Issue 89 / June 2018

REVIEWS
Ohmns (Mook Loxley / mookloxley.tumblr.com)
Wrong Festival
Invisible Wind Factory, North Shore Troubadour,
Drop The Dumbulls – 28/04/18
Now in its second year and with another line-up boasting
the best of Liverpool and the wider world’s alt-rock scene,
Loner Noise’s WRONG FESTIVAL returns on a day of hail hail
rock ’n’ roll – in more than one sense. Billed as a “festival for
the freakscene”, what exactly that entails is left wide enough to
suit every taste on the spectrum. With acts ranging from artnoise
project LONESAW, to indie four-piece DEATH AND THE
PENGUIN and KAGOULE’s more indie-tinged take on the big
riffs, all the way to Scouse doom-metallers CONAN, this packed
bill split across three venues and more than 12 hours awaits
festivalgoers down in the North docks.
The sounds kick off with TOKYO TABOO’s angst-driven, poppunk
energy, perfectly transferred from last year’s debut album,
6th Street Psychosis. Lead singer Dolly Daggerz heads into the
crowd before long, with guitarist Mike joining during Make It Out
Alive. If the group’s fury takes the crowd by surprise, maybe it’s
the timing of the early-doors set, but they supply the riffs, beats
and vocals to North Shore Troubadour. Later, in Invisible Wind
Factory, NASTY LITTLE LONELY are a grit and bile-filled grunge
trio whose noise fills the venue to the roof.
Away from IWF’s slightly cavernous atmosphere, Drop the
Dumbulls and North Shore Troubadour feel like fitting homes for
the DIY aesthetic much of this scene is built from. No wonder, for
it turns out that Liverpool bands are really good at this kind of
thing. We catch SALT THE SNAIL VS BLEACH SWEETS halfway
through their dual (or is that duel?) set. Bleach Sweets are a
trash-punk duo with relatable tunes about the joys of watching
dog videos online, while Salt The Snail combine a hardcore feel
with screamy-sprachsung poetry. The pair trade blows until
Wrong Fest organiser Mike announces a sudden-death round
of a combined cover of Smells Like Teen Spirit. It’s a shambolic
enough affair, particularly when North Shore Troubadour’s fire
alarm goes off, and all present decide the alarm is the obvious
victor.
Scrawky, screamy Welsh trio GRAVVES follow in IWF with a
piercing guitar driving their tunes forward and adding a creeping
feel of anxiety. There’s no such sense with OHMNS, though,
who make it clear that they’re not messing about. If you’re
familiar with the band, it’s a set full of their trademark stomping,
garage thumpers, with the occasional pause and switch into
sludgier territory. Part of the staging in North Shore Troubadour
includes smoke columns that billow amid the overlaying guitars
and flickering strobe, lending things an echoey and psych-y
feel. Later, TABLE SCRAPS appear between the gums of Drop
The Dumbulls: a perfect venue for their fuzz-toned, horror-
“There’s a palpable
sense of a community
feel running
through the day”
tinged garage. They tear through their songs so hard the floor
shakes, but they mix it up too with songs dealing with failure
and obsession, and a sound sitting somewhere between the
performativity of The Cramps, the proto-garage of Black Sabbath
and the later take of Motörhead. Back in IWF, DAMO SUZUKI
appears flanked by the new MUGSTAR line-up, with the latter
producing a swirling mass of psych freak-out around the old
school krautrock master’s beckoning croon.
There’s a palpable sense of a community feel running through
the day, the sense that everyone is here for the pure fact of being
massively into the music. This is clearly a scene in the most
supportive sense of the word, with the crowds of every show
peppered with faces from other bands on the bill. Nowhere is this
more true than for FUTURE OF THE LEFT’s set. The headliners
offer a juxtaposition to Suzuki’s dense and technical psychedelic
improvisation, with a set full of intensity and aggression. The
crowd down the front turns into a pit of bodies being thrown
around to each ferocious riff. At one point, lead singer/guitarist
Andrew Falkous screams, “Audience, please! Every minute
matters!” and punters treat it as a command and crowd-surf onto
the stage for a second with the group, prior to leaping back into
the mob. Amid the mayhem, Julia Ruzicka’s bass still pummels
away, calling back to her days in Million Dead. Falco declares
that “the music industry is lying to you” during closer Singing
Of The Bonesaws, making it clear that Future Of The Left are as
uncompromising as always – an alternative to alternative rock,
and perfectly fitting to the outsider feel of Wrong.
For those who still can’t get enough, the fun continues into
the early hours at the two smaller venues. The recommendation
of Future Of The Left’s Falco to go and see the ST. PIERRE
SNAKE INVASION over at Drop The Dumbulls is immediately
vindicated. His words are well heeded, too, as the crowd immerse
themselves in a noisy, sweaty set which serves up the ending
today deserves.
Tracking a line-up across the three venues, we’re variously
struck with both bright sunshine, heavy rain and hail-stones the
size of gumballs. The weather and food are in keeping with an
esoteric bill, incorporating the freakier side of alternative music in
venues and an area of town on the up-and-up. One of the most
satisfying days of music Merseyside has seen in a while – being
Wrong feels so right.
John McGovern, Julia Johnson, Ken Wynne
Kagoule (Mook Loxley / mookloxley.tumblr.com)
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