Book Yer Ane Fest IX - The Remainder

Clearly being unaware of some (okay in my case 99%) of the bands on this weekend’s bill was part of the fun for a number of people. Sitting in The Vestry early on Sunday afternoon the conversation immediately behind me centred on the quality of Niall McCamley's moustache and his banter and how Spook School records needed to be obtained forthwith. Having found the band’s existence hard to avoid over the past year or so it’s easy to forget that everyone can’t be aware of each group as they appear. Up until the end of this summer I’d no idea Dundee was home to Make That A Take records or BYAF, it all depends what you’re exposed to through the various types of media.

Logistical issues came to bear on the festival today, requiring some swift rescheduling and the vagaries of the diy tour schedule were highlighted with Lenin Death Mask having to drive for nine hours from the final night of their tour in Newport so as to make their slot. Given the rescheduling and my need to skip out and eat dinner the odd band or two may in fact not have been who I thought they were but you can definitely hear a track by each of the acts who played across the three days on the event’s bandcamp playlist which is attached below.

Showing that a lot of those involved don’t let the grass grow under their feet today also saw a few bands featuring one or more player from the other two days. Fair play, if you’ve an urge to emote in a different style then find some compadres and do it.

Band of the day were Elk Gang, not least for the comedic moment when their drummer was accidentally forced off the vegetarianism wagon with a mouthful of Greggs sausage roll. Days on site without accident – Zero. Copenhagen’s Forever Unclean were also an intense live prospect, whilst Shitgripper added some variety to things with the inclusion of samples and the laying down of hefty instrumentals. The Vestry played host to mainly bands today, with Slowlight being promoted to Buskers to maintain timings there, and for me this didn’t work as well as the solo or dual acts on Saturday. Brendan Dalton's heartfelt work was the most impactful of the day down there with Dave Hughes, Edgarville and The Shithawks not really reaching me at all.

Lenin Death Mask, Robot Doctors, Slowlight and Please, Believe! were variously emo, screamo or generally players of a thin kind of sound and so none of them really grabbed me. Riven with gig fatigue I buggered off before the final acts of the night. The bottom line though is that this was a very well organised international event that must have presented plenty of issues during the planning and preparation yet which went off with only a couple of minor hitches at the very end, at least to my knowledge. All concerned can be rightly proud.