This early January festival at Butlins, Bognor Regis has always delivered great value for money and this, our fifth visit, was no exception. A change in the staging this year saw the larger ‘Studio 36’ arena coming into play which certainly suited some of the larger headline names like Spiritualised and Leftfield.
There’s an energetic vibe from the off, on Friday afternoon. Bands are all indoors, and the scheduling allows for loads of great music to be taken in. Beer selection at the main bars is poor but fair play to Butlins, they provide a couple of pop-up bars that provide decent craft beer.
And so to the bands we saw:
Friday
Man/Woman/Chainsaw - a darkly lit stage. But out of that darkness comes beautifully chaotic sounds from 2 crazy guitars, thumping bass, tuneful (sometimes tinkly) keys, brilliantly solid drums and chaotic violin. Brilliant way to kick off the weekend
Holiday Ghosts – Top-class indie pop ‘from Brighton and Cornwall’. Heartfelt songs about terrible experiences with their landlord in Filthy Man. A mix of guitars in the line-up with Sam on electric, while and rhythm guitar is played by Ben on acoustic. Most vocals are shared by Sam and drummer Katja but Ben takes the vocals for storming track ‘Again and Again’
Hamish Hawk – Graphic lyrics are a strong feature of songs from fantastic 2024 album A Firmer Hand, none more so than ‘nothing he likes more than seeing me disappear inside him’. A unique performer with clever and funny between-song banter.
Saturday
Soap Box – Indie punk From Glasgow. Four piece with a highly energetic front-man Tom Rowans. “As you can tell. I’m stalling while these fuckers tune their guitars” (I reckon the truth is he was stalling due to breathlessness). A good deal of anger in their songs, but avoided the common pitfalls of blaming everything on the government, instead focussing their ire on day-to-day frustrations, not least in ‘Private Public Transport Sucks’, a popular number with the audience which Tom introduced as “If you know this one please sing along cos I’m fucked”
The Pill - Highly charged girl punk from this Isle Of Wight duo (today with added drums). Early song ‘The Problem’ had bassist Lottie explaining she was “sweating out Christmas” while in another song intro, guitarist Lily bashed her teeth painfully on the mic. Set highlights were ‘Hay Bale’ “about me being blond….. and facetious”, an excellent number with jerky rhythm, and set closer ‘Woman Driver’
LT DRP – a power pop and math rock mash up from Brighton and Cornwall (via occasional bar-tending duties at Southampton Joiners). ”This is our first gig for ages so thank you for coming down…. and in case there is any doubt we are C-L-I-T D-R-I-P “
Meryl Streek – Angry rapping with a backing track that wouldn’t be out of place on a Public Service Broadcasting number. Provided the most moving and evocative set of the afternoon. Pointed commentary on a multiplicity of social issues.
Ebbb – No guitars. Will Rowland’s voice put me very much in mind of Jonas, lead singer from my Danish faves Mew. Best find of the weekend, the falsetto vocal supplying an intriguing counterpoint to the thumping techno beats, veering into a beautiful dance vibe.
Arxx - As expected, the most humorous band of the weekend. Genuinely nice girls, self-deprecating in great measure. The two standout songs were the title tracks from their two albums ‘Good Boy’ and ‘Ride or Die’
Lime Garden – a good deal of interest to see this band from many of our festival buddies and they certainly would have satisfied those in need of a pop-infused indie-set.
(Next 3 acts on at the Studio 36 venue, a new addition this year)
Mim Grey – with a true Country twang to her singing voice, we were extremely suprised when Mim announced she was from” Barnet ….. Norf London”. A real talent and songs from her recent album ‘Garden Of Me’ were showcased brilliantly through her backing band which included best guitarist of the weekend, ex-Pretenders ‘ Robbie McIntosh.
Georgia – As a hard-bitten rocker with musical tastes shaped through 1970s prog rock and punk, I never thought I’d find myself dancing to a solo singer playing synthesised drums alongside a fully synthed backing track….. but this was absolutely joyous Leftfield - the bigger Studio 36 stage and packed out arena suited this band perfectly. With day-long beers kicking in we joined in the Butlins spirit and discovered that you could ‘do the macarena’ to many Leftfield tunes !
Bodega – hailing from New York, entirely appropriate that they should kick off with a cover of Ramones’ Rockaway Beach; and this proved to be the curtain raiser for one of the most vibrant sets of the weekend.
Sunday
Jaws The Shark –Full on grunge from this 3-piece guitar band. Showed depths of quality in their slower songs, including the excellent ‘Last Train To Santa Fe’
Bloodworms – from Nottingham – a dark vocal over brooding guitars. Their final song saw this band at its liveliest and even got a small early-afternoon mosh-pit going
Jonny Halifax Invocation - not sure what it was they were trying to invoke but the assembled maracas, shakers, less than tuneful sax, synthesiser and metronomic drums got the crowd swaying and clapping throughout the 12-minute intro number. For those of us of a certain age, brought up on prog in the70s, there was always a lot of this sort of stuff on the fringes. So many of us became curiously tolerant (and oftentimes actively drawn to) this zany weirdness. The rest of the set comprised just 3 further numbers; 70s Americana with psychedelic slide show to match. All fairly bonkers not least when they delved into a bag to extract various instruments, played at random. Mad but highly enjoyable
The Dirt – Spoken word poetic intro delivered against a backing track, Skint & Demoralised style. As the band got into the set, the style changed with the vocal played out on top of screechy guitars. Made me wish the delivery of the opening piece had been longer. Unadulterated honesty from the lead singer : “I’m knackered…I’m a middle aged man trying to dance like a teenager”
The Itch - Synth pop morphing into psych rock. “This one goes out to our bassist who’s not here today as he’s on holiday” (Obviously doesn’t choose Butlins for his vacation destination). A great vibe and great tunes – deserved a more enthusiastic crowd.
Katy J Pearson – As expected, an accomplished set from the wonderful songstress that is KJP. A 12-song set leaning heavily on tunes from her excellent 2024 album ‘Someday, Now’ plus a couple from each her previous albums.
Simon
