What to see at Southsea Fest 2014

It seems to me that the relatively simple task of picking a small selection of bands to see at Southsea Fest becomes more difficult every year. That said perhaps I'm deluding myself that it was ever simple (every year I try, and usually fail, to be in several places at once to take in all of the delights on offer) and this year's line-up is, in my opinion, stronger than ever. Eventually, after much poring over the Clashfinder, scratching of head and imbibing of caffeine, I came up with these suggestions for acts that you should maybe see this year...

Honeyblood - The Wine Vaults 'Pie & Vinyl' stage [2100-2130]
Last year, at the inaugural Gland Rock, I found myself the lucky recipient of a bag of Fat Cat vinyl in the raffle. This stuffed Santa's bag of aural delights somehow made it home safely, despite my tired and emotional state (it had been a long day) and the next morning, whilst my hangover slowly abated, I rifled through my red felt sack. Tucked away inside I found a lone 7" single, Bug by Honeyblood, on soothing mellow pink vinyl. None of this is any explanation why you should see Honeyblood at Southsea Fest but, if you need one, know that they can make cakes explode with their minds.



Battery Hens - Southsea Social Club 'Champagne Justice' stage [1355-1725]
At Southsea Fest 2012 I found myself in the cramped confines that is the tiny room above Bar 56, watching a dedicated if not sizable mosh pit wreck themselves to Battery Hens. To this day I still have no idea how I made it out of there without being drenched in lager. If you like noise, and don't mind flying lager, then these are for you.



Wyldest - Bar 56 'Strong Island Recordings' stage [1520-1600] & Magick Bean Café 'The Boy I Used To Be' curated stage [1820-1900]
The duo of Wyldest (or Wildest Dreams as was) have had an eventful year so far. They've won a slot at Green Man, been tipped for great things by various music blogs and, to top it off, have had to change their name. All that and they still had time to produce a fantastic cover of Kate Bush's Cloudbusting.



Mazes - The Wine Vaults 'Pie & Vinyl' stage [2200-2300]
Manchester's Mazes arrive at Southsea Fest with a new album, Wooden Aquarium, under their belts. No, I haven't got it yet so I can't witter on about how good it most likely is; you'll have to toddle along to the Vaults and find out for yourselves instead.



Prides - Little Johnny Russell's 'Psychedelia/Quay West' stage [2130-2200]
Scottish trio Prides recently supported Foxes on tour and played the closing ceremony of the Commonwealth Games. If you don't get your synthpop fix fully sated by Curxes earlier in the day, and are jonesing for some 80s style keyboards and drums as Southsea Fest works its way into the night, then this lot should sort you out.



Gossling - Kings Theatre 'Southsea Fest' stage [1900-1930]
Australian Helen Croome produces beautiful folk-pop tunes, made slightly off kilter by her distinctive vocals. Quite lovely.



Fear of Men - Southsea Social Club 'Champagne Justice' stage [2200-2245]
Floaty but dark indie pop from Brighton, you can already feel yourself swaying along...



A selection of different acts then, different styles of music, some local and some from further afield. If none of these tickle your fancy, and if you have seven (!) hours to spare, I heartily recommend sampling the official Spotify playlist. If anything it made my cogitations more difficult (such that my plan for five acts to see went right out of the window) but there are gems on there waiting to be heard (including Brontide who, sadly, have had to pull out of Saturday's shenanigans).

Southsea Fest 2014 also sees a couple of local bands bowing out in style, both Attack! Vipers! and The B of The Bang have announced that theyll be playing their last gigs this weekend. Typically, in yet another turn of the festival screw, the Bang's set clashes with that of Curxes so, if you happen to spot a goatee'd oaf bundling across the road from the Kings Theatre to the Wedgewood Rooms (or vice versa) around 1520 on Saturday afternoon, chances are it'll be me.

Now, where did I put that Clashfinder...

Five acts to see at Southsea Fest 2013

Southsea Fest again takes over a variety of venues along Albert Road this Saturday, filling them with all manner of musical entertainments for your aural and visual pleasure. This year's line-up is a veritable feast of music, so much so that my highlighter pen has gone into hiding rather than take on the task of helping me mark out my copy of the Clashfinder.

Given the choice on offer it might seem a daunting prospect to know where to begin, to that end I've picked five acts that I'm looking forward to seeing to get you started (to be honest I could have set down a long list of bands that I think you ought to take in, but one of the many joys of Southsea Fest is stumbling across your new favourite band when 10 minutes before you'd not heard of them). Are we sitting comfortably? Then I'll begin...

The Computers - Edge of The Wedge [2115-2145]
Exeter's finest, a rum bunch of slick rockers who should make the walls of the Edge run with sweat. Fronted by a lead singer who finds it hard to stay on the stage if he can help it, and will take his microphone stand with him when he descends into the the crowd, chances are you'll most likely end up with him next to you even if you stand at the back.



Dead Rabbits - Little Johnny Russell's [1830-1900]
Shoegazey darkness from Southampton, flavoured with feedback and a sprinkling of psychedelia. Very nice.



Curxes - Southsea Social Club [1835-1905]
Describing themselves as a decorative set of bones, this Southsea/Brighton duo will mesmerise with their 80's flavoured electro pop. Imagine a Depeche Mode-powered freight train thundering towards you, with a winged valkyrie on the footplate crying out to the engine driver to fuel the firebox with his bass shovel.. there you go. Enjoy. 



Drenge - The Fat Fox [2220-2300]
From Derbyshire comes two brothers who make a lot of noise and make a lot of eye contact with each other. There will be moshing, oh yes, there will be moshing.



The B of The Bang - The Wine Vaults [1815-1845]
Southsea's own purveyors of alt pop rock, expect a selection of old and new material (their sophomore release having been released earlier this year on Pie & Vinyl's label).



So there you go, five of the best to see you on your way. To be honest it was very nearly a different list, as the likes of MMX and Misty Miller, Death At Sea or Eagulls could have made an appearance . If you ever owned a Commodore 64 then perhaps Anamanaguchi would be more your thing. Come to think of it I should've mentioned As Elephants Are and Splashh, or Titan, AK/DK, Veronica Falls, Battery Hens, Future Of The Left, Thumpers, Tripwires, Mugstar, The Family Rain or.. umm.. well, you get the idea. If you're still stuck then you could either give the SSF2013 Spotify playlist a listen or just toddle along to Albert Road and see what tickles your fancy. 

Southsea Fest preview

One of the great things about living in the Portsmouth area (aside from the close proximity of my favourite venue and the exquisite joy and pain of supporting the local football team) is Southsea Fest; this annual event, now in its 5th year, turns Albert Road into a showcase of new and interesting music with various pubs and venues along the thoroughfare becoming stages for the day. As festivals go it ticks all the boxes; there's a variety of bands to suit most tastes, the beer is reasonably priced and neither rain nor mud can interfere with your enjoyment.

Over the past few years I've enjoyed stumbling across many bands that I'd not previously heard of (no, really), some of whom have gone on to great things whilst some have stayed in the shadows. I've bought CDs, stuffed my pockets with stickers and signed up for mailing lists. I've also seen a large mouse be interviewed for TV and ended up looking after a three-legged wooden pig for an hour, but those are stories for another time.

Moving swiftly on, I've perused the line-up and picked five of the many, many fine acts playing tomorrow that I'd like to see, as follows:

Dry The River
2210-2300 @ The Globe Inn
A five piece from London that produce a mellow alt-folk layered with violins and very distinctive vocals.



Clock Opera
2120-2150 @ The Wedgewood Rooms
I'm fairly sure I caught these as a support for someone awhile back. I can't remember who they supported, or when, but I do recall that they made a very good impression.



Trophy Wife
2210-2240 @ The Wedgewood Rooms (Club NME stage)
I caught a snippet of Trophy Wife's Bestival set at the Bandstand last weekend, excellent synthy indie (with guitar noodlings) from Oxford. 



Jumping Ships
1400-1435 @ The Edge of The Wedge (BSM & Alcopop! stage)
To be honest I don't really know all that much about Jumping Ships. I know they're from Brighton and I know that they create a spikey indie pop noise; I've been to Brighton, I like spikey indie pop, and I like the way Jumping Ships play it.



Apollo's Arrows
1420-1450 @ Southsea Social Club
Apollo's Arrows hail from just up the road, a Southampton trio that produce a powerfully delivered alternative sound (I'm sure there's more than a sprinkle of At The Drive-In in there). Nice.

The fun starts tomorrow at midday, if you've not yet got your ticket then you might be lucky enough to get one on the day (I'd advise getting there early though, the event's Twitter feed was this morning advising less than 50 tickets available from the Kings Theatre and the Wine Vaults).