Taking over from Adam Kidd, who had covered the first two days of the festival, I headed down to The Albert still not sure what to expect and arrived there just as Jack Harris was getting ready to start. He certainly has an intehich iresting set ws made up of melancholic songs mixed with funny tales between the tracks. Although the songs may not have been my 'cup of tea' Jack likes his 'Rock star poses' and is a professional entertainer who kept me entertained throughout his set.
Each night of this festival has a different sponsor and tonight's was At The Helm Records an independent record label based in Brighton who were showcasing some of their acts. Showing of their diversity the next band, The Dreaming Spires, were something completely different. An Oxford band who describe themselves as 'Shoegaze Country'. The highlight of this band was the amazing drummer, who had a massive grin on his face the whole way though the set while the bass player with his droney notes provided the backing vocals. The Dreaming Spires have recently released their first album and they tried out a new songs on us which stood up to the quality of the rest of the set. The band has good diversity which is not surprising as their Facebook page has a long list of collaborators. Their songs just kept getting better and by the end I wanted more.
Tonight's headliner was Flash Bang Band, which is a band who's cover to their first album 'Bite Your Tongue' is something I know better than their music. So it was nice to be amongst a small but loyal fan base the first time and to give them a proper listen. During the first song their sampler died and after a little bit of rebooting and lead changing the band band said 'oh well, we do it without the sampler then', which they did. I don't know how much they use the sampler anyway but the three of them seem to make a full enough sound, maybe they don't really need a sampler anyway. They had a sound like the 90's Seattle scene something like a more mellow version of Mudhoney. I was impressed with their sound and their catchy songs which were rolling round my head as I left The Albert after my first night.
The final night of the festival was brought to us by Bucketfull Of Brains, a London-based music magazine, founded in 1979 who set up a record label a few years ago. They kicked off their night with Sugar Magnolia who are a duo that sit somewhere between folk and country. While on stage they spent most of their time gazing at their shoes and looked like they would rather be somewhere else but their music was instantly catchy. The highlight was certainly the song so good they named the band after it, Sugar Magnolia a gentle memorable song that quickly caught the attention of the crowd.
They were followed by Trent Miller and The Skeleton Jive, Trent is originally from Northern Italy but now based in London and with The Skeleton Jive they provided some great toe tapping music. With a nice blend of violin and harmonica overlaying the music there was enough diversity to keep each track fresh. At the same time there was plenty of eye contact and smiles between the five members of the group and each member got their moment to shine. The guitarist did not let rip until the encore which was a bit of luck as Trent Miller and The Skeleton Jive was the only band over the two nights to get an encore and almost needless to say they went down well.
The Snakes were the headliners for the final night and certainly the most experienced of all the bands I saw. Formed in the late 90's from ex-Whitesnake members they have that polished performance that you get from the experience of playing big gigs around the world. They started off with their slowest song which originally made me think I they would end up being a totally different band to what I was expecting but at the end of the song they almost apologised and then the rock began. In came the power cords with songs that sounded familiar but subtly different enough from their influences to stand on their own. Similar to how I kicked off the festival, The Snakes had excellent comedy banter in-between songs but in a much more snappy way than Jack Harris. It was almost like a race to get in a gag before the band jumped into the next song. Their latest album is called The Last Days of Rock & Roll and you do have to wonder how many different ways you can string together a bunch of power chords. Though as long as there are bands who can perform it as well as The Snakes then there will be an audience.