Noisefest 2012 – Plugged Inn – Sunderland – 16thNovember
On the 16th November Plugged Inn in Sunderland played host to the fourth annual Noisefest. With eight bands spread over two stages this night promised to be one of the loudest in the area and made for the perfect escape from a certain charity event that would dominate the nights TV. So with the promise of good music and drinks galore we headed off to see what all the fuss was about. Admittedly we got there a little early and despite our hosts offer of a free buffet (no seriously, there was a buffet complete with cheese selection and a whole pineapple) we headed to our usual positions of propping up the bar until the music began.
The first to take to the downstairs stage was Waheela an experimental band that introduced themselves by playing a distorted recording of Malcolm’s ‘life will find a way’ speech from Jurassic Park. It was a strange set where the lead singer meandered into the crowd on occasion and used a hand held loudspeaker to further distort his vocal performance while the guitar players and bass player spent the whole set with their backs to the crowd.
Next up, literally as the second stage was upstairs, was Jimmy Jinkim with his unique display of computer graphics splayed behind him as he pressed buttons on a laptop and occasionally on a keyboard to produce warped oscillating sounds overlaid with some pretty obscene sound-bites while he sipped from a can of larger and burned joss sticks… truthfully when I first walked into the room I had thought he was a sound tech guy and it took me a little while to realise he was actually the performer… this really wasn’t to my taste at all but I did like the screen saver light show he put on.
Perhaps more hurriedly than was really necessary we left Jimmy to his light show and headed back down to nab a decent spot for the next band and a quick drink from the bar. I had previously seen Witch Charmer’s debut show at Passion a couple of weeks earlier and was really keen to see how they did tonight. As the crowd swelled the band took to the stage and they were fantastic, giving a much needed lift to the night. It’s amazing what a couple of weeks can do as they have come on in leaps and bounds with a much improved performance and they seemed to have much more confidence. Their lead singer’s demure “thank you” at the end of their set was almost lost amidst the appreciative calls claps and cheers from the crowd.
In a complete change of pace back upstairs Bhang were taking their places. Taking a leaf from the 70’s prog rock movement with an almost fully instrumental set where they created a wave of sound that flowed and crashed over the crowd in ever increasing crescendos. They also gave the best technical display of changing a faulty amp whilst still attempting to play before announcing “Ladies and Gentlemen, Bhang!” and apart from a brief apology for the technical interruption they were the only words spoken. Towards the end of their set they played some pretty heavy stuff which incited the best spontaneous mass synchronised head banging session from the crowd.
Once more we made our way back down the stairs, which I was getting a little tired of doing, due mostly to my foolish vanity of deciding to wear heeled boots instead of my usual trainers but all that was soon forgotten as Firebrand Super Rock lifted the roof with their unrepentant rock metal set. Their female lead singer’s throaty vocals perfectly balanced the technically fantastic lead guitarist who played his flying v with real style and flare. This band that had travelled down from Scotland to play were seriously impressive and played one of the tightest sets all night.
Once again we trekked up the stairs with varying degrees of success depending upon sobriety levels to see Newcastle band Druganaut thrash out some very fine and very loud tunes. With deep growling vocals and some impressive death metal instrumentals these guys put on one hell of a show. The crowd packed in around them so close that even breathing put the front row in danger of falling into the band. Their last song which was announced with the descriptive “Something you never want to be!” was ‘Sober Again’ which they are filming a video for on the 17th in Newcastle.
The final band to play down stairs was of course the one and only Ashes Of Iron who’s lead singer was by this point quite merry with drink but that didn’t stop them from giving the best performance I’ve seen from them, in fact it really was the high light of the night. Despite the slurred speech when it came to singing he was spot on surprisingly enough and just proves drunk or sober these guys can still play better than most. The set included an impromptu visit on stage by Witch Charmers drummer and then a drunken crowd surf by the lead singer around the bar before being carried back on stage and taking a goodly number of the audience with them! Sadly it came to an end all too soon despite the crowd endearing demands for them to “Play some fucking more you pussies!” proving that they have to be one of the most popular bands in town at the moment (it’s a Northern bloke thing, if they were being nice the bands would be scared they had a terminal disease or something, and no I don’t understand it either).
Last but certainly not least were Neolithic who were the final act upstairs and I have to applaud the gargantuan effort it took the drunken rabble of a crowd to make it once more back up the stairs, some actually crawled so gone with drink and exhaustion from what has been so far an epic night of loudness and revelry. As the band took their places the first and soberest of those remaining sat like disciples from a bygone age before their idols upon the suspiciously damp floor and had their eardrums assaulted as the heaviest and most screamingly loudest of the nights bands heaved their way through their set.
As the crowd thinned due to drink induced comas or ear drum ruptured nausea we called it a night, and what a night it had been, loud, raucous, and lots of fun, same time next year? 8.8./10
Words and photos by Helen Todner