So this week was the last week of slavery
at work, all the fucking time. From now on I’ll only be doing it half the time.
At least that’s something. I woke up on my first day of half freedom to clouds
and a downpour of rain but the sky could sense my mood this morning and now I
am sat outside in the glory of the sun.
I’ve been questioning whether to bother
writing about Hit the Deck festival. I guess the urge has overcome me.
As we descended on Nottingham’s Rock City
early one Sunday afternoon the streets were already seething with young,
tattooed, pierced scenester rockers and misfits. It was beautiful.
Talbot Street was pedestrianized and
drenched in empty beer cups, burger wrappers and band flyers. Girls with micro
ass creeping hot pants cruise up and down the merch shacks lining the festival.
Upon arriving we were awarded with a wristband, which gave us freedom to dive
into any of the four venues: The Forum, Stealth, Rescue Rooms and Rock City.
After we gathered our bearings and settled
in with a cigarette, we jumped into Rock City to watch the first couple of
bands on our personal line up.
We found Attention Thieves delivering their
straightforward gig to a reasonably sized crowd. Since forming in 2009 the
Berkshire bred lads are progressing, from Reading and Leeds Festival
introducing stage to plenty air play.
What they lack in commercial catch they
make up for with raw, pink in the middle rock overlapped with darker overtones.
Led by guitars and vocals they don’t follow the rest with joshing vibes and
instead find caliber in emotionally tinged and honest lyrics. There is a youth
to the band made obvious by the reception from the audience, as we were all
still trying to decide whether they’re worthy of our energy.
A quick fag break and my partner in crime
and I let the crowd swallow us up ready for the next band. Mallory Knox took to
the stage and burst into one of their most favorable tracks Wake Up.
Coincidence or incredibly suiting to the venue, the atmosphere erupted into
frenzy.
They slap us in the face with their
addictive melodies and contrasting heavy minor key tones of Death Rattle.
The rest of their set consists of all my
personal favorites, from Beggars, Hello to Lighthouse and Oceans. The members
make an effort to connect with us and we all end up screaming on the top of our
lungs in unison.
“and can you feel me dreaming of you”
Next up on the bill was Attack! Attack!
(US) the reputable crabcore metal with synth techno breakdowns mixed in, yeah
those boys.
They have come a long way from 2005 and
have sifted through a fair amount of members on the way.
After their gig I am unsure whether they
should have ever bothered feeding their fire at all. For all we bared witness
to was sizzling ash and lame glowing embers, lacking courage to relight their
original element.
They play an awful set, to be honest. I
could not be more brutal re: their performance, technical difficulties aside. I
can’t recollect one single moment when each member were in time and playing the
correct part of the song. (Thankfully) somebody finally pissed on that fire and
the band are now deceased.
Moving on to more mellow waters, We Are The
Ocean up the professionalism and play a solid set of new material, with a
couple of older exceptions from their Go Now and Live album. It’s been a little
while since I’ve seen these guys. In that time their raspy screamer Dan Brown
left the group to become a band manager.
Their current sound puts We Are The Ocean
in a different spotlight. Their tight classic instrumentals and Liam Crombys
sensational vocals, shifts them to a mainstream genre of rock.
Venturing to new pastures, we broke out of
Rock City and headed to The Rescue Rooms to see the lovely Canterbury. The
quartet are incredibly underrated for their abilities and the fame they
deserve. Their soft impulsive rock calmed the mosh pits and enchanted our hips
to sway instead. I would be keen to attend another Canterbury gig.
Back to Rock City. We Are The In Crowd
showed off to an impressive turn out. They have a knack at writing a catchy pop
rock tune.
Move over Hayley, there is a new babe on
the block, and she is cute! Tay Jardine flicked her hair, danced around her
band members and flirted with the audience. Dressed modestly in a baggy t-shirt
and shorts, the girl is easily likeable no matter if you want to shag her or
just be her.
Tays vocals correspond with Jordan Eckes
singing forming a peachy duet and the instrumentals are candytastic tight. Their show was colorful and a fabulous
refresher from the black beefy rock and metalcore.
Headlining the day festival were the rising
stars, cheeky chaps, Don Broco. The four piece alternative rock band have risen
to the top fairly quickly. Their audacious attitude and egotistic lyrics have
set them apart from their associates.
The crowd love them and their infectious
friendly persona rubbed off on us all. So much so on one girl, she actually
threw her bra and knickers on stage. Only for Lead Rob Damiani to put them on
for part of their set. Packing plenty of groove and banter Don Broco pull off a
champion performance.
The day came to its unfortunate end. The
merch stores packed up and bartered away their last hoodies and posters. The
motley crew of metal heads and rockers dispersed into the night.
I had bought the tickets as a spontaneous
surprise for someone special. Despite sticking to the rule to never kiss on a
first date, it was still just as memorable.