and marketing has focused so much on the masked look, the anonymity gimmick, and the schtick of the presidential address theme/story, there needs to be significant substance to justify it.
By the way, the masks are very reminiscent of (now defunct) Soul Destroyer, who I used to love and were well-ahead of their time, sampling and mixing dance beats with metal guitars layered over the top. Sound familiar? On the plus side, tonight’s stage show was very well executed and benefitted from great sound and production values. The band themselves were pretty static throughout though and there was little audience interaction of note. Some people did sing along to the final refrains of some of the songs, which was a bit spooky as it came out of nowhere when I went down to mingle amongst them. The singer has a good range and performed well live but I was never a fan of Busted and Fightstar were only ever ok, without being particularly outstanding. Whilst I am all for people reinventing themselves, hype doesn’t sit well with me when the music itself is mediocre and there are many more creative acts that could have made better use of this kind of headline slot. If I am not mistaken, President squandered twenty valuable minutes of their set time because they ran out of material, which is a bit shocking to be honest.
Whilst Friday had the best music at this year’s Takedown Festival, in my opinion, it is a great festival at a great venue and very well organised. The bookers are very good at spotting up and coming bands to bring in as headliners and I hope that they continue to grow their success. After all, this industry needs more success stories.
Related