(((O))) Live: Festival Preview – Mangata, Nottingham

EPISODE 1 – FORMING A PLAN

I’ve never been to a gig in Nottingham before. I’ve never even been IN Nottingham before. Never had any reason. I’m from rural South-East Scotland, after all. And then I hear about this multi-venue alternative rock and metal thing. This, I think, needs further investigation.

Five venues, I see. More than forty bands.  For HOW MUCH? Is THAT ALL?  When is it? September. Plenty of time to arrange holidays, accommodation, etc. This is doable! Wait a minute. The wife. Best ask first, just to be on the safe side. SHE SAYS YES!

MANGATA FESTIVAL, let’s be at you, then!

So, let’s take a look at what’s on offer, and try to work out a plan of attack. Because, as is always the case with such things, it’s not possible to see everything and choices will have to be made. First of all, the GEOGRAPHY:

Initial plans included stages at ROCK CITY BETA and the BLACK CHERRY LOUNGE, but some double booking shenanigans scuppered those, and now we have – at a slightly reduced capacity – RESCUE ROOMS, TAP’N’TUMBLER, RED ROOM and two rooms at STEALTH, upstairs and down. They’re all very close. No more than a few minutes’ walk from each other, apparently. Which is A VERY GOOD THING, considering the amount of back-and-forthing that’s going to have to be done¹. Still, I should spend some time on Saturday morning exploring and prepping routes to and from the hotel.

Now, the WHO² and the WHERE and the WHEN.

With the line-up finalised, we have FORTY-ONE bands over the aforementioned five stages. Now, that’s a LOT of bands for one day, and we are going to have to make A PLAN. I’ve been waiting for a full schedule, and now it’s here. I can now see how bad³ the clashes are going to be. I shall be able to decide who to see, and who to miss. And that’s going to be tough. Do I stick with the bands I know, or do I go off-piste and check out those I’ve never seen before? Maybe even some I’ve never heard of? Let’s see.

I have MY plan, but here is not the place to reveal it. I’ll go into that in EPISODE 2 – HOW THE PLAN ALL WENT WRONG⁴.

It’s an early start, with the first choice to be made at 12:10. Do you catch thrashers KING ABYSS in Red Room, or do you head to Stealth and go upstairs to see local melodic modern metallists FIRMAMENT? There’s no time to catch your breath, as the schedule allows no time at all between sets. You’ll need to make your way, toot sweet⁵, down the stairs in Stealth for stoners BONESTRIDER or next door to Rescue Rooms for a spot of blackened metalcore – if you can even imagine such a thing – from WOLVES DON’T SLEEP⁶.

I think, at this point, I should introduce a set of abbreviations for the venues to save myself some time. Let’s do it this way:

RESCUE ROOMS = RR: STEALTH UPSTAIRS = S˄: STEALTH DOWNSTAIRS = S˅: RED ROOM = RED: TAP‘N’TUMBLER = TT

If you fancy the idea of BRING ME THE HORIZON in a blender with CHARLI XCX, then head back upstairs for GÜRL(S˄}. If not, it’s the grungy stoner sounds of SYNCOLIMA(RED). I’ll need to give that one some extra thought… AS I will for the genre-hopping alt-rock of CONFYDE(S˅) up against the violent death of Scottish lads SCORDATURA(RR). Obviously, I don’t mean the ACTUAL violent death of a band, rather that they PLAY violent death metal. I should be more specific.

Things get a bit more complicated now, with the Tap’n’Tumbler joining in. It’s a wee bit away from the others, but still not a significant trek. Opening the stage here is veteran Welsh metalcore combo CONTINENTS who have been around for ages⁷, and they’re up against doom/sludgers GURT⁸(RED) and theatrical rock from WARD XVI(S˄), from whom we might expect music, drama, fake blood and puppets. Yes, puppets.

More metalcore next from the very metalcore-named CONFESSIONS OF A TRAITOR(RR), unless you fancy some twisty alt-rock from TEALDEER(S˅). If you choose the latter, you can nip upstairs afterwards for some bleak post-black metal soundscapery from Ireland’s OFNUS(S˄). If that doesn’t float your boat, there’s the psychedelic grunge of oddly-named BAD MILK BLOOD ROBOT(RED) or the metal/EDM lane-hopping of TOOTH & DAGGER⁹(TT)

There’s a proper genre mash-up with the next selection, from the funk-o-metal grooves of IN SEARCH OF SUN(RR), via the alt-math of locals a-tota-so(S˅) to the everythingcore of HEARTSTRUNG(TT) whose sound, it seems, incorporates Heavy Metal, Metalcore, Shoegaze and Hardcore. And their logo looks a bit ‘death metal’.

Is it worth continuing with this preview? We’re four hours in, you’ll probably have been on the beers all day and you’ll be too pissed to care what’s next. Which would be a shame, because we have one of the country’s finest post-metal bands in HUNDRED YEAR OLD MAN(S˄). No offence to the hi-energy deathcore of PREMIER JESTER(RED), who will, I am sure, put a smile on many a face, but I WILL NOT miss HYOM.

We’re halfway through the day now, and I may nip out for some food at this point. The problem with this thing is that there’s very little opportunity for such life-preserving activities, because you WILL miss something, and that something might be your new favourite band. Perhaps the industrial metal of RED METHOD(RR), or the heavy alt-metal groove of DE’LOUR(TT), or even the progressive post-hardcore of (band name of the day), YOU WIN AGAIN GRAVITY¹⁰(S˅).

Beyond this point, choices start to become more difficult. The bands from here on in are, perhaps, better known, and clashes will be harder to resolve. More and more it will be bands I know, bands I’ve seen before. But for now, it’s a straight fight between the J-rock influenced pop-metalcore of DACARA(RED) against the beefy post-metal/screamo of HIDDEN MOTHERS(S˄), one of whom I know very well. What shall it be? The comfort blanket or the reckless dive into the unknown?

I can’t find out much about WELLER(TT), but they appear to be of the nu-metal variety, and they’re not embarrassed to admit it. They seem to be quite popular with ‘the kids’ and have been exposed on the likes of Radio 1. Make of that what you will. Competing for your time will be the very tongue-in-cheek death metal of RAISED BY OWLS(RR) and the shoegazey industrial crunch of TAYNE(S˅), both of whom I have seen before. Another tough choice, but I expect that I’ll be drawn to the red, red lights¹¹.

A tricky one, next, for me at least. I’ll probably skip Irish post-rockers OVERHEAD, THE ALBATROSS(S˄), as much as I like them, because I’ve seen them a number of times recently. Instead, I’ll TRY to catch a bit each of psychedelic doom/stoners SERGEANT THUNDERHOOF(RED) and Dutch black/death Egypt-obsessed ladies MAATKARE(TT). Whilst I am aware that it’s bad form to draw attention to that sort of thing, it’s good to see an all-female band in a heavily male-dominated festival.

Nearly done. Just the three sets of three to go. Starting with a brace of nu/alt-metal bands – THE HARA(RR), who seem to be formed entirely of tattoo ink, and COBER MOUTH(TT) – and one gnarly post-metal outfit, THE GREY(S˅), whose bass-man Andy WILL get in amongst the crowd. Because he always does.

Enigmatic arty post-rockers NORDIC GIANTS(S˄)may seem to be an odd choice for what is a mostly metal fest, but here they are. Hopefully they’ll take a little less time setting up their screens etc. and sound-checking than they did last time I saw them. C’mon guys, there’s only two of you! Next door in Red Room you’ll find veteran math rockers ALPHA MALE TEA PARTY who are ageing like a fine wine. Something sophisticated, fruity, and a little bit fizzy. Completing this packet of three is GLASS BRIDGES(TT), post-grunge alt-rockers from somewhere dahn sarf.

Still with me? Well done. It’s headliner time now. Been a while since we had an overtly metalcore band, but now we have TEN56(RR) who do just that, raw and aggressive. And they’re French, but we won’t hold that against them. Exploring the darker corners of industrial metal down in the Tap’n’Tumbler we will find the Manson/NiN influenced ANTI-CLONE, smeared lippy and all. And finally, GIANT WALKER(S˅) heavy progressive rockers from Newcastle who have been making waves up and down the country recently. Come along and see if all of the positive noises are justified.

Well, I’ve got my route through the day worked out. Whether that plan will survive contact with reality remains to be seen. Whether I survive the day also remains uncertain. Keep an eye out for EPISODE 2. If it never appears you can assume that I died.

FOOTNOTES:

1. GOOGLE MAPS confirms this.
2. No, THE WHO are NOT playing. Thank fuck.
3. Or otherwise.
4. You know how these things go.
5. That’s French, y’know. Yes it is, don’t argue.
6. They do. I’ve seen them. In a documentary about wolves. Sleeping.
7. Since about 2012, I reckon.
8. Not GÜRL. Entirely different.
9. Sounds like that pub that your parents always warned you about.
10. Their publicity pic shows one of the band sitting in a tree, so maybe he needs to be aware of his band’s name.
11.