Teesside has so much to offer the music lover. From small, independent, grass roots venues playing host to local as well as national up and coming bands to much larger places where you’ll find big name, international touring acts. But speak to anyone from outside the area and it’s likely you’ll be greeted with a surprised look when you talk about the bands that have played and the events coming up in the future.
Saturday saw This Is Middlesbrough bring a plethora of talent, both local and from much further afield, to the student union at Teesside University. Henry Carden and Andy Carr (The Kids Are Solid Gold) form the backbone of the team behind the award winning, multi-venue, Twisterella Festival so we knew when they announced This Is Middlesbrough it was going to be a great day of quality live music. We were not disappointed. Three stages – one small acoustic and two for the full on electric onslaught – all situated within Teesside University’s Student Union building meant that the journey from one stage to another was, at most, a couple of minutes. And that was at the end of the day when your legs were tired or the alcohol had caught up with you. Eighteen bands/solo artists for under £30. There really wasn’t anything not to like about the day. Brilliantly organised – none of the bands on the two main stages overlapped, friendly staff and a great crowd of fellow live music fans it’s a guarantee you’ll bump into people you know. And even travelling from outside the area you were guaranteed a warm welcome by some of the friendliest gig-goers you’ll meet anywhere.
Just like Twisterella This Is Middlesbrough had a line-up consisting of bands I love and have seen live before, bands I’ve listened to but never seen and bands I’d just not heard of. And just like Twisterella Festival, if you’re a fan of live music, it’s almost a guarantee that one of those bands you’ve never previously heard of will turn out to be one of the absolute standouts of the day.
Northern Hospitality opened procedings on The Terrace stage with a superb set of catchy, guitar heavy, punky/grunge influenced bangers. No let-up from start to finish of their 30 minute set that seemed to fly by. Latest release Six Feet Underside is well worth some of your listening time.
A quick dash upstairs to The Hub for the unmissable Dossers whose seven song set is, as always, explosive, passionate, full of attitude, anger and opinionated. Just like every time I’ve seen them Dossers prove to be one of the absolute highlights of the day. Loud, fast and completely owning the stage. Of course a longer Dossers set would have been appreciated but this short, sharp jolt of electrifying energy early on a Saturday afternoon was infinitely better than no Dossers at all.
Dilettante isn’t loud, fast and super angry. A last minute replacement, Dilettante is however, another highlight of the day. Francesca Pidgeon is incredibly talented. I’ve seen her before with a full band but watching her solo you really appreciate just how much talent this multi-instrumentalist has. Cleverly looping together sounds from a guitar, cowbells, saxophone, keyboard, drum beats and whatever else she’d brought with her. Top it all off with wonderful vocals it’s all a little off-kilter, seemingly a bit random but comes together perfectly in a captivating, hypnotic soundscape. I imagine anyone who appreciates more recent material by bands such as Sparks and a bit of old school Kate Bush will love Dilettante.
And so the day continued with class act after class act. The britpop/90’s rock influenced We Tibetans bring a lot of fans to The Hub stage as does the rap/hip-hop of Shakk who play an absolute blinder. Powerful songwriting and a brilliant stage presence – he’s on the barrier, pounding round the stage, sweat dripping from every pore. Usually anyone who asks me what I think of hip-hop/rap/MC music is greeted with an immediate “I can’t stand it”. The fact that I stayed completely hooked in to Shakk’s performance is surely an indication of just how good he is at what he does. Lilo are chilled out. Beautiful voices over ethereal, lazy summer sounds. Packed full of harmonies, packed full of emotion.
Perfect Chicken – what to say. You really do need to see this completely bonkers trio. White boiler suits and balaclavas, they spend as much time running round the stage chasing each other, fighting, rolling around as they do playing songs. But those songs are are superb slices of noisy post punk anarchy. ‘Porq’, ‘Knight Knight’, ‘Fuck You (Not Me)’ are all manic, intense slabs of head pounding chaos. As I said, you need to see them to really appreciate them. And when you do, you will.
Indoor Foxes, the solo project of singer-songwriter Martha Barr, are superb. The band I’d not heard of before that turn out to be one of the standout highlights of the day. Brilliant indie-rock, loud, in your face yet gentle and melodic at the same time. Think Wolf Alice with bits of Hole woven through. Barr is mesmorising fronting her band. There’s so much in her eyes and facial expressions and she knows how to work a crowd. Finishing with a great cover of LCD Soundsystem’s ‘Daft Punk Is Playing At My House’ sees Barr kicking off her shoes, leaping around and finally ending up sitting on the floor, huge grin on her face, completely spent of energy. Fantastic stuff.
Glasgow punks Soapbox are, quite possibly, my band of the day. Everything about them is what I love about a band. Reminding me of those early days of punk rock so many years ago when nothing else mattered apart from the music, the attitude and just being there, in the moment. Noisy, aggressive, forceful, opinionated, absolutely no holds barred and full of rage. There really is no let-up in their intensity as they power through titles such as ‘Do As Ur Told’, ‘Stiff Upper Lip’, ‘The Fear’, ‘Private Public Transport’ and ‘Fascist Bob’. Vocalist Tom Rowan is in the crowd joining in with those throwing each other around. He doesn’t sing he shouts and talks. About fascism, deprivation, austerity and working your arse off just to get by. In other words real life. There is nothing fake about Soapbox.
Martha May and The Mondays bring something special and a little different to things. Not only does singer Martha dominate the stage and hold the audience attention completely it’s not often you get to hear some sublime violin playing incorporated into such a fierce sound. Different, powerful, cool, exhilarating. They open with a noisy cover of Gay Bar but it’s their own songs, especially ‘Tennis’, ‘Touch Me’, ‘War Games’ and “SPIT!” that show their real talent for delivering 60’s influenced trashy rock n roll.
Pit Pony‘s 2022 album ‘World To Me’ was an absolute standout of the year and has been on my playlist ever since. With latest long player ‘Dead Stars’ the band continue to deliver deep, often emotional, angsty, intense lyrics over driving rock n roll rhythms. Live they’re even better – rumbling bass riffs, slicing guitars and thundering drums topped off with the effortlessly calm vocals of Jackie Purver. Garage rock bangers ‘Well Well’, ‘Black Tar’, ‘Fuzzy’ and ‘Vacancy’ surround a heart wrenching, contemplative ‘This Love Of Mine’. Finishing, as they usually do, with the wonderful, dark, repetitive, rumbling ‘Supermarket’ the only thing lacking from Pit Pony’s intense set tonight is an extra 30 minutes.
Just when you think the whole evening is going to be dominated by noisy, guitar driven rock ‘n’ roll up pop Mandrake Handshake who treat us to forty five minutes of gloriously funky, psychedelic, arty pop. Those here to witness them are soon drawn in to the eccentric, dreamy, hip shaking, swirling beats. Songs packed with so many different, diverse sounds it’s hard to catagorise them. Mandrake Handshake are unique and just what is needed as our legs begin to tire.
October Drift close a day of exceptional bands and music with an explosive set. If you’d drifted off home before they played then you missed out big time. But the sixty or so (seriously! and this is a band selling out venues like Sheffield’s Leadmill and playing to crowds of 800+ elsewhere) people remaining were really treated to something special. October Drift’s recorded output is phenomenal – anthemic, punch the gut powerful, addictive. Live they are something else, taking everything that’s brilliant from the studio and stepping it up ten-fold. There’s no build up in their set. From the the moment they walk on stage and launch into ‘Waltzer’ the band never stop leaping around the stage. It’s an infectious energy and, much like the Frank Turner gig I saw earlier in the week, it carries the whole room into one glorious singalong, a feeling that for every person here nothing else matters apart from being caught up in this moment. Often it’s a singer that completely owns the stage. With October Drift it’s the whole band who never stop for a breather at any point at all. Kiran Roy, guitar high up his chest pumps everything into their set. He’s on the barrier, in the crowd, wandering round the whole venue. The rest of the band still on stage, still giving it all, still competing for your attention, make deciding where to focus your attention (and your camera) difficult. Alex Bispham’s bass thunders through you, guitarist Dan Young joins the moshpit and still plays perfectly. ‘Blame The Young’ and ‘Airborne Panic Attack’ stand out as highlights to this October Drift first timer (don’t ask me why, I have no answer, it won’t be the last) but, like the other gig I mentioned, it’s more than the songs. It’s the excitement, the atmosphere and the feeling of unity that makes witnessing this band live so good. A perfect end to a brilliant day.
A quick shout out also to the solo artists who played in The Lounge. I only managed to catch a few, impressive, songs from Rye but heard nothing but positive comments from those who spent longer in this much calmer, more chilled out part of the festival day.
Massive credit to The Kids Are Solid Gold and Twisterella for pulling This Is Middlesbrough together, bringing fantastic live acts to the heart of town and for an absolutely bargain ticket price. Hopefully This Is Middlesbrough can join the already brilliant series of one day festivals Teesside is blessed with each year.
Photos/words: Steve White
