(((O))) : Festival Review: Core.

Photos by Bruce Cowie / Friday review by Sander van den Driesche

Is there anything more exciting than a new festival? It’s never just about the bands playing – it’s the ethos, the venue(s), the markets, the attendees. And probably the bands, too – they’re a nice wee bonus. It’s probably why there was such a buzz about Core. Festival since its announcement earlier in the year, with massive bands like Deafheaven and Chat Pile heaping kindling on the hype-fire. A recent chat with masterminds David Weaver and Daniel Mutch was another boon, showing that longevity and diversity came before making a quick buck, so it is with a light heart that Friday kicks off.

Friday

First up were local 4-piece Flinch. (note the ‘fullstop’ so to not be confused with former Finnish glam rockers or various electronic music producers). Finch. play ‘sad songs in harmony’, according to their Bandcamp bio, and after some hiccups at the start (who knew the smoke machine at the Maryhill Community Central Halls would set off the fire alarm repeatedly, they played a solid set showing lots of confidence as the festival openers, which must be the musical equivalent to being the first speaker at a big conference. They jokingly remarked that they had never played a gig with a barrier before and continued to play an impressive set of emo influenced indie rock songs.

This was followed by another local 4-piece, this time under the name of Jack Brotherhood, who are “Glasgow’s premier gay dad rock band”. They were also a new entity to me but isn’t that what makes music festivals so nice? Being able to see new bands and artists and being exposed to genres you might not normally listen to. Which is what Jack Brotherhood was to me, and they certainly played a very engaging set with some good crowd interaction and there was some very good musicianship on show, warming up the audience nicely for the main act of the first day at Core.

The Friday headliner was no other than The World Is A Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid To Die, who are most definitely indie//emo royalty, besides having such a long name that it took up a whole 5 lines on the backprint of the official Core. festival t-shirt. They made the trip across the pond to celebrate the release of their debut album Whenever, If Ever. Their set was pretty awesome and it was great to see this band up close, seeing them give everything to their performance and just to see that even emo bands can be happy playing their music on a big stage. Naturally their set mainly focused on said debut album, but rather than playing this in full, the set was broken up by a middle section which included some great highlights from their other releases, such as the brilliant ‘January 10th, 2014’, which went down a storm with the audience. After a long set the first day (rather night) of Core. was successfully concluded, making everyone keen to continue on Saturday.  

TWIABP • Core Fest, Glasgow • Photo: Bruce Cowie

Saturday

Anyone that knows The Hug And Pint can testify that it is a venue where calling it ‘intimate’ would be accurate in the best possible sense, which makes Hammok such a volatile proposition. Their entreaties for the crowd to “fucking move” start with their first song and rarely let up, making the aggression at the heart of their crossover noise-hardcore all the more palpable. There’s no room to escape and though a mid-set ‘Contrapoint’ is almost a chance for a breather, its thick groove rattling around the room and the crowd’s skulls, and by the time they leave the stage a guitar is in pieces and the people are already talking about seeing them again if/when they come back.

It’s an impressive christening for the Maryhill Community Halls’ sister venue that’s rivalled, if not surpassed, by Cwfen opening proceedings at the Halls’ Radical Glasgow stage. It might be that wee bit too sunny, cheery and un-cobwebbed to get the full doom effect going but Cwfen have the riffs, the tone and the stage presence to bring a bit of gothic grime to Glasgow. Nestled at the sweet spot where 80s goth, early Electric Wizard and the occult melodicism of Coven meet, this is occult metal that ticks all the genre’s boxes without succumbing to the theatrical cheesiness that befalls so many. If they sound like this after less than a year together, it’s likely that their next 12 months will bring something spectacular.

Cwfen • Core Fest, Glasgow • Photo: Bruce Cowie

Over on the main stage, Pothamus are literally limbering up. Guitarist/vocalist Sam Coussens’ elastic appendages are mesmerising in their own way as he flexes, stretches and lunges throughout their weighty set but that’s only when you can somehow tune out of the swirling melange of groove and tribal rhythm that grounds their sound. It taps into post-metal’s most primal forms, where drone minimalism meets a deep, rhythmic pound that seems to come from some prehistoric point in humanity’s evolutionary past. Even the people who were enamoured with last year’s Raya find that in person, the trio plumb those primordial depths to an even more profound degree, the riffs swirling and drawing listeners into the netherworlds they inhabit. Calling music ‘transcendent’ is such a cliché but an unscrupulous person could found a religion around a performance like this.

The dash back to the Hug and Pint gives is essential given that it’s where healthyliving are setting up. That intimacy sets in again but rather than the claustrophobia it induced earlier today, it now imbues the gentle, haunting melodies with the warmth of an evening spent with old friends. It’s only their second live outing following a not-at-all-intimidating debut at Roadburn but as vocalist Amaya López-Carromero later relates, the location feels closer to the intentions of the music. López-Carromero’s voice fills the space and connects with those lucky enough to have made their way here in time, her tone rich and illuminating but laden with a palpable sense of melancholy that hits its peak with a stunning run-through of ‘Galleries’.

healthyliving • Core Fest, Glasgow • Photo: Bruce Cowie

There had been a lot of speculation as to how Celeste would fare today given the fact that it was impossible to get a real sense of darkness on the main stage, alongside the fact that the venue’s fire alarm had already decided that it and smoke machines could never peacefully coexist. While these are typical elements in Celeste’s live shows, it seems that they are not essential. If anything, the starkness of seeing them with new-found clarity works well with a set mostly culled from Assassine(s), their most polished and atmospheric work to date. ‘Nonchalantes de Beauté’ sounds positively lush, slow waves of tremolo and bile gradually mounting to an emotional climax while ‘De tes Yeux Bleus Perlés’ hits like a succession of emotional right hooks, pushing their rhythmic heft to its limit. The momentum does trail off a little towards the tail of their set but by and large, they more than live up to their reputation as one of the most passionately heartfelt bands in black metal.

If there was one band that this weekend was truly about, it was always Chat Pile. They’ve been praised in just about every publication over the past year so when the room fills to breaking point as they take the stage, barely an eyebrow is raised. Opening with their dryly bitter take on the US homelessness crisis ‘Why,’ a song that resonates just as strongly in Glasgow, their acerbic noise rock is raw but oddly refined. Raygun Busch is a unique frontman that is chatty and frequently hilarious between songs, often riffing on his love of movies whenever the chance arises, but as soon as Stin’s rattling bass kicks back in, he’s back to moaning and howling as he stalks to and fro across the stage. All four seem immediately at home with a crowd and a venue like this, one where community is gathered and celebrated, and as they rip through ‘Pamela’ with gut-wrenching sincerity and a final battering take on ‘Garbage Man’ it does feel like the hype might have been deserved all along.

Chat Pile • Core Fest, Glasgow • Photo: Bruce Cowie

There’s a final jaunt over to The Hug and Pint to catch Cumgirl8’s own much-hyped set. The art-punk collective gained fame and infamy alike during the pandemic with their radio show, while their self-titled LP’s warm reception and a recent signing to indie superlabel 4AD only bolstered their reputation. This set delivers on everything that was promised, a mixture of early 90s LA sleaze, snarling post-punk and a discordant post-Riot Grrrl energy that’s equal parts cool detachment and insouciant disdain. Avishag Rodrigues in particular is the epitome of arthouse chic, a cigarette dangling from her lips as she teases out discord and melody with ease, and when the quartet collapse into a tangled, distorted heap for ‘Cherry Nipples’ they are rock and roll.

By the time we’re back at the main stage, And So I Watch You From Afar are already in full swing and if the crowd aren’t quite as densely packed as they were for Chat Pile, they’re making up for it with the kind of pure, manic enthusiasm that comes naturally to Glasgow at this time on a Saturday night. The room is sweating and bouncing, ASIWYFA are throwing out jaunty math-rock curveballs with reckless abandon, and the whole thing could bring a smile to the most jaded of faces. Going from ‘Gang (Starting Never Stopping)’ straight into ‘Mulally’ is an almost mercenary move, bringing with it a wave of jittery melodicism and boosted endorphins. They always manage to walk a tightrope between immediacy and intricacy but tonight, the volume and energy they demonstrate makes that balancing act a touch more exciting as Chris Wee’s brisk drumming sets a stuttering tempo that Rory Friers and Niall Kennedy match with gusto. By the time their hour is up, Kennedy’s guitar has already been handed to a random audience member (who, incidentally, is killing it), band and crowd are spent but could probably handle another couple of rounds, and the first full night of Core. has been brought to a satisfying close.

ASIWYFA • Core Fest, Glasgow • Photo: Bruce Cowie

Sunday

While yesterday’s start at the Hug and Pint was an exercise in violence and psychosonic warfare, Devotion is a more subtle prospect. The work of acclaimed artist and animator Robyn Janine, it’s a natural extension of her visual media, dreamily alluring but with a potent message just beneath the surface. Her beats are woozy and disarming yet there’s something uncomfortable in Janine’s approach, a complexity in how she has pieced together her sparse compositions and a confrontational air as she works the room, standing inches from peoples’ faces as they nervously grin and scan the room for support. Though her set is brief, there’s no doubt that Devotion makes an impact.

If there’s one band successfully demonstrating that shoegaze can still be exciting, it’s undoubtedly Slow Crush. The Belgian foursome have been a regular fixture on UK gig listings for a while now but their presence today remains a welcome one, ‘Glow’ dunking the main hall into a bath of glorious, shimmering distortion. Balancing heaviness and sleek pop melodicism, Isa Holliday juxtaposes her near-ethereal lightness of voice with a murky bass tone, dipping in and out of light and shadow with impeccable finesse. Whether it’s down to execution or to sharp songwriting, their short set takes the core of a genre that has been played to death and, for half an hour, makes it exciting once again.

Featuring members of Gendo Ikari, The Ninth Wave and Moni Jitchell, Civil Elegies are something of a secret institution. Core. marks their first live show in quite some time yet they don’t have the aura of a band trying to rediscover their footing. Rather, this is vicious, bilious noise-rock with few frills and zero punches pulled. Grant Donaldson’s locked-down rhythms come in violent stabs that offset the more detached minimalist guitarwork of Kyalo Searle-Mbulu, but it’s Hamish Black’s passion that comes to define the band’s presence, a writhing, screaming, gurning mass of discord and feedback that can’t be reasoned with, only succumbed to.

Civil Elegies • Core Fest, Glasgow • Photo: Bruce Cowie

The presence of Frontierer on the main stage feels unassuming at first. They’re just an ordinary band, right? Nope, this is an exercise in extremity. Their ostensibly metalcore sound hits hard and heavy and never really lets up for their entire set, 45 minutes of muscular heft and technical dexterity that sends the bodies of band and spectators alike flying within moments. Speaker cabs are climbed, Pedrian Valiani fires himself into the crowd for the first of many times and there’s a skateboarder in the pit pulling off kickflips, making it one of those shows that comes to define a festival. The sheer intensity of their assault is overwhelming but as a celebration of sweat, blood and sonic extremity this is a jaw-dropping spectacle.

For those who didn’t quite work off all their Sunday afternoon energy (as it that’s a thing) Endless Swarm make for a delicious follow-up. Powerviolence at its finest, it prompts the kind of pit activity rarely seen outside of a Sick Of It All video, with windmills, picking up change, two-stepping and even exotic inclusions like cartwheels all taking place to a soundtrack of d-beats and fist-swinging grooves. Gray Caldwell is on fine form, barking out lines like the unholy spawn of a drill sergeant and a bull terrier as he anxiously paces and pounces across the stage, and when everything on offer is being delivered at breakneck pace, they prove an enjoyably exhausting pick-me-up.

For anyone who finds Liturgy’s ‘transcendental black metal’ tag a little lofty, today’s performance is just fuel for the fire. Pulling largely from recent opus 93696, Haera Hunt-Hundrix takes only a few moments to set her agenda of bringing orthodox black metal’s walls tumbling down, switching between mathematical intricacy and comparatively simplistic bursts of tremolo with a frequency that would be frustrating if it weren’t so well-executed. Leo Didkovsky’s impeccable drumming is the linchpin here, his grasp of tempo and rhythm as fluid as a stormy sea, and with his steady support, Hunt-Hendrix can take full command, leading the four through a nostalgic ‘Generation’ before stepping back up to the ambitious, serpentine heights of ‘93696’. Their clinical nature is occasionally jarring but every so often, they manage to draw the room in in a way that makes that ‘transcendental’ tag a little more accurate.

Liturgy • Core Fest, Glasgow • Photo: Bruce Cowie

When they want to be, Rolo Tomassi are an undeniably gorgeous proposition. Massive, richly textured post-rock harmonies that slip seamlessly into stadium-filling power-pop, the delicate croon of Eva Harmon, all coalescing to create songs of tenderness like ‘Almost Always’, whose inclusion makes for a gentle introduction tonight. And then ‘Cloaked’ reveals that other side of them, Harmon’s voice plummeting to a guttural scream as stop-start chugging whips the pits into a frenzy, a caustic reminder of their early years that momentarily slips for another gossamer chorus. This push and pull is why Rolo Tomassi are always so satisfying to watch, tugging at the heart one minute only to jerk the room back with furious djent-isms, all handled with adroit skill. ‘Rituals’ is executed with punishing precision but it’s ‘A Flood Of Light’, a soaring epic that practically cries out for a night like this to be heard, that really celebrates and cements how unique they continue to be.

As the first band to have been confirmed for Core. Festival, it makes sense that Deafheaven have drawn one of the weekend’s biggest crowds. There’s a near-religious fervour in how easily George Clarke can work a crowd, his every venture up to the barricade prompting a sea of outstretched arms to surge towards him, and though opener ‘Black Brick’ has him on savage form, a couple of cuts from Infinite Granite in the form of ‘In Blur’ and ‘Great Mass Of Colour’ show that he can tone down his exertions while still maintaining control and a semblance of his typical wide-eyed intensity. Though these two offerings do diminish the energy levels a little, their alt-rock shtick never quite holding the momentum that they had built up with ‘Sunbather’, they do provide a breather as well as the chance to reflect on how much the band continue to refresh their sound. Naturally, it’s ‘Dream House’ that closes their set and the main stage, a final surge of euphoric noise that brings together chaos and stirring melodicism in a blinding flash of post-black metal goodness.

Deafheaven • Core Fest, Glasgow • Photo: Bruce Cowie

While most of the attendees have staggered off to catch the last train of the night, more than a few wander next door to watch Dawn Ray’d bring their singular strains of black metal and social conscience to Glasgow. In fact, it’s almost reductive to call this black metal as these are essentially protest songs, folk ballads that just happen to have blastbeats and searing, treble-heavy tremolo at their root. Fabian Devlin’s guitarwork is tight and expressive, locked perfectly in sync with Matthew Broadley’s savage percussion, while the incredible range of Simon Barr proves the key to their richness of sound and message. On violin, he’s a tranquil and elegant figure but his vocals, switching between bilious screams and a rousing, folk-inflected call to arms, are commanding no matter what form they take. It almost seems like Dawn Ray’d are the only band that could have brought this weekend to a close and they make a magnificent job of it.

So was the first instalment of Core. Festival a success? In almost every respect, yes. There was a clear message in its curation that acknowledged that community, music and discussion are interlinked and cannot be kept separate. It also showcased local talent with as much devotion and fanfare as the biggest of touring bands, a sure sign that it should have a bright future ahead of it. Given that tickets are already on sale for 2024’s edition, that is not a bad start at all.