Samuel Whitebread Rockfest:
Peanukle, Manboob, CATCF, Borderline, Rage Tribute, Residence In The UK, Insomnia, 12 Inch Long, Copywrite, Big Migit and Luka Mara
Friday 26th April 2002, Samuel Whitbread School.

This annual fest has been running a few years now and has produced the cream of the local bands that you see at Esq. The school has quite a large hall and had two stages which helped speed things up to keep the momentum of getting all the acts in, with so many in one night it seems quite a task to have to review it, so I apologise in advance if I have missed anyone out or have misspelled your bands name, esp. as all the acts went down well. There weren’t any bad sets, although some of the bands have had a lot more experience in playing live than others.

The first band “LUKA MARA” had a female lead singer, they had quite a good sound with some effective choral effects blended in. I didn’t think the singing was too bad until the ‘System Of A Down’ cover, where difficulty in holding a note during the song ‘Chop Suey’ let the quality slip. A lad with fast vocal effects helped at the end.

The next band “BIG MIGIT” on the smaller stage came on dressed as women, it was a bit of a hybrid of other bands with the Borderline front man on drums – the drumming wasn’t that good but I know his talents lay elsewhere, and he had to fill in at the last minute, the singer in the hat looked like he was related! I think this was more of stage filler for fun with the drummer saving his more serious skills for his main band.

Moving on to more famous territory now – or rather acts that I’ve caught at Bedford Esq. “12 INCH LONG” although they haven’t had as much live experience as the bands that followed, they’ve had a bit more practice and have improved since last time, their front man had a really good balance between aggressive then calmer vocals. The Kurt Cobain dressed lead guitarist’s amp could have been louder but played well. I didn’t like the first song much; it seemed to go on a lot and was glad the rest of the set had a better approach. The bass particularly stood out – not just going along with the band but demonstrating an effective bit of bass work. There was another ‘System’ cover; this time an earlier track, and their own stuff at times had a cool hypnotic rhythm.

Surely one of the best bands on the live circuit with tons of live experience” INSOMNIA” belted out a great set in the short time given. They have quite a professional quality and have developed their own sound; the front man used the space on the larger stage effectively + ran about putting everything in to a strong Vocal performance. I think with their particular sound the use of the glockenspiel fits in quite well as they already have other effects and an atmospheric sound. I think the “ man of the match” award must go to their drummer who added his skill (I use that word with precision) to a lot of other bands, and even sang for the Rage Tribute. One of the songs that started with the ‘glock’ was quite an effective dance number with a busy break-beat rave drum rhythm.

For a band that I haven’t seen before “RESIDENCE IN THE UK” (formerly AUA)? Was one of the bands I enjoyed the most, the vocals were particularly effective and the songs had quite a variation, some sounding serious blending in with a kind of cockney humoured approach to create some contrast, some of the band members swapped instruments during the set which kind of kept the sound fresh. I think this band has a bit of potential and I wouldn’t mind seeing them again.

The “RAGE TRIBUTE” belted out a hard sound, I don’t know if this is a serious project, it didn’t sound that close to the original, - more like their own version of the Rage sound but skilfully played anyway.

Another band with a really good drummer “BORDERLINE” with plenty of experience (and it shows) started off with the ‘A’ Team theme giving the set an epic feel and taking up most of the time before going through a selection of their numbers including some from their first C.D but mostly newer stuff ‘Disarray’ is quite a crowd pleaser, and a song about a life story of someone who’s a loser – ‘A minus’ (obviously not autobiographical). - A band difficult not to like with a pop punk style and a really strong sound.

The excellent “CHICO + THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY” was a band that begged for a longer set – first time Iv’ seen em with their new drummer who I thought has slotted in quite well. They mostly do their own stuff now, but there was a few covers thrown in. Chico’s singing amazed me at how fast he can go – wow! I bet he can sing and catch bullets between his teeth at the same time! There was a great bit of ska punk style dancing in the crowd. Dot squeezed in a few heavy riffs in to the songs, which were cheery, and the crowd were loving it! I think another reason this band has had such success is the fact that they are quite superbly managed. They once even backed the famous ‘The Selecter’! The band with the best sounding vocals has to be “MANBOOB”. The band certainly has an ability to get the crowd going, each member puts everything in to the act, with top vocals, also including the famously smooth headed Granny T. – always a cheerful asset to the band, the talented Jo from Borderline showing that his shared singing + fretwork is better than his drumming, and the fests resident drummer primarily from Insomnia knocking out a thunderous rhythm.

To be honest, headliners “PEANUKLE” are too good for such a short set, they looked as if they didn’t know what to fit in to the time given, the brass playing wasn’t put to prominent use but seemed a welcome addition to the sound, and the able front man put his usual energy in to the act. There was a bit of anger between the guitarist + the crowd over some incident, but their singer showed aptitude in calming it down and apologies ensued. Peanukle were deserved headliners, never boring, although more at home at more established venues.

Credit must go to the school, + staff particularly the music teachers - Mr. Little especially, also the person organising, who did a great job and even appeared as one of the many band members. At some point of the evening I heard a good Offspring cover, which along with other covers performed by bands I found it encouraging to hear so much of the bands own original material included.

Keith Pickering