Infest 2018
Right, lets see if I can manage a concise, single post write-up of this fantastic event!
This year Infest Festival was 20, so they extended it to a 4 night event. Unfortunately we couldn't do the extra night (and, shhhh, wasn't that bothered about seeing the headliner Peter Hook), so we travelled up on the Friday as usual.
Didn't manage my usual enroute swim at Rutland Water, as they'd made the swimming area so small, to cut back on lifeguard staff, that it was suitable only for children, so instead we had a quick coffee break and continued our journey.
Had to change hotels this year as our old faithful, the Westleigh, had closed down, so we were in town at the Great Victoria instead. An impressive Victorian pile but slightly worn at the seams with rather unhelpful staff, a bit soulless compared to the scruffy but lively Westleigh. but at least we had parking, so we could drive to and from the Uni, instead of having to face all the local chavs at night.
Friday "lunch" consisted of cake at the beautiful Waterstones cafe,
then we took a bit of a mooch around Sunbridge Wells (an impressive subterranean complex of bars) and a drink at the Gin bar.
soon it was time to get all spruced up and ready for our first night at Infest. After such a sunny summer, its been a while since I put on my big boots, corset and makeup! (no sunshine here though, totally wintery weather, good thing we weren't walking to the venue!)
Enjoyed the first band, Def Neon. Bouncy, fun and a bit retro (a touch of synthwave perhaps?) with a charismatic female vocalist who confidently belted out her lyrics. This year saw a decent amount of female fronted acts, and thankfully none doing that horrid insipid girlie vocal style that I detest, more of this is definately needed!
Next up were Siva Six, a band I've wanted to see for years but now I finally have, realised its not really a style of music I'm into any more. Fairly generic aggrotech and so much smoke that I could barely see who was on stage.
They were followed by Izoloscope but we've seen them before and food was a priority, so we took a break outside for his set. Sounds like we missed a good, solid dancy set from other reviews online.
But I needed my energy for the headliner, Cubanate. Possibly the first band I saw in London, definateley the first industrial band I ever saw, back in the 90's they were the loudest thing I'd ever heard and I wanted more! Over 20 years later, I get to see them twice - they played in London last year and I realised that whilst my music tastes might have changed, Cubanate still did it and I was looking forward to seeing them again this weekend. They didn't disappoint, a fantastic full-on set, finished off by a rousing Oxy-acetelene which drove the audience bonkers.
In between bands of course, time was spent socialising and catching up with friends from near and far, which makes the festival just as special as the bands themselves.
Saturday, we had breakfast at the City Vaults pub, where we met with Serena and Helen.
A great no-nonsense fry up with quality ingredients, accompanied by one of the most dreadful coffees I've ever had. Needing a good coffee to take away that taste, we then popped across the road to the new cafe downstairs from Waterstones, where we somehow ended up with 2nd breakfast (or is cake considered dessert for breakfast too?). Lovely cafe, must go back there.
However we knew we wouldn't get lunch today, as we'd booked for bowling instead and before we knew it, it was time to take our leave from the cafe and dash over to the bowling alley behind our hotel. A deal had been negotiated for Infest-goers and it was pretty surreal to see the lanes filled with goths in non-bowling-practical clothing. :-) We teamed up with Mandy and Jonny; it took a while for Rob to regain his bowling spark but soon enough the smug b****** was getting all the Strikes, although Mandy wasn't too far behind. We got two games and I managed not to be last in the first game, regaining MY spark of dreadfulness by the second game.
This did result in a bit of a mad dash to get ready for Infest day 2, and we only caught the end of the first band, Flesh Eating Foundation. Didn't really sound my thing anyway, a bit of a raw, punky industrial, so we went for a browse around the stalls instead.
Once again, Rob managed to find something from Psi-clone which could have been made to fit him; a quirky deconstructed shirt which is half shirt/half waistcoat.
Nearly missed the next band, Adam is a Girl, but managed to dash back to the stage area part way through their first song. good thing too, as they were really enjoyable, well produced female-fronted synthpop, so much so that Rob bought a CD.
its more than just the bands though, little things like this make Infest so awesome
Next on was the Hands' label noise act of the weekend, Yura Yura. one of my highlights of the weekend, enthralling, loud tribal noise. Rob managed two notes and went for a sit down!
The following band Actors had been talked about a lot by friends in the run up to Infest, so I was intrigued to catch them. However it was totally not my bag at all, guitar based indie/post-punk. Maybe in a different context, if they had been supporting the Cure at the recent Hyde Park gig for example, however for me they were a bit of a downer after the previous act, so we popped outside for food instead.
I was looking forward to Leibknecht, Daniel Mayers latest project, and it was pretty much what I expected, well produced industrial dance/techno but just a little cold (as all Mayer's projects tend to be). I enjoyed it but wasn't totally captivated and decided to forgo the last ten minutes so I could rest my feet for the final two acts.
the headliners for Saturday were Mesh, a band I've seen so many times and admittedly have found their more recent shows to be a tad dull (too many slow tracks and less of the uplifting crowdpleasers that I used to love); however this time they were totally back on form. I'm a little baffled by online comments that they didn't play enough older stuff because I found it to be a set of classics - however I noted that the audience around me seemed to be more enthusiastic about the newer songs and it was just me going batshit crazy for the older stuff!
This did mean however that I was slightly lacking in energy for the post-headline band, Sarin. I only caught a bit of his set at WGT due to delays and was really looking forward to this. I managed to bounce for most of the set but ran out of steam towards the end. Not sure what this genre of music is classed as (lables, pah - however it is key to finding more of the same style!) - a cross between heavy pounding EBM and German techno - very much like Schwefelgelb, whom I discovered last year.
Due to lack of oomph, we failed at the post-band DJ sets and after sitting chatting to friends for a while, called it a night around 2.30am
the mobile disco outside
Sunday we awoke to a wet and miserable day, so we decided to spend it the usual way - playing on the retro computer games at the Media Museum! We did have intentions to go out for a decent meal for lunch but the weather deterred us from walking to the Polish restaurant I had in mind, so we ended up at the Chinese buffet across the road from our hotel; it was OK, not great but not bad either.
Wanted to see all the bands this day, so we managed to get dressed early (myself fairly dressed down for comfort) and got there just in time for the first band.
Promenade Cinema were much hyped as one to watch, and they didn't disappoint - professional polished glamourous synthpop. they even carried on during a fire alarm, proving that her voice was just as good without any amplification.
This was followed up by another female fronted act, Massenhysterie. I was expecting something a little more raunchy from the blurb; something akin to Grausame Tochter, but instead we got a pretty lady in a latex catsuit bouncing away to europop, with some light fetish videos in the background. Entertaining enough but nothing too memorable.
Another hyped band up next Vallhall, a bit of witchhouse. An interesting change from the usual, a bit electro, a bit neo-folk, a bit pagan. The female vocals bugged me slightly but I enjoyed their set overall (more than Rob did, who went for a sit down half way through!)
Sunday traditionally has a big synthpop band and this year it was Elegant Machinery. I only recognised their opening track but enjoyed their set, very old-school, reminded me somewhat of And One.
Wasn't sure what to expect of STRVNGERS, the description made them sound somewhat like Actors, so I wasn't expecting it to be my bag but decided to give them a try anyway. The first track was interesting, very akin to Nine Inch Nails but with, what I thought was a female vocalist (still unsure as everyone tells me it was two guys on stage - I was too far away to see the stage - but seen another review which describes a female vocalist). However after the first track it descended into something more chaotic and too EMO for our tastes. Maybe if I'd have been closer to the front and not wanting to expend my energy for the final two bands, I might have given them more of a chance.
And then the band I'd most been looking forward to this weekend - This Morn Omina. Managed to get a fairly decent spot towards the front but with enough room to dance. One of the band was absent (and I've not found any reason why) and the set was slightly less interactive as a consequence - no audience stage invasion at the end, for example - but still they were all of the awesome and I danced my poor tired feet off.
However I still had to save some energy for my other highlight - the main headliner of the day, Aesthetic Perfection. Unfortunately I couldn't get a spot at the barrier, as people had grabbed that several bands down the agenda, but managed to get a decent spot at the side, with space to bounce and still see the stage.
It was a bit of a surprise to see Joe Lezt (Combichrist) on the drums - not just because he seems a total dick and there has been a considerable amount of controversy about his behaviour over recent years - but because in my view, he comes across as quite a selfish musician. His drumming was way too loud and agressive, drowning out everything else. It was quite a lively set, concentrating on the more upbeat/louder tracks rather than the synthpop stuff which was a shame, but understandable. And regardless of the over-loud drums, it was still a fantastically fun set.
After the bands had finished, we kinda failed on the dancefloor again, spending much of the night chatting to people in the corridor between dancefloors and by the time we finally moved on, feet were too tired to dance and we decided to call it a night around 3am.
So that was another Infest over, it always goes so fast! It remains my favourite festival of the year .... next year shall be even more awesome because:
full gallery of pics here - including more of Sunbridge Wells and pics of our journey home (write up to follow in next post)
This year Infest Festival was 20, so they extended it to a 4 night event. Unfortunately we couldn't do the extra night (and, shhhh, wasn't that bothered about seeing the headliner Peter Hook), so we travelled up on the Friday as usual.
Didn't manage my usual enroute swim at Rutland Water, as they'd made the swimming area so small, to cut back on lifeguard staff, that it was suitable only for children, so instead we had a quick coffee break and continued our journey.
Had to change hotels this year as our old faithful, the Westleigh, had closed down, so we were in town at the Great Victoria instead. An impressive Victorian pile but slightly worn at the seams with rather unhelpful staff, a bit soulless compared to the scruffy but lively Westleigh. but at least we had parking, so we could drive to and from the Uni, instead of having to face all the local chavs at night.
Friday "lunch" consisted of cake at the beautiful Waterstones cafe,
then we took a bit of a mooch around Sunbridge Wells (an impressive subterranean complex of bars) and a drink at the Gin bar.
soon it was time to get all spruced up and ready for our first night at Infest. After such a sunny summer, its been a while since I put on my big boots, corset and makeup! (no sunshine here though, totally wintery weather, good thing we weren't walking to the venue!)
Enjoyed the first band, Def Neon. Bouncy, fun and a bit retro (a touch of synthwave perhaps?) with a charismatic female vocalist who confidently belted out her lyrics. This year saw a decent amount of female fronted acts, and thankfully none doing that horrid insipid girlie vocal style that I detest, more of this is definately needed!
Next up were Siva Six, a band I've wanted to see for years but now I finally have, realised its not really a style of music I'm into any more. Fairly generic aggrotech and so much smoke that I could barely see who was on stage.
They were followed by Izoloscope but we've seen them before and food was a priority, so we took a break outside for his set. Sounds like we missed a good, solid dancy set from other reviews online.
But I needed my energy for the headliner, Cubanate. Possibly the first band I saw in London, definateley the first industrial band I ever saw, back in the 90's they were the loudest thing I'd ever heard and I wanted more! Over 20 years later, I get to see them twice - they played in London last year and I realised that whilst my music tastes might have changed, Cubanate still did it and I was looking forward to seeing them again this weekend. They didn't disappoint, a fantastic full-on set, finished off by a rousing Oxy-acetelene which drove the audience bonkers.
In between bands of course, time was spent socialising and catching up with friends from near and far, which makes the festival just as special as the bands themselves.
Saturday, we had breakfast at the City Vaults pub, where we met with Serena and Helen.
A great no-nonsense fry up with quality ingredients, accompanied by one of the most dreadful coffees I've ever had. Needing a good coffee to take away that taste, we then popped across the road to the new cafe downstairs from Waterstones, where we somehow ended up with 2nd breakfast (or is cake considered dessert for breakfast too?). Lovely cafe, must go back there.
However we knew we wouldn't get lunch today, as we'd booked for bowling instead and before we knew it, it was time to take our leave from the cafe and dash over to the bowling alley behind our hotel. A deal had been negotiated for Infest-goers and it was pretty surreal to see the lanes filled with goths in non-bowling-practical clothing. :-) We teamed up with Mandy and Jonny; it took a while for Rob to regain his bowling spark but soon enough the smug b****** was getting all the Strikes, although Mandy wasn't too far behind. We got two games and I managed not to be last in the first game, regaining MY spark of dreadfulness by the second game.
This did result in a bit of a mad dash to get ready for Infest day 2, and we only caught the end of the first band, Flesh Eating Foundation. Didn't really sound my thing anyway, a bit of a raw, punky industrial, so we went for a browse around the stalls instead.
Once again, Rob managed to find something from Psi-clone which could have been made to fit him; a quirky deconstructed shirt which is half shirt/half waistcoat.
Nearly missed the next band, Adam is a Girl, but managed to dash back to the stage area part way through their first song. good thing too, as they were really enjoyable, well produced female-fronted synthpop, so much so that Rob bought a CD.
its more than just the bands though, little things like this make Infest so awesome
Next on was the Hands' label noise act of the weekend, Yura Yura. one of my highlights of the weekend, enthralling, loud tribal noise. Rob managed two notes and went for a sit down!
The following band Actors had been talked about a lot by friends in the run up to Infest, so I was intrigued to catch them. However it was totally not my bag at all, guitar based indie/post-punk. Maybe in a different context, if they had been supporting the Cure at the recent Hyde Park gig for example, however for me they were a bit of a downer after the previous act, so we popped outside for food instead.
I was looking forward to Leibknecht, Daniel Mayers latest project, and it was pretty much what I expected, well produced industrial dance/techno but just a little cold (as all Mayer's projects tend to be). I enjoyed it but wasn't totally captivated and decided to forgo the last ten minutes so I could rest my feet for the final two acts.
the headliners for Saturday were Mesh, a band I've seen so many times and admittedly have found their more recent shows to be a tad dull (too many slow tracks and less of the uplifting crowdpleasers that I used to love); however this time they were totally back on form. I'm a little baffled by online comments that they didn't play enough older stuff because I found it to be a set of classics - however I noted that the audience around me seemed to be more enthusiastic about the newer songs and it was just me going batshit crazy for the older stuff!
This did mean however that I was slightly lacking in energy for the post-headline band, Sarin. I only caught a bit of his set at WGT due to delays and was really looking forward to this. I managed to bounce for most of the set but ran out of steam towards the end. Not sure what this genre of music is classed as (lables, pah - however it is key to finding more of the same style!) - a cross between heavy pounding EBM and German techno - very much like Schwefelgelb, whom I discovered last year.
Due to lack of oomph, we failed at the post-band DJ sets and after sitting chatting to friends for a while, called it a night around 2.30am
the mobile disco outside
Sunday we awoke to a wet and miserable day, so we decided to spend it the usual way - playing on the retro computer games at the Media Museum! We did have intentions to go out for a decent meal for lunch but the weather deterred us from walking to the Polish restaurant I had in mind, so we ended up at the Chinese buffet across the road from our hotel; it was OK, not great but not bad either.
Wanted to see all the bands this day, so we managed to get dressed early (myself fairly dressed down for comfort) and got there just in time for the first band.
Promenade Cinema were much hyped as one to watch, and they didn't disappoint - professional polished glamourous synthpop. they even carried on during a fire alarm, proving that her voice was just as good without any amplification.
This was followed up by another female fronted act, Massenhysterie. I was expecting something a little more raunchy from the blurb; something akin to Grausame Tochter, but instead we got a pretty lady in a latex catsuit bouncing away to europop, with some light fetish videos in the background. Entertaining enough but nothing too memorable.
Another hyped band up next Vallhall, a bit of witchhouse. An interesting change from the usual, a bit electro, a bit neo-folk, a bit pagan. The female vocals bugged me slightly but I enjoyed their set overall (more than Rob did, who went for a sit down half way through!)
Sunday traditionally has a big synthpop band and this year it was Elegant Machinery. I only recognised their opening track but enjoyed their set, very old-school, reminded me somewhat of And One.
Wasn't sure what to expect of STRVNGERS, the description made them sound somewhat like Actors, so I wasn't expecting it to be my bag but decided to give them a try anyway. The first track was interesting, very akin to Nine Inch Nails but with, what I thought was a female vocalist (still unsure as everyone tells me it was two guys on stage - I was too far away to see the stage - but seen another review which describes a female vocalist). However after the first track it descended into something more chaotic and too EMO for our tastes. Maybe if I'd have been closer to the front and not wanting to expend my energy for the final two bands, I might have given them more of a chance.
And then the band I'd most been looking forward to this weekend - This Morn Omina. Managed to get a fairly decent spot towards the front but with enough room to dance. One of the band was absent (and I've not found any reason why) and the set was slightly less interactive as a consequence - no audience stage invasion at the end, for example - but still they were all of the awesome and I danced my poor tired feet off.
However I still had to save some energy for my other highlight - the main headliner of the day, Aesthetic Perfection. Unfortunately I couldn't get a spot at the barrier, as people had grabbed that several bands down the agenda, but managed to get a decent spot at the side, with space to bounce and still see the stage.
It was a bit of a surprise to see Joe Lezt (Combichrist) on the drums - not just because he seems a total dick and there has been a considerable amount of controversy about his behaviour over recent years - but because in my view, he comes across as quite a selfish musician. His drumming was way too loud and agressive, drowning out everything else. It was quite a lively set, concentrating on the more upbeat/louder tracks rather than the synthpop stuff which was a shame, but understandable. And regardless of the over-loud drums, it was still a fantastically fun set.
After the bands had finished, we kinda failed on the dancefloor again, spending much of the night chatting to people in the corridor between dancefloors and by the time we finally moved on, feet were too tired to dance and we decided to call it a night around 3am.
So that was another Infest over, it always goes so fast! It remains my favourite festival of the year .... next year shall be even more awesome because:
full gallery of pics here - including more of Sunbridge Wells and pics of our journey home (write up to follow in next post)