Heavyfest @ 1 in 12, Bradford

Great day at the 1 in 12 in Bradford yesterday, but so much happened... right now I need to collect my thoughts on the whole thing. Does this count as 1 more gig to the 2008 Claw Tour or can I add it as 11 separate bands?

Here's some thoughts and photos all about the bands that played at the 2008 edition of HEAVYFEST:

LIMBIC RIOT



MISERICORDE



GUSTO MASTIVO



E. MUD GENERATOR



GRUEL


Gruel are a band that can be described with one word... Drone. They came to the stage and produced an inverted cross (made out of light-bulbs), switched on the smoke machine and then started to make a right old nuisance of themselves in the best of punk tradition. Blood, animal bones, smoke, a bit more blood. That about covers it I think.

THEY ARE COWARDS


Their best gig so far. We saw They Are Cowards on Thursday night in Manchester and they looked tense. It was their first show, nerves etc, it was a very serious set. Heavyfest was a different vibe, the guys really seemed to enjoy their turn on stage. Drunken, sweaty & loud... but that applies to almost every band that played at this event I guess.

BLACK SUN


A contender for set of the festival, Black Sun came to the stage and they were already smashed out of their minds. Well, Kev (guitar) and Graeme (bass) were smashed, your man Russell (drums) seemed in good form. They played a blinder, lots of noise and huge angry volume. Kev started butting his microphone during the last few songs, God only knows what he was playing at there. No matter because it only added to the perfomance. The sweat was stinging my eyes by the end of their set and I was loving it. Black Sun are a band with huge stage presence.

VOLITION


Apologies to the fellas in Volition - I hardly saw any of their set! It was during the previous Black Sun set that one of the guys that I was with (Cov) fell unconsious and we had to call an ambulance to get him to the nearest hospital A&E unit quick. So while the rest of my friends were carefully putting him into the recovery position, I ran back into the venue and got some photos of Volition to include on here. After all, if I wasn't going to do it, who was?

LAZARUS BLACKSTAR


Another band that we saw in Manchester earlier in the same week. Blackstar have made the transition between vocalists successfully, Mikey is giving it all in the lungs and throat department. They played the loudest set of Heavyfest (by far), I don't know what was going on with that. My ears have become accustomed to listening to stuff through massive amplifiers and I was doing pretty well all day throughout Heavyfest, then Lazarus Blackstar came on stage. Afterwards I had dull hearing and I am still struggling with it now.

CHARGER


Now yer talkin! For my sins I haven't seen Charger now for about 5 years, when they played the Cavern in Liverpool. Yes, it's really been that long. They are sporting a new line-up now and, although they never took to the stage til close to midnight, it was worth the 5 year wait. The crowd had started to thin out by the end of Heavyfest due to a combination of heat and too much booze (one guy had to be carted off to hospital). So Charger's audience comprised of a hardcore of alcohol-fueled nutters. One of the Black Sun guys stripped down to his skin and ran about the place naked during their set... unphased, Charger played on.

GLOOMY SUNDAY


Twice in a week, I get to see Gloomy Sunday up on stage doing their thing. They played another great set but - I'm so pissed off about this - most of the crowd had started to make their way out fo the building while Charger were on and by the time it came to Gloomy Sunday's turn, all that was left watching was the guys from Lazarus Blackstar, a couple of Volition, Black Sun and about 5 others including myself. Okay, so it had been a long day but it's still not right. Anyways, everyone who left early were the ones who missed out. G/S did their thing and it was great to see. Towards the end of their set Denis (Guitar) had technical problems which held up the show for about 5 minutes until Kev from Black Sun (who was well and truly annihilated by this point) helped out the guys and played lead for the next song. Dennis held his own on vocals along side their main voacalist Jari.

Okay so now I owe you review-ettes on 4 more bands who hit the stage at Heavyfest. Maybe I'll get back to you on those a little later on, okay. No promises!