Guildford was the place to be to check out some great new bands!
Continuing their quest to champion less well-known bands, the excellent Undercover Festival & Events put on a splendid afternoon and evening of live music from unsigned bands at Suburbs at The Holroyd, Guildford on Saturday 31st May.
The Punktuation team of Ruth Rae and Jim Creith had their cameras ready to capture each band; read their reviews of this fantastc event below:
Ruth’s report
Next, we welcomed a younger band; Portsmouth based The Dandelion Chain. A post-Goth / Indie / Alternative group formed in 2023, they are currently recording an EP, following several online single releases. The band are: Mike Page – guitar & vocals, Lucy Burden-Smith – guitar, synths & backing vocals, Carlos Aguilar– bass, cello, backing vocals & effects and Matthew – drums & samples. Again, a Joy Division influence was very apparent, but this band is more upbeat. Mike gave insanely good guitar and vocal performances, finishing the set out in the middle of the crowd, contorting around his guitar as the audience danced around him!
Another Portsmouth band, Torpedoes, brought their dark rock sound to the stage. Led by Ray (Razor) Fagan (lead vocals, guitar), along with Ben Prior (guitar, vocals), Martin Cook (drums) and Steve Burrell (bass) they soon had the crowd bouncing along. Powerful drumming underpinned a set filled with swirling guitars and weighty bass, topped with sublime vocal harmonies from the two guitarists. Torpedoes released their fourth album ‘Heaven’s Light Our Guide‘ last year, to much acclaim, and it was wonderful to hear songs from it live!
Jim’s report
Next up were The Boo Tikis, more often than not a three-piece although today it’s just Lyse on stand up drums and vocals and DC on guitar and vocals. As with the White Stripes, Slaves/Softplay, Royal Blood and Voodoo Radio, the song quality is such that you don’t really miss the ‘absent’ instruments, and get swept along by the ‘rockabilly surf’ tunes. A band inspired by the past but stepping into the future…
Angerland – a big name for a big band who make a BIG noise!!! Sonically, these guys are the missing link between early Back Sabbath, Mudhoney, mid-’80’s Black Flag and Killing Joke. Words like ‘muscular, heavy and aggressive’ are often used to describe this politically-charged industrial metal punk juggernaut but I’d add one more, ‘necessary’ as this band shows that it is okay to stray into darker areas and still have a message. One of Punktuation’s ‘Five Bands to Watch in 2025‘, look out for Jon Stone on vocals, Andy ‘Kermit’ Keir on bass, Ian Fisher on guitar, Rex Bygate on keyboards and Cristian Prigoană on drums playing near you!
A special mention should be made of Alex, the Holroyd’s sound engineer who did an amazing job, despite having such a diverse set of bands to deal with – it would have been a long day for him and yet the sound quality never dipped once! To paraphase an old football adage, he was easily the ‘man of the gig’, in my opinion!
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Usually found jumping around down the front at gigs, I also relish taking photos and videos, singing, speaking with fellow music fans, and asking musicians the questions nobody else does. Writing about my favourite bands and connecting with people who love music too keeps me more-or-less sane! I’ve worked for over 25 years at a video production company, mainly filming live music events, therefore I have an additional backstage perspective on the scene.
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